brand in : Comics , Vintage Paper| trail : pulp magazine , spicy chronicle stories , Ziff - Davis
On the trail of the dark story of the Arthur Gontier epoch of 10 Story Book , a secret regard Ziff - Davis founder William B. Davis emerges .
Article Summary
While search some odd twists and turns ofArthur J. Gontier ’s other age as a mush publisher for our next instalment of the10 Story Bookpublishing saga ( parts1,2 , and3are already available ) and related matters , I gravel into an interesting side - quest involving another Chicago publishing human body , William B. Ziff . Best known as the laminitis of the publishing empire that became officially known as Ziff - Davis in 1936 , there are a few gaps from before that escort in the biographic blurbs on Ziff that lead to interesting shoes .
receive back , and it ’s clip forSpicy History taradiddle # 9 , the ninth instalment ofa regular columnabout pulp magazine publisher history that we ’ve found to cooccur with Heritage Auction’sweekly pulp magazine auctions . Unlike other auction sale - centrical posts we ’ve done here , this pillar is not needs plan to be intimately link up to any picky detail up for auction . Mostly , it ’s this : if you enjoy the nerdy detail of comic leger story , you ’re expire to do it the astounding ( and yes , sometimes unearthly ) history of the people and company that made the pulp .
The catmint that led me down this boulevard of inquiry was found inKeeler News # 83 , the bulletin of theHarry Stephen KeelerSociety . Keeler had a foresightful association with Gontier and10 Story Bookas a writer and editor in chief that we ’ll get into in more item in an approaching position . In an article titled " Bill Brannon Remembers,“Keeler NewseditorRichard Poltpresents some notes on Keeler by his longtime friendWilliam T. Brannon . Brannon wrote , " There was a vacancy for an editor in chief at10 Story Book , published by Bill Ziff and A.J. Gontier , both of whom I after got present with . There was n’t much work to the chore and Harry did it one twenty-four hour period a week . Gontier baffle mastery of10 Story Bookand Ziff set up his own fellowship , subsequently to be jazz as Ziff - Davis . "
The suggestion that Ziff and Gontier were in partnership on10 Story Booktogether within the timeframe paint a picture ( of Keeler becoming editor at10 Story Book ) , or that Ziff could have had some kind of involvement with the rubric at that time is unlikely . After10 Story Bookand Daily Story Publishing Company founderDwight Allyn ’s demise in previous 1910 , Gontier acquired the business from Allyn ’s family in 1912 , when Ziff was 14 years previous . In 1916 , during Keeler ’s initial brush with editing for Gontier , Ziff was attending the Chicago Art Institute and becoming aChicago Daily Newscartoonist . He then served in World War I 1918 - 1919 , and by 1920 had found the W.B. Ziff Company advertizement office . Ziff ’s Magazinefollowed in 1923 .
That would also seem to pass on little possibleness for Ziff ’s involution with Gontier around the time of the showtime of Keeler ’s protracted term of office as editor of10 Story Bookin 1919 , but it may not conclude the threshold entirely on the national . On the one hand , Brannon might have misread what he get a line about this from Keeler , or understandably may have misremembered the timeline or inside information when return them year later . On the other hand , Ziff ’s pre - Ziff - Davis stemma story has been write about surprisingly little , given that it ’s the beginning of one of America ’s great magazine write empires .
While essay to close some of the gaps in the early William B. Ziff timeline , I slip up across the solvent to a mystery story pose inKeeler News # 89 , in which editor in chief Richard Polt ponders the meaning of a 1935 letter addressed to someone name Albert in which Keeler mentions " Bill ’s Doc Wizard ’s " magazine . This would appear to be a highly vague pre - Ziff - Davis William B. Ziff one - issue title calledDoc Wizard ’s Lucky Systems[author ’s banker’s bill : Richard Polt emails to notice that this was name in the editor ’s notes ofKeller News # 90 ] . Ziff and editorEd Bodinposed for the attached packaging photo for the magazine ’s launching in 1934 , which seems to be the only public indication that Ziff is behind this endeavour . Keeler ’s missive correspondent here is then likelyAlbert Yates , the cover creative person for this effect .
During the powder magazine ’s rollout , newspapers seemed to enjoy engaging with the widget of Doc Wizard , a persona presumably engineer by Bodin , with one paper taking issue with the Doc’sprediction of the beginningof " the next war in which the United States will be demand " in April , 1937 , while another paper run with the gag even further by imploring Doc Wizard topredict upcoming college football scores , and claim to have gotten a list from him : " In a more conciliative timbre we approached the Doc and soon had him agreeing to write out his Saturday ’s inclination of information a day ahead of tie and then go on to Birmingham for the weekend . " Among other mark , Doc apparently bode Alabama : 19 Tennessee : 6 for that Saturday . Alabama in reality defeated the Vols 13 to 6 in that game , so this opine Doc Wizard anticipation was n’t too far off .
While Ziff’sDoc Wizardended after a single exit , it may provide us with a breadcrumb leading toward a connective between Ziff and Gontier . We ’ll talk about that possible action , plus more on Gontier , Keeler , the former day of William B. Ziff , and the unusual 1916 - 1919 period of10 Story Bookand Daily Story Publishing Company next metre . In the meanwhile , the wealth of historical selective information available inKeeler Newsis highly recommended .
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