In my New Year’s Eve post last year, I showed some examples of cover paintings that appeared on the covers of two different men’s adventure magazines.
I thought about that post this morning as I was transcribing a recent phone interview I did with Gil Cohen — one of the top artists who created the artwork for those magazines.
Today, Cohen is renowned for his aviation art.
In addition to being sold by art galleries in the U.S. and the U.K., his paintings of historic planes, pilots and crews in wartime and at rest are included in many private and public collections, such as those of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, Georgia, the National Guard Image Gallery and the Pentagon.
But from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, before he became the country’s premier aviation artist, Cohen did hundreds of cover paintings and interior illustrations for men’s adventure magazines.
In the weeks ahead, I’ll be doing a series of posts that feature Gil’s artwork and excerpts from my interview with him. He graciously answered many questions I had about his days as a men’s adventure artist.
Among other things, he explained how second uses of an artist’s paintings and illustrations were typically dealt with.
One example of a second use I had noticed involves a cool Gil Cohen painting that was first used on the cover of the May 1967 issue of Male magazine. It goes with a “Book Bonus” story inside titled “The Ravishers,” written by James Hadley Chase.
Chase was a British writer who authored dozens of noirish mystery, detective and gangster novels between the late 1930s and his death in 1985. (His books are still popular and available on Amazon.com.)
The original Gil Cohen cover painting used on the May ‘67 issue of Male happens to be owned by my friend Rich Oberg, the world’s foremost expert on and collector of men’s adventure magazine art.
During the course of an email exchange with Rich, I found out that a cropped version of that painting was also used on the cover of the May 1968 issue of True Action magazine. So, when I interviewed Gil, I asked him if he normally received a second payment when his work was used twice like that. He explained that he and other artists typically sold first reproduction rights for a painting or illustration and usually did get another payment if their work was reused. At least, they did if it was reused by a reputable company like Magazine Management, which published Male, True Action, Stag, Action for Men, For Men Only and many other classic men’s adventure mags.
“Of course, I did more work for Magazine Management than any other men’s adventure magazine publisher,” Gil told me. “I had a stamp I used for their purchase orders that said ‘For first reproduction rights only.’ If they wanted to reproduce the painting again, as they sometimes did, I got another fee.
Let’s say they had me do an illustration, like an elephant tramping through a jungle. They’d pay me a fee for the first reproduction rights and it would appear in the magazine. If they later decided that same illustration would also be appropriate for another story, the art director at Magazine Management would contact me and say, ‘Hey, we’d like second reproduction rights for that illustration.’ Then they’d pay me again, though only a fraction of what I got the first time.”
I greatly appreciate the time Gil took to talk with me and I’ll relay some more of the facts and anecdotes he told me soon.
In the meantime, have Happy New Year! Stay safe and avoid seeing double — unless it’s on the covers of men’s adventure magazines.
The holiday season got me thinking about what it might have been like if some of the pulpier men’s adventure magazines had used Christmas-themed cover paintings on their December issues.
In my mind’s eye I can envision a men’s pulp mag cover showing a bare-chested Santa fighting off a pack of killer weasels, or perhaps a scantily-clad Mrs. Claus being tortured by a leering Grinch dressed in a Nazi uniform, or maybe a panoramic battle scene showing a well-armed squad of elves facing a Banzai charge by Japanese soldiers, or...
It’s funny to think about. But, of course, actually trying to combine Christmas themes with the typical cover images most men’s adventure magazines used wouldn’t have worked.
That’s why most didn’t even try.
A few of the milder, high-circulation men’s adventure magazines, like True and Argosy, had Christmasy cover paintings on their December issues. But they were much more mainstream than most men’s adventure periodicals, so their cover paintings often looked more like what you’d see on The Saturday Evening Post than on a men’s pulp mag.
For example, the December 1955 issue of True magazine features a painting of three cowboys riding herd on some doggies at night, looking up at an unusually bright star. It’s a semi-manly variation on the Christmas story about the Three Wise Men.
Yeah, cowboys are manly. But the cover is only semi-manly because the scene is also kind of sweet, serene and sentimental — three words that do not apply to most men’s adventure magazine covers.
This December ‘55 True cover was painted by Fred Ludekens, an artist whose work actually did appear on The Saturday Evening Post and other mainstream magazines, including American Magazine, The Country Gentleman and even Good Housekeeping.
