Behind the Bastards - Part One: The Surprising Evil of 1950s Men's Adventure Magazines

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

Robert sits down with Margaret Killjoy to read a selection of stories and ads from old timey men's adventure magazines, which feature a mix of soft core porn, racism and Indiana Jones style action. (2 Part Series)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2017, Libby Caswell was found dead in a motel room in Independence, Missouri. We have a term called JDRR, which means just don't look right. On season two of my podcast, What Happened To? I take a closer look at Libby Caswell's life and death. Libby's case keeps me awake at night. What happened to her is unknown. That's something that I need to know. Listen to What Happened to Libby Caswell

on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. When Tracy Rekel Burns was two years old, her baby brother died. I was told that Matthew died in an accident. Her parents told police she had killed him. I'm Nancy Glass. Join me for burden of guilt, the new podcast

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or wherever you get your podcast. Oh, welcome back to Behind the Bastards, a podcast that's normally about the worst people in all of history, and is normally named behind the bastards. But, you know, we've got something special for you this week and moving forward. But first, I'm going to bring on our guest for today, Margaret Killjoy. Woo, that's me. Hi. Hi, Margaret. How are you doing?

I'm doing great. I'm really excited that you've rebranded the show to be parenting tips for the unmarried. Yeah, that is exactly it. Tip number one. Wait, did you actually just do this? I'm not really long-distance. No, actually. So here's the thing. Here's the thing. Here's the thing that I've been asked to. I'm behind the bastards. In a introduce our audience to because we're changing the name of the podcast everybody. This is a big deal. You may have heard the Indian parliament is voting right now on whether or not to change

the name of their country to Bharat. And I just want to prep everybody because the instant they drop that name, your boys picking it up, this podcast is going to officially be India. Now, I know a lot of people are saying Pakistan has been in line for a while for that one, but I'm sorry. Pakistan is not going to be able to change on a dime as quickly as Sophie can change the name of our Twitter account. And I think that's internationally how names get recognized. Okay. I have bad news for you about the nuclear capacity of Pakistan.

That's not true, but also I was disassociated again, but is he talking about the India thing again? Yeah, yeah. We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it. I only have to listen to like every two words in your sentences and I'm still up to date. I think this is going to be how we make a lot more money

because here's the thing. Behind the bastards, pretty good podcast title, good name recognition after this time. India, that's brand recognition right there. That's true. Everybody knows India, right? You're going to get people listening just because they're interested in the country or whatever. That's cash in the bank, baby. So sorry, Pakistan, but the new India is here. And it's, uh, well, this week, it's, it's several hours of discussing men's adventure

magazines from the 1940s. Oh, I remember why I did that. Okay. So there. So there are things you'll be showing. Now, Margaret, we have not done with you a book episode yet. Yeah. You know, how are you feeling? Do you think you're ready? The vibes are different.

This kind of responsibility. I'm so ready. I was born ready to look through trashy old magazines. They're trashy, right? So they're fascinating, Margaret. Here's like, is this boy's life or like highlights for kids or is this like whatever came before Playboy?

Yeah, it's closer to Playboy. It's closer to Playboy. It's closer to playboy. So here's the thing, Margaret. I, anybody who knows you knows that you're a big fan. You love Christmas. Huge Christmas, Seth. And anyone who knows you also knows you're a member of an obscure pre-NIC in Orthodox cult that believes the actual date of Christ's birth is...

Just bleep it out, whatever you say. Yeah, so anyway, this is a Christmas gift for you. cult that believes the actual date of Christ's birth is just bleep it out, whatever you say. Yeah, so anyway, this is a Christmas gift for you to celebrate the book you published this year, Escape From Insell Island. Oh, okay, good. Yeah, yeah, because your book, you know, is a fun, fictional romp that also deals with, you know, some of the questions about the toxicity of aspects of how men are cultured in our society. Which is one of the more interesting things about that book. So Margaret, here's the thing. I wanted to both provide a little bit of a free Christmas time advertisement for that book. And it felt like the best way to do that was to delve into the history of like masculinity and particularly like the weird media that formed a certain chunk of men's concepts of masculinity for an entire generation, specifically like two

generations before we came onto the scene. And that's why we're going to talk about men's adventure magazines. Now, most of you have seen or heard of these to some extent, they come up on social media every now and then, different, you know, when I worked at Cracked, we had some articles written by Sean Baby making fun of them. They're these ridiculous magazines

that would often have like these garish illustrations of like a mussely man fighting hundreds of crabs. Or like, yeah grabbing women and ripping their bodices and stuff. And it'll have these insane titles for different articles about lusts, slaves of the Nazi Caribbean or some shit like that, wild stuff. But all of these, there's a bunch of different publications that all sort of fall in under the broad category of Min's Adventure. And Min's Adventure is sort of a genre name for a type of publication that started in the 1940s after World War II and had its heyday in the late 50s and 60s. Most of these magazines had died off by the 70s, But while they were alive, they featured a mix of

risqué photos, some of which were just straight up soft core pornography, some of which were, you know, a bit shy of that. And illustrations alongside thrilling articles and short stories about extreme sports, daredevil activities, various fictional pulp tales of two-fisted detectives and cowboys and adventure and ship. A lot of which was framed as these are true stories. But it's basically a fiction magazine. It's a short story magazine. And in fact, a number of authors who were really influential by the 70s and 80s got their start writing for these. I believe these names, Mario Mario Pudo or something. The guy who wrote the Godfather, the book, got his start writing story.

He wrote by his count probably published millions of words in these magazines under a bunch of pseudonyms over the years. Oh yeah. That is possible. We'll read something he wrote today. I have so much respect for the art of like churning out pulpit venture.

Yeah. And like, yeah. It is a bunch of curious about on the page. It is a fucking blue collar job on the page. It is a fucking blue collar job that needs doing. And I have some respect. Yeah. Yeah. And this is like some of these are pretty fun. And in

fact, at least one of them I learned something from. And some of them are incredibly gross and like reveal some of some of the worst things about a specific chunk of men in this period of time. I guess I love that they had to like specifically say

this is men's adventure. As if like, because everyone knows that like Muscley guy's fighting crabs is just adventure. Yeah, but you have to make it men's adventure. Yeah, it has to be horny and deeply dismissive of women. Yeah, and then it's men's adventure. Right. Totally.

Yeah. Morning, girls in here. Absolutely not. Getting a bodice ripped off by Nazi crabs. The first that you have gotten remarkably close to guessing how one of the stories that we're going to be talking about. So true adventure was the first magazine in the Minnes Adventure genre. It was a spin-off of True Detective magazine, which had started back in the 20s.

Early examples of other magazines kind of in the same field had respectable names like Blue Book or Adventure or Argosi. But by the time the 60s rolled around, things had gotten decidedly hornear and cruder with names like climax, world of men and man story. And the kind of articles that they published in these had gotten decidedly lower as well. What is the other great face right now? Yeah, man story, climax, world of men. I've changed my butt opinion about the the star. We can bring the death

star back. All of these have the straightest names for publications they could possibly have. Nothing, nothing but straight with world of men. I would not like to attend that event. The kind of articles that these magazines published went decidedly lower over time as well.

One issue of man story from 1962 features the incredible article title, soft flesh for the Nazi monsters, pit in hell. And I cracked the Reds Lust capital. It also featured an early Listerin. Portland, Oregon. Yeah, the Reds Lust capital. Yes.

