STORIES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE

Startling Stories takes readers to the past, the future, and everywhere between.

For the purists among you, today we have a legit pulp magazine, an issue of Startling Stories published this month in 1947 by Chicago based Better Publications, also known as Standard Magazines. We don’t post these often because there’s a paucity of visual content other than the great covers but we do have a small collection of ’30s and ’40s pulps and love them. We can easily understand why these mags were so addictive. You got fresh fiction in various genres, wildly imginative for the most part, and at a great price—15¢, which would be about $2.10 in today’s money. The pulp era was long finished by the time we came on the scene, but we can project back to that long ago January, buying this in a whirl of adolescent eagerness, running home, reading until way past bedtime with the help of a flashlight.

The cover here was painted by Earle Bergey and illustrates the tale “The Star of Life” by Edmond Hamilton, which is about a “future civilization in a desperate struggle against tyrannical rule by a minority which derives its tremendous power through knowledge of the secret of immortality.” It resonates—tyrannical rule by a minority of the powerful has been our historical norm. And aside from a tyranny-lite era triggered by the black swan cataclysms of two world wars, a flu epidemic, and an economic collapse, elite minority rule is advancing again. How do the people in “The Star of Life” deal with these oppressors? We won’t give it away. We actually read this tale in novel form several years ago with no idea it was also in this Startling Stories. Imagine our surprise.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1960—Woodward Gets First Star on Walk of Fame

Actress Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Los Angeles sidewalk at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street that serves as an outdoor entertainment museum. Woodward was one of 1,558 honorees chosen by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1958, when the proposal to build the sidewalk was approved. Today the sidewalk contains more than 2,300 stars.

1971—Paige Enters Baseball Hall of Fame

Satchel Paige becomes the first player from America’s Negro Baseball League to be voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Paige, who was a pitcher, played for numerous Negro League teams, had brief stints in Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Major Leagues, before finally retiring in his mid-fifties.

1969—Allende Meteorite Falls in Mexico

The Allende Meteorite, the largest object of its type ever found, falls in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The original stone, traveling at more than ten miles per second and leaving a brilliant streak across the sky, is believed to have been approximately the size of an automobile. But by the time it hit the Earth it had broken into hundreds of fragments.

1985—Matt Munro Dies

English singer Matt Munro, who was one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s and sang numerous hits, including the James Bond theme “From Russia with Love,” dies from liver cancer at Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London.

1958—Plane Crash Kills 8 Man U Players

British European Airways Flight 609 crashes attempting to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane is the Manchester United football team, along with a number of supporters and journalists. 20 of the 44 people on board die in the crash.

Five covers for football pulp magazines illustrated by George Gross.
Rare Argentinian cover art for The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

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