====Popular Publications Inc.====

[[SteegerHenry|Henry "Harry" Steeger]] founded Popular Publications Inc. in 1930. The company went on to become one of the three top pulp publishers, with such titles as //[[DustyAyres|Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds]]//, //[[Operator5|Operator #5]]//, //[[SpiderThe|The Spider]]//, //[[GeeEight|G-8 and His Battle Aces]]//, //[[DimeDetective|Dime Detective]]// and //[[DimeMystery|Dime Mystery Magazine]]//.

===Background===
[[SteegerHenry|Henry Steeger]], an editor at [[DellPublishing|Dell Publishing Co.]], and partner Harold Goldsmith, of [[AcePublications|Ace Publications]], put up $5,000 each and founded Popular Publications in 1930.

[[SteegerHenry|Steeger]] took the reins as editor, while Goldsmith handled the business end of Popular.

By fall of that year, Popular had four titles on the newsstands: //[[BattleAces|Battle Aces]]//, //[[DetectiveActionStories|Detective Action Stories]]//, //[[GangWorld|Gang World]]// and //[[WesternRangers|Western Rangers]]//. A year later, Popular introduced its //[[BlackMask|Black Mask]]// clone, //[[DimeDetective|Dime Detective]]//. Sales of //[[DimeDetective|Dime Detective]]// took off.

Within five years, Popular was among the top pulp magazine publishers, with hits that included //[[GeeEight|G-8 and His Battle Aces]]//, //[[Operator5|Operator #5]]//, //[[SpiderThe|The Spider]]//, //[[DimeMystery|Dime Mystery]]//, //[[HorrorStories|Horror Stories]]//, //[[TerrorTales|Terror Tales]]//, and //[[DimeWestern|Dime Western]]//.

Acquisitions provided Popular with several key magazines. In 1934, Popular purchased //[[AdventureMagazine|Adventure]]// from Ridgway. In 1940, //[[BlackMask|Black Mask]]// joined the Popular lineup. In ’43, Popular bought //[[Argosy|Argosy]]// from [[MunseyFrankA|Munsey]]. In 1949, [[StreetandSmith|Street and Smith]] canceled its pulp line and by 1952 had sold //[[DetectiveStoryMagazine|Detective Story Magazine]]// and //[[WesternStoryMagazine|Western Story Magazine]]// to Popular.

But like [[StreetandSmith|Street]], Popular found itself succumbing to the fading pulp market and halted its pulp publications in the mid-’50s. //[[Argosy|Argosy]]// and //[[AdventureMagazine|Adventure]]// remained on the newsstands but in substantially different formats than their all-fiction past.

===Divisions===
Popular published pulp magazines under its Popular Publications imprint, as well as these:
~- All Fiction Field
~- American Fiction
~- Fictioneers
~- New Publications
~- Recreational Reading

===Selected publications===
Among the pulps published by Popular Publications, or its subsidiaries, were (with their debut dates):
~- //[[DimeDetective|Dime Detective]]// (1931)
~- //[[DimeMystery|Dime Mystery Magazine]]// (1932)
~- //[[SpiderThe|The Spider]]// (1933)
~- //[[GeeEight|G-8 and His Battle Aces]]// (1933)
~- //[[Operator5|Operator #5]]// (1934)
~- //[[AdventureMagazine|Adventure]]// (1934)
~- //[[DustyAyres|Dusty Ayres and His Battle Aces]]// (1934)
~- //[[WuFangTheMysterious|The Mysterious Wu Fang]]// (1935)
~- //[[AceHighWestern|Ace High Western]]// (1936)
~- //[[OctopusThe|The Octopus]]// (1939)
~- //[[BlackMask|Black Mask]]// (purchased in 1940)
~- //[[Argosy|The Argosy]]// (purchased from [[MunseyFrankA|Frank A. Munsey Co.]] in 1943)

===Outside links===
~- [[http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/popular.html|New York Public Library’s Popular Publications files]]

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==Categories==
PulpPublishers