It also featured an early Listerin. I was shocked to see this. I did not realize how far back my former career had its roots called 10 Faults that make you repulsive to women, which I think I've run across that exact title in modern articles before. So, actually you and I would be the perfect people to start this magazine and get involved in it. We could do this because we could do this.

Both of our careers are this. I write pulp fiction and you write listicles. We could make this happen, Mark. All we need is somebody who can draw really slutty men fighting off crabs. I'm sure we'll find it. So before we get into some of these stories for ourselves, I found a pretty interesting Huffington Post article with the title, It's a Man's World that cites the son of illicit, you know, it covers the history of these magazines. And at one point, it cites the son of illustrator Norman Saunders who did a lot of the iconic cover drawings for these magazines

Okay, quote dad told me that he felt adventure magazines were towards men who had served in the war but had seen no action Which describes 85% of our 16 million servicemen He felt that men who saw action never wanted to think about it again while most servicemen who had never reached a front line We're doomed to a life of wondering about their manhood in the face of battle. I find that really insightful and compelling. Yeah. Yeah. And you will find there's some like really direct quotes from some of these articles that makes it clear like, oh, that is exactly who you're serving. Yeah. Like, yeah, these guys who they, you know, they'd always wondered what would my life have been like if I had that sort of like searing baptism of fire, you know, what I have.

Maybe all of the things. And I think there's a lot of men who like think that, like, oh, if I just had some like searing combat experience, you know, I would, I wouldn't have these hangups. I wouldn't be scared in this way. I'd have the courage to do this or do that. Yeah. You know, a lot of our media reinforces this attitude, which, you know, let me tell you folks, I don't think that's the most common reaction to experience in combat. I think the most common reaction to experience in combat

is being very, very scared. And not liking it, wanting to avoid getting shot at again, wanting to avoid getting shot at again, wanting to avoid getting shot again. Spending most of the rest of your life finding ways to do it. If it's World War II, we're talking about, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You actually did exactly the best thing possible. You proved you were brave enough to volunteer,

well, as you got drafted, but like you helped stop the Nazis and you didn't get PTSD. Your biggest problem is that you feel like a little amazulated. Yeah, you didn't, because you did support work that is necessary and just as important and you helped stop the Nazis.

Get the fuck out of it. Yeah, you don't actually need all that many guys shooting them. What you do need is a lot of guys ensuring that we, I don't know, make like a dozen battleships in a week and a few that like know what their nation and history had ever managed because of a lot of unpleasant things actually. But anyway, that's beyond the point here.

So yeah, back to, yeah, I find that guy's description of like who these magazines were for compelling because it gets it an issue and a feeling that is still very much present today among a huge chunk of men in our country. This is why it's like the A.R. 15 market. Exactly. Literally the next sentence, Margaret, is this is why so much of the equipment marketed to the gun industry is sold the way it is, right? That's why you get guys doing this fucking like Kyle Rittenhouse shit with the show with guns at protests because they want a chance to do something to to shoot somebody, to be,

to do something that feels like this thing that they have in their head as like the arcond of masculinity, but also they're scared of real combat, right? Yeah. So they much prefer this sort of thing. Like there's this. Yeah, the volunteer in Ukraine.

Yeah, a lot of the, you get a lot of the first wave of American volunteers who went into Ukraine. We're like backrankers and a decent chunk of them. We're like, oh my God, I did not, was not ready for this sort of thing. Now, obviously, there were a lot of guys who went in there and, you know, did in our continuing to be in heavy combat. But like, there's a, there's a, there's a desire among a lot of people for like, I want, I want the thing that military action confers to me,

but I don't want to like sign away years of my life to the military or anything like that. And I hope I found a way around that. Right. Like that's, I think, you know, what a lot of this, what a, I think that impulse is at the core of these magazines and at the core of a lot of things that are really ugly about our, our present society. Um, so much of the toxicity,

I think in the United States right now is centered around men who never saw combat or served, but also don't have a concept of masculinity that extends beyond the ability to do violence and the capacity to convince other people that you can do violence, right? I think that's what these magazines are getting towards, and I think that's also like what's killing us, one of the things that's killing us as a culture. So this is a problem larger than a book episode behind the bastard, but as we've seen

some of these elements in our culture get darker and more extreme to take from gun culture again, there's a lot of media that shifted from like protecting your home and protecting yourself to like preparing to wage a war against woke rumors. This tonal drift was also present and I find this fascinating, was also present in the men's adventure magazines

of a bygone era. You can see a similar drift happen over the course of time that these magazines are being published. And I'm going to quote from that Huffington Post article again. At a certain point in the 1960s, Min adventure Polps took a darker turn. They went from innocent stories of men fighting nature's beasts in the woods to more twisted fair, like warring gangs

of Nazi biker rapists. As author Humphrey Nipe said to me once in reference to the evolution of porn magazines, you can't have brinksmanship without a Brink. Men's Polps went the same way as the porn magazine. They died because they had nowhere else to go. Which you might think about in like the context of our culture too, but yeah, without further ado, Margaret.

All right, let's slide off of that uncomfortable line of thinking, and heading to the Nazi death crabs of our first episode. I don't think there's a Nazi in this first one, but don't worry, we'll get there. Okay. So, here's our first issue, climax, exciting stories for men.

Now, we've got some good titles in here. There's a, you've got a drawing of a pirate. Looks like he's about to cut a man's face off there. Bucking near Berko in the slave girls. And then you've got an article on a French tourist trap that I'm gonna tell you right now, just some soft core pornography. Wait, my favorite part,

Peter Townsend, England's Warrior Playboy. Joe, who's you? Oh, that's right. Who is? Yeah, yeah, we'll be talking about him. Just go, yeah. Oh, good. I can't wait. Yeah, you're happy you're ready for this. So

this is from April of 1960 and it starts with an ad about and the ads in this by the way give us a lot of information about the people that these were geared towards. The ads and the first ad in this magazine is a full page on how you too can make big money in this booming industry. And when you read it a little closer, it's an ad about how to start a business going door-to-door, cleaning furniture and rugs and offering flame-proofing upsells that are just spraying carcinogen cocktails on people's furniture. Like that's what it is. It's like give everybody fucking cancer. This ad is mostly noteworthy because it features, there's like this chunk of it where it's like these men are building lifetime businesses.

And it's like a bunch of dudes' heads with like descriptions of their success. And it's one of the most beautiful 50s guy montages I've ever seen in my life. Look at, look at all these 50s guys. Like one of them's got the slick-backed, combed, fucking dapper Dan as hair. One guy's got a baffling, looks like his entire... All of his teeth have been punched out of him and he's got like a massive bald spot. Another guy looks like a fucking 12 year old,

if you want a top two. Yeah, two of them look dead. Several, several of them have the same problem as Rhonda Santis where nobody taught them how to smile. And so they're just doing like this weird grunt face. It's incredible. Yeah, the New York guy has an amazing look on his face. Don't understand it. The old bald Virginia man looks just the angriest anyone has ever been. It's beautiful. One of

them is beautiful. McConnell having had a seizure and just staring into the middle distance. So the next page has an ad for a correspondence school geared towards new dads. Now, the main thing I found interesting here is that it's sites that statistic that new fathers need to up their earning by $500 a year to account for a baby. That's around $5,000 today, while the estimated cost of raising a child per year today Rages from 13,000 to 20,000 a year. I just thought that was an interesting little bit of context for you Yeah, yeah, love's context. Yeah, that's true. Not yeah, queen of context. Anyway, that's that's a bummer

That's not great inflation. No, the next page is the table of contents Which is followed by an ad for a completely different correspondence school. That's like half of the ads in this paper are like different correspondence schools for guys who just kind of never figured their shit out. This is for unemployed people. Yeah, I think it's for like, either that are under-employed-

Unmid-lage men, yeah. You want to be an entrepreneur because they want easy money. I mean, they're also probably fucked by the economy Like they're probably fucked by the account or they're or they're doing some sort of a job That's just not gonna make them rich and they yeah, you know are willing to fall for this shit. Yeah now Once we get past some of these ads we get to the table of contents and we see that this magazine is filled with stories that have titles Like punk with a Switchblade, the Hunter who died twice,

and all the girls loved Danny. Then there's an ad for Men Past 40 who have trouble getting up nights and have lost physical vigor. The ad informs us the case. Yeah, yeah. The ad informs us the cause may be glandular inflammation, and from what I can sell, they're selling enemas.

