PSR 1: Primary Source Report on MAN Magazine February 1937

By Mark Richardson

 

Cartoon, MAN Magazine Feb 1937 (Such)

Circulation

By the outbreak of World War II, MAN had a circulation of 60,000, and this peaked at around 100,000 during the magazine’s heyday of the post war era (Ray). One issue in 1953 sold 200,000 copies (Barnett 154). At 2/- the magazine has been described as “under-capitalised at the outset” by its then Editor, Frank Greenop, and the price labelled: “suicidal” (Ray).

 Editor

The Editor is Frank S. Greenop, who also contributes articles to the magazine. Famed Australian author Ion Idriess edits a feature section of the magazine titled “Australasiana” which is heralded as “A Magazine within A Magazine”.

Implied Reader

Perusal of the magazine contents irrefutably demonstrates that MAN is targeted to an exclusively male readership. Men’s Fashion, Cartoons depicting debonair, rakish masculine figures, risqué cartoons, action and adventure short stories all point to solely men’s entertainment. The “Magazine for men” theme is stridently declared by the editor in the editorial to the first edition when he writes “When we say it is a Magazine for men, we mean it. We don’t even include boys, and we certainly don’t include women.” MAN’s appearance in the 1930s as a “genuine gentleman’s magazine” (Kuttainen 6), filled this void  for the urban male of the thirties.

The comparatively low price of 2/- makes the magazine attractive to a lower and middle class audience, as does the content and the advertising, with generally more affordable products being advertised rather than luxury items.

Contents

Cartoons overwhelmingly dominate the content, with 20 of 156 pages, or 13% of the magazine devoted to them. Photography is also a prevalent feature, with “Camera Art” and “Camera Man” occupying 16 pages [10%], with a similar percentage devoted to the Ion Idriess edited feature Astralasiana.

Advertising

There are ten full page and four half page advertisements in this issue occupying 7% of the content, and mainly congregated toward the front with two occupying the final pages and a few scattered through the content. The products advertised are tabulated below. Only 3 full page ads are in colour, those for Rural Bank, Edison Spark Plugs and Feltex Floor coverings. The paucity of advertisements suggests that MAN did not rely too heavily on advertising as a revenue stream.

 

Column1	Column2
Advertisement	full or half page
Rural Bank	full
Movie - "Come and Get It	half
Astor 6 Valve Car Radio	full
KLG Platinum Spark Plugs	full
Wines and Spirits for the discriminating	half
Texcaco Petrol	full
Grimweade Glassware	full
J Connolly Windows	full
Hawley Trooper pith helmet	full
Woodrow hats	half
WC Penfold filing cabinets	full
Ben Jordan Engraving	half
Edison spark plugs	full
Feltex Floor coverings	full

 

Prior to, and in the lead up to WWII, MAN Magazine reflected its readership’s growing sense of alarm at the bellicose actions of the fascist states of Europe and East Asia by adopting a distinctly pacifist stance. Each issue contained at least one anti-war article calling for cessation of the elevating hostilities in Europe and East Asia, and reminding its readers of the dire consequences of war. In this issue, page 17 is devoted to an “unpaid advertisement contributed by MAN to the anti-war campaign conducted by World Peaceways, 103 Park Avenue, New York.” The accompanying photograph shows fatal casualties of the rebel fighting in Spain, with the title of the article stating “Well, they’re out of the way”, which reflects the opening statement that there is a proportion of the community that holds the view that War is necessary to ameliorate World over-population.

 

MAN Anti-War article (MAN Magazine)

Another laudable aspect of MAN’s editorial policy is that the Magazine devotes the entirety of its content to Australian contributors exclusively. By implementing this policy, MAN encouraged the development of an Australian literary tradition and provided a considerable niche market for Australian authors and visual artists, giving them a viable, reliable income stream when many were struggling to make a living from their art (Kuttainen 6).

Besides the anti-war theme, the preponderance of risqué cartoons gives the magazine an irreverent feel and invokes a sense that MAN is pushing the limits of prudishness. Similarly, the photographs of naked women, purporting to be art, could be viewed as a pioneering form of soft-core pornography.

Format

This issue comprises 156 pages of which twelve are in colour, but predominately two-tone. Nine of the 20 cartoons are full page, two-tone colour. No colour illustrations accompany the fiction articles, but black and white drawings decorate these and the men’s fashion pages. Photography is used sparingly, mainly in the advertising but also enhancing the non-fiction articles in the Australian Geographic section.

 References

Barnett, Chelsea. "'Man's Man: Representations of Australian Post-War Masculinity in Man Magazine'." Journal of Australian Studies, 39.2 (2015): 151-69. Print.

Kuttainen, Victoria; Liebich, Susann; Galletly, Sarah "Introduction: A Door to the World Pp. 1--7 " The Transported Imagination; Australian Interwar Magazines and the Geographical Imaginaries of Colonial Modernity Ed. Kuttainen, Victoria; Liebich, Susann; Galletly, Sarah Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2018. 1-7. Print.

MAN Magazine. "Well, They're out of the Way." MAN Magazine 1937. Print.

Ray, Greg. "Man Magazine, the Australian Publishing Icon, Published by K G Murray." Greg Ray 2012. Web. 14 September 2020.

Such. "Cartoon - "Why Don't You Get an Interest in Life"." MAN Magazine February 1937: K.G. Murray, 1936. Print.