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The Origins of Espionage

Espionage Magazine No. 1 Dec. 1984Writer Josh Pachter recalls the start-up of Espionage Magazine in “I Spy” from The Digest Enthusiast No. 7. Below is an excerpt from his article:

“Editor/Publisher Jackie Lewis and Associate Publisher Jeri Winston were already involved in the industry, putting out (so to speak) a number of magazines that, by comparison, made Penthouse look like Highlights for Children. If Playboy was soft-core porn and Penthouse was a little harder, Jackie and Jeri’s sex digests were fucking dirty. Perhaps in an attempt to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Lord, they famously asked their father, who had staked Bob [Guccione] to $5560 when Penthouse was in its infancy, to help them finance a non-porno publication that would feature spy stories and nonfiction articles about the world of espionage.”

The Occult Digest

The Digest Enthusiast No. 7 pages 80–81Excerpt from Tom Brinkmann’s article on The Occult Digest from The Digest Enthusiast book seven:

The Occult Digest was an amazingly intense publication from 1920s Chicago that had two dynamic women editors who were also the publishers. The first, Effa E. Danelson, edited and published it from 1925–1939. The second, Marie Harlowe, edited and published it from late 1939 until it stopped publication in 1942.”

Tom Brinkmann writes about unusual, off-the-beaten-path magazines, digests, and tabloids. His Bad Mags website was active from June 2004–July 2017. His books, Bad Mags Volume 1 (2008) and Volume 2 (2009) are available from secondary outlets, including amazon.com

Space Science Fiction No. 1

Space Science Fiction Vol. 1 No. 1 May 1952Space Science Fiction Vol. 1 No. 1 May 1952
Contents
Lester del Ray: Editorial
Lester del Ray “Pursuit”
Jerry Sohl “The Ultroom Error”
Isaac Asimov “Youth”
George O. Smith: Science—Fiction and Fact
Henry Kuttner “The Ego Machine”
Coming Events
Bryce Walton “To Each His Star”
Calling All Fans

Publisher: John Raymond
Editor: Lester del Rey
Assoc. Editor: Ben Peters
Art Director: Milton Berwin
Cover: Orban
Interior Art: Orban, Schecterson, Harrison

Read Vince Nowell, Sr.’s article “When Things Go Wrong—The Lester del Rey/John Raymond Fiasco” in The Digest Enthusiast book seven.

AHMM August 1958

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 3 No. 8 August 1958Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 3 No. 8 August 1958

Dear Readers: Alfred Hitchcock
Contents
Richard Hardwick “Suspicion is not Enough”
Helen Fislar Brooks “The Mink Coat”
Paul Tabori “An Interlude for Murder”
George Bush “Fate has Three Blinding Eyes”
Robert Edmond Alter “To Catch a Big One”
Bryce Walton “Good-Bye Sweet World”
Evan Hunter “Not a Laughing Matter”
Evans Harrington “Like a Legend of Evil”
Henry Slesar “Compliments to the Chef”
Borden Deal “The Followers”
Charles Mergendahl “Do-It-Yourself”
C.B. Gilford “The Dangerfield Saga”

Publisher: Richard E. Decker
Editorial Director: William Manners
Managing Editor: Marguerite Bostwick
Associate Editors: Pat O’Connell, Nadine King
Art Director: Meinrad Mayer

The graveyard pictured on the front cover also appeared in Vertigo, Hitchcock’s current film at the time of this issue’s release. See Peter Enfantino’s overview and synopses of Robert Edmond Alter’s stories for AHMM in The Digest Enthusiast book seven.

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly April 1953

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly April 1953Contents
Henry Kane “One Little Bullet” (Peter Chambers)
Kris Neville “Big Talk”
Robert Turner “Be My Guest”
Richard Ellington “Fan Club” (Steve Drake)
Roy Carroll “Shakedown”
Robert Patrick Wilmot “The G-Notes”
Richard Deming “Mugger Murder”
Evan Hunter “Kid Kill”
Shepherd Kole “Crime and Punishment”
David Goodis “The Blue Sweetheart”
Mickey Spillane “Everybody’s Watching Me” (Part 4 of 4)

Bob Hope’s They Got Me Covered

They Got Me CoveredLife magazine’s October 27, 1941 profile of Bob Hope: “His most pretentious work, They Got Me Covered, a riotous autobiography, is in the tradition of Josh Billings, Bill Nye and Petroleum V. Nasby, and he is showing signs of developing into a cracker-barrel philosopher.”

