Pulp magazines (so called because of the cheap wood pulp paper they were printed on) had their greatest popularity from the 1920s through the 1940s. Although some major writers got their start in this grind-em-out business, most of the work was on the hack level. For about nine years, from 1933 to 1941, stories of "weird menace" became popular.
These horror tales frequently featured Gothic settings, sadistic villians, torture, beautiful women in peril and seemingly supernatural scenarios that were eventually explained away at the end as being elaborate plots to deceive the unwary. The first magazine to fully exploit this formula was Dime Mystery in 1933.
Many titles followed as the public revealed a great appetite for this unsavory mix.
The lure on the newsstand were the lurid and colorful covers. Scantily clad beauties were threatened with torture, drugging, branding or worse by hooded high priests, mutant dwarfs, leering perverts or imbecilic lechers.
Rip-offs were common. Here the "Oriental Menace" is a not very subtle copy of Sax Romer's ultimate villian, Dr. Fu Manchu. Wu Fang had a run of about eight issues.
The longest lasting pulp magazine that dealt with horror subjects was "Weird Tales". Never a great success, it had however, editors devoted to quality. The lasting legacies of writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch started within its pages.
It also had a devoted readership that kept it going from 1923 to 1954; a substantial accomplishment for a fiction magazine and a near record in the pulp industry.
Below is an exerpt from the Introduction of the book The Shudder Pulps: A History of the Weird Menace Magazines of The 1930s by Robert Kenneth Jones. Gave me a good idea of what this type of writing was all about:
ReplyDeleteWeird menacism unfurled all the appurtenances of mystification: bizarre, seemingly unexplainable deaths, ghost-like creatures, and frightening fiends, in a Gothic setting of dreary houses, dark caves, dank forests, of devil cults and demoniac evildoers, of heroines under dire threat, and heroes pitted against seemingly hopeless odds. The sense of doom hangs heavy over these stories. There is nothing to equal their wild improbability today. Our present fiction may have smoothed some of the rough edges, but in doing so, has thrown out some of the excitement that once kept readers on the edge of their chairs.
I'm sorry to be the smartie pants here, but if those women didn't dress in their fancy dresses and leave the house, it seems like they'd be ok. Obviously the WORST things can happen on the way to the ballroom!
ReplyDeleteTom, you write: "eventually explained away at the end as being elaborate plots to deceive the unwary." Trying to look at the social setting that contributed to the popularity of this type of entertainment, could we attribute some of it to the vulnerbility people felt during the Great Depression and World War II?
A note on dressing: I noticed, and correct me if I'm wrong, that all of these early horrors credit "gowns" and as well they should - they were some pretty stunning gowns. I did not see a credit for "costumes" until The Wolf Man.
DeleteQuite possible. That might explain why these "weird menace" pulps did so well for a relatively short period of time and the fully supernatural explanation stories of "Weird Tales" never obtained the same level of readership. Its longevity was maintained by a smaller, totally devoted group of readers. Another reason the horror pulps disappeared was the ever increasing drumbeat of the censors. As we have covered questions around the motion picture Production Code, a look at the Comics Code will be in order when we come to the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteComics Code? They censored the comics as well, what a shame. I think that censorship of movies, comics or anything for that matter should not be allowed. If you do not like it do not watch it or read it ect..
DeleteI know censorship still happens today to some extent but imagine how different things would be if it was to the extent is was back then?
Unfortunately, censorship comes in many forms, Holly.
DeleteHere's a radical form of censorship in a Post called: Texas Textbook MASSACRE: 'Ultraconservatives' Approve Radical Changes To State Education Curriculum
NO MORE THOMAS JEFFERSON? Education can be used as a form of censorship as well.
(First Posted: 05/13/10 06:12 AM ET
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/texas-textbook-massacre-u_n_498003.html#s73769&title=Hiphop_not_culturally)
Where were these sold - grocery stores? Corner stores? Library?
DeleteNewsstands, like all other magazines, but some had to be sold "under the counter" - couldn't be displayed due to the scantily clad women on the covers. Pretty risque for it's time.
DeleteIs this, then, the original "Pulp fiction?"
ReplyDeleteYes. Cheap Thrills.
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