The Paperback Show Podcast

 This is a collection of Gold Medal paperback covers both from my collection and from my roaming around the internet doing research. The best info on covers, the artists, and the background of cover art production at Gold Medal is found in Piet Schreuder's magnificent Paperbacks, USA: A Graphic History. He states that Al Allard was the Art Director at Gold Medal (at least at the beginning) who had a background in stage design and advertising.  Some of Al Allard's cover designers for Gold Medal include:  Barye Phillips James Meese Mike Hooks Louis Glanzman Frank Tinsley John Floherty, Jr. 

 I was brought up on Western movies. Growing up in post-war Arizona, I don't think any young kid could avoid them.We were all glued to the TV in the 50's and 60's. All the best stuff happened on TV (and in the comic books). Vietnam war, man on the moon, civil rights, peace demonstrations, late night talk shows (Alan Berg blew me away) and a million westerns played endlessly on that flickering box. And because my family could have cared less about me, I put most of my time learning about the world through the magic box (the Glass Teat, as Harlan Ellison called it). My grandfather, Harry Fanter, spent the winter with us. He was from Nebraska, so Arizona winters were like summertime to him. With my fathers help, Harry built a little one-room cabin out of a big parking garage we had on our one and half acre lot. It was nice and cozy with a bed, a propane tank, a table and a nice porch looking over our big backyard. He had Black Jack Pershings picture over his bed and when thing...