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This note considers US tabloid publisher Bernarr MacFadden
(a contemporary of Hearst and precursor of Generoso Pope)
and successors such as MacFadden Communications Corp and
Sterling/MacFadden.
It covers -
introduction
At its height in 1935 the combined circulation of MacFadden's
magazines was around 7.35 million - greater than those
of the Hearst, Curtis or Time-Life
groups - and reportedly attracted over 35 million readers
to a mixture of gossip, zany health tips and softcore
smut. The group's deeply eccentric founder had tangled
with morals crusader Anthony Comstock, lost a fortune
as proprietor of the New York Evening Graphic
(aptly dubbed the Pornographic by critics) and
other newspapers, and acquired prominent middlebrow magazines
such as Liberty.
Today he's largely forgotten and his publications, such
as True Love, have disappeared or are spread
among publishing groups that range from VNU to American
Media Inc.
biography
Bernarr
Macfadden (1868-1955), sometimes dubbed the "Father
of Physical Culture" - a title claimed by Sandow
and successors such as Charles Atlas and the Weider
brothers - was born in poverty in the eastern Ozarks of
Missouri. It is tempting to conclude that a relentless
narcissism and exhibitionism is attributable to death
of his parents while he was still a child and early ill
health, which apparently drove an obsession with diet,
exercise and positive thinking.
In his twenties he gained attention as a gymnast, professional
wrestler and body builder. Promotion of muscle development
equipment in the UK and the US failed to bring a fortune.
While in England he launched Physical Development,
initially a cheap newsletter in the space occupied by
Tit-bits and other Northcliffe
publications. Returning to the US he launched Physical
Culture in 1899 and went on to crank out a succession
of health and fitness publications on the theme that 'ill-health
is a crime' (to be combatted through a diet of carrots,
nuts and raw eggs), consistent with the zeitgeist that
produced Mary Baker Eddy and
Aimee Semple McPherson.
Physical Culture gained 100,000 readers during the
next decade; by 1918 it had around 500,000 readers. Some
were presumably attracted by insights about health. Others
read the magazine - and similar 'physique' publications
- subversively as a precursor of gay porn.
The gospel of 'Professor' MacFadden, voiced in lecture
tours and in a chain of 'health restaurants', included
a titillating emphasis on the dangers of drugs, gluttony,
white bread, tea, sugar, corsets, coffee and sexual repression.
In 1903 he staged the first 'physique' contest in the
US; later events fostered the career of Charles Atlas.
Surviving brushes with the law - including a term
in prison for obscene literature - in 1919 he launched
True Story, the first of the modern 'confession
magazines'.
The success of that title spawned a range of downmarket
fiction magazines - sometimes promoted as journalism -
with other pulp titles such as True Detective
and True Romances. Concurrently he promoted physical
fitness centres/resorts featuring treatment such as 'kinesitherapy'
and allowing lucky customers the opportunity to obtain
degrees such as a doctorate in 'physcultopathy' or buy
Strengtho breakfast cereal. That flaunted an
increasingly paranoid view of conventional medicine, evident
in MacFadden's claim that the American Medical Association
was poisoning his wells.
Early attempts to emulate Hearst by gaining selection
as a party candidate in state and federal elections were
unsuccessful. They appear to have encouraged MacFadden
to launch the New York Evening Graphic, which
spawned the second era of yellow journalism in that city
and was notorious for innovations such as the 'composograph'
- a doctored photograph.
MacFadden became increasingly eccentric as he aged. Critics
noted that without warning he would periodically moo like
a cow, stand on his head (particularly when photographers
were present), sleep on the floor to enjoy the energy
of 'earth-to-body magnetic currents' (one reason why he
habitually walked barefoot) and wear clothes until they
fell apart. Cosmotarianism, his new religion, gained few
adherents.