And right after the NMA ad Margaret, it's an ad for the Rosa Crucions. Hell yeah. I talked about them on the last fucking episode of Cool Bevel and Cool Stuff. Yeah, look at this beautiful thing. There's like this upside down pyramid with a fucking picture of like ancient Egypt

and knowledge that isn't dude since the pyramids. That's how you see good society. Is you sell ads in the fucking men's adventure. Yeah, according to this ad, you can you could join the Rose accrucians by sending off a letter to Amino, Tepp the fourth. So yeah, that's pretty good. I've always wanted to email or to fucking snail mail a Pharaoh. So the actual stories themselves, most of them are less interesting, maybe than the titles might make you think.

It's mostly middle-aged dad fodder. You know, there's a short story about an old west hired gun in Montana, I think he's solving a mystery. There's multiple stories of like World War II soldiers and flying azes. The most interesting one here is about Pete Townsend, England's warrior playboy, who allegedly positioned not that Pete Townsend, Margaret, not that Pete Townsend. No, he was in fact. Yeah. Do you want to tell him? Please, please, please Sophie, no, go

for it. He was a, I guess for lack of a better word and advisors somewhat secure to guard to Queen Elizabeth's father and proceeded to fuck. Oh Princess Margaret Oh, yeah, and then had a history of and then like broke and then she wasn't allowed to marry him He got like full set of the country. He was already divorced. So she wasn't allowed to marry him. He got like four stout of the country. He was already divorced, so she wasn't allowed to marry him because they had an affair. Then they broke, he broke her heart and then he continued to date other very unquestable

women. Very questionable guy. The most interesting thing about his story in this magazine is that it describes Princess Margaret as the miniature Marilyn Monroe. Um, and she was not very big. Like, so I don't understand this at all, but, you're God, Robert. Yeah, very funny.

This next image is truly horrifying. So after this boring article, we get to the highlight of the issue, which is where we're going to spend most of our time right now, which is the article, punk with a switchblade. I'm there. Yeah. And yeah, look at this. I should have my butterfly knife out. He's got his butterfly knife out. God. Yeah. So the fucking, the, the, the, the introductory art is like a, just a 50s car, you know, giant fucking steel vehicle with like a scared man and a woman, a horrified young woman with her hands on her fucking cheeks and a greaser with like a big fucking Elvis pompadour in a leather jacket holding his knife to like a cherubic child's neck. Like the

kid looks like he looks like one of those like ceramic children and a Christmas village that you bought. Yeah. Yeah. And his knife is the size of a bread knife. Yeah, it is. And it looks like a bread knife. Even though it is described in the story as some kind of switchblade.

I mean, the title of the article is Punct of a Switchblade. Which means that the handle is like nine inches long. Yeah. There's a lot of that's wrong artistically with their depiction of his switchblade. Do we get to read? Do we get to read the story?

Oh, we're going to read this story. We're going into this motherfucker. All right. I'm going to start. The Chris Boktober night air whipped at his tired aching body, making him shiver inside his black leather jacket with the painted skull and crossbones

across the back. His young angry eyes stayed hungrily across the narrow tar road into the window of Pops Roadside diner. Behind the counter, a balding old man in an open neck white shirt stood sipping coffee from a thick mug. Here, in the cold and darkness, the kid had been watching and wanting. When he closed his eyes, he could almost taste the rich hot coffee. He could even see rows and rows of juicy fat apple pies and dark brown chocolate frosted cakes, all the good sweet things of life waiting to be eaten. The angry eyes opened and stared at the window again. If he went inside and asked for something to eat, the old man would laugh at him, push

him and tell him to get out. In the big pocket of his torn dungarees he felt the cold hardness of the bone handled knife He pressed his thumb against the switchblade button knowing the safety catch was on I hate you daddy Oh, he murmured softly. I don't have to beg nobody. I could just walk in there and take what I want daddy Oh, and I ain't gonna walk no more on this dirty old road. I'm gonna get me some wheels old daddy Oh, I'm gonna get me some wheels old daddy. Oh, I'm gonna get me some nice shiny wheels Mark it authors used to know at a right dialogue, you know before this Ruined yeah daddy. Oh, you gotta put that in there like three times. They know he's a greased it. And like bring back those adverbs, you know?

I mean, like people are saying that a word of adverbs and they're writing is terrible. We need more adverbs. No, more adverbs, especially when you're getting paid probably like a heartbreaking amount of money per letter here. Oh, yeah. No, it's way more than any writer gets today.

Yeah, like they probably got paid more per word than the current going rate, not adjusted for inflation. Yeah, almost certainly. Well, we're going to get back to greaser with a switchblade. Uh, but you know what? Yeah, after, after this ad from the rose accruciants. In 2017, Libby Caswell was found dead in a motel room in Independence, Missouri. We have a term called JDR, which means just don't look right. My name is Melissa Jeltson. I've spent the last year talking to Libby's friends and family, uncovering details of her life and the secrets that may have endangered it.

I knew she was doing something, but she just wouldn't admit it to me at first. Join me on a journey to uncover what really happened to Libby Cazwell. Everyone deserves no detruth and if there was something that was not right and someone should be held accountable. I think the law is set up to punish families in the situation. Libby's case stands out in my mind and keeps me awake at night. What happened to her is unknown. It's something that I need to know. Listen to what happened to Libby Caswell on the iHeart radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get

your podcasts. When Tracy Rakell Burns was two years old, her baby brother died. I was told that Matthew died in an accident, and no one really talked about it. Her parents told police, she had killed him. Medical records fit that I killed my baby brother. I'm Nancy Glass. Join me for burden of guilt. The new podcast that tells the true an incredible story of a toddler who was framed for murder

and how she grew into an adult, determined to get justice and protect her family. While we had prosecuted some cold cases, this was the coldest, this was frigid. But how does a two-year year old get blamed for murder? She said we wanted a new life. You just don't know what it's like when you'll do anything for somebody. Listen to burden of guilt on the I Heart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you

get your podcasts. Hello, I'm Chelsea Peretti. Do you feel chronic existential dread but love talking about delicious snacks? Call me! My podcast is relaunching! Subscribe and treat yourself to sound effects like this! And this! Have you ever been attacked by a bear? Yeah!

Yeah! And moments like this! I have an apple sweet in front of the space here. No. And my whole leg, from my knee down in my foot, burnt into a squelter. Oh! This is a big bubble. And this, kale chips are delicious.

