Founded

1898 (1898)

New York City, New York, U.S.

History[edit]

Macfadden Publications[edit]

Physical Culture, Bernarr Macfadden's first magazine though the company Macfadden Publications, was based on Macfadden's interest in bodybuilding. The launch of True Story in 1919 made the company very successful. Other well-known magazines, such as Photoplay and True Detective, soon followed. Macfadden also launched the tabloid New York Evening Graphic. Bernarr Macfadden withdrew from his leadership roles with the company in 1941.

Macfadden-Bartell[edit]

In 1961, the Bartell Broadcasting Corporation bought a controlling share in Macfadden and merged with the company, forming Macfadden-Bartell.[1] Bartell owned WADO New York, WOKY Milwaukee, and KCBQ San Diego. A share in Bartell was acquired by Downe Communications in 1967, with full control in 1969.[2] Between 1969 and 1974 Downe was acquired by Charter Company. Bartell was fully acquired by Downe in 1976, and Downe was fully acquired by Charter in 1978.


Downe purchased the newspaper supplement Family Weekly in 1966, and the Ladies' Home Journal and The American Home from the Curtis Publishing Company in 1968.

Macfadden Group[edit]

Macfadden's women's magazines were spun off in 1975, and sold to the unit president, Peter J. Callahan. These magazines were:

(1924–1932)

New York Graphic

(1925–1932)

Philadelphia Daily News

Detroit Daily

(? – 1931)

Detroit Mirror

1950 - Magic Cook Book: The Key to Kitchen Economy, prepared by the Food Editors of True Story Magazine

[16]

1957 - Great Western Heroes: Six True Stories of the Men Who Tamed the West, edited by Rafer Brent

[15]

1958 - Great Pioneer Heroes: True Stories of the Men Who Made America, edited by Rafer Brent

[17]

1966 - by Hedy Lamarr (ghostwritten by Leo Guild and Cy Rice)[18]

Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a Woman

1967 - by Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones (ghostwritten by Donald Bain)[19]

Coffee, Tea or Me?: The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses

1968 - The CanniBal$: a Novel About Television's Savage Chieftains by [20][21]

Keefe Brasselle

1969 - Mannequin: My Life as a Model by Carolyn Kenmore (ghostwritten by )[22][23]

William Dufty

1970 - "Say ... Didn’t You Used to Be George Murphy?" by (with Victor Lasky)[24]

George Murphy

Macfadden also published a few hardcover books through the years, under the imprint Bartholomew House. Initially a way to group together stories from Macfadden's magazines into a book (as in Great Western Heroes, Great Pioneer Heroes),[15] the imprint expanded into first editions of new material after the purchase by the Bartell Group (Coffee, Tea or Me?, "Say ... Didn’t You Used to Be George Murphy?").

Pet Business (purchased in 2000)

[25]

Official website

The True Story of Bernarr Macfadden