DRACULA BY MICHAEL AVALLONE

Before puzzle books dominated the racks, for about three decades newsstands were packed with joke books. Mostly aimed at adult males these books were teeming with cartoons, limericks, text gags and yes, girlie pinups that got spicier by the year. The ads should also tell you which demographic was being targeted.

These particular examples are from TV GIRLS AND GAGS (Vol. 6 No. 7, January 1960), first published by Pocket Magazines (it had four other owners during its time) which ran for 46 issues from May 1954 - November 1962. I selected this particular one because of a story featuring Dracula by the prolific novel and short story writer, Michael Avallone, whose specialty was writing movie and television tie-ins -- everything from BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES to THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. He was known to have written over 200 works (he claimed 1,000) under his own name and over a dozen different pseudonyms.

The story's short enough I don't have to tell you about it except for that it uses a lot of the tropes that Dracula grew into over the years. But, it is humorous? Well, read it and you tell me. Included is a look at what type of content was in these things.

Golf professional and star of The Monster of Piedras Blancas.

H.P. LOVECRAFT'S HIDDEN HORRORS + EXTRAS!

It's surprising what one can come across while perusing any of the so-called "men's adventure" magazines (aka, "sweats") from the past. For instance, I was quite surprised to find this in an issue of ZEST FOR MEN (Vol. 1 No. 1, January 1956) -- a story by none other than H.P. Lovecraft! Sandwiched between a western story and a spicy mystery is, what the magazine calls "The Greatest Horror Story Ever Told", Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls". It was first published in WEIRD TALES in their August-September issue of 1923, over 30 years earlier after having first been rejected by ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY. It has the distinction of being one of the scant few stories published in his lifetime in the collection, "Switch on the Light". It has been reprinted tons of since, this time of all places, a men's magazine. I don't think you can say that about Poe!

If I'm not mistaken, the photo accompanying the story looks to be one of Lon Chaney as Quasimodo in Universal's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Happy reading!

Save your hair from cosmic horror!

BONUS! A cautionary tale, and a titillating topic that was visited often in men's magazine's at the time:

EXTRA! Last but not least is Michael Avallone's complete "novel", "The Glass Eye", for your hard-boiled enjoyment.

Avallone, by the way, was a prolific author who wrote mostly in the fields of mystery and secret agent/spy fiction, as well as wrote a number of horror novels. He is most known for his slew of T.V. and movie adaptations, including: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE GIRL FROM UN.C.L.E., BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, FRIDAY THE 13th, PART 3: 3-D, PLANET OF THE APES OMNIBUS, the SATAN'S SLEUTH series, and BORIS KARLOFF PRESENTS TALES OF THE FRIGHTENED.

Still losing your hair? Try this, sucker!

A 23 year-old Jayne says: "Thanks for visiting!"