They're too oily when I go. They shouldn't be soft at all. They should be really crispy. That's what I said every single time. You are yelling at me. And this. Do you want to go to the Clipper of Game with me tonight? Do you have 25 references of mutual friends that can tell me that you're not a murderer?

Um, and this hold on I got to open some peanut butter pretzels Listen to call Chelsea Paredion will Ferrell's big money players network on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts players network on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Ah, we're back. And I hope you all found a new correspondent school to finally make you feel like a man or whatever. Anyway, let's get back to Greaser with a switch plate. Yeah. He was hungry. I like that. It's like hungry. Yeah. The was hungry. He was hungry. He was hungry. Yeah. The problem is that he doesn't have food and he is the bad guy. Oh, oh, that's not the problem, Margaret.

That's just where we're starting. Oh, don't worry. This is a believable villain. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. In the near distance, headlights glowed along the hill crest, flashed over the top, then dipped down. The leather jacket melted further back into the shadows.

The kid watched the giant bug eyes sweep down the hill and then turn into the diner. The car crunched to a stop in the gravel. A moment later, the car doors slammed and a man stood silhouetted on the light of the diner window. The jacket didn't move until the man was inside, sitting at the counter, smoking a cigarette and looking at the menu. Then the black leather jacket walked slowly across the road, scuffing the paper-fen-fen souls and worn heels over the tar. A high nasal voice screeching a rock-and-roll song wailed

through the diners, he swung the door open. Howdy, sonny! The old man called for behind the counter, popped grinned, showing toothless gums. Wary, flashing eyes, skimmed over the old man and searched the room, sweeping past several wooden tables draped with red and white oil cloth. Some straight back wooden chairs, a pinball machine, and the colored lights of the jukebox. There was a door in the back wall, the youth-size, fastened on the little man, who would turn from the counter to look at him, the little man wore money clothes, a butter soft dark sport coat, knit sport shirt, cream colored

slacks and shiny black tool loafers. Come on, kids. Sit down. The little man said smiling, pop. Toss a couple burgers for the kid. Two more pop specials coming up. I realize I'm now using the same voice for pop and the old man. It's just if it is, they're actually very nice and willing to give him free hamburgers. Yeah. But this, the switchblade punk just is, it gets angerier and angrier. And in fact, he, he's just like continually filled with more rage as these men try to do nice things for him. And eventually, you know, the man who buys him the hamburgers explains that, he's a, he's a traveling salesman and, and he's had a tough life too, right? You know, he,

he had a, a period of time when he was younger where where he had a was living a little bit rougher. And so he and so he empathizes with the young school to a correspondent school that became a rich lawyer. Yeah. Yeah. So the the two of them like talk for a little while and this guy, Morales, like a long time ago, I was a wild hungry punk like you. Maybe if someone would have staked me to a meal and a few bucks, it would

have changed a lot of things for me. Morrell's voice became softer. I had a lot of dreams once, a lot of big dreams. Unexpectedly, he spun the spoon on the cantertop, it fell to the floor with a shop clatter. But that's another story. Joe Morrell, that's me, friend of stray dogs and cats and hungry kids. Morrell took out his wallet and the kids' eyes grew wide. He'd never seen so much money. Morrell picked out two $5 bills and tossed them on the counter in front of Smitty. I ain't begging, Mr. Smitty said between clinch teeth. No one said you were. Morrell replied stiffly. I'm trying to do something decent. Take it. Smitty ground the cigarette viciously into the center of the top $5 bill. I didn't ask for no favors.

Morale jumped to his feet and grabbed Smitty's arm. Why are you crazy kid? I had to put you across my knee and warm your fatty. Fanny meant a different thing back then. So at this point, it becomes clear this kid is deranged and you know, just angrier and anger that these people have tried to feed him. And like any person in this, in any kind of drifter in this situation, when you offer him food, he pulls out a switchblade and murders the old man

and takes you hostage. Oh my God. Yeah, that's the one person who the last one is gonna do, right? Yeah. And that's how he kidnaps the little kid. They have to like guide the child out over like the bleeding corpse of the old man. Yeah, he goes, it goes very fast from like nice man offering

a drifter, a sandwich to the drifter murdering everybody and kidnapping them. Yeah. I like that the old Christian stories are like, yeah, he was secretly Jesus. The man, the beggar you gave money to was like, I am your lord and savior. What you do for the least of us, you do for me.

And the 1940s version is, or 60s, whatever it is, they're going to murder you. Yeah. Yeah. It's a never-good money. So almost people. Here's the thing, Margaret. Magazines back in this day were one of the worst forms of consuming media that anyone ever invented. So after several pages of the story, we're told to turn to page 89.

So maybe we'll get back to it later. But I want to talk a little bit about why this story exists because I looked into this some because I was like, you know, I think for most people of like my age, I'm sure of your age too, the like the primary like touch point of a greaser is like the fauns, right? Like that's like, that's the archetypal greaser. Maybe you think back to, oh, what's that musical that's a, the jet's in a, travel to, no, the one that Travolta was in. The one that the gang's fight.

You're the one that I want. Grease, grease, right? You know, those, those are kind of, and yeah, I think some, you know, some West Side stories, a little bit of that. That sure don't so. Okay. It was not bad. They are, you know, the greaser is a an innocuous charming figure generally. Yeah, totally. Like that is not what greasers were back in the greaser era, right? Okay. They were the source of a bonafide moral panic, right? Greasers were punks, right?

They were like traveling anarchist punk kids, right? That was the attitude that mainstream society had towards the Greasers. They were poor, low class guys. We don't exactly know where the word comes from, but it probably started out as a phrase to describe motorcycle mechanics. Oh, and yeah, our answer to your Greece. I was serious. That's another theory for it.

Oh, I just, but like, yeah. I don't think there's a perfectly known like exact etymology of the term, at least from the bit that I've read. But greasers, again, the kind of most common pictures of them are like, yeah, the fawns and stuff, but a lot of greasers, like the first wave of these guys, were not white people, right? They were black and Hispanic kids from economically depressed areas

that did not benefit from the post-war boom that characterized so much of the American experience in this era. Greasers were also tied into the very new phenomenon of motorcycle gangs, which also scared the hell out of a lot of people. Now, the actual term, Greaser, did not come into common usage until the subculture had pretty much died out.

We're talking like the end of the 60s, right? The book that kind of popularized the term, Greaser, was Essie Hinton's The Outsiders. And, you know, that book was really popular, and then it kind of, that and some other books that sort of, and then like TV shows and movies that kind of dealt with Greasers, kind of lodged themselves in the imagination of a generation of filmmakers who were little kids in the 40s, right?

In 50s, guys like George Lucas, right? You know, and then, you know, guys like George Lucas made films that featured greasers and kind of cemented the cultural image of them as something that was, was not evil, right? But if you're going back to like the 40s and 50s, they were often seen as like, these are dangerous, like, often kind of like foreign influences in our communities. They're violent. They've got these switch blades, which there was also kind of like foreign influences in our communities. They're violent. They've got these switch blades,

which there was also kind of a moral panic about the danger of switch blades. Well, that's why you still can't buy them in half a street. Yeah, it's just like nonsense. There's nothing that makes that a more dangerous weapon than. Yeah, it's like, it's a carry a gun and I can't carry a push button knife. Like no, it's just interesting to me that like very much when

you read this story, it's like modern conservative fears of like homeless people, a fucking antifa of all this stuff. Like it is this. But it's like, it's, it's, it's to this figure that has been thoroughly recuperated as like respectable like the gray series, a good kid, you know, maybe it gets into a couple of little fist fights, but they're, you know, he's not a bad guy. He's a, you know, he's cool. He's, he's a, he's like 50 school. And he's like, no, they were definitely not seen as cool. They were seen as like, you know, a dangerous threat to public morals, which is cool.