Some of the scenes he painted for those mainstream magazines were manlier than their usual Norman Rockwell-style fare, like his painting of a logger on the cover of the December 11, 1943 issue of the Post. I’ve also seen a couple of Western gunfight illos that Ludekens did for the Post on Leif Peng’s excellent illustration art blog, Today's Inspiration.
But Ludekens work isn’t quite in the same wild, pulpy ballpark as the cover paintings used on most men’s adventure magazines. Compare his serene cowboy cover on True to the cover painting used that same month on Stag.
The cover painting on the December 1955 issue of Stag, by an uncredited artist, is in the animal attack subgenre of men’s pulp mag art. It shows one bloodied, limping hunter being held up by his buddy, as a snarling mountain lion glares at them in the foreground.
Like many men’s adventure cover paintings, this one tells a story. It visually suggests that the bleeding man has been attacked by the big cat. But you can’t blame the cat, or at least I don’t. Because as you look at the cover you notice the cat has been shot in the neck, presumably by one of the “brave” hunters.
The December 1955 issue of Sport Life has an even wilder and more absurd animal attack scene. It shows a vicious “mad Wapiti” elk going after a guy in sleeping bag in the middle of the night. (I’m guessing he deserved it, too.)
I don’t own that issue of Sport Life (yet), but I’m pretty sure the cover painting is by an artist I featured here in another recent post, the legendary Mort Kunstler. Kunstler did hundreds, probably thousands, of cover paintings and interior illustrations for men’s adventure mags in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. After that, the men’s pulp mag genre essentially disappeared and Kunstler went on to become much more famous for his historical paintings (especially his Civil War art).
That same December in 1955, the cover of Man’s Magazine featured a painting of two beefy lumberjacks arm-wrestling. It was done by John Leone, who also did many covers and interior illos for men’s pulp magazines (though not as many as Kunstler). Like quite a few men’s adventure magazine artists, Leone later became known for his Western paintings and prints.
The cover of the December 1955 issue of the men’s adventure pulp magazine Fury shows a fierce image of “the Mongol Monster” Tamerlane raising a bloody sword, painted by Tom Beecham.
Like John Leone, Beecham later became more widely known for his Western art, as well as his excellent wildlife art. In fact, the bio for Beecham on AskArt.com describes him as a Western and wildlife artist. It also notes that he did paintings and illustrations for Reader's Digest, Bantam Books, National Geographic, Outdoor Life, Field & Stream and the popular Remington Arms calendars. All that’s true, but I (of course) am especially fond of Beecham’s work for the men’s adventure mags.
The back covers of Fury magazine often featured photos of popular pinup models, actresses and other glamour girls. The back of the December ‘55 issue has a full-page Christmas cheesecake photo of the once very popular model and actressGloria Pall.
It’s an understatement to say that Gloria had a colorful life. In addition to being one of the top pinup models of the Fifties and hanging out with many celebrities, she has cult status for her racy 1954 TV show and persona Voluptua and her appearance as a burlesque queen in Elvis Presley's movie Jailhouse Rock (1957).
Pall now has her own website and line of merchandise, which includes a fascinating series of books she’s written about her career and life. Her photos are still popular collectors’ items on eBay, as are vintage magazines that feature her.
Gloria Pall’s photo on Fury is one of my two favorite Christmas cheesecake pics from 1955.
The other one is not from a men’s adventure magazine.
It’s the Christmas photo of Bettie Page in the January 1955 issue of Playboy (which was actually published in December).
This photo is one of the many shots of Bettie taken by Bunny Yeager, the pinup model who became a fabulously successful pinup photographer.
Of course, Bettie Page is one of the most legendary cheesecake and fetish photo models of all time. Unlike most mid-century pin-up models, she’s even more famous now than she was in the Fifties and Sixties.
By the way, this is second annual Christmas post on MensPulpMags.com, the Men’s Adventure Magazines blog.
As I said last year, at the risk of seeming, um, unmanly (and politically correct and incorrect all at the same time) I wish all of you who enjoy the cover art, illustrations, photos and background information I post here Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year!
Robert A. Maguire, often credited as R.A. Maguire, was among the best and most famous of many talented artists who created cover paintings for pulp paperback novels in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
He’s primarily known for his noir-style pulp covers featuring sexy “Dames, Dolls and Gun Molls” (the apt title Jim Silke chose for his great book about Maguire’s art).
However, as noted in the excellent bio on the American Art Archives website, Maguire also painted greeting card art at one point in his long career, as well as a limited number of movie posters, album covers and magazine illustrations.
