Swank v01n06 January 1942 / Chester Himes' "The Sport's On Me"

Here's a recent find of a Chester Himes story which may not have been republished since (?) in an issue of Swank from January of 1942.

Cover by Michael Berry.

 Download the full scan in .cbr format here, or you can read and download it in different formats from the Internet Archive here.

I was reminded of Swank when I was working a Grin magazine from 1940 that has a neat Kooba Cola ad on the back covers.

 

You can see a few issues of Grin, an over-sized cheesecake photomag, a trend in magazines at the time, here at the Internet Archive.  Kooba Cola is infamous among lovers of golden age comics as a machination of Victor S. Fox, a soda that never was:

 

Given the story of Kooba and the general picture of Victor Fox, self-proclaimed "King of Comics," as a career shyster, it's not much of a surprise that many of the Fox comics are pretty shoddy in production and execution.  There are exceptions (some true zaniness), and some of the Fox comics are so bad they're good, but it's a surprise to me how well done Grin is.  Checking the shell publisher of Grin (Elite Publications), I found the magazine Swank, an Esquire imitator.  Sure enough, it's Victor Fox and there's a great Kooba pin-up ad on the back cover of the first issue.

 

Lo and Behold I was able to find an actual physical issue on the internet (they seem very scarce despite Fox's claim in the sixth issue of a readership of 1,300,000), and there on the cover - HIMES.  As Chester Himes appeared in Esquire, I immediately suspected that he's in at least this Swank, too, so I ponied up the price of admission to find out.  When the magazine arrived, I flipped to the contents and woohoo!

 

The Sport's On Me, The bawdy story of a surrogate narrator and Hoppin' John's awkward journey through night, can easily be read via Flickr.  Here's page 1 and page 2 of Chester Himes' The Sport's on Me, illustrator unknown.

And while Swank is no Esquire, it is an ambitious undertaking, perhaps running contrary to narrative of Victor Fox as total hack.  Sure, Swank is downmarket, but downmarket magazines have their charms, too, when well-executed.  Just the size of this type of magazine is luxurious, the tablet or iphone reader of today just don't know.

From a pin-up artist that never made it (or at least that I'm unfamiliar with), The Fugitt Girl and the inner back cover:

 

 

 

 

I'm reminded of a conversation from earlier in the week with a fellow scanner on Eve and the Forbidden Fruit.  Was it necessarily an apple? asks Sluggo of The Straight Dope.

 

The inner cover, Bradshaw Crandall for The Red Cross

Al Cramer

Hollywood, here I come.

 

 

Lois Karoly photographed by Murray Korman.

Have a drink on me.  The Swank Magazine Chart of Holiday Drinks, the centerfold with illustration by Louis Ferstadt.  Because who could make it through the season without strong spirits...