I know. Like mainstream attitude was not that, right? Yeah. This, this, this story is what the mainstream attitude was. Like these are dangerous drifters and stuff, right? I do think that makes them cooler. But that's, I didn't know that. I wasn't really aware of like the etymology

or the history of like the greaser is a cultural figure. Yeah. So that's pretty sweet. So I should now let you know that immediately after this fascinating article follows the, my favorite girl photo contest. This is, you're supposed to take a picture of your girlfriend, right? Or your wife and send it into this magazine to be published. Oh my God.

A whole bunch of times we will not publish this without a letter where the girl signs off on her photo being used. Yeah. All right. So this must have been a problem that they had. But I think what Mark was trying to say is the first one, that's a child. That probably isn't child. Yeah.

So one of the fun things about these magazines is that absolutely everyone in them is fine with adults fucking 16 year olds. Not a problem that any of the people writing these magazines seem to have had. And yeah, we will talk more about that later. Right. At least four out of five of them are probably adults. Yeah, probably.

Yeah, maybe. That's not great. We'll just move on here. Yeah. And they're not. The next, for anyone who's, they're not porn. It's not porn. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,'re not, the next, for anyone is, they're not porn. It's not porn. No, there's people with full age dress.

No one is naked. And in fact, it's kind of like, it's pretty quaint. Like the person that we think is a child is like fully clothed and only visible from like the neck up and is standing in front of a barn. One of the ladies is like sitting in a pumpkin patch showing off her prized pumpkins. Yeah. And not in a like way that you might be thinking just like not in a and all a lascivious way. Yeah. These are there's nothing like particular objectional about the photos

themselves. We're going to talk about all the girls loved Danny, which as best as I can tell is a fantasy story meant to titillate men with the freewheeling life of a 60 style bachelor with a little black book. But since the story again, these are kind of soft core porn mags of their time, but also the time is the 60s. So like you have to be pretty soft with the soft core, right? Like this is this is not stuff that even even the upset about sex person today would not find most of this particularly risque in this magazine.

There are some that are just naked people, right? But climax oddly enough is one of the tamer ones that I've come across. Yeah. So, I find this interesting because it's this like literal cultural insight into this like idealized pseudo idealized figure of like the the Hugh Hefner kind of batch there right? This is the period of time in which the concept of a bachelor of like, you know This kind of like man of leisure has started but cut largely because of Hugh Hefner has started to become a thing and this dude is very much The dude in the story is very much invented in that image

Because this is the time it is the dude in the story is very much invented in that image. Because this is the time it is, the story can't endorse him sleeping around constantly. So while it describes his like outrageously prolific sex life, he's like constantly exhausted by all the sheer number of dames. He's got a ball every week, right? He's just like unhappy about all of the ladies.

He's got a fuck. And that's why I'm by the way. Yeah, like, this is a story about him like falling in love and like settling down with one more. Yeah, but you do get quite and it's by by the way, apparently by a woman. Now, the fact that it says it's by Dorothy Glazer doesn't mean it was written by that person because they would just kind of stick names on a lot of these. But here's how this thing opens. It gives some insight into a moment in culture. Danny Yond, into the mouthpiece, listening to the buzz,

click buzz in his left ear as he glanced idly at the pencil list in his hand. He knew the list well. He'd been working on it all evening. It was the plan for the week. Tuesday, Alice, Wednesday, Eleanor, Thursday, Turkish baths Friday, Saturday, Saturday, question mark, Sunday, poker. Can I just say it? I don't care.

I think it's great. So this man's living the ideal life. Doesn't remember his Saturdays and then over the poker on Sunday. I once again, the question mark, I'm not even curious. I don't want to know. I know. I know. Normally, somebody's like mystery thing.

I'm like, well, do tell. Now I'm like, he's trying to figure it out. He's got to, he's got to find a lady for Saturday or for fright. Yes, Saturday. Yeah. Otherwise, you know, he hasn't, he's, he's not living his 60s life properly. See, but if he kept this up, it wouldn't be a problem. You're right.

Then he would, then he could finally get some respite from these greedy women. Yeah. This is a hell of a way to spend a Monday night. He thought, sleepily. I wish I were at the Turkish baths right now. As soon as I get Saturday night filled in, I'll hit the sack, just exhausted from riding a leavened word set up piece of paper. Completely taken out of my. It's like, you know what the Turkish baths are. I see it's like, we're talking about sex or the inherent. I mean, a lot of times historically, they are, it like a sex or the inherent?

I mean, a lot of times historically they are, but like a Turkish bath, it's kind of like, if you've read about like Roman baths and stuff, it's like a successor to that. It's like a big public bay, they'll have hot poles and cool poles, you're thinking of sausages in them. But is there subtext in what he's writing?

Like, is it like, I'm gonna go fuck the dudes that day or like? No, no, I think it's more like this is just like a place that cool sex having dudes will go to to like compare some cars and a bath and like, yeah, yeah, talk about all the sex they're having with 60s girls. I think that's more or less what they're getting closer. Yeah. Yeah. So as soon as I get Saturday night filled in, I'll hit the sack, but not until then, not a five to call every number in the little black book. If I don't feel Saturday, I'm really in trouble. He recognized the eager voice that answered his call and he sat up alertly, his voice, a model of cheerful charm. Hi, Gloria, baby, how's the girl? Why, Danny,

how lovely to hear from you after all this time, he ignored the little dick. As the best chatt-chatt dancer in the world, eh? Feel like doing it again, say Saturday night? Saturday! She managed to express doubt and interest in the one word, and he could tell she wanted to be coaxed a bit, but Danny just yawned again and waited. After a brief silence, Gloria went on brightly. Why, I guess that would be all right. Saturday

happens to be the one night I'm free this week. Aren't you lucky? Danny smiled smugly at the receiver. Pick you up at six, baby. We'll have dinner and make a real night of it. So this is, uh, yeah, it's good. We get into, you know, uh, he says like, yeah, she knew what, she knew exactly what he meant. All the girls on the list were available to make a real night of it. Wonderful darling, she said, I've missed you terribly. Same here, he lied. I have to rush now, sweets. See you Saturday. Danny sighed deeply, replacing the phone in its cradle. He was safe for a while anyway. And he knew he ought to be damn glad of it. But he felt sunk, miserable.

