Evening star., 1938-05-15
MAGAZINES
Taste for Such Publications Found to Be
Highly Developed and Regular,
but Without Excuse.
By NC. r.

BY NC. X.
TT BEING IN of1-week in the maga-
zine reviewing business, what with
the May sheets all accounted for
= and the June ones still aborning,
the writer has faced her conscience
on a matter which for q long time she
has studiously ignored. And that is
the fringe Of miserable trash which
blazes gaudily around the periphery
Of every magazine stand. For months
she has evaded dealing with that stuff,
telling herself that no reader of The
Star was likely to be interested in
such shoddy print. But that was a
specious argument. For, while no per-
son Of intelligence could possibly
stomach the combined filth and feeble
ness Of the aforesaid periodicals, every
person Of intelligence knows that those
periodicals are q part of the human
scene, representing, behind saccha-
rine coating of "idealism" or "educa-
tional purpose" the furtive, eager,
british longings which control the
lives Of great masses OF the people.
To ignore such publications, therefore,
is simply to ignore some of the un-
pleasantness of being human; it is to
proceed as If all men living in civilized
surroundings were, themselves, civil
lied. And, Of course, that is not the
case, these very magazines being proof
of the contrary. For they are the
great literature of the half-civilized.
They are the accurate index of mass
mans dim. unhappy relations to
society.
WHEN. however, the reviewer did
finally purchase a sheaf Of these
publications she set out to give them
a serious examination. The group
which she bought comprised all those
which advertise on their covers that
their contents are true" selected
from an average newsstand They
numbered eight. Having examined
these opiates Of the people with
care, the reviewer submits the
following suggestion-that planners
for the remodeling Of our world make
such periodicals their text books. The
hint, 1t should be said, is based on the
reviewers impression that the object
of such planners is to render the life
of every citizen as sweet and i'm
maculate as the existence set forth
in our more saccharine motion pic
lures. Well, the gentry who are en-
gagged in this laudable endeavor will
find in the true" magazines more
enlightening material concerning the
human stuff they propose to work on
than in a library Of social statistics
EOR indeed there is no better way
to arrive at an understanding Of
any persons basic self than by learn
ing what his taste in reading is
provided, of course. that he has a
taste in the first place. II it were
possible to believe that the marshmal-
low-coated dirt of the TRUE" .periodi-
Gals was read only by chance readers,
that these magazines existed only by
the purchases of casual newsstand
buyers, who. having little empty time
to fill and no particular predictions,
Just picked up what offered the gaudi-
est cover and promptly forgot 1t. then
it might be said that the group had
no real significance.
Unfortunately, this is not what hap
pens. Inquiries were made by the re-
viewer to a number of news dealers
and all bring forth the same answer.
The readers Of the "trues" are regu-
lar addicts: the same people buy the
same magazines month after month
The loathsome mental diet plainly
pleases them. 1t follows, therefore,
that the stuff Of these sheets fits
easily into their existing mental pos
sessions. causing no clash with the
stock Of ideas which they have on
hand, but falling easily and soothingly
into its place in their lives, even cast
| ing roseate glow over their shoddy
dreams, like a bargain-counter lamp
shade ameliorating the harshness Of
third floor back. What then does
one find in these faithfully perused
periodicals?
Evidence, the reviewer fears, that
a great part Of our population is in
a most unhappy state between savag-
cry and civilization, with the honesty
and purposefulness Of the savage for
ever lost and the virtues of the civil
lied man not even family compre-
hended.
For, as every one knows, the great
mass Of the material used in the
"trues' is concerned with the sex re-
lations Of men and women. But this
Is treated very dishonesty 1t does
not have any positive quality what
ever; 1t is handled in terms Of hypo-
crlsies, yearnings, fears, lacks and
weaknesses. To be sure, it keeps a
safe foot on conventional morality. :"
But, fundamentally, it is a vicarious