Screen Thrills Illustrated

By Dan Hagen

Once upon a time, namely the early 1960s, every other Hollywood film was NOT a superhero movie. In fact, there were none at all, and to a superhero-besotted person under age 10, that inexplicable and short-sighted omission seemed tragic.

Captain America made it to the screen in 1944.

The entire burden of colorful cinematic world-saving had fallen on the capable shoulders of that fellow in the upper right there, and at the time his adventures were often considered too spicy for a child’s diet. A vexing state of affairs.

Imagine the boy’s delight, then, when he happened to spot the covers of something called Screen Thrills Illustrated magazine, and discovered that during the 1930s and 1940s, live-action movie serials had been made about the dashing, costumed comic book characters he loved, and many he hadn’t heard of. The revelation was stunning, a lost world of wonder akin to the discovery of dinosaurs in South America.

As much fun as those serials turned out to be when he finally saw them, perhaps 20 years later, they could be forgiven if they never quite measured up to the mysterious delights of high adventure and romance that he had imagined when he gazed at those magazine covers. After all, how could they?

See the interior of Screen Thrills Illustrated at Al Bigley's site here.