They Got Me Covered is a collection of Bob Hope’s quips, cartoons, and photos. Steve Carper reveals the full story behind this 95-page, digest-sized paperback in The Digest Enthusiast book six.

Fate No. 358 January 1980

Fate No. 358 Jan 1980Contents
Curtis Fuller: I See By the Papers
Jane M. Loy “Quest for El Dorado”
Diane G. Holdson “The Escort”
Martin Ebon “The Mystic Visions of the Shah of Iran”
W. Ritchie Benedict: Star of Bethlehem to Reapear
The Readers: True Mystic Experiences
Mary Jane Knisely “The Many Roads to Healing”
Richard Lee-Fulgham “Dragons—Alive and Well and Living in—”
Michael Gross “What Happened to Genette Tate”
Monster Haunts Virginia Woods
Alan Vaughan “The Riddle of Coincidence”
Thomas J. Mooney: Is Bigfoot the Star of Beowulf?
Walter H. Uphoff “The Psychic Photography of Masuaki Klyota”
D. Scott Rogo “Speaking of Past Lives”
Jim Miles: The British Triangle
John Phillip Bessor “Chaplain Officiates at Phantom Funeral”
The Readers: My Proof of Survival
J. Gordon Melton: Books, News & Reviews
The Readers: Report from the Readers

Clark Publishing Company
Publisher: Curtis Fuller
Editor/Associate Publisher: Mary Margaret Fuller
Managing Editor: Betty Lou White
Associate Editor: Jerome Clark

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly March 1953

Manhunt March 1953Contents
Richard S. Prather “The Sleeper Caper” (Shell Scott)
Evan Hunter “Dead Men Don’t Dream” (Matt Cordell)
Bruno Fischer “Stop Him!”
Robert Patrick Wilmot “Triple-Cross”
Leslie Charteris “The Loaded Tourist” (The Saint)
Frank Kane “Payoff” (Johnny Liddell)
Craig Rice “The Tears of Evil” (John J. Malone)
Harold Q. Masur “The Mourning After” (Scott Jordan)
Mickey Spillane “Everybody’s Watching Me” (Part 3 of 4)
William Lindsay Gresham “Teaser”
Floyd Mahannah “Prognosis Negative”
Richard Marsten “Against the Middle”

Pageant Dec. 1969

Pageant Dec. 1969Excerpt from Tom Brinkmann’s article, “Sharon Tate’s Fate,” from The Digest Enthusiast book six:

The confusing cover blurb read, “Part 2–Behind Sharon Tate’s Tragedy! Stars Who Need Sex Clubs,” which made it sound like two articles, which in a way it kind of was.

. . . Last month the author described the orgies that led up to the horrifying slaying of Sharon and four others. This month he tells of his personal involvement with Sharon and her circle of friends and acquaintances. Also, he gives his reasons for blaming Hollywood itself in large part for the tragedy that took five lives.

Pageant Dec. 1969 back coverThis second and final part of the Pageant Tate feature focused on Jay Sebring, and is almost a mini-bio, with facts and figures, personal anecdotes by Hyams; and, it would be re-used as the Sebring/Tate chapter for his autobiography, which had the same story told slightly differently with some of the details left out and others added.

Tom Brinkmann writes about unusual, off-the-beaten-path magazines, digests, and tabloids. His Bad Mags website was active from June 2004–July 2017. His books, Bad Mags Volume 1 (2008) and Volume 2 (2009) are available from secondary outlets, including amazon.com

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly Feb. 1953

Manhunt Feb 1953Contents
John Ross Macdonald “The Imaginary Blonde”
Michael Fessier “Sex Murder in Cameron”
Jonathan Craig “Dirge for a Nude”
Eleazer Lipsky “Stabbing in the Streets”
Richard Marsten “Carrera’s Woman”
Hunt Collins “Attack”
Mickey Spillane “Everybody’s Watching Me” (Part 2 of 4)
John Evans “So Dark for April”
Richard Deming “The Lesser Evil”
Fletcher Flora “As I Lie Dead”
Mugged and Printed: Mickey Spillane, Michael Fessier, John Evans, John Ross Macdonald, Richard Deming, and Eleazer Lipsky