He wanted a net with an ache that was frightening in its force and persistence. Filling in glory his name next Saturday night, he thought about the past three weeks. The same routine is this, the only thing different being the girls, blondes, brunettes, redheads, shtow, short, slim, plump, yet they all reacted the same way, willing, easy, just like the girls who had satisfied him for 10 of his 26 years. Again, a lot of 16 year olds having sex in these stories. But now, as long as everyone involved a 16, I, I, I, let's not assume that. But now there were nothing more than six. Where my mark at the name of the, but now they were nothing more than safeguards against

his desire for a net, although not one of them was capable of appeasing his desire. Danny stood up and rubbed a hand across his throbbing forehead. As he started to undress, he remembered his father's advice. It had guided him in perfect happiness and safety all this time, but something was wrong now. It just wasn't working as smoothly as it used to. Smoking and bed and staring at the ceiling, Danny relived would have been one of the

most important hours of his youth. Of course, his 21st birthday had been notable as a present, his father had given him an interest in his enormously successful manufacturing business. Just three years before he had died, but most memorable was Danny's 16th birthday when his father had taken him out for a walk and a man-to-man talk. Danny, Mr. Taylor had said, your day and girls now and you're beginning to get ideas-man talk. Danny, Mr. Taylor had said, you're dating girls now, and you're beginning to get ideas like a man. Now, I'm not asking you, I know. Danny had shuffled along beside his father,

his face flaming suddenly, he had shoved his hands in his pockets and couldn't say a word. And I won't tell you not to get involved, his father had gone on. I know, damn well, you will, anyway. So I say, go ahead, it's perfectly normal and natural. But let me give you some advice.

First of all, there's safety in numbers. Go with a lot of girls, not just one. And most important of all, don't mess around with nice girls. They're always plitty who are even more willing than you. If a girl says no, drop her, forget her. She doesn't even exist. There will always be another one who knows the score, even at your age.

Oh, dad, I guess I'm glad that he said drop them. I know, right? That's like oddly wholesome. Yeah, better than, better than I had expected. Safety and numbers. Yeah. Yeah. So he, he sticks to these words, you know, religiously until he meets Annette.

Now, Danny suddenly remembered the words his father had added. Words that had never been, if any importance before, because he'd never been bothered by this desire. If you persuade a nice girl, if your romance are into ignoring what she's been told not to do, she'll never let you go. She'll convince herself that it's love, and she'll hang on to you till she gets you to marry her.

Be careful of that trap. Dad's advice! Thanks, Daddy-o! Men hate women. The history. Let's take a fucking capitalism break. Yeah. Let's let's let's wash this tasty dad out of our mouths with a little bit of capitalism, baby. Jesus. In 2017, Libby Caswell was found dead in a motel room in Independence, Missouri. We have a term called JDRLR, which means just don't look right. My name is Melissa Jeltson. I've spent the last year talking to Libby's friends and family,

uncovering details of her life and the secrets that may have endangered it. I knew she was doing something, but she just wouldn't admit it to me at first. Join me on a journey to uncover what really happened to Libby Caswell. Everyone deserves no detruth and if there was something that was not right and someone should be held accountable. I think the law is set up to punish families in the situation. Libby's case stands out in my mind and keeps me awake at night. What happened to her is unknown. It's something that I need to know.

Listen to what happened to Libby Caswell on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When Tracy Rekel Burns was two years old, her baby brother died. I was told that Matthew died in an accident, and no one really talked about it. Her parents told police she had killed him. Medical records fed that I killed my, brother. I'm Nancy Glass. Join me for burden of guilt.

The new podcast that tells the true an incredible story of a toddler who was framed for murder and how she grew into an adult determined to get justice and protect her family. While we had prosecuted some cold cases, this was the coldest, this was frigid.

But how does a two-year-old get blamed for murder? She said, we wanted a new life. You just don't know what it's like when you'll do anything for somebody. Listen to Byrdon of Guilt on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, I'm Chelsea Paredi. Do you feel chronic existential dread

but love talking about delicious snacks? Call me, my podcast is relaunching. Subscribe and treat yourself to sound effects like this. And this, have you ever been attacked by a bear? Yeah. Yes! And moments like this. I have an applause for sleeping around the space here.

No. And my whole leg from my knee down in my foot burnt until it's full of the big bubble. And this, kale chips are delicious. They're too oily when I go. They shouldn't be soft at all. They should be really crispy. That's what I said every single time.

You are yelling at me. And this? Do you want to go to the Clipper game with me tonight? Do you have 25 references of mutual friends that can tell me that you're not a murderer? And this. Hold on, I got to open some peanut butter pretzels. Listen to Call Chelsea Parradi on Will Ferrell's big money players network on the iHeart

Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We're back. So after this story moves on to, I don't know, page 112 or some bullshit, we get a photo spread for I think it's called Pagale, or whatever, it's a French tourist track. How long does this fucking magazine? They're very long, they're very long. They're very long, they're very long.

They're very long, they're very long, they're very long. They're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long, they're very long the porn part of it. Then we get to a story called The Hunter Who Died Twice, which is a story about cannibalism. And I believe a zombie white hunter in the Bush of Africa. It's not very good, but it's followed by another World War II story. And then Buckeneer Berkow and the slave girls, which is quite fun. I say fun, quite racist. So the story opens with the requisite boarding action by a group of pirates led by the notorious Berkho. An Irish stereotype so offensive, it's almost as bad as the racist caricature of an Asian man on the Culper art.

Like it is, he is, there's like so many lines about like, yeah, I, I, I, oh, the leprechauns are fascinating. Yeah. Fascinating. Yeah, fascinating. Yeah. So after they defeat a merchant vessels crew, Berko had all discovered a group of slave women. Now, this is largely a wishful filament story

featuring a fetishized Irishman as captain who notably refuses to molest any of the captured women, although the rest of his crew is allowed to. Yeah. And once he's white, yeah, falling for this red-headed slave woman who looks like the girls back home in tipperary. Yeah, there's some like fun racial descriptions

of enslaved women in this that I will not be reading because they're not actually fun. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. So it's not as interesting as the title would suggest. So instead, Margaret, I'm gonna say we should move on to a new magazine, Courage from 1957. And this one's got a real banger of a cover art here. There's a fucking sled dog ripping out a man's throat.

And then we've got, yeah, inside a desert harem, trail of the death dog, confessions of a jiggle-o, the six scanty costumes of Diane. And I was trapped in terror trench with an incredible list of stories. I know. They deserved all that, that dollar award or whatever they got. I mean, they're all bunch of assholes.

But they, they were tolerant in the titles. Yeah. There's craft going on in these titles, right? Like, as a, as a man who's spent most of his adult life coming up with titles for content, I can game has to respect game here. And yeah, trailer, the death dog is a fine stuff title. Absolutely. I want to like, I want to just like invite authors to just like rewrite, because there's no copyright in titles,

just take all of these titles and write different, better stories out of them. The titles are great, not all of them. Don't rewrite the captain. Don't rewrite the goals of the slave carol. And maybe, you know what, I'm gonna say minimum age, 24. Yeah, we don't need to risk anything here. Let's take it up a notch people

Yeah, so I picked out this issue because I want that desert herium story But what drew my interest once it was open were the ads which are again as perfect to dive into the male id as you're likely to see on page One we get and I want Sophie to show this to you. Important, medical facts. For every man who has passed his 40th birthday, men too go through change of life. Doctors call it male climacteric. And it's talking about like, men go at male menopause.

It's, first off, I'll be honest, I was a little impressed that that was a concept people were talking about in 1957. Yeah. But they were talking about it purely to sell vitamin and supplements. And it's about to keep it up, right? Yeah, it's about keeping your dick up. Yeah, like, like, it would be great if people talked about

how a sign male people had hormonal changes and cycles. That would be fucking wonderful if we talk about that. Yeah, but no, it's about keeping your dick up, which is fine. No, people want their dick up, they can put their dick up. That's fine, I don't think these vitamins are going to do. No, you're going to end up like that guy. I also have this head in his hand on the, in the, yeah. Yeah, there's, there's like a balding man

who's got like his head in his hands, presumably, because this dick doesn't work due to the male, climate, Derek. Yeah. I had not ever heard that term before either. It's in quotes. So, yeah. That is important.

