Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 28 - Brandon House Books / 1 of 4

Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction - 

Brandon House Books / 1 of 4

Today marks the first of four posts dedicated to Brandon House Books.

Brandon House published works between 1935 and 2007. They were one of the three largest adult publishers in the late 1960s. Some say their heyday came after censorship collapsed in the United States in 1967. That's when they began publishing the Library Editions which included translations of French and German erotica as well as reprints of genre classics - much like what Greenleaf Classics did with their namesake imprint.

Brandon House Books had several subsidiaries, including: Essex, Barclay, Hanover, and Command.  All these imprints were part of a larger, umbrella organization called Parliament News, run by a man named Milton Luros. The success of the Library Editions, and also of another subsidiary called Essex House, was primarily due to editor Brian Kirby, a young musician and science fiction fan. Kirby’s choice of material was adventurous - with such offerings as The Rape Machine and Sex on Welfare.  They also included aforementioned specially commissioned translations of French and German erotica, reprints of a number of important erotic classics, and new editions from the famed Olympia Press in Paris. 

In order to bolster the literary, historic and academic significance of these offerings (and thus skirt censorship), titles were often printed with an original ‘Afterwords’ by their authors and accompanied by an 'Introduction' by a PH. D.  which helped establish the 'redeeming social value' of the book. In addition, the books were often printed on good paper, using photographic offset reprint. The choice of cover art included work by artists such as Rops, Labisse, and Munch.

In their early years, Brandon was actively publishing adult content while exercising extreme editorial caution. This air of vigilance and desire for secrecy extended long after censorship laws had been relaxed, as demonstrated in the April 12, 1970 New York Times article by Marcia Seligson, outlining her adventures when trying to break into the taciturn world of west coast adult book publishing.

Excerpt from The New York Times:
April 12, 1970
Publishing In the Promised Land
By Marcia Seligson

"Several people, asking to remain anonymous, have suggested that one of the most hugely successful publishers in the United States is Brandon House. As you might imagine, it is not easy to get straight answers to certain straight questions from the pornography - I beg your pardon - erotica boys. In the case of Brandon, it is not only forbidden to walk through their offices but it's impossible to find out who runs the company! Harold Straubing, the senior editor and public face of Brandon, claims that the former owner sold out two years ago because "he got tired of the harassment of being arrested every single day." Another publisher insists this 'sale' was in name only.

Some facts I can tell you for sure. Brandon House publishes 68 magazines every three months, which means they turn out one-a-day, titles like Heels and Hose, Quickie, Cocktail and Broadside. "We publish the quiet fetishes. No whipping," says Straubing, a very amiable fellow who comes from the same Long Island town I do and possesses neither humor nor shame about his profession. What's more, if he was on What's My Line? you would never be able to guess his line.

While I was in his office one of Brandon's freelance writers came in, a guy in tight jeans and wrap‐around sunglasses and zero facial expression, a guy who looks like he's in the pornography business. He and Harold held a brief, serious discussion about his article and whether the body should be dismembered or not, and it was terribly unnerving to hear all this talk from a person from Rockville Centre who perhaps took the 8:13 train every morning with my father.

Brandon House's books (that includes Hanover House, Command, Barclay House, Essex House), number about 175 a year. Their all‐time best seller (is) Fanny Hill, which sold over 2 million copies. The real secret of Brandon's supposedly incredible profit‐making is that they have their own printing presses, one of the few houses in America that do, thereby the publisher's most devouring costs are eliminated.

Straubing considers Brandon the crème de la crème of the erotica business; the only time he lost his affability was when he told me about the fly‐by-night gypsy outfits who "hurt all the legitimate guys, corrupt the whole industry." I've understood, for some time now, the fact of life that humans can rationalize and justify anything they do, so it came as no drop‐dead shock when Harold explained his occupation thus: "Not everyone has the same degree of learning, and one can't expect all people to appreciate books that are on a high level. You shouldn't deny these people the right to read what they can understand."

In each of the next four posts in this series, we'll be looking at 10-11 titles from Brandon House's history.

Titles will appear based on their apparent publication number.

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The Devil is Gay

Author: Frederick Colson

Cover Art: Fred Fixler

#933

About the author:

Frederick Colson is Richard E. Geis (July 19, 1927 - February 4, 2013). 

He was an American science fiction fan and a writer of both sci-fi and erotica. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, he won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1982 and 1983. His science fiction fanzine Science Fiction Review won the 1969, 1970, 1977 and 1979 Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine. 

