A Force For Good in the Community

America in 1948 watched as the modern world coalesced from the ashes of World War II. The institutions and alliances that continue to dominate American lives and politics were being born as the world recovered. On May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel was created as the result of U.N. partitioning of Palestine. This triggered the first full-scale mid-east war as forces from Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded Israel.

The Cold War was intensifying and the February transformation of Czechoslovakia into a communist state was still fresh in American's minds. Throughout Europe, the lines between east and west, communism and capitalism, were being forged, and would shape the face of that continent for decades to come.

To its credit, despite its obligations as a world leader after WWII, America was also looking inward and trying to address some of the internal conflicts in values that were obvious. President Truman ended segregation in the military in 1948, just as Americans were realizing that segregation in baseball, and eventually all sports, was over in light of Jackie Robinson's success with the Dodgers the previous year.

Juvenile delinquency and understanding its causes was one of America's prime domestic concerns. Lev Gleason's books, like Daredevil and Crime Does Not Pay, espoused a somewhat liberal attitude toward juvenile crime and its root causes. Delinquency was the result of societal failure. Children were innately good, but corrupting, anti-family, least common denominator, mass-culture influences led them astray. These themes still shape much of the debate about mass-media for youth, today.

Unfortunately for Lev Gleason, he spent much energy defending his own medium, and his publishing company in particular, against charges that they were just such a corrupting influence. In the issue of Daredevil pictured above, to combat this perception, Gleason publishes a double page spread of testimonial letters that laud the publisher's books as a "force for good in the community." In one, J.E. from New Bedford Mass, an "underprivileged child of 14" writes, "I am a young lad of fourteen years and due to domestic troubles, I am not as fortunate as others in having parental guidance. I am honestly grateful to your magazine. Reading Crime Does Not Pay has kept me from becoming a juvenile delinquent."

In addition to this two page testimonial spread, Gleason regularly published a letter to the editor's page entitled, "What's On Your Mind?" Letters from readers were of great importance to Gleason. He needed and sought support from all his readers. He advertised to readers that if their letters were published in the Letters to the Editor page, he would pay the writer $2.

The book was a vehicle for the Little Wise Guys. It offered two major stories starring the Little Wise Guys. In the first, Daredevil appeared in only 2 out of 22 pages. In the second, Daredevil was slightly more involved, but not as a hero. The only other feature in the book starred Sniffer, a predictably stupid comic criminal, whose crimes, of course, don't pay.

However, on the commercial side, Gleason was earning money advertising to an audience interested in the lurid details of crimes. "Big Shot Gangsters," and "Most Terrible Crimes" were titles advertised by a company in Ossining, N.Y. These titles were likely the exact influences that the moral crusaders found corrupting. His defense of his publication was certainly intended to protect these ads, and the revenue they generated.

Other ads in the book focused on some unusual gadgets that may have had a hard time finding a place in more traditional markets. The first was a staple of golden age comic book advertising and appeared in many books. The ornamental whirling electric clock was sure to be a conversation piece in any home. It was advertised in color on the outside back cover.

On the inside front cover, in black and white, was an ad for a device that supplied "instant hot water" from your cold water faucet. From the drawing in the ad, it was clear that the device plugged into an outlet near your faucet and heated your water using electricity, probably a poor bargain over your standard water heater.