MYRON FASS MINI-MONSTER RALLY

It's no secret that Myron Fass and family are well-known as the magazine publishing kings of horror exploitation. Their empire tried everything from Kennedy to the occult in efforts to make a buck. Men's mags, monster mags, you name it -- their output of genre titles far exceeded even Warren's varied lines.

With the exception of longer running magazines such as WEIRD and HORROR TALES, titles were ususally short-lived. One attempt at jumping on the "adult humor" bandwagon was OGLE. Part satire, part spoof, and part men's mag, it ran for a few issues, then petered out (no pun intended) like so many others.

Of interest to monster fans, however, was a three-page spread in OGLE #4 (August 1960) called Ogle Goes to a Monster Rally. It contained several pictures of posed shots and even a still from Paul Blaisdell's IT, THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE.

In true exploitative style, the photos were provocatively posed with women either shown as victims or femme fatales. It is commonly thought that the subjects in these photos were either staffers dressed up or cheaply-hired actors. Knowing the frayed shoestring of a budget that the Fass' worked off of, I'd put my money on the staffers.

One particular subject was used several times over the span of a few years. An unidentified, "long-in-tooth" vampire woman was seen in several horror titles, including SHOCK TALES and the second issue of THRILLER.


SHOCK TALES #1 (1959)

 

THRILLER #2 (1962)

  

A rare look at the interior of THRILLER #2
(photo from eBay).



Another interior sample from THRILLER #2.

Another feature in OGLE #4 was a humor piece that claimed editor Myron Fass was really a woman! Of course, it was another excuse at using pictures of (at least in this case anyway) attractive and bosomy women, posing in apparel as flimsy as the premise of the article.