You remember correctly, Richard...as obviously fictional as
"Hollywood Confidential" in CONFLICT may've been, "Mars
Confidential" in AMAZING was
(presumably intentionally) pre-WEEKLY WORLD NEWS-style
preposterousness. Though I wonder if Browne thought as much
of these stunts as someone in a better-appointed office at
Ziff-Davis.
I suppose we're lucky that FANTASTIC didn't offer "Lemuria
Confidential!" or
"Salem Confidential!" (blowing the lid off the sex and
influence-peddling behind the Witch Trials).
Did you read Browne's Z-D MAMMOTH cf pulps? Or his
sea-fiction semislick digest of the same period? TM
-----Original Message----- From:
Moorich2@aol.com [mailto:
Moorich2@aol.com]
Among the odds and ends of my accumulation of mystery digests
is a copy of
"Conflict" published by Ziff-Davis in Fall 1953 and edited by
Howard Browne,
the great author of the Paul Pine mysteries. The cover is
striking--a blonde by Henry Von Dongen--and the contents
features stories by Browne buddies Roy
Huggins and Wlilliam P. McGivern as well as one by the
underrated Charlotte Armstrong.
The biggest drawback to that one issue was the banner display
given
"Hollywood Confidential" by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer. This
duo had a bestseller that they turned it into a "brand." If
my memory serves me, they
sold Browne on this "Confidential" brand for "Amazing
Stories" as well with a piece entitled "Mars
Confidential."
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