Removal as chief executive, however, reflected losses
in what was by then a public company and SEC impatience
with his habit of using the corporate treasury as a personal
ATM.
imprints
MacFadden's magazine imprints included -
- Physical
Culture Magazine
- Muscle
Builder Magazine
- Liberty
- Movie
Mirror
- Radio
Mirror
- Your
Faith
- True
Story
- True
Experiences
- True
Love and Romance
- True
Romances
- Your
Home
- Dream
World
- True
Ghost Stories
- Ghost
Story
- Midnight
-
Dance
- True
Detective
- Master
Detective
-
Photoplay
- Model
Aircraft News
Newspapers
included -
- New
York Evening Graphic
- New
York Daily Investment News
- Detroit
Daily Illustrated
- Automotive Daily News
- New
Haven Times
- Mt
Pleasant Daily Times
- Lansing
Capital News
- Philadelphia
Daily News
- Wyandotte
Daily Record
- Greenville
Daily News
Sterling/MacFadden
After MacFadden's departure the group had a lower profile.
In 1992 its pulp magazines (including True Confessions
and True Romance) were spun off as Sterling/MacFadden
(aka Sterling MacFadden Partnership), a publisher that
brought together MacFadden interests with those of Sterling's
Magazines. The Sterling's stable included Teen Machine,
Jive, Metal Edge and Daytime TV.
The new company claimed some 39 titles and reportedly
enjoyed annual revenue of around US$60 million. It went
on to acquire Sixteen magazine.
MacFadden - rebadged as MacFadden Communications Corp
- retained industry titles such as Chief Executive
and Discount Merchandiser and sought to build
conference operations.
In 1998 Primedia paid US$28
million for Sterling/MacFadden's youth music publications,
such as Teen Beat, Teen Beat Allstars,
Sixteen Superstars, Tiger Beat, Superteen
and Teen Machine. During the following year VNU
acquired MacFadden Communication's eight trade magazines
targeted at food and snack retailers (including Convenience
Store News and Supermarket Business) and
five beverage sector magazines such as Beverage World
and Discount Merchandiser.
Dorchester Media LLC subsequently acquired Sterling/MacFadden's
non-youth magazines, such as True Story Romance.
studies
Biographies of MacFadden include Body Love: The Amazing
Career of Bernarr Macfadden (Bowling Green State
Uni Press 1989) by William Hunt, Weakness Is a Crime:
The Life of Bernarr Macfadden (Syracuse: Syracuse
Uni Press 1991) by Robert Ernst and 'Making a Commodity
of Truth: Speculations on the Career of Bernarr Macfadden'
by Ann Fabian in American Literary History 1993,
5(1).
Hagiographies under his auspices include Fulton Oursler's
The True Story of Bernarr Macfadden (New York:
Copeland 1929), Grace Perkins' Chats With the Macfadden
Family (New York: Copeland 1929) and Clement Wood's
Bernarr Macfadden: A Study in Success (New York:
Copeland 1929).
First wife Mary Macfadden's memoir Dumbbells and Carrot
Strips (London: Gollancz 1956) is entertaining, more
so than Barefoot in Eden (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice
Hall 1962) by third wife Johnnie Lee Macfadden. Comstock
has attracted considerable attention: salient works are
Paul Boyer's Purity In Print (New York: Scribners
1968) and Nicola Beisel's Imperiled Innocents: Anthony
Comstock & Family Reproduction in Victorian America
(Princeton: Princeton Uni Press 1997).
For the pre-1950 tabloids and their successors see include
I Watched A Wild Hog Eat My Baby! - A Colorful History
of Tabloids and Their Cultural Impact (Amherst: Prometheus
2001) by Bill Sloan, Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing
Crime in 50's America (New York: PPP Editions 2006)
by Will Straw, For Enquiring Minds: A Cultural Study
of Supermarket Tabloids (Knoxville: Uni of Tennessee
Press 1999) by Elizabeth Bird and other works highlighted
in the American Media Inc note
elsewhere on this site. Tabloid Journalism: An Annotated
Bibliography of English-language Sources (Westport:
Greenwood 1996) by Gerald Greenberg is of particular value.
For other perspectives see Hard to Imagine: Gay Male
Eroticism in Photography and Film from Their Beginnings
to Stonewall (New York: Columbia Uni Press 1996)
by Thomas Waugh.
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