In case you didn’t know, the American Art Archives site is a great resource for fans of vintage illustration. It’s maintained by illustration maven and writer Thomas Clement, whose eBay store is one of the best sources for men’s adventure magazines (and a sponsor of this blog).
In his bio of Maguire, Clement notes:
“Maguire’s paperback covers sold books far more than the books’ authors or titles. His ability to capture a sexy girl, often holding a gun, a knife, or even a voodoo doll, is instantly obvious.
His women were always intriguing, whether the world was crashing around them or whether they were in decisive control. Each is glamour-page gorgeous. But talent for curvy dames was bolstered by a knack for dramatic action, bold and exotic colors, and striking throws of hues and shadows; these enticed millions of readers to do what they were supposed to do: buy the books.
Maguire often set his women against some muted slab-gray background or low-key pattern of jagged screens, but just as often he stood them out against deathly greens, bloody reds, or morguish blues. Of course, basic black also served him well, as for what has become a signature piece, Black Opium.”
As Clement also notes, Maguire rarely did artwork for magazines. That’s why I always consider it a real find when I run across a Robert Maguire cover painting or interior illustration in a men’s pulp mag.
I recently found a cool Maguire interior illo in the April 1954 issue of Sport Life. This is the same issue that has another rare pulp art treasure I recently featured on this blog — the illustrations Mort Kunstler created for “His Majesty O’Keefe.”
Maguire’s eye-grabbing illustration for Sport Life was printed as a duotone in shades of red and gray.
It’s for the story “LEOPARD WOMAN” by Richard Hathcock, a little known writer who did a few stories for men’s magazines.
Hathcock’s story is less bloody-minded than those. It’s an exotic adventure tale set in the African city of Omduran in Sudan.
During a visit to the city, the white guy who is the narrator of the story hears about a local woman who can turn into “a slavering, yellow-eyed leopard.”
One night, he gets a local guide to take him to see her. In a mud-walled building at the end of a back alley, he witnesses the amazing transformation.
A gorgeous Galla woman — “completely naked, except for a leopard skin wound about her slim waist” — comes out and begins dancing to the sound of hypnotic drums and bamboo flutes. Our appreciative (but obviously racist) narrator tells us:
“She was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in Africa. Her skin possessed a sheen not often found among Negroes. She was tall and graceful, with high, full breasts, and long, wonderfully molded legs. Her eyes were startling. They were oblique, and flecked with yellow. In the lamplight of that room they gleamed strangely.”
Suddenly, the woman tumbles to the floor and postures on all fours, “the nipples of her breasts raking the dust.”
By the way, the cover painting for the April 1954 issue of Sport Life magazine was done by Gail Phillips. I’ve found very little information about Phillips online or in reference books.
I know he (she?) did some paperback covers, such as the cover for Behind the Crimson Blind (1952), a novel written by the prolific detective story writer John Dickson Carr (under his pen name Carter Dickson).
He also did the cover painting for the Pocket Books edition of the Roy Chanslor’s Western novel Johnny Guitar, which was made into the campy, must-see Western flick of the same name starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ernest Borgnine, Ward Bond and John Carradine.
Phillips appears to have done a limited amount of magazine illustration work, mostly for Argosy magazine in the mid-1940s. So his cover painting for Sport Life seems to be another rarity from that issue.
The men’s adventure magazine Sport Life is fairly rare itself.
Sport Life actually started out in the late 1940s as a sports fan magazine that focused on baseball, basketball, football and other American team sports.
Around 1954, the format was changed to a men’s pulp adventure format that had a heavy emphasis on sensationalized, often ludicrous stories of animals attacking humans (like the killer mountain goat example below) and obliviously cruel articles about manly hunters slaughtering various kinds of large and small animals.
The April 1954 issue of Sport Life with the Maguire illo was published by Official Magazine Corp.
Official was one of the companies owned by Martin Goodman, founder of the Magazine Management/Atlas/Diamond/Marvel publishing empire. Earlier and later issues of Sport Life were published by other Goodman subsidiaries.
The men’s pulp/hunting mag version of Sport Life was published quarterly from 1954 to 1957. I believe there were only eight to ten issues of that version in total.
Today, copies are relatively hard to find. So, if you’re a collector, snag ‘em when you can (if I don’t get them first).
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I’ve been a writer, in one form or another, for more than 30 years. I’ve worked as a writer for magazines, advertising agencies, non-profit groups, government agencies, educational organizations and political consulting firms. Now, I also blog about things that interest me. I'm currently working on two books slated for publication in 2012 by the New Texture publishing company – one about famous quotes and one about vintage men's adventure magazines.
