Romance & True Story Pulps

Shortly after Street & Smith created the first successful romance pulp, Love Story, in 1921, other publishers jumped at the chance to make a buck from the half of the population not buying the more male-oriented adventure, western, and detective/thrillers, the women. Many romance titles were published from the 20's to World War II, including True Love, Real Love, New Love, Thrilling Love (see below), Popular Love, Sweetheart Stories, and Cupid's Diary. Publishers tried to cash in by adding love story titles based in other genres, such as, Rangeland Love Stories, Romantic Range, Ranch Romances, Western Romances, Thrilling Ranch Stories, and Underworld Romances.
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Love1.jpg (123820 bytes)Thrilling Love, Vol. XXIX, No. 2, March, 1939. Published monthly by Standard Magazines, Inc., New York. A Thrilling Publication. Cover uncredited. Story heads by Murphy and Spooner.
Truestry.jpg (151188 bytes)True Story Magazine, Volume XI, No., 5, December, 1924. Published monthly at Macfadden Bldg., New York. Large format magazine printed on pulp-like paper. Cover by Leo Sielke, Jr., after a portrait study of Gertrude Olmsted by Clarence S. Bull. "The Turning Point: To every human being soon or late comes a time of crisis that sends him either up or down in the scale of life... True Story Magazine reveals the turning points in people's lives. It is a magazine of revelation in which the souls of our neighbors are laid bare for us all to see--and to profit by whatever less they may contain."
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