While one might think that violent crimes are "man-heavy", there are plenty of women who have turned against the law; the murderous, bank-robbing pair, Bonnie and Clyde being one of the more famous examples. But back in the 1950's and 1960's there were enough women committing capital crimes to have their "exploits" covered in their own magazine.
For several decades, WOMEN IN CRIME shared a spot among the multitude of true crime publications that crowded the newsstands. This issue from April 1957 by Skye Publishing Co. comes with the qualifier on the cover, "Actual Police Cases", and contains stories with titles like, "Lady on the Back Street", "Nice Girls Don't Kill", "Meet Miss Wildcat", well -- you get the idea.
My Dad was not a reading man for the most part, but detective magazines like this were around the house. I doubt they were quite this racy, but I do remember looking at them with a feeling of getting away with something. These were the closest to "porn" mags that ever entered my Mother's home, at least to my knowledge. I didn't buy my first Playboy until I was in college.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad was more of a True West and Frontier Times kinda reader, but I think I remember seeing one or two Stags or Bluebooks on his nightstand on occasion. As a WW II vet, I'm sure it was because of the war stories. Your comment about Playboy reminded me that when my friend and I were quite a bit under-aged we found a local liquor store were a certain woman working behind the counter would sell us Playboys. We had to devise ways to hide them on our bike rack to get them home because she never gave us a bag!
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