FRANKENSTEIN FOR MEN ONLY

I find it rather surprising that with all the print material and digital files that I have available to post about, I regularly come across something pertaining to monsters in--of all places--men's magazines.

I found this article, "The Legend of Frankenstein!" in the June 1965 issue of JADE. Subtitled, "The Ultimate in Magazine Entertainment, it was published by Seven Seventy Publishers with a P.O. box out of Universal City, CA. This was their first issue and I don't know if there was a second. There is no masthead or staff credits.

Being the first issue, the editorial professes some lofty claims, such as being "a magazine that combines the visual impact of LIFE, the readability of SATURDAY EVENING POST and the sophistication of PLAYBOY" (!).

The history of the title is a bit of a puzzle; there were at least two issues of JADE published in 1960 by Roena Publications, Inc. subtitled "A Gem of Male Entertainment" and at least three issues published from 1962-1963 by Pike Publishing Co. with the same subtitle and similar logo as the issue shown today. I'm guessing it was bought by, or morphed into Seven Seventy Publishers and continued for at least one more issue.

After reading the article, I do have to say that it was well-written and not just a slap-dash quickie meant for filler. It does, however, have a few errors with dates and names.It runs for 10 pages, is well illustrated and includes a still from BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN that I don't ever remember seeing. Without provenance, this could have easily been thought to be from a monster magazine from the same period.

EXTRA!

Included in this issue were five of Harvey Kurtzman's one-page HEY LOOK! cartoon strips. Kurtzman is, of course, best known for his work on EC Comics and MAD, but earlier he worked for Stan Lee at Timely Comics from where he drew HEY LOOK! strips. Lee is reported to have come up with the title and Kurtzman took it from there. I'm not sure how these ended up in this magazine, and I'm assuming he retained the rights to them and they are all reprints. Kurtzman also worked on the humor magazines HELP! and TRUMP, as well as publishing his own humor mag, HUMBUG (and infamously poached a few artists from MAD). All these went by the wayside when he found better success (and a larger paycheck) writing the LITTLE ANNIE FANNY strip (no pun intended) for PLAYBOY.

On a side note, one of the individuals who chipped in some cash for the HUMBUG start-up was Harry Chester, a graphic designer who ran a studio catering to the publishing trade. He designed James Warren's girlie magazine, AFTER HOURS, and is notable to monster fans as the production manager for FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND beginning with issue #10.

BONUS!

Kurtzman also did some pre-EC comics work in the 1940s. He illustrated two Black Venus stories for Aviation Press' CONTACT COMICS. Black Venus was an ex-Parisian showgirl who went to war as a Japanese-fighting aviatrix. This story is from CONTACT COMICS #11 (March 1946). The title was the only one that Aviation Press published and it ran for 12 issues until shortly after the war.