Any interest in this rare book?

[bminor]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Reform-School-Girl-Only-issue-1951-Realistic-Comics-RARE/174081249589?hash=item28880d1135:g:G-sAAOSw29ZdubTN

Unfortunately, it is missing the center spread!

[erwin-k]

Talk about vices! The couple on page one, panel one, have a total of three lit cigarettes.

Wild, for its time, apparently. Fairly tame today.

[OtherEric]

Pretty sure the center spread is there, looking at the GCD entry the text story was in the centerfold and that's there.  It may be missing a different wrap, or by missing the seller may mean 'loose'.

I'm certainly not going to blow my entire Emerald City Comic Con budget for this year on one book I don't personally want and would only care for to scan.  BUT... I think the price tag is probably close to the floor of what a complete scanable copy is going to run at this point.

So I'm not interested in spending my personal dollars on this item, but I am definitely interested in the more general sense.  If I didn't think setting up a pool to buy a rare book to scan was a bad idea in general I would probably be willing to throw $100 or so to somebody else to help defray the costs.

[Snard]

If you look closer at the pictures, you can see that the centerfold is a reproduction of some kind. It looks very good, however.

[bminor]

Oh I see!
The white edge around the edge of the paper.
The seller should indicate that it has a replica insert center spread.
Don't you think?

[bminor]

So I sent a message to the seller of RSG asking if the center spread was a reproduction or not.
His response follows:

------------------------------------------------------------
New message from: justcomical (1,819Red Star)

If you read the “Condition Notes” you will find

READER/FILLER NOT GOOD Incomplete (Missing CF) SEE NUMEROUS PICTURES”

------------------------------------------------------------

To me this is not really clear that center spread is a reproduction.
What do you guys think?
B

[Yoc]

Thanks for looking into this B.
Yeah, he could be more clear about things.
At that price it's way out of my range for sure.

-Yoc

[bminor]

I contacted him on ebay and asked if he would consider scanning it for us here.

No soap.

B.

[hufflepuffle]

It's interesting in the tragedy behind and involved with that whole comic book. I've been researching the history this comic book and the pulp fiction book that it was based on.

Some random tidbits before Avon Realistic Comics ran with the issue and Wertham critiqued it.


1. The cover is Canadian figure skating star Martha (Marti) Collins-Chalfen. Yes that Chalfen. The wife of the founder of the LA Lakers, Morris Chalfen (and sister of co-founder of Stars On Ice Tommy Collins). Sadly Martha and their 3 kids died tragically in a plane crash in 1958.

2. The original title of the pulp book was called House of Fury by Felice Swados and Double-Day Press. Felice Swados was a correspondent for Time magazine in the 1940's. She died young of cancer before the end of WWII in 1945. House of Fury was her first and only novel she got to publish before she died at the age of 29.

3. In the late 1940's Diversy press bought modeling pictures of Marti Collins and republished Felice Swados' story under a new name called Reform School Girl.

4. Diversy Press specifically used the name of Martha/Marti Colllins with their book cover and the Collins family sued Diversy (Avon?) and won in court.

5. Some time after that Avon Books bought/aquired/merged with Diversy Press. Avon comics used the Marti Collins photo for their new 'Realistic Comics' line.

6. After Dr. Wertham's book SOTI and congress hearings their comics publishing came to an end.

And now you know some of the rest of the story...

https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/Smileys/yarex2/huh.gif

[Yoc]

Nicely done HP!
A very informative read here.  Thanks so much!

[bminor]

Wow!