Where There's A Will...

Will Straw, PhD, Department of Art History and Communications Studies professor spotted my Hollywood Follies post and sent me an email requesting some information.

While I dig around in my collection (I have a system, but it's not very friendly to research requests like this), Will has allowed me to share his email so that any here with info can help.

Hi -- I was googling "Wayne Sabbath" and, after five pages of references to religious books, found your site, with the scans from Hollywood Follies. Thanks for those. I've been trying to reconstruct the career of Wayne and of his partner (who may, in fact, be him) "Cap'n Joey"/Jo Burten, who published spicy magazines from the 1920s onwards. Burten's Follies was the best known of these, and "Follies" turns up in many of his titles. The last record of any of them I can find is a reference to Joe getting busted c. 1959 for obscenity. Do you know any more about these guys?

In any case, thanks for the interesting read,
Will

If you have any info please post it here and/or contact Will via contact info on his webpage.

At the risk of distracting you...

Readers may be delighted to know that Will is the author of Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing Crime in 50s America, a history of true crime magazines in America with an emphasis on its visual content, including 196 color illustrations. The book is also available at Photo-Eye and the Andrew Roth Gallery; a review, with a slide show, can be found at Men's Vogue, and you can download the book's introduction (PDF) here.


Will also writes the Canadian culture blog at McGill.

** Don't forget! If you have any information on Wayne Sabbath, "Cap'n Joey" Jo Burten. or the follies publications, please let us know!