Stripper's Guide

A few months back I tried to put together an index of the American Weekly Sunday magazine covers. With the help of you blog readers, I was able to turn my index, which started out shot through with holes like a Swiss cheese, into a near perfect one.

Unfortunately, publishing that index worked out so well that I got the crazy idea that maybe -- just maybe -- I could succeed in indexing the other Hearst magazine cover series. The problem with the others is that, unlike the American Weekly, these magazine covers are not identified with a running title or masthead. Which might not necessarily be an insurmountable problem, except that there are definitely multiple cover series in play. Seemingly we are offered two identifying characteristics:

1. Unless a newspaper routs it out, each cover displays a copyright to a syndicate. Hearst is known to have run magazine cover series under three different syndicates: International Feature Service (IFS), Newspaper Feature Service (NFS) and King Features Syndicate.
2. Newspapers thankfully tend to stick with one magazine cover series for a long period. Therefore, in theory, we can assume that the series being run by newspaper X is consistent from week to week for long periods.

Unfortunately I found out as I worked at the indexes that neither rule is nearly as helpful as expected. While I was blissfully left alone by the routerman, everything else seemed to be stacked against me. Not only do many of the newspapers I followed seem to have a penchant for switching series, but far worse, the Hearst syndicates sometimes seem to play pin the tail on the donkey with their syndicate stamps. The exact same cover can be stamped with different syndicate stamps, depending on which newspaper was using it. To add more complexity, it's typical to find multiple papers that run the same series but running the material weeks off track from each other.

So I went in expecting to have a pretty clean delineation; there'd be an IFS series, an NFS series and a King series, each of which followed its own and separate path. No such luck. My indexes are a mess, and series seem to change from one syndicate to another for no obvious reason. Because of that, what I'm going to present here is a bit of a jumble. I'll try to annotate when things get weird and when I feel that I have insights.

My first index is for a series I didn't realize even existed when I began work. I knew Dan Smith had produced quite a few Hearst magazine covers, but I discovered that he basically had his own series throughout the 1920s.

The Dan Smith cover series begins in May 1921, when he took over as the cover illustrator on a feature magazine that had previously concentrated mostly on photos and uncredited illustrations for its covers. When Smith arrived, the covers continued to often feature a photo or two, but they became secondary aspects of the design, which featured large Dan Smith drawings and usually a few paragraphs of text story. When the series began, the cover subjects were generally about bizarre news stories, fashion and culture. Later on the series subjects would evolve in several different directions.

