According to George Hagenauer (in Alter Ego #34), these kinds of
men’s-adventure magazines were often called “sweats” "because they often
had sweaty he-men in their cover paintings." He goes on to eloquently
describe the contents:
These sported lurid painted
covers, clothed pin-up photos, and he-man articles about hunting, crime,
adventure, and war. The “true-life” articles tended to be fictional and
were illustrated by a mix of real and fake photos. For the more extreme
articles to which no photo could possibly do justice, they commissioned
delightfully outrageous paintings.
Courage:
Man's Daring Adventures
3
issues · Nov. 1957–Apr. 1958
Courage is a magazine much more difficult to find, perhaps because of its
late debut.
36 • "The Strange Mystery of America's Only Harem," by
Rutledge M. Davenport
38 • "Win, Place and Die," by John Joseph Vance
41 • "England's Man-Crazy Teenagers," by C.V. Tench
44 • "Mickey Mouse Derby." About mouse racing.
47, 49 • Cartoons by Bill Ward aka McCartney
Gusto: He-Man
Adventures
3 issues · Oct.
1957–Feb. 1958 · 25¢ Magazine
This title contained lots of smaller bits of "humor" as well as
the stories, and the ads targeted men interested in "love novels," girly
pics, shoes, hair loss, impotence, physical fitness, unsightly rashes, and
automobiles. The writers' names were probably mostly pen names.
Winters and Whitman, Editorial and Art Diretion
Gusto #1 (Oct. 1957) · 68 pages
8 · "Quicksand!" The slime sucked us down by Bill
Harris
10 · "I Battled the Monster Cayman." by James V.
Brody
"HORRIFYING AS IT may seem, that pleasure-giving television
set in your living room may kill your next baby before he is born.
It may
make you sterile—completely unable to conceive children. Worse yet, if
worse is possible, it may not make you entirely sterile, but it might alter
the genes you possess, which control the development of any children you
may have, in such a way that they will be born—but will be born freaks!
The last link in the chain of evidence establishing
this as a scientific probability, was recently revealed by Dr. Hyatt
Deems, Research Director for Southcentral Radiation Laboratories. Speaking
before a group of radiologists in Birmingham, England, Dr. Deems had
this to say: "It is a well-known
fact, both among the scientific community and among interested laymen,
that television screens emit soft X-rays of the same type that are known
to induce sterility and vastly accelerate the mutation rate of all affected
species. Among the affected species is man.
"Of the two possibilities,
sterility or distorted acceleration of the number of mutations," the
Doctor went on, "sterility seems
distinctly the more merciful."
Why the Doctor thinks so can be seen
from the case of Herrold and Sally Winowski, of Flint, Michigan. Perhaps
they would be happier parents today if they had heard of Dr. Deems' work
a few years ago.
The father and mother of two rosy-cheeked, normal tots
aged three and six, the Winowskis were looking forward to the birth of
their third child, not long ago.
In her pre-natal visits to the doctor,
Mrs. Winowski was told that she could expect twins. Since both she and
her husband love children and have always wanted a large family, she was
delighted. When they announced the doctor's report to their friends and
family, they became the subject of the usual good-natured kidding and fun
that is a common reaction …"
Man’s Exploits #2 (Aug. 1957)
Index incomplete
8 • "America's Strangest Physician" Howard Evans
12 • "Kill Them—Fast" by Donald Crane
16 • "Newest French Cult: Sex and Sterility" by T. Georges Hayden needed.
20 • "Take a Peek at Pat." Pictorial of dancer Pat Dorsey.
26 • "Human Monster." by H.B. von Block
28 • "The Fire Dance of Human Sacrifice" by Alfred Chance
38 • "Rip Open teh Jugular!" by A. Jeff Gann
? • Pictorial of Patsy Dean
Man’s Exploits #3
(Nov. 1957)
6 • "Live and Laugh"
8 • "Ocelots Tore My Flesh" by Lawrence Maczek
10 • "The Hill Ran Red with Blood" by Dave Chrisman
14 • "Fiesta Brava!" buy Stuart N. James
17 • "Seven Shocking Sex Facts" by L.T.J. Bachmann
24 • "The Cannibal Wench of Yugoslavia!" by Aldous Baker
27 • "Quiz: Will You Ever Make a Million?"
28 •
"Voodoo Saturday Night"
32 • "Terror of Texas" by W.J. Shanrahan
34 • "You're Better Off Broke!" by Dell James
36 • "Making Out with Mac" by McCartney (Bill Ward)
38 • "Mad Dog Killer" by Drake L. Henshaw. About killer Leslie Iårvin
40 • "We Died the hard Way!" by Tracy Pfluger
42 • "Girl to Stay Behind With" Pictorial featuring Donaldo Jordan
Man’s Exploits #4 (Jan. 1958)
Pattie May photo spread, Bill Ward cartoons, Matt Baker interior art, Doomed
by the Monkey Gods.
9 • "I am a Deserter—Have Pity on Me!" by Mel
Short
12 • "Death is a Pig," by Francis W. January
14 • "We Conquered the Last of the Dinosaurs," by
Jimmy Walker.
