Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 224 - Guild Press, Part 2 of 3

Acquired Tastes XLIII: 

Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 224

Guild Press, Part 2 of 3

Today, we take another look at The Guild Press. The Guild Press published from 1964 to 1972.

 

Herman Lynn Womack was the founder of  the Guild Press, a Washington, D.C., publishing house that catered almost exclusively to a gay male audience. You learned all about Womack's story last Monday. 

 

After making peace with his homosexuality and discovering that the academic life was not for him, Womack became interested in publishing. 

His first scrape with the law occurred about this time; a fraudulent investment scheme from which he escaped unscathed and netted a cool half a million in the process. That is how he  kickstarted  his own publishing empire.

With his ill-gotten gains, Womack acquire a small printing plant in Washington, D.C. He then began buying up various physique magazines. By 1960, Guild Press became a profitable publishing enterprise, printing art and physique magazines and providing a national mail-order business. When obscenity charges began piling up, Womack avoided prison time by contriving to serve his sentence at a federal psychiatric hospital, St. Elizabeths Hospital.  Womack had a degree in psychology, and was able to manipulate the doctors who interviewed him to ensure he'd never see the inside of a prison cell. From in private room at St. Elizabeths, he continued to operate his business.  

Womack appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, ultimately winning the case, thereby carving out greater freedoms for gay publications throughout the United States.  

Guild Press serving as 'middleman' 

for Private Edition books

In the aftermath of his Supreme Court victory, Womack revived his physique magazines. Upon acquiring a new printing press, he began publishing or republishing books. What began as a mail order business with Guild Press serving as a middleman for other publishers, became a full-fledged publishing house.

Initial books were hardcover, but by 1968, pamphlet-sized wraps (folded and stapled, rather than with a spine and bound) became the publishing house's chosen format. Imprints in this format included the GPA (Guild Press Award) series, the Black Knight Classics series, the Road House Classics series, the Twilight Classics series and the Stuart House Classics series. He soon branched out into newsletters, newspapers, a chain of bookstores (Village Books) and even a clothing line featuring the jocks and underwear worn by models in his physique magazines. 

However, in 1970, due to charges regarding the use of underage models, Womack's empire began to crumble. Bankrupt by 1974, he moved to Boca Raton, Florida where he died in 1985.

Please note: a comprehensive list of Guild Press titles does not (yet) exist. I've done what I could gleaning information from my usual sources along with literature from Guild Press promoting various titles and special sales. 

Initially, Guild Press published hardcover novels; all the titles below are hardcover editions. However, that gradually gave way to softcover wraps (folded and held together with staples as opposed to being bound), no doubt due to cost of making and shipping hardcover books and the fact that most of the new titles being created in-house fell below the 100 pages mark. 

Currently, these hardcover books go for hundreds of dollars. I recently found a copy of Phil Andros' $tud listed for $1,400 with other titles ranging from $249-$498.

Here are the next ten Guild Press titles.

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A Wicked Pack Of Cards

Author: Hugh Ross Williamson

Guild Press

1965

Hard Cover

American Edition

The 'wicked pack of cards' of the story is the Tarot pack. A young schoolmaster, on a motoring holiday, is attracted by an inn-sign of the Four Kings, representing the heads of the Tarot kings. He discovers that the sign-painter was found dead on the moors near the inn shortly after he had finished it. Although no one has challenged the verdict of Death by Misadventure, there is an air of suspicion in the neighborhood and he finds himself drawn into a personal investigation as to whether the death was in fact accident, suicide or murder.

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Desert Dreamers

Author: Gerald Hamilton

Introduction by Christopher Isherwood

Guild Press

1966

Hard Cover

Reedition of novel of gay love set in Biskra, Algeria, between an Englishman and an Algerian, first published under a pseudonym in 1914 in an edition of only 250 copies. This reedition features an introduction by novelist Christopher Isherwood and is also quite scarce. Current going price: $550-$780.

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Six

 Author: Dunsmore 

Guild Press

 1966

Softcover Wrap

A series of short stories. At this point in their history, Guild Press began to move toward original material and softcover wraps (fold and staple).

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 A Summer on Fire Island

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

Guild Press

 1966 

Softcover Wrap

Also published by the Twilight Classics imprint as Twilight-106. Illustrated.

You can view a PDF version of this book at the Houston LGBT History site.

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Sextet; Six Short Stories

 Author: Peter  Randolph  

Guild Press

 1967

Softcover Wrap

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 The First Time

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

Guild Press

 1967 

Softcover Wrap

Features a series of short stories.

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Of Greenbacks and Dress Blues

 Author: J.J. (James) Proferes 

Guild Press

 1967

Softcover Wrap

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 A Sweet Gentle Boy

 Author: Alexander Goodman 

1967 

Guild Press

Softcover Wrap

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 Blaze of Summer

  Author: Alexander Goodman

 1967 

Guild Press

Softcover Wrap

Features a series of short stories.