Date	Title	Syndicate
5/15/21	An Indian Lover's Curse Fulfilled at Last	International Feature Service
5/22/21	Science Sanctions Flirtation	International Feature Service
5/29/21	The Poppy Girl	International Feature Service
6/5/21	The Strangest Wedding That Ever Happened	International Feature Service
6/12/21	How Red Hair Made a New Reno in Europe	International Feature Service
6/19/21	Girl Bull Fighters - Mexico's Latest Fling	International Feature Service
6/26/21	The Woman Judge Who Gives Husbands a Square Deal	International Feature Service
7/3/21	We Want Our Own Star in the Flag	International Feature Service
7/10/21	The Tragedy of the Loveless Marriage	International Feature Service
7/17/21	Who'll Bid For This Beauty?	International Feature Service
7/24/21	The Battle Against Bare Legs	International Feature Service
7/31/21	The Beauty Whose Make-Up Has Lasted 8,000 Years	International Feature Service
8/7/21	The New Bareback Dianas of the Surf	International Feature Service
8/14/21	Why Do Men Marry Their Stenographers	International Feature Service
8/21/21	Is Woman Leaving Her Pedestal?	International Feature Service
8/28/21	Are Men More Merciful Than Women?	International Feature Service
9/4/21	The Law Defines a "Vamp"	International Feature Service
9/11/21	The New Beauty Doctor -- The Baby	International Feature Service
9/18/21	Fashion Now Fancies Fish Scales	International Feature Service
9/25/21	What Is Your Husband Worth To You?	International Feature Service
10/2/21	Italy's Astonishing Matrimonial Lottery	International Feature Service
10/9/21	Love's Newest Triumph -- The Germ-Proof Wedding	International Feature Service
10/16/21	Fashion's Astonishing Flop -- From Knees to Trains	International Feature Service
10/23/21	How Would You Solve this Mother-Love Problem?	International Feature Service
10/30/21	Has a Wife the Right to Choose Her Successor?	International Feature Service
11/6/21	Fashion Reflects the Red Man's Robes	International Feature Service
11/13/21	Good-bye to the Overalls	International Feature Service
11/20/21	Thanksgiving Time	International Feature Service
11/27/21	The New Romances Tell Everything	International Feature Service
12/4/21	No More European Women For Me	International Feature Service
12/11/21	Will Chicago's Social Leader Seize the New York Sceptre	International Feature Service
12/18/21	The King and Queen of Christmas	International Feature Service
12/25/21	Christmas	International Feature Service
1/1/22	Will 1922 Bring Romantic Clothes?	International Feature Service
1/15/22	The American Makes the Best Lover	International Feature Service
1/22/22	"I Want a Cave Man Husband"	International Feature Service
1/29/22	Why Europe's Most Picturesque Queen hanged Her Mind	International Feature Service
2/5/22	The Greatest Wedding of the Year	International Feature Service
2/12/22	Marrying a Pilot on the Wing	International Feature Service
2/19/22	The Much-Watched Marriage of the "Wonder Girl"	International Feature Service
2/26/22	Has the Lipstick Come To Stay?	International Feature Service
3/5/22	Life-Size Dolls for Tea Company	International Feature Service
3/12/22	America's Pyramid City of the Future	International Feature Service
3/19/22	Science Finds the Secret of the Poison Pen	International Feature Service
3/26/22	Will the Tom-Tom Displace Jazz?	International Feature Service
4/2/22	He Followed Her Fandango Feet for 20,000 Miles	International Feature Service