He also wrote fanzine, The Alien Critic, which won the Best Fanzine Hugo in 1974 (in a tie with Algol), and, as sole-winner, in 1975. In all, he ended his career having a total of 30 Hugo nominations and 13 Hugo wins. As of 2005, Geis said he had published 114 books, "110 of them soft-core porn".

About the illustrator:

Hungarian-born Fred Fixler’s first career was as a diamond cutter, but by the early 1950s his focus shifted to art, which he studied in both the U.S. and France. 

He began illustrating paperback covers and, for years, was an illustrator for Brandon House. During that time his instantly identifiable style resulted in some of the most dynamic paperback covers ever seen on U.S. book racks. 

Brandon House used Fixler as the primary illustrator for their line of lesbian paperbacks. These books, due to his striking illustrations, which originally sold for around one dollar, go online today for in excess of  $75.00. Fixler also worked in the commercial art field, and taught at schools like the California Art Institute, The Brandes Art Institute, and Parsons School of Design.

I may have to devote a future post in this series to his lesbian paperback illustrations, as they are, indeed, iconic and a thing of beauty. 

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I Am a Hollywood Call Boy

Author: Mark Shelby

#937

"The uncensored diary of a male prostitute! 

Caution: This book is not for the squeamish!"

"He was... a young stud trying to make it on his own stripped down to the last thing he had to sell - himself... a gay male hustler."

Back Cover

"What sex am I?

I sell my body to the highest bidder - man, woman, faggot, lesbian, switch-hitter - or what have you! I commute from Sodom to Gomorrah. The sadists, the masochists, the voyeurs, the fetishists, the multi-perverts - I know them all - and they know me... and you can say that again! I've sold my bod so many times, it doesn't belong to me any more... they all own a little piece of me. What sex am I? You name it.

The secret sickness of our big cities... laid bare for the first time... at first hand!"

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The Homosexual Explosion!
Author: Roger Blake
#959

"A 1966 report on the sexual revolution that is sweeping America and the world! Listed for the very first time: The new liberalized homosexual laws / Homophile clubs / Homosexual literature."

Author Roger Blake (sometimes listed as a Ph.D.) has over 30 books to his credit (possibly a pseudonym). They run the gamut from wife swapping tales, swinging teenagers, pseudo-psycho-sexual nonsense, 'real' case studies, and 'as told to' books. I found one of his books, Morals and The Serviceman listed for $967! My favorite title? The Commie Sex Trap.

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Hidden Flames

Author: Victor Jay (Victor J. Banis ) 

#988

This one was listed under gay titles, but, I must say, it doesn't look like one. Still. Victor J. Banis. Godfather of modern gay pulp fiction. So? Benefit of the doubt. You can read about Victor and a number of his books throughout this series.           

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Dynasty of Decadence

Author: Nick Allen (Allan Nixon)

#999

"Hollywood's lavender casting couch."

Oh, this is juicy.

Nick Allen is actually actor/author Allan Nixon (August 17, 1915 – April 13, 1995). 

Nixon studied journalism in college, but left to play football for The Washington Redskins. He never made it beyond the exhibition season. He then wrestled professionally before becoming a journalist.  Returning after a stint in WWII, the 6'6" hunk found himself being courted by a number of film studios, including MGM. He did, in fact, star in a number of B pictures, his most famous, Prehistoric Women. However, after declining a number of B-films, he was blacklisted from the industry by Columbia Picture's Harry Cohn. Although, that could also have stemmed from the fact that he had a bad habit of getting into violent altercations and driving very fast while intoxicated.

At that point, he became an informant for Confidential magazine and would get swept up in the scandalous 1957 libel trial. 

He was married four times. His first marriage was to actress Marie Wilson (My Friend Irma). His second marriage lasted a few hours. But it's his third wife, Velda May Paulsen, who made headlines when she tried to kill him with a set of knives he gave her for Christmas. Seems Velda May went to visit her former Beau, Burt Lancaster, in the hospital. That didn't sit too well with her husband. The two started to fight, the police were called and Paulsen found herself charged with attempted murder. But, the thing never got to trial; Nixon refused to testify against her and all charges were dropped. 

Nixon became a full-time author during the 1960's - under his given name, as Nick Allen, and as Don Romano; over 30 books, in all. Most of them were of a salacious nature, often dealing with the grimy underbelly of Hollywood and the motion picture industry. 

