I’ve been on a pulp premium theme lately. So why not continue?
Besides the assorted rings, badges, pins and other premiums offered by pulp publishers, memberships in a particular club was also often available. And proof of that membership included a card that you could carry around in your pocket or wallet, or pin to a wall or use as a bookmark.
I thought I would offer a look at four club membership cards today.
With the 80th anniversary of the debut of the Doc Savage Magazine this coming Sunday, Feb. 17, we’ll start with the club card for that magazine.
Unlike the others, this card is two-sided. There’s a black and red line drawing of the magazine’s first cover, the Street & Smith logo of the 1930s, and the “bug” for the Allied Printing Trades Council, New York City, on the front.
The Code of Doc Savage appears on the reverse, along with the Doc Savage Club seal (which echoes the brass lapel pin that also came with membership), and a dotted line for the bearer’s signature.
Where the Doc Savage card had a bit of color in the card stock and printed on it, The Shadow Club membership card is simply black and white, and acts more as a carrier for The Shadow Club pin. The pin was affixed through a hole in the center of the emblem on the lower left. (The hole has been repaired in this instance.)
The text is a pretty basic pep talk for the eager recipient (and encouragement to continue buying the pulp).
The Friends of The Phantom club card looks more impressive with the “Official Card” notice on the side and the signature of Harvey Burns, Secretary. (Burns was an editor at Thrilling Publishing, or AKA Standard Publishing, which published The Phantom Detective magazine.)
I like that the official appearance of the card warranted a short notice on the back, lest anyone take the law into his own hands.
In case it is too small to read, it warns: “Friends of The Phantom, an organization of public spirited readers of the Friends of The Phantom Magazine, is not affiliated with any local or federal law-enforcement agency. Membership does not grant or imply police powers to the bearer of this card.”
I don’t know if the card came separately or along with the Friends of the Phantom badge. I would think, like the Doc Savage and The Shadow clubs, the badge accompanied the membership card.
The Green Lama wasn’t a major pulp character, didn’t have his own magazine and appeared in only 14 stories written by Kendell Foster Crossen under the pen name Richard Foster and published in Frank Munsey‘s Double Detective. But he had a club and here’s the Green Lama Club card. I’m not certain whether this was affiliated with the pulp character, or his later appearances in comic books, also written by Crossen.
Update: According to Adam L. Garcia, over on ThePulp.Net’s Facebook page, this card is from the Green Lama’s comic book days.
What’s in your wallet?