4/9/22	Love -- Or a Million Dollars?	International Feature Service
4/16/22	The New Search for the Holy Grail	International Feature Service
4/23/22	They All Want Red Hair	International Feature Service
4/30/22	Society and Science Turn to Spiritualism	International Feature Service
5/7/22	Sport and Romance Behind the Dog Team	International Feature Service
5/14/22	The Excitement of Marrying an Indian	International Feature Service
5/21/22	The Girl and the Buried Treasure	International Feature Service
5/28/22	The Daisy's Memorial Day Message	International Feature Service
6/4/22	Has Prohibition Boomed the Beauty Parlor?	International Feature Service
6/11/22	The Flapper Jockey's in the Lead	International Feature Service
6/18/22	Painting Pictures Under The Sea	International Feature Service
6/25/22	New Complexions Mean a Color Bath	International Feature Service
7/2/22	A Radio "Fourth" the Season's Novelty	International Feature Service
7/9/22	Today's Priscilla Saves a Town	International Feature Service
7/16/22	The Ending of the Wild Life Era	International Feature Service
7/23/22	The Prince's Eleven Black Cats -- And the Bishop's Tirade	International Feature Service
7/30/22	America's Greatest Girl Rider	International Feature Service
8/6/22	The Girl Who is Hiking Alone 'Round the World	International Feature Service
8/13/22	Zoo Fans	International Feature Service
8/20/22	The Romance of the Olympic Champions	International Feature Service
8/27/22	Beach Ball for Girls Only	International Feature Service
9/3/22	Ears to be Worn Again	International Feature Service
9/10/22	Back to the Dashing Sport of Robin Hood	International Feature Service
9/17/22	Is She America's Bravest Girl?	International Feature Service
9/24/22	Rugs and Curtains for Costumes	International Feature Service
10/1/22	Sees New York -- "Give Me Oklahoma," Says Indian Heiress	International Feature Service
10/8/22	Make Way for the Biggest Hats Ever	International Feature Service
10/15/22	The Craze for Strange Pets	International Feature Service
10/22/22	The Strange Furore over Russian Color	International Feature Service
10/29/22	The Return of the Bull Dog	International Feature Service
11/5/22	The Girl Who Must Not Marry	International Feature Service
11/12/22	The Newest Sport Thrill - Gliding	International Feature Service
11/19/22	When Spain's Queen Comes To America	International Feature Service
11/26/22	Harvest Home	International Feature Service
12/3/22	The Sensation of Silk Wigs	International Feature Service
12/10/22	The Hockey Girl	International Feature Service
12/17/22	In Santa Claus's Workshop	International Feature Service
12/24/22	Christmas Friends	International Feature Service
12/31/22	Miss 1923-Athlete And Worker	International Feature Service
1/7/23	Now The Game Is Mah Jongg	International Feature Service
1/14/23	The Strangest of all Honeymoons	International Feature Service
1/21/23	The Ice Girl	International Feature Service
1/28/23	Tattooing Helps The Health, Says Science	International Feature Service
2/4/23	The Fascinating Fad of Earrings	International Feature Service
2/11/23	An Aurora Borealis Wedding	International Feature Service
2/18/23	Science Has a New Theory About Fighting Bulls	International Feature Service
2/25/23	Painting Beauty's Secret Soul	International Feature Service
3/4/23	The Camel's Domain Conquered By The Tank	International Feature Service
3/11/23	The Accordion Has Come Back	International Feature Service

