Men Yesterday

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I was wondering that myself. Might be the focus of the collector?

 

 

Not really! My favourites are actually underwater adventure covers -there just arent that many of them! There were many genres and sub-genres. I'll try to give a bit more breadth when I've scanned the next bunch. Having said which, WWII did seem to be the overwhelmingly favourite theme of a number of companies, though some attempted a slightly greater degree of realism than others! Once they hit on a winning formula they seem to have been loathe to change it. It didnt take them long to descend into self-parody.

 

Although the war was long over, there were still many man and women in ther late thirties, early forties for whom it had been the key experience of their lives - my father for instance. Somehow the creators of these mags managed to combine the most extreme imagery of the pre-war pulps with a cartoonish depiction of nazi atrocities. (Anyone who has seen Mad Men will understand the unselfconscious mysogyny of the sixties!)

 

Here are a few underwater covers by way of a change of pace. I especially like the Action for Men cover.

 

 

 

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Norm Saunders did some great covers for a digest called The Mysterious Traveler, which the underwater theme brought to mind:

 

 

 

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Mysterious traveler was apparently a popular radio program in the 1950's, but the mag only ran for five issues. I have yet to track down a couple, including this one:

 

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Of course Saunders did some great comic covers too:

 

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...not to mention a zillion pulps (these are not mine!):

 

 

 

 

 

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...and trading cards!

 

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...book covers too (but I'll do those another time).

 

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I cant seem to find a thread on Norman Saunders, but then he didnt do that much work in comics. Here are a few more book, magazine and pulp covers I have:

 

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Love this one! Frank Capra made a film of this in 1933 starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Aster. It is an astonishing film and I highly recommend it. Sensual rather than sentimental, it is full of sublimated sexuality - a world away from It's a Wonderful Life!

 

 

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Another theme I find interesting is falling figures! Here are a couple which I think are by Saunders, followed by some related imagery. (If anyone has any similar pulp images please post 'em here!)

 

 

 

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Just noticed Earle Bergey's name on the Thrilling Wonder, but this one looks more like Saunders (unfortunately it's not mine):

 

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Dont know who this artist is...

 

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Nice planes...