What a Trip

Funny, I don’t think I’d ever heard of The Mysterious Traveler Magazine until earlier today, when I happened across the fabulous fronts from three of that publication’s five issues in the Pulp Covers blog. A Web site called The Three Investigators (which is dedicated to an old juvenile mystery novel series of that same name) says that The Mysterious Traveler debuted in 1951.

Based on their radio program “The Mysterious Traveler,” this digest-sized magazine was published bi-monthly by Grace Publishing Co., Inc. of New York City at 35 cents a copy, annual subscriptions could be had for $2.00. David Kogan was credited as the Publisher and Robert Arthur was credited as the Managing Editor. The cover of each issue featured stunning artwork by Norman B. Saunders. Consisting of five issues, this short-lived magazine ended at about the same time that the radio program finished it’s nine year run in September 1952.

Each issue consists of twelve stories classified into various genres and sub-genres including crime, suspense, detection, mystery, strange stories, science fiction, terror, macabre, short shockers, etc. Some issues contain special features like contests and movie/book suggestions. Each issue features at least one story by the Mysterious Traveler (Robert Arthur) himself plus stories by some of the most well-known writers of the day including Ray Bradbury, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Craig Rice, Sax Rohmer, Agatha Christie, Cornell Woolrich, August Derleth, Brett Halliday and others. As many as seven stories in each issue were penned by Robert Arthur, most under various pseudonyms.

I’ve written about artist Norman Saunders before on this page, without knowing that he had contributed his talents to that short-lived magazine. Click here for lists of the stories contained in each edition of The Mysterious Traveler. Again, blow-ups of the covers are available here.

And episodes of the Mysterious Traveler radio program can be downloaded here and here.