Word: macfadden
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Even in the grave, Health Hound Bernarr Macfadden, who died three years ago at 87, seemed unsafe from the fury of a woman scorned. In a Miami court, Mary Williamson Macfadden, third of his four wives, described her faddist ex as a "predatory philanderer" and a "lecherous spouse," asked that his divorce from her of twelve years ago be set aside on the grounds of fraud and perjury...
...people who read confession magazines, says Macfadden Publications, are "Wage-Town" folks. More than 80% of readers are women, mostly married and in the 25-30 age group. Slightly more than 50% finished high school. Their income levels are below-average. Thus, the confession slicks never indulge in drawn-out, complex psychological unravelings or high-flown dialogue...
...Ring of Truth. However naive the cumbersome plots may seem to more sophisticated readers, confession editors argue that they faithfully reflect their audience's view of society. Unlike white-collar women, the Macfadden people explain, Wage-Town women "seem to see all men as more powerful figures: dominant, independent, sexually active and demanding, and, over all, as more mature than women." Says Editor Dorrance: "In the movies the taxi driver, the waitress, the drop-forge operator are comic relief. In our magazine they're the hero and heroine. We have no comic figures. Women, after all. have little...
...confession sheets not only sell to women, they also buy the great bulk of their plots from women, whose unsolicited revelations pour over publishers' transoms with every mail. Some publishers, such as Macfadden Publications, which owns True Experience, True Love Stories and True Romance as well as bestselling True Story, insist that all the stories in their magazines are based on "real-life" contributions from readers...
...actual fact, admits one Macfadden editor, so many changes are made in rewrite that "the confessor would not recognize her own confession." Most editors are less intent on publishing fact than on inserting enough fiction to give their stories the ring of truth; often a single story is patched together from unrelated episodes in newspaper clips or readers' suggestions. The magazines rely heavily on free-lance contributors (top price: 5? a word), who have a free rein. Most writers and editors are women. Says True Confessions (circ. 1,339,922) Editor Florence Schetty: "Even confessions stories by men somehow...