Futura

The Tower Magazines (Illustrated Love, Illustrated Detective, Home, New Movie), published solely for sale in Woolworth stores, proved such a smashing success that Kresge & Kress stores followed suit by adopting two magazines published by George T. Delacorte Jr. (Modern Screen, Modern Romances -- TIME, Nov. 3). The success was repeated.* Smart publishers then accepted as fact the theory that women who never patronize a newsstand will buy io-c- love fiction, Hollywood chitchat, etc. where they buy their merchandise.

A third new group, calling themselves Futura Publications Inc. now proposes to dig out some of the gold that remains in the field. The biggest store chains were already claimed, so Futura has brought together six of the smaller ones./- totalling 1,345 stores, has persuaded them to distribute Futura magazines for 10-c-. Result: on 1,345 counters this week appeared 500,000 copies of Love Mirror ("Greatest 10 Cent Fiction Magazine") and Movie Mirror ("Filmland's Most Beautiful Magazine").

In most respects the Futura magazines are published and circulated in the same manner as their predecessors. Advertising is sold in both magazines together (15 pages in the first issue). Most of the products advertised are sold in the stores; and store managers are advised how to push advertised wares.

Organizers of Futura were Admen Jerome van Wiseman and George Engel who had done extensive business with the chains, and Publisher Kenneth McAlpin, onetime Hearstling, general sales manager for Standard Statistics, from 1925 to 1930 owner of National Hotel Review. Editorial director is Kenneth M. Goode, onetime (1914) associate editor of the Satevepost, editor of Hearst's International (1918-22).

In editorial makeup it would be difficult for the chance reader to distinguish between the new magazines, the Woolworth and the Kresge. All are printed in gravure. stories are illustrated with posed photographs, mostly of ravishing young females, ravishing young males.

* Combined circulation of Tower group: 1,330,000; of Modern group (exclusive of newsstand sales): 657,000. /-Grand-Silver Stores Inc., McCrory Stores Corp., McClellan Stores, G. C. Murphy Co., Neisner Bros. Inc., J. J. Newberry Co.

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