Getting 'Real'

Real was a relatively long-running men's magazine, first appearing in 1952 and finally folding in 1967. Despite going through several changes of ownership, Real always seemed to have aspirations of sophistication - its story titles never seemed to be quite as wild or sex obsessed as those of its main competitors and its cover art usually relatively restrained.  Of course, as its publishers changed, so the magazine varied in appearance.  This, the February 1960 issue, comes from early in the era of its second owner, Excellent Publications, Inc, who took over, after a hiatus of several months, from Literary Enterprises, Inc.  Under this ownership, the magazine was at its most elegant, featuring some striking covers that tended to allow the image to speak for itself, with the strap lines and story teaser titles muted.  Clearly, this cover painting is illustrating 'Most Incredible Frogman Attack of WWII', with the underwater war theme continued in the second string title 'The Last Three Seconds!'.  Even the obligatory sex-related title - 'The Fraulein Who Invented Sex' hints at a war theme and is remarkably restrained for the genre.

How effective this style of cover was in selling magazines is questionable - it is notable that, as Excellent's ownership continued, the covers gradually became more garish, more like standard men's pulp covers, the text became larger and bolder, not to mention less subtle.  Real went through two more owners before its demise, during which time it is clear that the magazine was seeking a new angle to appeal to readers.  Photo covers, for instance, were experimented with and, toward the end of its life, the magazine had several flirtations with UFOs, devoting several covers to the subject, no doubt in the hope of attracting a new segment of readership from the weird/occult/flying saucer genre of 'true' story magazines.  The last couple of issues moved to a more standard 'girly mag' format, with photo covers featuring attractive (but clothed) women, (Racquel Welch in the case of the final issue) and more obviously sex and titillation oriented story teasers.  The fact that the magazine folded after these issues implies that this approach still didn't attract significant numbers of readers, so the owners pulled the plug.  A somewhat muted end for a men's pulp that once boasted some of the most elegant and distinctive covers in the genre.