- True Confessions
True Confessions was a
confession magazine published byFawcett Publications , beginning in 1922. With a cover price of 25 cents, the front cover of the October, 1922, issue heralded, "Our Thousand Dollar Prize Winner—'All Hell Broke Loose'." During the 1920s, Jack Smalley was the editor, and early issues in the run sometimes featured cover illustrations byNorman Saunders .Directed at a female readership between the ages of 20 and 35, it climbed to a circulation of two million during the 1930s, carrying such articles as "The Romantic Story of
Jack Dempsey 's Cinderella Bride." With "True Confessions" Fawcett was in competition with rival publishers Macfadden ("True Story", "True Romance", "Experiences") and Hillman Periodicals ("Real Story", "Real Confessions", "Real Romances", "Crime Confessions"). In 1945, Fawcett learned that 72% of the women who read "True Confessions" were married, just one piece of information gleaned after Fawcett spent $50,000 for a year-long survey involving 600 questions asked of "True Confessions" readers in Dayton, Ohio (chosen after the Census Bureau named it a typical wartime United States city).By 1949, these old-style confession magazines faced a setback in the midst of a new comic book trend, over 100 love and romance titles from two dozen companies, with press runs averaging 500,000. Macfadden reported a loss in the second quarter of 1949, while Fawcett profited with its new romance comics, reaching a million readers with "Sweethearts" and 700,000 with "Life Story".
During the 1950s, when "True Confessions" was priced at 15 cents, the editor was Florence J. Schetty. The contents of the March, 1959, issue, edited by Schetty and priced at 25 cents, provide insight into the magazine's approach during that period. It included "God Is My Guide" by Clint Walker, "Hairdos You Can Do Yourself" by Grace A. Hufner, " "When a Girl Goes to Prison" by Jules Archer, "I Couldn’t Forgive My Brother-in-Law" by Anonymous and "Let’s Enjoy Breakfast" by Erva Jean Vosburgh. Another editor in the field was
Clark Dimond , who edited "True Experience" for Macfadden-Bartell during the 1960s.Some articles for "True Confessions" were condensed for republication in "
Reader's Digest ", and Fawcett launched itsGold Medal Books paperback line in 1949 with anthologies of material from "True" ("The Best of True Magazine") and "True Confessions" ("What Today's Woman Should Know About Marriage and Sex").In 2006, [http://www.dorchestermedia.com Dorchester Media] teamed with [http://www.leisureent.com Leisure Ent.] to launch a series of paperback anthologies titled "True Confessions", "True Romance", and "True Story."
References
*"The Fawcett Formula" "Time" (March 19, 1945)
*Moriarty, Florence, editor. "True Confessions: Sixty Years of Sin, Suffering & Sorrow" (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1979)
* [http://www.peggyfielding.com/BookDisplay.cfm?isbn=0937660205&f=d Fielding, Peggy. "Confessing for Money" (AWOC.com, 2005)]External links
* [http://64.191.14.225/confessions.html Review of "True Confessions: Sixty Years of Sin, Suffering & Sorrow"]
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