A couple of interesting facts: it looks like ACE-HIGH was the western magazine (that wasn't exclusively romance) most likely to feature women on the cover. I'm thinking that's because they were heavy on the romances. Am I correct, gang? The April 1937 one shows a woman with a very 1930s dress confronting a couple of cowboys. Actually, this kind of anachronism was not unusual at all. Many of the westerns were set in the "modern day West."
One of the western magazines that was least likely to have a woman on the cover: WILD WEST WEEKLY. In fact, I have yet to see one with a woman on a cover.
THE POPULAR MAGAZINE, April 1, 1913
ARGOSY, May 23, 1925
TRUE STORY, December, year unknown
FAR WEST STORIES, April 1932
WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE, April 25, 1936
ACE HIGH WESTERN, December 1936
ACE-HIGH WESTERN, April 1937
ROMANTIC RANGE, June 1937
WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE, September 25, 1937
ACE HIGH, October, year unknown
WESTERN STORY, August 27, 1938
RANCH ROMANCES, August No. 2, 1931
RANCH ROMANCES, February No. 2, 1939
RANCH ROMANCES, August No. 1, 1939
THRILLING RANCH STORIES, December 1948 
.jpg)
8 comments:
Ooh! I like how tough they all look. I wish I could be that tough when faced with dastardly villains. Unfortunately, I'd probably be the one cowering behind the horse.
Wow! A whole lotta rockem-sockem pulp covers to make my day.
I was watching American Experience on PBS the other night, it was a program about the facts/myths about Wyatt Earp. They did it with a mix of recreations and old photos. What caught my attention was a shot at the beginning (part of the recreated part) that showed a copy of Ace-High Magazine on a side table it looked so new that I am not sure if it was a reprint or an original.
Pretty neat to see though either way.
Can't look at these without hearing that old Patsy Montana song... "I wanna be a cowboy's sweetheart/I wanna learn to rope and ride."
Melissa: who says women weren't empowered back then. They certainly were on these covers. :)
Barry, I saw part of that special as well. The problem is that I'm so tired of hearing about him - I want to learn about other people - that I tuned it out.
Me too, Dave. Although there's a much more recent song "I Wanna be a Cowboy and You Can be my Cowgirl" that I now can't get out of my head. And that's all I'm going to say about that.
I think my favorite (hard to choose actually) is the Dec. 1936 Ace-High Western. I like the composition quite a lot. I love the way the title of one of the stories is on the left and the authors on the right does not interfere with the image. I thought it was a Baumhofer but when I looked it up I found it was not. Perhaps it is a Tom Lovell.
That is a good one Barry. I still like the Popular one, but I also love the Romantic Range cover too - reminds me of when I used to ride in the mountains when I was a kid.
A marvellous set of covers, Laurie. I like 'em all but think Western Story Sep 25 1937 creates a great sense of mood with the light and shade technique. Thanks for sharing them!
Thanks, Nik. I like that cover too. It's from the Fiction Mags Index online. Thanks for stopping by!
Post a Comment