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 - "Rancho of Golden Dreams" Cowgirl Romances #2 (1950)

It's that time again, Time Travel Tuesday! Today's story, "Rancho of Golden Dreams" is from the Fiction House publication, Cowgirl Romances #2 (1950). It is currently National Hispanic Heritage Month, so this epic romance tale set in "Old California" is quite fitting. One of the few representations of Hispanics in romance comics, this story is less about leading lady Dolores and her search for romance and more about her quest to save her father's estate. The story (credited to Augustine Martinez) is a little intricate, so here it is in its entirety -- courtesy of the Digital Comic Museum!

Click to enlarge!

I have a few other stories for Hispanic Heritage Month planned, so be sure to check back through October!

Time Travel Tuesdays - Miss America Romance Comic Featurette by Mart Nodell!

Today's Time Travel post is a very special one! June has been a big month for the Green Lantern! Even though the film didn't perform as well as expected and DC decided to go with the story of Hal Jordan, the hoopla surrounding the movie still made me really proud of my grandfather -- the creator of the original Golden Age Green Lantern!

Me and my grandparents,
Marty and Carrie Nodell in 1988

Not only did my grandfather draw superhero comics, he dabbled in other comic book genres, including romance! The following little featurette "Charm Corner" is from Miss America v7#33 [66] (April 1950), an issue in which he also served as Art Associate.

Prepare yourself to learn some charm and etiquette...
from my grandpa!

Pretty cute, huh?! I especially like the battling teeth! This issue is definitely on my want list, but for now, these scans of "Charm Corner" are courtesy of Dr. Michael J. Vassallo of the Timely-Atlas-Comics Blog! For more information on the history of the Green Lantern, check out this month's issue of Alter Ego wholly dedicated to the character!

Time Travel Tuesdays - Dr. Wertham Speaks Out on Romance Comics!

Crime and horror comics bore the brunt of Dr. Fredric Wertham's attack, but did you know that he wasn't too keen on romance comics either? Below are a few of my favorite quotations on the love genre from Dr. Wertham's infamous book, Seduction of the Innocent!*

♥♥♥

The experts had said that what the children need is aggression, not affection -- crime, not love. But suddenly the industry converted from blood to kisses. They tooled up the industry for a kind of comic book that hardly existed before, the love-confession type. They began to turn them out quickly and plentifully before their own experts had time to retool for the new production line and write scientific papers proving that what children really needed and wanted -- what their psychological development really called for -- was after all not murder, but love! (p. 37)

♥♥♥

In many of them, in complete contrast to the previous teen-age group, sexual relations are assumed to have taken place in the background. Just as the crime-comics formula requires a violent ending, so the love-comics formula demands that the story end
with reconciliation. (p. 38)

♥♥♥

Studying these love-confession books is even more tedious than studying the usual crime comic books. You have to wade through all the mushiness, the false sentiments, the social hypocrisy, the titillation, the cheapness. (p. 38)

Fawcett
"Trail to Romance"
Cowboy Love #10
(June 1950)

♥♥♥

It is a mistake to think that love comics are read only by adolescent and older children. They are read by very young children as well. An eight-year-old girl living in a very comfortable environment on Long Island said, "I have lots of friends and we buy about one comic book a week and then we exchange. I can read about ten a day. I like to read the comic books about love because when I go to sleep at night I love to dream about love." (p. 39)

♥♥♥

Flooding the market with love-confession comics was so successful in diverting attention from crime comic books that it has been entirely overlooked that many of them really are crime comic books, with a seasoning of love added. Unless the love comics are sprinkled with some crime they do not sell. Apparently love does not pay. (p. 40)

Ace
"Impulsive!"
Love Experiences #18
(April 1953)

♥♥♥

False stereotypes of race prejudice exist also in the "love comics." Children can usually pick the unsatisfactory lover just by his looks. (p. 105)

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Love comics do harm in the sphere of taste, esthetics, ethics and human relations. The plots are stereotyped, banal, cheap. Whereas in crime comics the situation is boy meets girl, boy beats girl; in love comics it is boy meets girl, boy cheats girl -- or vice versa. (p. 185)

Fox
"Quicksand Romance"
My Secret Life #25
(January 1950)

♥♥♥

I wonder if Dr. Wertham ever read any post-Code romance comics? I think he would have rather liked their wholesome nature!

*All quotations from Frederic Wertham, M.D.'s Seduction of the Innocent. New York: Rinehart, 1954. Reprint, New York: Main Road Books, Inc., 2004.

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!"?

Time Travel Tuesdays - Romance Comic Character asks, "Should I Give Up My Career for Marriage?"