18 • "I was Doomed by the Monkey Gods," by
Paul Brock
20 • ?? by Mike James
22 • "Pattie May—Tassel Twirler." Pictorial
26 • "The Bloody Mutiny of Cinque," by Jeff
Dunbar
29 • "Scorpion at 12 O'Clock!" by Don Wood
32 • "The Witch-Brew of Lokanzi," by Frederick
Kaish
34 • "Decoy for a Killer!" by Peter Abbott
36 • "Through the Looking Glass." Pictorial
40 • "He Stole $2,000,000 Before Breakfast," by
Emil Zubryn
42 • "The Wildest Woman of the West," by Wayne
D. Mote
44 • "Mirthful McCartney's Modest Maidens," cartoons
by Bill Ward
Man’s Exploits #5
(April 1958) · 68 pages
6 · "A Man's Girl—Gina Lollobrigida." (one photo)
9 · "The Horns of Death." Mike O'Hara.
12 · "The Four Wickedest Cities in the World." Mel
Short.
16 · "I Walked Away from a Fortune." Ben Finnegan.
18 · "Lili Lisande." Pictorial.
22 · "The Man Who Laughed at Death." Pete Coleridge.
24 · "India's Female Robin Hood." Dunwwodie Hall.
27 · "They Chopped Off My Hands!" Albert S.
Michelle.
30 · "Destruction Derby."
34 · " Abandon Ship." Frank Ritchie.
36 · "Queen of the Bluebeards." Paul Brock.
38 · "I'll Cut the Fight Out of You!" Jack E. Prosser. About Castro's Cuban revolution.
41 · "She Pulled the Worst Double Cross in History." Seneca
N. Gates.
Rage for Men
8
issues · Dec. 1956–Feb. 1958 · 25¢
Magazine
Rage for Men was a chaotic scramble of contents, which made
good re-use of some photos from Classic and Master
Photography to illustrate their stories.
One of the pin-ups in issue #5 was from a larger spread in Classic #2.
One story per issue was illustrated in the style of the cover, probably by
the same artist.
Issue #2's letters page boasted: "In case you missed our first issue—and
you may easily have done so, since they went so fast we're short of copies
ourselves—Rage is a magazine aimed for men who want honest, hard-hitting
articles about the things they're interested in—not what the ladies think
we should be interested in.
Note: This publication was restarted by Charles Sultan's Natlus in 1960.
Those issues bear a different logo:
Rage for Men #1
(Dec. 1956)
This issue featured the first of a two-part "discussion" about this
new-fangled thing called rock music—"Rock 'n Roll: The Sound of Sex."
It's notable for hitching its wagon to Elvis Presley. In this first issue
of Rage,
the author indicted rock music as the "Sound of Sex." This is something the
editors of Arnold Publications would surely have approved of. Like all their
articles, it was presented from a titillated and mildly scandalized point
of view.
6 • "The Editor Shoots the Breeze"
10 • "I Played Suburbia's Newest Sex Game," by anonymous
12 • "My Buddy Was Blasted to Bits!" by anonymous
14 • "Rock 'n' Roll: The Sound of Sex," by Lincoln James
18 • "Spangled Sequin"
24 • "I Saw Africa's Bloodiest Rite," by George Nugent
26 • "The Burlesque Dancer Murder Case," by Edward L. Radin
28 • "We Fought the Black Devils of the Arctic," by anonymous
32 • "The Truth About Those French Postcards," by Gian L. Gian
34 • "A Lady Wrestler's Night"; pictorial about female wrestler Penny Banner, and her bout with June Byers
40 • "Death Rides a Thunderbolt," by Harry Botsford
42 • "The Man Who Wouldn't Die," by Howard Crandall
44 • "Meet Sophia Loren," by Ray Adams (a Q & A)
I don't own this issue but found these low resolution shots online of
the first issue's article.
Rage for Men #2
(Feb. 1957) • 68 pp.
This issue is a bit more collectible because of the article "Elvis
Presley Defends Rock 'n' Roll." This is probably a ghosted piece of
writing, and the Antiquarian
Booksellers' Association posited
that "Colonel
Parker offered the magazine a rebuttal article by Elvis. Even the article
was ghost written for Elvis there is inside information such as later appears
in Last Train to Memphis that shows this is what Elvis wanted people to know."
6 · "The Editors Shoot the Breeze."
10 · "We Blasted the Gook Trap." By Jeff Dunbar.
12 · "The Queer Triangle Murder." By Edward
D. Radin.
14 · "I Dueled Death on the Isle of Nudes." By Michael
James.
10 · "How Girl Gangs Fight and Love," by Harlan Ellison
14 · "I Fought the Blood Monsters," by Horton McQuade
16 · "Inside a House of Sin," by anonymous
22 · "I Was Flogged by Red Sadists," by Angelo DiStranega (as
told to Prof. Pietre Permengo)
25 · "Last Ride Through the Gorge of Death," by Willard Luce
26 · "France’s Newest Sexy Starlets," by anonymous
33 · I" Shot Mata Hari," by Tahara Ben Khardin (as told to Seneca
N. Gates)
34 · "Nakedness: The Greatest Sex Fear," by Robert Mines
36 · "Whatever Happened to Samia Gamal?" by anonymous
38 · "The Lady and the Gorilla," by George Nugent
40 · "Who Is the Girl Waiting at a Bus Stop?" by anonymous
44 · "Too Many Loves Had Robbie," by Captain Glenn Shirley
Rage for Men #4
(June 1957) · 68 pages
This issue lacked any frontal nudity in photos. "The
Editors" compiled an informal list of their top ten most beautiful women
at the time: 1. Elizabeth Taylor, 2. Marilyn Monroe, 3. Kim Novak, 4. Gina
Lollobrigida, 5. Sheree North, 6. Sophia Loren, 7. Grace Kelly, 8. Jane Russell,
9. Barbara Nichols, 10. Carroll Baker
Courage