Here's a review of Dynasty of Decadence, I happened on:

"One-hundred and seventy-six pages of short bio's of male actors on a first-name-only basis. Because, one presumes, that to speak entire names would ruin (the) careers (of) (s)elf and colleagues. If the author is to be believed - aspiring actresses have no heterosexual directors to bed on the road to stardom. A good piece for a phobia museum. Quote (pg. 96): "Having been thus briefed on the effeminacy of the new breed of leading men, motion pictures have been destroyed for me. I find myself sitting in the theatre, wondering if the impassioned..."

I suspect, had I read this book when I was sixteen, I'd now be sitting pool-side, clutching an Oscar in one hand and an ice-cold martini in the other, while nursing a bad case of herpes. Although, more likely? 

I would have ended up with just the herpes.

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The Half-World of the American Homosexual

Author: Tor Erikson

#1035

From the back cover:

"In this fascinating study of the homosexual in his (or her) habitat, Tor Erikson embarks on a guided tour of discovery in which America's inverts of both sexes are displayed as they live, as they love, as they are, in their favorite trysting places from coast to coast. A revelatory picture of the little-known and less-understood twilight world of society's sexual outcasts as it exists all around us."

This is one of those porn-in-academic clothing offerings (1966). A great way to skirt the censorship laws. 

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The Militant Homosexual

Author: John Barry 

#1068

Another porn-in-academic clothing.

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Roman Orgy

Author: Marcus Van Heller
#2014

"With an introduction by Jack Hirschman, Ph.D."

British author, John Stevenson wrote under the names Marcus Van Heller for the famed Olympia Press in Paris and later, after returning to Britain, as Stephen John. 

He is a legend among writers of erotic fiction, so good that his name and craft were often imitated, but never duplicated. Considered by many to be his finest work, Roman Orgy is a retelling of Spartacus. In this case, our hero is a servant, willful but submissive, until one day when Clodia, his master's wife, lures him into the baths, teases him, makes love to him... and then cries rape after the pair are found out. Forced to become a gladiator, Spartacus survives the coliseum, rallies his fellow men, and they rebel, successfully at first, wreaking their erotic vengeance on the townsfolk.

He is credited with 20 novels. Many of his titles for Olympia Press were also published stateside by Greenleaf Classics. His first novel, entitled Rape (1955), was so visceral and savage, it surprised Maurice Girodias (the founder of Olympia Press), who described it as "almost too brutal". It was the first book published under the name Marcus Van Heller and proved to be a runaway success. Subsequent offerings, such as Roman Orgy, found Stevenson marking the beginning of a specialization in erotica with grand historical settings. These books were meticulously researched to ensure historical accuracy. 

After a falling out with the owner of Olympia Press, Stevenson would return to Britain, where he would write under the name Stephen John.

Of note: Stevenson has two sons - one of which is James Stevenson, proto-punk guitarist for bands such as The Alarm, Gen-X, The Cult and Gene Loves Jezebel, to name a few.

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Anthropological, Legal and Medical Studies on 

Pederasty in Europe

Author: Professor Benjamin Tarnowsky

#2015

Benjamin Tarnowsky, also known as  Veniamin Mikhaĭlovich Tarnovskiĭ, with yet another porn-in-academic clothing. 

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The Loins of Amon

Author: Marcus Van Heller

#2031

Another example of John Stevenson's erotica with grand historical settings, this time, ancient Egypt.

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Go Down in the Valley

Author: John Maggie

#2055

"It was often said that the Valley made men... more often the men  made each other..."

Damn. Their marketing department beat me to the punchline.

This is an example of their modern novel offerings.

From the back cover:

"A shockingly candid novel of a young man's sexual obsession for another man - another man who also was his immediate superior on the job."

So, are we talking silicon valley, here? 

BTW: If you have a Kindle, you can download this at Amazon.com for $1.99. 

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Well, that's all for this week. We have three more such posts from Brandon House and then one on Barclay (another imprint under the same publishing house). I'll see if I can dig up anything on those other imprints listed above. 

As for this imprint... I am not sure what type of books comprise the numbered volumes that fall between the books shown. I know they offered a great deal of lesbian fare (featuring the fetching work of the fabulous Fred Fixler) (see what I did there?). That said, I can't be sure that I will be covering all the male gay-oriented titles, as I cannot seem to locate a complete list of books for this publishing house. 

Until next week...

Thanks for reading.

Roman Orgy (1911)

A Short Film By

French Director Louis Feuillade