S&S quits the pulp business

It was 65 years ago today that Street & Smith Publications announced that it would shut down its line of pulp magazines.

Within months, the final issues of Doc Savage, The Shadow, Detective Story and Western Story magazines would hit the stands. (Detective Story and Western Story would return later for short runs under the Popular Publications banner.)

The following short article was sent out by the Associated Press. This particular item appeared in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on April 9, 1949:

Street & Smith to Quit Pulp Field

NEW YORK, April 8 (AP) — Street & Smith Publications Inc. is reported to be quitting the “pulp” magazine field in which it has been doing business for nearly a century.

The New York Times said today the noted old publishing house is discontinuing its four remaining “pulp” magazines — Detective Story, Doc Savage, Western Story and The Shadow.

Also going into the discard are S. and S. comic books.

Allen L. Grammer, the firm’s board chairman, is quoted as saying that the company felt there is no longer sufficient demand for specialized “pulp fiction” because of a “great change in the material offered at newsstands throughout the country.”

He said the firm, oldest in the “pulp” field, would henceforth devote all its attention to its “slick” magazines — Mademoiselle, Mademoiselle’s Living and Charm.

While pulps continued appearing on newsstands for a number of years, Street & Smith’s exit from the field signaled that the pulp era was coming to an end.