Tale (J. Kenneth McDonald) - Yale Record - February 1954 - 40 pages

https://madcoversite.com/modern_magazine_parodies.html

Men's "adventure" magazines were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s with over one hundred different titles in this flooded market.  Male was one that was published from 1950 to 1981.  Other popular titles were Argosy, Battle Cry, For Men Only, Real Combat Stories, Safari, Saga, Stag, True and many, many others.  Most of these became thinly-disguised "girlie" magazines to compete with Playboy and its copiers.  Yale's parody of Male shows a hunter getting ready to stab a fox with knife.  I am sure that some humor is intended here but it does not work for me.  Drawings by "Hock Shaw", "Childs", "Tom Chase", "E. Zimmerman", "Jaque" and others are very good giving this publication a professional look unlike some college magazines in the 1950s.  There are only two advertisement parodies but both are excellent.  The first, on page one, is a full-page parody of the ubiquitous Charles Atlas fitness ads.  This one promises that you can "gain more weight in 10 days or your money back" and "Get a gut.  Fat people are more fun ..."  Drawings show skinny people, a scarecrow, and the more-desirable fat woman in a wheelbarrow.  The other parody ad could easily be missed since it appears on the last page among other real ads.  It is apparently a book ad for "My Strudel And I or, Of All the Crust" written by "Donut Dan, the Muffin Man".  This magazine parody is easy to read as it is not too wordy, spoofing the genre with just the right amount of text.  The condensed book ("The Challenge of the Sea") has only three short paragraphs.  And, the "complete novelette" ("Largo") is a silly western tale with five short chapters over eight pages among drawings and ads.  Tale was "published just this once" by "Mickey Mantle, Chairman of the Board; Mickey Finn, President; Mickey Mouse, Vice-President; Tom Swift, Jr., Secretary and Treasurer ..." etc.  Except for that strange cover drawing, Tale is one of the best college parodies of the 1950s.  [JAM 3/29/2015]

Front Cover - Hunter is preparing to stab a fox with his knife (painting by Hock Shaw)
1  "Gain More Weight in 10 Days or Your Money Back" (ad parody)
2  Contents Page; Coming in March
4  This Month: Tale's Talent
6  Tale's Mail (letters)
9  Travel Tales
10 Knight of the Roundhouse by Studs Dole (drawing by Childs)
12 So Long - Hong Kong! by Big Dog McDonald (drawings by Tom Chase)
15 Tale Referees A Lady Wrestling Bout
16 Hunk's Last Case by "Pops" Worsnop (drawing by E. Zimmerman)
18 Tension in the tall timber by Rocks Worsnop (drawing by Ctt)
20 The Challenge of the Sea: Book Condensation by Zocko Pits (drawing by Jaque)
22 An Open Letter to Porfiro Rubirosa by Bon-Bon Dupont
23 Tale Girl of the Month: Boola-Droola (drawing by Jaque)
24 Largo by Anatole Dole (drawing by Tom Chase)
26 Cartoon by Shaw
30 Cartoon by R. Childs
35 Annual Tale Flick Awards
36 Jobs Around the Globe
38 Tale's Tippling by J.K. Snavely
39 Tale Tells
40 Tale Sports by "Hasky" Dolororoso; My Strudel and I or Of All the Crust (book ad parody)
Back Cover - Camel cigarettes (real ad)