I tired of typing in all these titles after a few year's worth, because as you probably know, my primary interest is in cover series -- these one-shot covers are interesting, but sort of tangential. In this first section of the Dan Smith index I used as my sources Buffalo Times for the 1921 material, then switched over to the Minneapolis Tribune for 1922-23. If some reader would like this index to be complete and is willing to put in the work of writing the index, I'll gladly add your information for the March 1923 - March 1926 material I jumped.

So having tired of the one-shot indexing, I jumped forward to looking for some change to the pattern. I finally found the Dan Smith covers changing in 1926. Let's pick back up in April 1926 with the last few one-shot covers. The first change is on May 9 1926, when the cover design switches from including text and photos along with the art, to a full page art piece. Then on May 23 Smith's syndicate slug transitions from IFS to King Features. At the same time, the 'newsy' covers end and the subject becomes attractive women in history and fiction. Obviously the syndicate change and the cover design change have something to do with each other.

Unfortunately, my source for Dan Smith covers (El Paso Times) dries up in June 1927, and so we're going to have a long gap just when things are getting interesting.

Date	Title	Syndicate
4/4/26	The Varied Splendors of Easter Time	International Feature Service
4/11/26	Lacrosse Comes Back	International Feature Service
4/18/26	The Smock Captures the Office Girl	International Feature Service
4/25/26	Archery on Horseback	International Feature Service
5/2/26	Front Lawn Golf	International Feature Service
5/9/26	If Spring Were Like the Artist Dreams It	International Feature Service (now full page illustration, no photos,text)
5/16/26	A Dream of the Horse	International Feature Service
5/23/26	The June Bride in Fairyland	International Feature Service / King Features Syndicate
5/30/26	A Mermaid Afternoon Tea	King Features Syndicate
6/6/26	A Pirate Story Without Words	King Features Syndicate
6/13/26	The First "Charleston" in Fairyland	King Features Syndicate
6/20/26	The First Air Flight in Fairyland	King Features Syndicate
6/27/26	American Heroines - Pocahontas	King Features Syndicate
7/4/26	American Heroines - Betsy Ross	King Features Syndicate
7/11/26	American Heroines - Priscilla	King Features Syndicate
7/18/26	American Heroines - Minnehaha	King Features Syndicate
7/25/26	American Heroines - Evangeline	King Features Syndicate
8/1/26	American Heroines - The Girl of the Golden West	King Features Syndicate
8/8/26	American Heroines - Molly Pitcher	King Features Syndicate
8/15/26	American Heroines - Dolly Madison	King Features Syndicate
8/22/26	American Heroines - Martha Washington	King Features Syndicate
8/29/26	American Heroines - The Pioneer Bicycle Girl	King Features Syndicate
9/5/26	American Heroines - The Settler's Wife	King Features Syndicate
9/12/26	American Heroines - Nancy Hanks and Young Lincoln	King Features Syndicate
9/19/26	American Heroines - The War Nurse	King Features Syndicate
9/26/26	American Heroines - The Pioneer Suffragist	King Features Syndicate
10/3/26	American Heroines - The Girl Rancher	King Features Syndicate
10/10/26	American Heroines - The Doctor	King Features Syndicate
10/17/26	American Heroines - The Girl Skipper	King Features Syndicate
10/24/26	American Heroines - The Lighthouse Girl	King Features Syndicate
10/31/26	American Heroines - The Farmerette	King Features Syndicate
11/7/26	American Heroines - The Big Game Hunter	King Features Syndicate
11/14/26	Famous Women - Joan of Arc	King Features Syndicate
11/21/26	Famous Women - Cleopatra and Anthony	King Features Syndicate
11/28/26	Famous Women - Lady Godiva	King Features Syndicate
12/5/26	Famous Women - Judith	King Features Syndicate
12/12/26	Famous Women - Salome	King Features Syndicate
12/19/26	An Old Time Christmas Eve	King Features Syndicate
12/26/26	Famous Women - Madame Dubarry	King Features Syndicate
1/2/27	Pythia, the Prophetess of Delphi	King Features Syndicate
1/9/27	Famous Women - Charlotte Corday	King Features Syndicate
1/16/27	Famous Women - Mary Queen of Scots in the Tower	King Features Syndicate
1/23/27	Famous Women - Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh	King Features Syndicate
1/30/27	Famous Women - Lucrezia Borgia	King Features Syndicate
2/6/27	Famous Women - Phyrne Before the Tribunal	King Features Syndicate
2/13/27	Famous Women - Circe	King Features Syndicate
2/20/27	Famous Women - Hagar and Ishmael	King Features Syndicate
2/27/27	Famous Women - Delilah	King Features Syndicate
3/6/27	Famous Women - The Daughter of Pharaoh	King Features Syndicate
3/13/27	Famous Women - Helen of Troy	King Features Syndicate
3/20/27	Famous Women - Madame Pompadour	King Features Syndicate
3/27/27	The Christian Martyr	King Features Syndicate
4/3/27	Salammbo	King Features Syndicate
4/10/27	Hero, Priestess of Venus	King Features Syndicate
4/17/27	The Spirit of Easter	King Features Syndicate
4/24/27	Famous Women - The Queen of Sheba	King Features Syndicate
5/1/27	Famous Women - Anne of Brittany	King Features Syndicate
5/8/27	Famous Women - Isabella of Spain	King Features Syndicate
5/15/27	The One-Two Ear Ring Love Code	International Feature Service (looks like a re-used old cover)
5/22/27	Famous Women - Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi	King Features Syndicate
5/29/27	Penelope	King Features Syndicate
6/5/27	Famous Women - Queen Margaret of Denmark	King Features Syndicate

If anyone can find a paper online that ran the Dan Smith material in this gap, I'd very much like to know about it.