For this special Women's History Month installment of Time Travel Tuesdays I have a striking one-pager about a young career driven young woman with a heartbreaking choice to make. In "Should I Give Up My Career for Marriage?" Rita Benson, head of the copy department at a large publishing firm finds she must choose between her fulfilling job and her beau, Paul. Her potential husband declares that no wife of his will work, but Rita finds herself wanting to have it "all."

Illustrated by Bob Powell
"Should I Give Up My Career for Marriage?"
Love Problems and Advice Illustrated #15
(May 1952)*

Perhaps the most interesting facet of this short story is the last panel which appears to take place in some sort of clinical setting. The 1950s are often associated with various experts (think Dr. Wertham!) and the last panel of this romance story is a very good example of reliance on the musings of authoritarian figures.

*I know I have used this issue before, but I just couldn't resist sharing this one-page story!

Time Travel Tuesdays - Fawcett's Sweethearts #86 (April 1950)

Welcome to the second installment of Time Travel Tuesdays here at Sequential Crush! Young and ambitious Janie Morgan stars in this Fawcett story, "Tears in the Night" from Sweethearts #86 (April 1950).


Thoroughly dedicated to her job at Talbot Trucking (as she had been laid off quite a few times in the past), Janie humors Floyd Talbot's requests for dates, as he is the boss's son. Floyd frequently tells Janie not to take the job so seriously because soon, they will be married. Not if Janie has anything to do with it!


It becomes clear that Floyd refuses to take his position as heir to the company seriously, and when his father passes away unexpectedly, it is Janie who is thrown into managing the company. Fortunately, she loves it and has no problem mobilizing the drivers. One evening while leaving the office, she stumbles into quite the commotion -- a drifter named Dane has hitched a ride in one of the trucks and the driver is less than amused.


Luckily for Dane, Janie decides to bring him home for a little rest and recuperation. From the moment they walk over her threshold it is apparent that Janie is proud of her hard work and the many signs of success it has brought her including a car, an apartment and even a housekeeper.


Smitten by Dane and seeing he could use a hand, Janie hires him to work at the trucking company. In an effort to see him more and save him from the dangers of night-time hauling, Janie puts Dane on the day shift which causes a ruckus with the rest of the men. Dane finally convinces her to put him on the midnight shift with the rest of the new drivers. Not long after starting, Dane hears from the other guys that Janie goes on dates with Floyd Talbot, forcing her to convince Dane that it is he that she loves. Feeling reassured, Dane proclaims his love for Janie and discusses a future marriage between the two. Naturally, Dane is not the only one with plans to marry the raven-haired professional.


Marrying Floyd is not what Janie has in mind and when ignoring his proposals ultimately fail, Janie decides that she must find a way to permanently become "entrenched" in Talbot Trucking in order to keep her job and keep seeing Dane. So without wasting any time, Janie sets up a merger between Talbot Trucking and Carsone Motor Transportation -- making herself a partner. Floyd signs the paperwork without reading it. Not long after, however; Floyd wises up to her arrangement when he catches her smooching Dane -- and just as he was about to propose! Janie decides to finally stop beating around the bush and tell Floyd the cold hard truth.


Though prepared for Floyd's anger, Janie is not prepared for Dane's wrath. Confused by his outburst at her behavior, Janie tries to convince Dane that she just took what was hers for the taking.


Dane leaves her and the once prosperous Janie stands alone. Just as she decides to go chase after Dane, she sees Floyd setting fire to the company warehouse. Despite the love triangle, Dane saves Floyd. He doesn't stick around long enough though to receive a hero's welcoming and drifts out of Janie's life just as easily as he had drifted in.


Deciding she can't keep on mourning the loss of Dane, Janie continues to labor at the trucking company, even overseeing the building of a new warehouse. Janie ultimately decides to leave the company after getting it back on its feet, but is stopped by Floyd who thanks her and encourages her to seek Dane out. Taking his advice, Janie moves on down the path of life, guided by love's impulses.


In light of Black History Month, I wanted to share a 1940s/1950s romance story featuring African-American characters. Problem is (as you can probably imagine), comics during this time period were not as diverse as they were in the 1970s! I searched high and low through my collection of older books and was unable to find a single story with an African-American character. I then turned to the Digital Comic Museum where I had remembered seeing this story when I was doing some research on another Fawcett's title, the short lived and very scarce, Negro Romance.

In "Tears in the Night" we see the sole African-American character, Charlotte, in a domestic service position in Janie's home. The imagery of her standing in the doorway, hands on hips and donning an outfit very similar to Aunt Jemima is of course disconcerting to reader's today, but consistent with the antebellum-derived "mammy archetype" that continued well into 20th century popular culture.


The romance comics of the 1970s definitely become more diverse, but the notion of the protective "mammy" character is a curious one and didn't completely disappear from the romance comics as I will show you later this week... right here at Sequential Crush!