FEMALE SAVAGES IN ACTION! (PART 2)

HAPPY NATIONAL BBQ DAY!

Somehow it doesn't seem fair to celebrate National Burger Month and National BBQ Month in the same month. We should at least stretch out the festivities over more time. Well, anyway, today is officially National BBQ Day, so fire up that grill and make your favorite 'que.

Rubbed and ready for the grill.

Ahhhh . . . St. Louis ribs perfection!

Country ribs are a good alternative when you don't want to wait for a rack.
Note my vintage Homer Laughlin platter, a brand that was ubiquitous in restaurants
and diners back in the day.

Prepare to be slathered! My go-to sauce is usually Bull's Eye.

FEMALE SAVAGES IN ACTION! (PART 1)

“This kid approaches me to request music lessons. He wants to learn guitar and become a music star. Little Charlie is so lazy and shiftless, I doubt if he’ll put in the time required to learn. The youngster has been in institutions all of his life;  first orphanages, then reformatories, and finally federal prison. His mother, a prostitute, was never around to look after him. I decide it’s time someone did something for him, and to my surprise, he learns quickly. He has a pleasant voice and a pleasing personality, although he’s unusually meek and mild for a convict. He never has a harsh word to say and is never involved in even an argument."

- Alvin "Creepy" Karpis on Charles Manson's

interest in music.

MOBS AND GANGS

Vol. 2 No. 1

February 1978

Stories, Layouts and Press, Inc.

Publisher: Myron Fass

Associate Publisher: Irving Fass

Editors: Ken Diamond, Shelton Ivany, Bruce Foster

Art Director: Joseph D'Amato

Pages: 68

Cover price: $1.50

I always want to take a shower after looking at a Myron Fass magazine. If there was trash to be found surrounding any given topic, Fass would gladly haul out the garbage and find a way to exploit it in a magazine. There's something about the rough looking, unsophisticated appearance of the things that reminds me of spending time in a dive somewhere off the midway playing poker with a group of greasy, cheap beer-swilling losers. Still, it's this exact same thing that makes them endlessly fascinating.

Take for instance today's offering. Admittedly, there's nothing savory about mobs, gangsters, rape and murder. But the subject matter is as compelling as a bright, shiny thing to a crow; we are helplessly drawn to it . . . well, I am, anyway.

This is the second of four issues of MOBS AND GANGS, the last known number being published in June 1978. Judging from the bared breast shown on the cover it is quite likely that this title found itself stuffed in with the men's adventure magazine section of the newsstand. And what starts off with a pretty basic "true crime" magazine, the type of which was both ubiquitous and popular in the day, it descends quickly into cheesy, titillating fare that seemed to be aimed solely at readers of the perverse.

All one needs do is browse through the pages of advertising: the inside front cover--innocuous enough with WWII memorabilia for sale--is fairly typical. But not far into the issue are full-page ads for porno films, "sex aids", and not one, but two "electronic everything" love dolls. Others attempt to allure the desperate with come-on blurbs like "Hookers Handbook", "I Play With It", "Pottie Peekers" and "'Greek' Lads"; something for everyone, don't you think?

Also typical of Myron Fass titles like this, are the number of photos that accompany a couple of the articles with posed shots of bare-breasted, near-naked girls in the midst of being threatened, beat up or otherwise violated (I'm guessing the "Art Assistants" listed under the masthead may have been the models used in these photographs). Movie stills were even unabashedly used in some cases. Another curiosity is a "Joseph D'Amato" listed as the Art Director. Now, I don't know if this is the same person as the Italian horror/porn director, but considering the content it's worth a mention.

Alvin "Old Creepy" Karpis.

The lead article is the story of Alvin Karpis. Nicknamed "Old Creepy" because of his unsettling stare, Karpis was a "member" of the infamous Ma Barker gang of thieves and murderers. During his stretch in prison, he bumped into one Charlie Manson and the two were said to have struck up a friendship. Karpis learned that Manson had delusions of grandeur as a rock star and fed his fantasy by teaching him the guitar. Karpis didn't think much of the prison pipsqueak's obsession, but at least it was something for him to do to pass the time in the slammer. However, there is no mention of Manson in this article and it ends with Karpis "living out his days" in Canada after being released. The truth is, he emigrated and died in Spain after his stay in Canada.

Another article, "The Hottest Ice In Town", is about a Florida beach bum who went by the name of "Murph (aka 'Murf') the Surf". Jack Roland Murphy was a surfing champion, as well as a con man and murderer who has the dubious distinction of taking part in what remains the largest jewel heist in American history. Along with a pair of accomplices, he lifted the J.P Morgan collection of the famous Star of India sapphire, the Eagle Diamond and the de Long Ruby from New York's American Museum of Natural History in 1964. The geniuses of crime were apprehended three days later. The famous caper was later filmed by AIP and starred Robert Conrad, Don Stroud (as Murph) and Donna Mills. At 80 years of age, today Murphy is preaching the ministry to prison inmates (since the original post of this article, Murphy died in 2020 at the age of 83). Incidentally, Murph the Surf was also a name given to a recurring cartoon character in the 1960s by famed underground artist Rick Griffin in the pages of Peterson Publishing's SURFER magazine.

Other articles with titles like "Never Rape a Gangster's Gal" and "Female Savages - A Girl Gang Member" round out the issue. Together with his brother Irving as associate publisher, Myron Fass produced a pulp curiosity if there ever was one.

So, without further ado, here is the first part of MOBS AND GANGS in all its tarnished glory. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go wash my hands.

NOTE: This is a revised version of an earlier post.