We pick up the Dan Smith thread at the Montana Standard in September 1928. The covers are now story illustrations. Unfortunately I lost this paper at the end of the year and was forced to switch again. :

Date	Title	Syndicate
9/16/28	Out of the Sky (uncredited story illo)	King Features Syndicate
9/23/28	Out of the Sky (uncredited story illo)	King Features Syndicate
9/30/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
10/7/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
10/14/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
10/21/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
10/28/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
11/4/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
11/11/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
11/18/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
11/25/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
12/2/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
12/9/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
12/16/28	The Circus Baby by James Aswell (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
12/23/28	The Eternal Flapper by Don Warren (story illo)	King Features Syndicate

I switched to Indianapolis Star, but that turned into a dead end -- got barely more than a month out of it (see below). However, it did fill in an interesting interlude when Dan Smith lost his spot temporarily to Louis Biedermann. Maybe Dan was given a well-deserved vacation. Note that the Star begins The Eternal Flapper two weeks earlier than the Standard did. Also, notice that in the Star on 12/2/28, Smith was still working on his historical women covers. This could well be a case where we have a couple strands of magazine cover DNA curling around each other, if you know what I mean. Maybe starting with the Standard we are actually seeing an entirely separate cover series, and Dan Smith was actually working on two parallel series? I told you that this index would be messy!

Date	Title	Cover Artist	Syndicate
12/2/28	Famous Romances - Princess Mary of the House of Tudor	Dan Smith	King Features Syndicate
12/9/28	The Eternal Flapper by Don Warren (story illo)	Louis Biedermann	King Features Syndicate
12/16/28	The Eternal Flapper by Don Warren (story illo)	Louis Biedermann	King Features Syndicate
12/23/28	The Eternal Flapper by Don Warren (story illo)	Louis Biedermann	King Features Syndicate
12/30/28	The Eternal Flapper by Don Warren (story illo)	Louis Biedermann	King Features Syndicate
1/6/29	The Eternal Flapper by Don Warren (story illo)	Louis Biedermann	King Features Syndicate
1/13/29	The Eternal Flapper by Don Warren (story illo)	Louis Biedermann	King Features Syndicate

Now our paper has switched to the Detroit Free Press. It appears to me that the Free Press is one week late compared to the Indianapolis Star. in other words, if the Star had continued, they would have run the first installment of Nora's Ark on the 20th.

Noteworthy here is that we have another syndicate change, this one from King to NFS on 3/10/29. There is no obvious reason for this change, and the format and focus don't change. In fact, it happens right in the middle of a series.

What is more exciting is that we finally get to a couple series that are of special interest to me, in that they are continuing comic strip series by my definition. Honeymoon Island and Pancho Rancho finally get Dan Smith a couple spots in my book. A note on those two series: although the writer is uncredited, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it is Don Warren, who wrote a number of stories in the same vein that Smith illustrated. 

Date	Title	Syndicate
1/27/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo) [start]	King Features Syndicate
2/3/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
2/10/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
2/17/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
2/24/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
3/3/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	King Features Syndicate
3/10/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
3/17/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
3/24/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
3/31/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
4/7/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
4/14/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
4/21/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
4/28/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
5/5/29	Nora's Ark by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
5/12/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
5/19/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
5/26/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
6/2/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
6/9/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
6/16/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
6/23/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
6/30/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
7/7/29	Rocky Ranch by Don Warren (story illo)	Newspaper Feature Service
7/14/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service (writer uncredited)
7/21/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
7/28/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
8/4/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
8/11/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
8/18/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
8/25/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
9/1/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
9/8/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
9/15/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
9/22/29	Honeymoon Island	Newspaper Feature Service
9/29/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service (writer uncredited)
10/6/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
10/13/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
10/20/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
10/27/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
11/3/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
11/10/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
11/17/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
11/24/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
12/1/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
12/8/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service
12/15/29	Pancho Rancho	Newspaper Feature Service

I'm calling this the end of Dan Smith's reign as a one-man magazine cover-producing machine. I know of one additional series he did in 1930, but after Pancho Rancho ends, he's definitely not even a regular contributor anymore.So that's it for this post, and yet we're really just getting started on the Hearst magazine covers.

Tomorrow we hit an exciting stretch, so see you then!

Labels: Magazine Cover Comics