Up tonight, the second issue of Spot, a thin but over-sized burlesque magazine from October of 1940. I was just googling to confirm that the publisher listed, Country Press, Inc., is as I suspected a Fawcett operation and came across an article from Time in the same month of publication as our issue tonight. I think it sets the scene wonderfully, check it out:
The Press: Sewage Disposal from Time 1940-10-14
Great stuff! The culprit here is Man to Man, and look at the contributors. In a publicity stunt, a distributor is picked up and hauled in. I get the general feeling that the mid-30s witnessed a general tightening of the public morals. The country had seen what the free-wheelin' living of the 20s had wrought and seems to have tightened up. Catholic groups were pressuring newsstands to clean it up and city ordinances were drafted to prohibit sale or crack down on under the counter sales of spicy materials. But whatever the cause, the mid-late 30s saw the end of the classic girlie pulp. Tattle Tales, Gay Parisienne, Paris Nights, Pep Stories, etc. would all cease publication during this period. I'm not sure what I'll find yet, but I think there are some interesting publications in this period of uncertainty. The girlie pulp had died, but at the same time it was becoming possible to use much more photography cheaply in your publications. The magazines of the 40s are very visual in their exploration of the use of photos. If anything, they are almost overrun with photos. Time, Look, and Pic are the sort of magazine I'm thinking of, big and beautiful to behold. I can see how a publisher of burlesque material could see the potential, and that's where this magazine comes in. Soon magazines like Harrison's Beauty Parade (though lacking nudes) would begin to point to a standard format for men's magazines that Playboy would come to replace as the general standard in men's magazines. Of course, Playboy would draw on the traditions of the humor/cartoon magazines as well which were numerous in the 40s. Anyways, I'm rambling but I suspect there are more magazines like this one from the period. I've been reading Dian Hanson's volumes on the history of Men's Magazines, so I've got more ruminating on this whole area to do before I can get much of a grasp on it. But on to tonight's magazine, Spot! And before I begin I can't forget to thank McCoy for his edit work on tonight's issue. Once again, he's done a splendid job and his help allows me to get many more magazines done than I might otherwise, so it is much appreciated.
A hip title by me, the spot is the place to be.
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Contortionists, whew. I'm not sure if it's sexy or icky, but what a cover. I'm reminded of the strange series Bolles did for Cupid's Capers earlier in the 30s. It makes for an eye-catching cover, I mean, I'd pick it off the rack and check it out for sure.
Stories include A New Twist on Broadway, Big City for a Day, Bathing Suits from a Bottle, Big Game American Style, Carburetor Carnival, Paulette Always Gets Her Man, The Hard Road to Screen Fame, Blow-Ups, Hollywood's Good Girl Lets Go!, A Hot Time in the Old Town, It's Fun to Be Fooled - Even When You're a Magician, It's a Living, Manhattan Beach, and Jump Joint on the Delta, my favorite feature, a ride to the wild side exploring a black juke joint in New Orleans a reflection of race attitudes of the day, fascinated and condescending at the same time.
Spot v01n02 (1940-10.Country Press)(Darwination-McCoy).cbr
Get the scan of the entire magazine here.
The indicia page:
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The editor, Fred Feldkamp, has a wiki here. It's nice to see both house photographers get some time up front like this.
I like the Bathing Suits From a Bottle article. I'll post it in it's entirety below. I especially like the second page where the editor poses the article as a conundrum for the censors. A bit of flaunting the question, I love it.
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Yes, flaunting the naughty laughs, humor and sex make great bedfellows in the magazines. I don't doubt that it's the occasional risque photo like this that sold many a magazine.
There is certainly a voyeuristic element here, traveling from spot to spot. The page on sunbathing almost looks like it was shot from a peeping tom's point of view.
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We're all just tourists through these exotic spots and locales, so maybe it's even safe to explore how the other half lives, eh? Here's the article on New Orleans' Tick Tock Tavern. The language no doubt offends modern-PC sensibilities, but I think it's a lovely pictorial besides its value as a barometer of race perceptions c.1940.
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I'll leave you with my own little moment of zen.
Next up, sports pulp!
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