Gang Pulp

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A frosty mug of thanks to the world’s leading Harold Hersey authority, John Gunnison, for assistance in compiling this volume.

Legendary editor, Harold Hersey, rose through the ranks working for publishers Street & Smith, Clayton, and Bernarr Macfadden. In late 1928, he established his own company, Magazine Publishers, popularly known as The Hersey Magazines. He called it the “Easy Credit Era”; five-thousand dollars launched the line. Thirteen titles were introduced from October 1928 through May 1929. All but two were pulps. They covered the field, from aviation to western to crime to romance, a typical “hope-for-a-winner” strategy, as Hersey put it in his 1937 book. Pulpwood Editor.

The third title introduced, with a cover date of November 1928, was The Dragnet Magazine. An above-the-title banner on the cover advertised its contents as “Detective and Crook Stories.” The cover painting was adapted from the 1928 Paramount film, Ladies of the Mob. December’s cover adapted art from another Paramount entry, 1927’s Underworld, the first in a new wave of popular gangster films. January’s cover revisited Ladies of the Mob, after which the covers sported homegrown concepts. We should further note that another Paramount gangster film. The Dragnet, was released in May 1928. So it’s quite apparent that Hersey, in New York, was attempting to mirror Hollywood’s success.

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