Confidential Magazine Trading Cards - NO Box

One of the publishing phenomenons of the 1950s (along with Playboy and MAD) was Robert Harrison's no-holds-barred CONFIDENTIAL Magazine. America had long had an insatiable appetite for "dirt" about its Hollywood stars, politicians and other celebrities. Gossip columnists of the era like Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons and Walter Winchell fed juicy tidbits to millions daily, but the news tended to be tenuous, suggestive, was often manufactured by studios and P.R. men, and it generally fell well short of explicit information. Harrison changed everything overnight with the in-your-face Confidential. He was a scandalmonger who relished dishing dirt in great mounds, paying his reporters and tipsters well to find the most embarrassing photographs, and salacious stories to be had. Everything Harrison printed was based on some sort of affidavit, so he was tough to sue. Confidential became a sensation. "Respectable" people in the '50s, of course, didn't read the magazine, meaning they didn't read it openly. Confidential was the '50s forerunner to supermarket tabloids, but more audacious. By 1955 its circulation was an astounding 3 million.

This remarkable 36-card set reproduces the most sensational Confidential covers--- revealing lurid stories about "Why Frank Sinatra is the Tarzan of the Boudoir"... "The Real Reason for Marilyn Monroe's Divorce"... "My Night with Elvis Presley!"..."Why Winston Churchill Should Spank his Daughter Sarah!"... "The Weird Love Life of Charlie 'Yardbird' Parker"... "The Skeletons in Red Skelton's Closet"... "Why the Mob Protects Bobo Rockefeller"..."[Pioneer Transvestite] Christine Jorgensen's Romance with a Vanderbilt Stepson"... "Errol Flynn's Wicked, Wicked Ways With Me"... "When Liz Taylor's Away, Mike [Todd] will Play"..."Castro Raped My Teen-Age Daughter!"... "Negroes Can Elect the Next President!"... "The Wife Clark Gable Forgot!"..."Why Orson Welles Bit the Lip of Eartha Kitt"... "Why Joe DiMaggio is Striking Out with Marilyn Monroe"..."Love Without Men in Women's Prisons"... James Dean Knew He Had a Date with Death."... "Hank Bauer, Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin: They Were Playing Night Games ---But Not Baseball!"...and "Robert Mitchum: The Nude Who Came to Dinner."

Miscegenation ---or just the hint of it--- seemed to hold a special appeal for Confidential. Numerous cover stories focused on mixed race relations: "Orson Welles & His Chocolate Bon Bon"...What Broke Up the Billy Eckstein-Denise Darcel Romance?"...Billy Daniels & His Blonde Babysitter"... "Mae West's Open Door Policy for Muscle [pictured with a black boxer]"..."Marlon Brando & His Tan Tootsie"..."Pearl Bailey & the [white] Drummer Boy"... "Doris Duke & Her African Prince"... and of course "Will Hollywood Blackball Sammy Davis, Jr. and May Britt?"

Homosexuality was Harrison's other favorite scandal. Confidential was the first to expose that Liberace was gay. The flamboyant pianist sued the magazine after the following cover story appeared: "Why Liberace's Theme-Song Should be 'Mad About the Boys'!" They were going to run a similar exposé on "lavender boy" Rock Hudson's then-secret sexual predilections, but Hudson's studio (Universal) bought off Confidential with $10,000 and information about Rory Calhoun's prison past. Publisher Harrison also attacked his gossip competition with "Louella Parsons: Hollywood's Hatchet Woman."

The back of each card, by sleaze historian John Wooley, provides a fascinating summary of each issue's sordid content, with a running history of the magazine. This is a must-have card set for anyone interested in gossip. This Confidential card set was originally published in 1993 by Kitchen Sink Press.

We are offering these complete, original 36-card sets in Near Mint/Mint condition, minus only the original box, for just $9.95.