Western Pulp Fiction with Steve Renzi

Pulp fiction magazines sold for a dime and in the 1920s to 1950s, they filled American newsstands. Nobody admitted that they liked them, but everybody read them. They were American pop culture at its best and worst. Western magazines were the most popular. Western pulp fiction, along with movies, helped to create the myths of the American West. Pulp writing was usually formulaic and cliched, but not always and writers like Elmore Leonard, Jack London and Louise L’Amour wrote for pulp magazines. Also, several classic Western films like “The Searchers, Red River, and 3:10 to Yuma” first appeared as pulp stories. The cover art was fantastic. It was American illustration at its best – bright, bold and energized – made to attract magazine readers like bees to a field of wildflowers. Unappreciated, even by the artists themselves, the original cover art was nearly all lost or destroyed. Pulp fiction magazines disappeared from newsstands in the 1950s. Hardly anyone lamented their loss or noticed when they were gone.

This program is cohosted by The Phippen Museum. This is an in-person event.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Steve Renzi, a University of Arizona graduate with a degree in history, believes that every generation must learn about who and what came before them or else the lessons learned are lost. As a writer and photographer with a teacher’s certificate in secondary education, Renzi is always searching for new ways of exploring our history. He has been published in over 200 magazine and newspaper articles and is currently a writing and photography teacher, as well as a basketball coach.