Diluted Sex

A year ago the hack-writers who produce "true stories" and "confessions" were told by their employers to "lay off the sex stuff." This applied chiefly to seductions and attempted seductions. A cleaner substitute was wanted, partly because of fear of censorship, but essentially because public taste was changing. Heart throbs, steadfast virtue, outdoor heroes, wholesome homes, human interest stories were selling like hotdogs at a horse race. They became the order of the day.

Take, for example, the True Story magazine, kingpin of Bernarr Macfadden's confession group (True Romances, True Experiences, Dream World). Boasting of "the largest newsstand sale in the world," more than 2,000,000 a month, True Story sets the fashion in sex yarns. In May 1919, its first issue appeared with some sober items about Elsie Ferguson, Billie Burke, William S. Hart, Douglas Fair banks. But the meat of the magazine was confession fiction. Of these stories, six contained attempted seductions, three contained successful seductions. A successful one was described as follows: "His kisses intoxicated me. Everything seemed to slip away. . . ."

In March 1925, sex was in its heyday.

In March 1927, when dilution began, True Story promised much, gave little. On its cover was a colored picture of a voluptuous-looking woman with hair down, shoulders bare except for a hint of negligee. The story titles included "The Price of Secret Love," "The Treacherous Kiss," "My Terrible Mistake," "My Reckless Romance," and even more urgent subtitles. But, though the number of thwarted seductions increased alarmingly, there were only two successful ones. This issue also contained a page bearing the legend:

Thinking Clergymen

Acclaim TRUE STORY

Crete, Neb., Neosho, Mo., Kalamazoo, Mich., were the homes of some of these clergymen.

The March 1928 True Story, just out, is comparatively clean with such human interest stories as: "Thirty Days to Live," "His Last Moment of Glory," "Wings of Love" (aviators), "The Salvation of a Bank Burglar." It has only four faintly off-color confessions. But the March True Experiences could almost be read at a Sunday school picnic. It has a wholesome girl on the cover, properly clad in a red dress with white collar; an editorial by Mr. Macfadden entitled "Broaden Your Outlook." Among the confessions are "The Girl of the Golden Heart," "MatchMaking Mothers," "When Loyalty Calls." Attempted seductions: three. Successful seductions: none.

Bushy of hair, muscular of body (which once was puny), Mr. Macfadden has long been proud of himself and his magazines. Recently he circulated among advertisers the information that last summer he made a speech in the British House of Commons and had dinner with a couple of lords.