Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Saucy Mags of the 1940s: Wesley Press

The following titles were all printed by "The Wesley Press", based in Bebington, in the Wirral, Liverpool, which I believe was a front for Norman Firth, who wrote dozens of stories and short novels under the name N. Wesley Firth and various pseudonyms and was almost certainly the author of these magazines. Indeed, Firth seems to have been a front for Benson Herbert's Utopian Press as Utopian advertised Snappy Stories as being amongst their "Utopian 75 cents magazines" and another entitled Paris Nite Life which may be French Night Life.

Breezy Stories (c.1948)
2 * Carlson, Fay * She Wouldn’t Say Yes * ss
7 * Webster, Tex * Room For Two * ss
9 * Lemans, Marcel * Who Kissed Mimi * ss
13 * Lee, Judy * Dancing Angel * ss
16 * Tempest, Vale * The Night Was Made For Love * ss
23 * Brook, Clifton * What’s In A Name * ss
27 * Fitzroy, Spencer * Broken Date * ss
29 * Garrick, Wilton * Hungry For Love * ss

French Night Life (c.1948)
(contents not known)

Saucy Stories (c.1948)
2 * Gordon, Gordon * “Mmmm” said the Countess * ss
8 * Harding, Clem * Midnight in Kansas * ss
12 * Croft-Cooke, Alistair * She Found the Wrong Bed * ss
16 * Kenyon, Gary * There’s a Mouse in My Room * ss
20 * Penge, Miriam * Grabbing Greta’s Garter * ss
24 * “Masher” * They Met in the Fog * ss
28 * Saville, Wilton * The Girl who Failed * ss

Silky Stories (c 1948)
2 * “Masher” * Silk Stocking Babe * ss
8 * Menton, Myrtle * The Way to Live * ss
11 * Magrew, Len * He Spept in Her Room * ss
15 * Bayman, Marylin * Something in Common * ss
22 * Anderson, Matt * Unfaithful * ss
25 * Ferguson, Milt * No Other Man * ss
29 * Corbett, Alistair * What a Woman * ss

Snappy Stories (c 1948)
2 * Fairleigh, Wetherley * Campus Strip * ss
7 * Grace, Miriam * The Wolf Rampant * ss
10 * Rhodes, Ann Alina * Beauty and the Brassiere * ss
14 * Honeybelle * The Best Curves of my Life * ss
17 * Dallas, Anfield * A Girl’s Gotta Live * ss
19 * Isherwood, Sherman * How to get into the Movies * ss
22 * Ashley, Renee * Susie Steps Out * ss
26 * Merton, Gideon * This Cutie has Legs * ss
29 * Croft, Alistair * The Modern Venus * ss

(* scans are from eBay.)
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

1 comment:

Morgan Wallace said...

hi Steve.
I actually own PARIS NITE-LIFE. It really does exist. It's a shoddy, very cheaply produced item, not like the later attractive Utopia editions. This one has a cardboard outer cover. The whole thing sports three (rusty) staples punching through the covers front and back. Internally, the pages are a crackly tissue paper. All the internal and exterior poor-quality art is by Ramon. I see on Phil's site that it is quoted as being Sep 1948. This seems to be among their earliest first efforts, clearly. Nowhere on it does this say UTOPIA like the later ones. Last internal page claims Utopian Publications, Ltd., New York--London. No address given.

Cover states 75 cents as usual. Someone in fountain ink wrote 2/6 at the top in the margin.

Thanks! -- Morgan A Wallace

9:22 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)