Pulp Mag Editorial Offices V Jan 2009

In 1965, publisher Ziff-Davis sold Amazing and Fantastic to Ultimate Publishing Co. Sol Cohen was the publisher. For years, Ultimate hid behind Post Office boxes in Flushing and in Portchester, NY. In the February 1968 issue of Amazing though, they slipped up and provided a street address, 69-62 230 St, Oakland Gardens, Flushing, NY. This address is located in Deep Queens, miles beyond the nearest subway stop. I had been curious about an editorial office located so far from the publishing center of gravity in Manhattan and I decided to take a look and to take some pictures. There is nothing to suggest that there ever was an editorial office here. I would assume that the address was actually Sol Cohen’s residence.

The Science Fiction boom of 1953 gave birth to a crudzine named Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine. Larry Janifer told me that he was the editor, although his name did not appear on the masthead. The magazine was published by Star Publications, Inc., 545 Fifth Ave, NY 17, NY. In a long conversation I had with Larry, he told me that, in terms of circulation, Astounding was not the king of the hill in the 1940’s, that Amazing outsold Astounding more than two to one during the peak of the Shaver Mystery. I asked him how he could possibly know this since the annual statement of ownership, management and circulation did not require that the number of issues published be revealed until 1960? Larry said that the distributor of virtually all the pulp magazines, ANC (American News Company) made the circulation figures of all the magazines that they distributed available to all the publishers and that he had gleaned this information from the historical figures that were available to him while he was editor of Cosmos.

It was Larry's theory that John Campbell of Astounding was envious of Ray Palmer's success at boosting Amazing's circulation by use of the Shaver Mystery and that this accounted for John's championing one crackpot idea after the other, like psionics and dianetics.

Pulp Mag Editorial Offices V Jan 2009