Of course, when you get to the actual ingredient list of the vitamin pills, they're trying to sell this guy. It's basically Red Bull. Vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin B1, vitamin B12, vitamin B2, vitamin D, niacin, vitamin B6, calcium, creatine, iodine, and some wheat germ, defatted. Of course. I'm impressed that there was actually even the laws passed where they had to put the ingredients on the advertisement.

Yeah, I mean, who knows if it was not, it could have just been led. It could just be led and caffeine, but that's what it says is in here. It's basically, yeah, primitive red bull. It's like the red bull you find in like a bog man. So the very next ad on page two appears to be for yet another correspondence course. And this one promises to teach you how to be a private I or FBI investigator. It's it's it's also a very straight ad with like a a craggie man's face. And this one promises to teach you how to be a private I or FBI investigator.

It's also a very straight ad with like a craggie man's face underneath the text, this man is wanted by you. This man is wanted by you. He is left a path of violence, lust, greed. He is a two-time loser. Every minute he is at large, death walks the streets. You are a trained investigator, bits of evidence, each insignificant alone fit together

like a crazy jigsaw puzzle. They paint the way that leads to the man who was wanted by you. I mean, like we sell ads like this. I hope so, Mark. We're so glad for the like, you know, don't you want to pretend like you're a private eye, we'll send you a thing every month

and you try and figure out who the, yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, yeah, like those, no, no, yeah. I'm not anti. No, I think it's beautiful. I think, I think if this is a glorious commuting with our ancestors who were also hacks and frauds who had to sell that space.

Yes, exactly. Finally, we get to the table of contents, which includes incredible titles like, we have through their flesh by Sergeant Harold Spain. Cool. Absolutely a real name. One thing I know, there was a true Sergeant Harold Spain. That's a real guy.

That's absolutely a real ass dude. Yeah. Then of course, trail of the death dog when the grave was open and that terror trench article next to it all has an ad for a money making shoe store business where you sell shoes door to door to your friends and family. Wait, is that what this photo is? No, this photo is from the next page, which is a two page spread. On one side, it's the-

It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance.

It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance. It's deviance.

It's deviance. It's deviance. It's at there. It's like that, it's probably that like, what's your opener, like bullshit? Yeah, what's your opener, that kind of thing? And it's right next to an ad for Quack Medicine Saraias' treatments. For unsightly scales, crusts and patches. That really, those two together, it's like, oh, I get, okay, so I get who this is for. Yeah, I don't like our lineage very much right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You've got Saraiasus.

You're not willing to go to a real doctor for it. Here's a picture of a hot lady. Yeah. Yeah. Says a lot right there. So we hacked their flesh is a lid story of the Korean war with a lot of racial slurs. Margaret, a lot. Yeah. Like I said, which is why we're not going to be reading it. Yeah. Yeah. It is purportedly written by a white American photographer for the army embedded with a

Filipino unit. And because they are a Filipino unit, they decide to just stab their way through the Chinese army rather than use a gun. Um, after that is trail of the death dog, which features the poll quote, the husky was strong, smart, vicious and hated men, his muscle knew the taste of human blood and liked it. Hell yeah. Yeah. Hell yeah.

It's about a, it's about a man who's like running transport routes with sled dogs and he like picks this murderous dog to lead a sled sled even though it kills all of his other dogs. Like and everyone around him is like that dog is going to murder all of your other dogs and then you why are you doing like but it knows the route best. Root off the red. I don't know man seems like a back call. Yeah. So at this point, we can call this a pretty standard example of an adventure magazine. The most interesting piece in this issue is a hinge between the sad, middle-aged guy, wish fulfillment stuff, racism, and straight up pornography.

It's a little article titled Insighted Desert Herum. And unlike everything else in this series, it actually taught me some really interesting facts about history. Um, okay. I was surprised by that. Don't get me wrong. Here's how the article opens. Just as William O. Douglas of the US Supreme Court once asked a merchant why the Sudan exported

so few crops, you're wrong, offendy smiled the merchant. We do export a huge crop, not caught in her wheat, perhaps, but something far more valuable. We export slaves." Pharaoh was a girl of 12 when she was stolen from her family. For two years, she was kept with a tribe which stole her. Then she was sold to a slave trader. For another six months, she traveled the desert as the trader added more slaves to his caravan. Finally, she was sold to an Arab herm. At the slave gate in Mecca, the trafficking girls is both open and brisk.

Now, I was ready for that all to be bullshit, and this article is not specifically a true story, but all of that stuff is stuff that happened, actually. And I was kind of unaware of a lot of the dimensions of this. But after World War I, the area that we know today as Saudi Arabia became an independent kingdom called the Kingdom of Hizaz, I think is the first name. And slave trading had been illegal in the Ottoman Empire during its later period. But in Hizaz, it was allowed to continue once again. And a brisk slave trade opened up between Sudan, Ethiopia, and the kingdom.

Right. This is a modern slave trade. As such, victims were often convinced, or rather, their parents were convinced to sell their children. This was often framed as giving them a better life in Arabia. During parts of the journey, where slavery was illegal, because some of this route often included going through countries where the slave trade was not allowed. Traders and their victims often disguised themselves as pilgrims on the road to Mecca. It was also not uncommon for travelers who did the Hodge, who went to Mecca to sell their servants or their poor friends who they had gone on the Hodge with in order to afford a return journey home.

That is the thing that happened to. Yeah. Yeah. By 1930, about 10% of the people living in Mecca were estimated to be enslaved. Many were domestic servants or hera members, but many of them were also used as laborers, like the men generally were particularly used as like agricultural laborers and the like. Yeah. Today, the UAE and Saudi Arabia engage in a system of guest worker visas that have somewhat similar dimensions. I don't think it's quite as abusive, but it's pretty fucking bad.

A lot of people are aware of this. But back in the day, it was just straight up slavery. And when I found this article, I was kind of immediately taken by the fact that the woman in the artwork is depicted as white. And it's a pretty like not great piece of art. I wouldn't say if you're trying to talk about a very serious story about a social issue. It's some pretty offensive in a number of ways. All of this caused regular international condemnation. In 1948, the UN declared slavery a crime against humanity. In 1951, the British informed the US State

Department that there were at least 50,000 slaves in Saudi Arabia, and they were increasingly being used by the oil industry. The Red Sea Trade, obviously because they're being used by the oil industry, like that's part of why we don't do any fucking thing for a while. The Red Sea Trade continued through the 1950s. By the 1960s, there had been enough international outcry that it had become an embarrassment to the king, who issued a decree forbidding the sale of slaves, not the possession of slaves early in 1962. Slavery itself continued to be legal for several more months

until it was officially abolished that November. Jesus. So I was unaware of that. That's interesting. So I got to give the story credit. It informed me about a piece of history that I was not aware of. So that part's good.

What's not good is the article itself. It's side of it. Because all everything I learned was like that first paragraph. I was like, the fuck were they selling slaves in mech and I was like, oh yeah, this is, this was a thing. This is a problem. Was a problem. Okay, interesting.

