Time Travel Tuesdays - "Out to Show Me Up" from Real Love #35 (January 1951)

Hello romance comic loving friends! I hope the day is off to a good start for you! To make it even better, I have a classic romance tale for today's Time Travel Tuesday! "Out to Show Me Up" is from Ace's Real Love #35 (January 1951) and it's a good one! You probably will recognize the splash page image from the above header! Anyhow, on to the story!

As a new bride, Sharon has big shoes to fill -- those of her new mother-in-law. Formerly a secretary in a law office, Sharon is determined to measure up to the home life husband Wally has been accustomed to his whole life.


As soon as they arrive at their new home in New York, Sharon gets to work on making their new apartment homey and organized. Wally is extremely pleased...


...so pleased in fact, that he goes so far as to brag about Sharon's homemaking skills to their new neighbors, Jane and Harry Jenson. Sharon is thrilled that Wally and Harry find her comparable to their mothers. Meanwhile, super fashionable Jane expresses her distaste for the domestic arts, which makes Sharon cringe.

"I felt very superior as Jane
displayed her irresponsibility as a housewife..."

Soon, the evening homemaking classes that Sharon attends take over all of her spare time, which frustrates Wally who wants to have fun as young newlyweds.

"But after slip covers there were bedspreads and cooking class
got more and more interesting. I was so absorbed in
my triumphs as a homemaker that I was totally unaware
of a growing restlessness in Wally."

The tension between Sharon and Wally builds. Finally one evening, Wally tries to get Sharon to stay home from class to watch a wrestling match on their new television set. Sharon dismisses Wally's request and goes to her home decoration class anyhow. When she gets home, Sharon is angered to see the Jensons on her couch -- more specifically, angered to see Wally enjoying Jane's company.

After Jane and Harry leave, Sharon and Wally get into a full blown fight that lasts into the evening. Sharon accuses Wally of having a thing for Jane, and Wally accuses Sharon of no longer being any fun (or "gay" as they used to say back then).


Things only get worse when Jane knocks on the door that evening claiming to be looking for Harry. Sharon assumes she has just caught her husband and Jane in the middle of a tryst. Wally tries to explain that Jane was innocently looking for Harry, but Sharon cannot be swayed. The next day, in an attempt to seek revenge, Sharon goes to the beauty parlor to get done up à la Jane and be purposefully late in getting dinner on the table. When Sharon arrives home to show off her new look and send the message to Wally that she can't do it all, she finds Wally and Jane in a compromising position on the couch.


Jane starts sobbing and runs out the door. Wally yells at Sharon for being cruel and Sharon yells at him for going along with Jane's seductive ways. Wally then retorts that it is not Jane who is the problem, it is Sharon! With her perfect homemaking, Sharon is in effect, the true home-wrecker. Wally was only comforting Jane after she got into a fight with her husband over her lack of skills as a housewife. Upset and confused, Sharon learns that Wally wants her to be more wife and less housekeeper. Fortunately, the neighbors patch things up and Jane and Sharon agree to both try to find balance by drawing from each other's positive attributes.


Personally, I really like this story -- not because I delight in seeing either woman suffer, but for all the historical insights that it exudes. "Out to Show Me Up" embodies the expectations and pressures inherent in trying to "do it all" for the mid-century woman culturally trained to be both content motherly housekeeper and doting sex-kitten. I hope this story got you thinking just as much as it did me!!!

Be sure to join me Thursday for a
spooky (and romantic) Halloween tale!!!

Time Travel Tuesdays - Pre-Code Romance Comics Romantic Love's "Nightmare Romance!"

Today's Time Travel story "Nightmare Romance!" comes from 1951 -- before the comic book industry started to self-regulate with the Comics Magazine Association of America's Comics Code Authority. As such, this story from Avon's Romantic Love #7 (September/October 1951) with art by Marion Sitton, is quite scandalous! No slumber parties or football games here!

We are introduced to Fran Edwards as she heals in a hospital, complete with a guard outside her door. She reminisces for us on what got her in the whole mess in the first place. As the proprietor of a successful modeling agency, she was looking for a man to assist with the agency job placements.


Fran ends up hiring Wayde Hanley -- a handsome and smooth talking applicant. Fran quickly falls head over heels in love with him.


Wayde seems to be doing a swell job at the agency, until he starts bringing "younger and cruder" girls in to model -- Gloria Porter being one of them. Fran starts to get suspicious of Wayde's intentions when one of the models mysteriously disappears. Wayde admits to running a scheme to steal money from businessmen with the aid of Gloria and the other model recruits. If the models asked to participate refuse, they are quickly done away with.

At first, Fran wants to go to the police, but Wayde convinces her to keep quiet and the rewards will be theirs to reap. She agrees, but is shaken when the agency auditor finds severe and purposeful errors on their tax returns. Wayde tries to smooth things over, but Fran insists they give the scheme up. Wayde promises they only need to do a few more jobs.

One evening, Fran heads back to the office after hours to finish up some work. She is shocked to find Gloria and Wayde engaged in an embrace with Gloria suggesting they poison her. Fran realizes what a fool she has been to go along with things and decides she must go to the police.

The District Attorney decides to send Officer Mary Nichols undercover as one of the "party girls." After two weeks of infiltration, Officer Mary is finally assigned to attend a party for a group of wealthy cattlemen. Wayde promises her there will be at least $1000 in it for each of the girls.


The party ensues and Wayde and Fran wait anxiously at her apartment. Suddenly, the phone rings. Gloria frantically tells Wayde that Mary was an undercover cop and Fran knew all along. Gloria manages to escape during the raid, and heads over to Fran's -- just in time to stop Wayde from beating the pulp out of her.


Suddenly, Officer Mary bursts onto the scene. Wayde produces a gun and tries to shoot the lady cop, but Fran flies in front of her and takes the shot. As Fran crumples to the ground, two other officers appear and shoot and kill Wayde. Gloria is carted off and Officer Mary is thankful that Fran saved her life. Relieved the ordeal is over, Fran is happy to repent for her sins of lust and passion. As she waits in the ambulance, Fran asks for God's forgiveness.


Pretty crazy story, no?! Party girls, guns, and cleavage, oh my! Very different from the romance comic book stories of the 1960s and '70s! Which do you prefer? The wide-eyed innocence of the post-Code period or stories à la "Nightmare Romance!"?