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Jerry and Jim

 Author: Guy Dandridge 

Guild Press

 1967

Softcover Wrap

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And that's all for now.

Next up: more Guild Press titles.

Until then...

Thanks for reading.

Fire Island - The Village People

Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Haysi Fantayzee

Wonderland Burlesque's

Down The Rabbit Hole:

Haysi Fantayzee

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at the brief history and musical output of Blitz Kid's artists Haysi Fantayzee.

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From Wikipedia:

Haysi Fantayzee was an avant-garde, new wave pop project emanating from the Blitz Kids street arts scene in London in the early 1980s. The Blitz Kids were a group of people who frequented the Tuesday club-night at Blitz in Covent Garden, London in 1979–1980. They are credited with launching the New Romantic subcultural movement. Haysi Fantayzee's music combined reggae, country and electro with political and sociological lyrics couched as nursery rhymes.

Formed in 1981, the band consisted of Jeremy Healy, Kate Garner, and Garner's boyfriend songwriter/producer/manager/keyboardist Paul Caplin. Key to their success was their sense of fashion.

Garner and Healy combined their extreme clothes sense - described as a mix of white Rasta, tribal chieftain and Dickensian styles - with a quirky musical sound comparable to, but distinct from, other new wave musical pop acts of the era, such as Bow Wow Wow, early Adam and the Ants and early Bananarama. Their outfits were often designed by Garner, and the two singers looked like distorted mirror images of each other, with similar hair and make-up. In a 1983 interview with David Maples on the Los Angeles-based TV show MV3, Jeremy Healy accused singer Boy George of imitating his unusual look. Boy George later responded: "When Jeremy saw my locks, he was livid. Both he and Kim (Bowen) stopped speaking to me. They thought I had stolen their look. It wasn't their look to steal..."

To attract the attention, the trio sent video performances with their demo tapes to record companies, a highly unusual practice at the time. They released four singles in 1982 and 1983: John Wayne Is Big Leggy, Holy Joe, Shiny Shiny, and Sister Friction - promoting them by appearing on Top of The Pops several times. John Wayne Is Big Leggy hit #11 in the UK, #3 in Germany, #4 in Switzerland, #13 in Austria and #22 in Ireland. Holy Joe stalled at #51 in the UK and failed to chart elsewhere. They fared better with Shiny, Shiny which reached #16 in the UK, #3 in Austria, #11 in Ireland, #22 in Germany, #37 in New Zealand and #74 in the US. However, Sister Friction (#61 in the UK) and a fifth single, Chizoola, failed to generate any heat.

Theses singles were followed up with an album, Battle Hymns for Children Singing, and then they went their separate ways.

Garner enjoyed a brief solo career after the break-up of Haysi Fantayzee, and then pursued a career in photography in Los Angeles. While Healy released the single When Malindy Sings in 1984, and later became a DJ and album mixer for other artists, including his former schoolfriend/rival Boy George. He was also signed to Boy George's More Protein record label under the name E-Zee Possee. 

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John Wayne Is Big Leggy - Haysi Fantayzee

Hoy Joe - Haysi Fantayzee

Shiny Shiny - Haysi Fantayzee

Sister Friction - Haysi Fantayzee

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Weekend Onesie: Bill Jones - Part 6

Weekend Onesie: 

Bill Jones

Part 6

People who check in on this blog on a regular basis know that I am a huge fan of vintage graphics. Some of the finest? From corporations looking to motivate their employees. I adore their big, broad use of color and presentation of iconic ideals, characters and images.

During the 1920s, a number of American companies produced motivational posters and cards to promote industrial efficiency and ethical behavior in the workplace. Motivational sayings were combined with high quality illustrations to provide easily readable images to convey the messages. During this time, Parker-Holladay Company, a British firm, was also producing motivational posters, featuring the fictional character Bill Jones. 

Here's more!

And there are a lot of them.

 

Simple and direct...

These graphics have become iconic.

And part of history.

- uptonking from Wonderland Burlesque

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Friday Fun: May Is National Military Appreciation Month

Friday Fun: 

May Is National 

Military Appreciation Month

Gee...

I would love to appreciate the military. 

I would love to appreciate the military the way they appear to appreciate each other.

Yes, I'd salute these boys... and something tells me they'd immediately stand at attention!

Here's hoping.

Hoping I get a chance to show my appreciation.

Maybe on my knees.

Or my back.

Gee... 

I now have a new appreciation for the men in uniform.

P.S. Line forms at the rear...

Yes, I would do my duty.

For my country.

Military service? It would be an honor!

- uptonking from Wonderland Burlesque

Attention - Charlie Puth

Attention - Omah Lay & Justin Bieber