The story, the actual history is of course interesting and important, but it is just window dressing for the story, which is soft core pornography that features a young Sir Cassie and girl who is described to us as not quite 15. When it was her turn, she was led forward while the slave trader extolled her beauty

in her skills, sexual and otherwise, while the slave trader extolled her beauty in her skills sexual and otherwise. Unlike the girls who had gone before, Farad had not removed her robe to get the bidding started. She didn't have to. The men standing around the edge of the raised platform of the slave block could see her face. And the spiel by the slave trader was enough to get things going. The bidding reached a hundred dollars before it began to slacken. And then it describes her taking off her clothes, which we're not gonna go through. Yeah, it's a, I don't know. It's pretty gross, Margaret. Pretty gross. for it began to slacken. And then it describes who are taking off her clothes, which we're not gonna go through. Yeah, it's a, I don't know, it's pretty gross, Margaret. Pretty gross.

Yeah, so I don't think I'm gonna read the rest of that to you. It's funny, because I don't usually use the word pornographic and a negative sense. Yeah, you know, but you're like, but yeah, no, that's, yeah, that's, oh, I'll call this article about a 15 year old girl that really, yeah, we don't need that. That's, I'll call this article about a 15 year old girl that really, yeah, we don't need that.

That's not necessary. But I did think it was interesting that this horrible, deeply, deeply evil story also imparted a piece of historic information that I was unaware of. We should probably talk more about the slave trade of like Sir Cassie and in Georgian and our menian and Ethiopian and Sudanese girls down to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia that maybe should be a topic of more discussion than it is. I know, and it's hard because it's like the way in which white slavery has always been used as a like a boogie man like to specifically like wait, why do we suddenly care when it's

about white women is compared to like anyone, right? Yeah. And then of course, like sex trafficking in general is like used as like an anti-sex worker talking point currently, including like voluntary sex work, right? And it's like so hard because like the criminalization of sex work makes it so hard for us to talk about the actual bad things that are happening, right? Absolutely. Yeah, no, I, and then also, of course, anything that's like,

Islamophobia is like a really major problem, and so it makes people afraid to touch what we should be talking about. And actually, that's something I actually really appreciate about your show, is that you are willing to, I mean, not like specifically look for people to condemn who are outside of certain circles, but not be afraid to say like, hey, it's like bad when slavery happens, right?

That's like a... I mean, look, I got absolutely no problem with this long, but like fuck the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Yeah, exactly. Right? Exactly. I'm like, yeah, exactly. I got no wish you say in that.

Yeah. And it's also worth, because this is a big chunk of this. And the reason why this article exists is that part of this slave trade was like white slave trade. So that is super fascinating. That is why they're writing it. Yeah. Sivius and exciting to like the 50s mind. But like a lot of the girls that are being trafficked and boys that are being trafficked

to that matter are from like Ethiopia and the Sudan. And are much more often a much larger chunk of the total number of people being enslaved by the king. But they are being forced to work as laborers in the oil industry. They're being forced to work as domestic servants more often. And so there's simply not any kind of real care about that by the guys writing this magazine, right? They want to tell a porn story, right? You know, yeah. Anyway, Margaret, how you feeling?

Two magazines into our exploration of a masculine fiction. Anyway, Margaret, how you feeling? Two magazines, then do our exploration of a masculine fiction. I mean, like, it's all this awful stuff, but I do feel like I got, I'm getting off lightly for behind the bastards guest spot, you know, so. It's really always very bad to say that

before we've actually finished. Oh, fuck. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then yeah. Oh, yeah. And then it's like, I know I'm going to regret having referred to these as a precursors. Although it's like, you know, I mean, as a science fiction writer, I got to accept like, a lot of bad people

as my precursors, right? That's just like a thing that we shouldn't be afraid of. But I can still respect like, I love pulp. And I'm so sad. It's like, one of my favorite genres of movie is like the trashy road trip movie, where like, I love pulp and I'm so sad. It's like one of my favorite genres of movie is like the trashy road trip movie where like they're gonna or the kids want to throw the biggest party in the world. Yes, yes, absolutely. And I just like, I just want that without them being like, here's the transphobic joke

or like here's when the man is raped by a woman in a tumor, or, you know, like, can't we just have nice pulp that isn't fucking racist? It is the eternal question, right? Can you have animal house with also having that director kill three people in a helicopter crash? Due to his irresponsibility and incompetence, right? Like, is it, like, I don't know, like pull up right? Like, is it like, I don't know, like, pull up, because it, I think we can, I don't think it has to be as fucked up in gross and pedophilic as some of these,

these articles are. Yeah. I do think there has to be a degree of grossness to pull up. Yeah. Not every story, but like, Pope needs to be grimy a little, you know? Otherwise, it's not really, again, grimy does not mean talking about marrying off 16 year olds, but like, you got to have some, like the, the, the, the greaser with a switchblade story, I think is perfect, right?

Like fair enough. Yeah. That's, that's, that's fine to me. You know, it, it's both in, like intellectually interesting. It shows you this, like, fascinating glimpse glimpse into the kind of cultural fear that existed during this very much lost moment in time, in at least our pop culture memory. And it's also very fun. No, totally.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I would still read most of these stories just from my life. Yeah, yeah. God, the world is weird. Got some good news for you there, Margaret. Oh, good. What's the news? All of these are available for free for everyone.

There's like dozens and dozens of them on the internet archive. Just type minz adventure magazines into the internet archive. And there's like a, I don't know, a little, I don't know what you call it, like a little file folder thing on there. You can view or download or read them all in full glorious color.

There's a shitload of them on here. 65. So, you know, significant amount of reading if you're in the mood for some of these stories. And we will continue with some more of these in part, do. But first, Margaret, you got any plugins to plug? Well, I did write a pulp adventure novella called Escape from Insel Island and Merry Christmas.

It is my attempt to write trashy pulp that is still enjoyable. And it still is. And it tries to grapple with the fact that it's like, I mean, the setup is that there's some people and they go to an island full of Insel's and then they have to escape. It's a pretty literal concept. And then it just tries to grapple with that. But it still

involves running around with a shotgun and good old fun times. I think you might enjoy it. There is a... There's actually not an audiobook version of it yet, there will be. But there's a print version and an ebook version. and you can read it. And you can read it in an afternoon. That's the great thing about I have a short attention span, you have a short attention span, I write for short attention spans. That's what I got. Yes.

I also have a short attention span, but I did write a novel once. That's true. It's called After the Revolution. It does actually work for a short attention span. Even though you can't read it in one sitting, it's still fast paced. It's still, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And maybe I'll write a second one if I conquer my short attention span enough, although that gets harder every year. No, Margaret, I know. Every year, especially with Baldur's Gate 3 out, that is torpedoed my productivity. We spent the first like 15 minutes before we recorded it with Sophie's owning out in me and Robert Karen.

The second might be the best video game I've ever played, just a disaster for my getting my book. Robert, this is so fascinating. The episode's over. Okay. Behind the bastards is a production of CoolZone Media. For more from CoolZone Media, visit our website, CoolZoneMedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2017, Libby Caswell was found dead in a motel room in Independence, Missouri. We have a term called JDR, which means just don't look right.

On season 2 of my podcast, What Happened To? I take a closer look at Libby Caswell's life and death. Libby's case keeps me awake at night. What happened to her is unknown. That's something that I need to know. Listen to what happened to Libby Caswell on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. When Tracy Rekel Burns was two years old, her baby brother died. I was told that Matthew died in an

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