The Gathings Committee And The Lurid And Salacious Paperbacks They Put On Trial! Episode

Gary Lovisi and Paperback Parade brings you a look at some of the “lurid and salacious” paperbacks singled out by a US congressional committee. Called The “Gathings Committee” and formed in 1952-53, this committee selected various paperbacks whose content they deemed questionable. They basically put these books on trial and called their publishers in to answer for their deeds! Gary is working on an article about it for a future Paperback Parade and here, he shares some of what he’s learned.

[@art.and.lit.matters]

What an utterly fascinating video. We all know about the war on comic books unleashed a few years later but it is so striking to see a similar cast of characters and similar arguments lined up against paperbacks. Beautifully researched and presented. I'm so grateful the attack went no where. Once again you have created a video of permanent importance. Nicely done.

[@garylovisi357]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.

[@Ian-lp1pr]

Very interesting piece Gary. A terrible time in Americas history. Look forward to the article. Kind regards from here in the UK.

[@garylovisi357]

Thank you.

[@TheBookGraveyard]

This is heartbreaking even 70 years after the fact. You also have to wonder if it increased the sales of the investigated books. That would be my first thought, I gotta read these!

[@garylovisi357]

I am not sure it increased the sales of the 88 or so books listed by the committee. They were not advertised as such, and there were many other similar books at the time. Of course the committee wanted to go after or censor them all.

[@historybuff66]

Interesting and offbeat piece on the pivotal, golden era of the PBO. What transpired here is reminiscent of the greater still investigation of Communist sympathizers by way of the “Red Scare” and the HUAC tribunals. Mass Formation Psychosis began to take shape by the mid 1950s, after a hiatus of around 30 years when the period 1917-1922 saw an even greater degree of collective paranoia. The sad thing is that it is all beginning to take shape presently once again.

[@rayhadley-fo6ph]

i have 100's of them. i enjoyed buying them all over LA in the 1970'. They were mostly 10 to 50 cents each

[@garylovisi357]

Those were the days!

[@johnsilva9139]

You bought them at the right time. Now, if you can find them, they may cost $10-$50 ( in good shape).

[@jacobbornowsky4013]

Hey thanks so much for the education in this I’m mainly a comic book collector and this Gathings guy sounds a whole lot like Frederick Wertham he is responsible for the comics code authority being put on comics and is responsible for a lot of awesome publishers going out of business as you mention of course

[@garylovisi357]

Jacob, Wertham stuck his two cents in this too. Thanks for looking.

[@codex3048]

The Congressmen were responding to complaints from their constituents, who expected laws against obscene material to be prosecuted, like any other laws. The publishers wanted to sell books through the relentless exploitation of women's bodies. They were aware that what they were publishing skirted the law and expected pushback. None of the paperback publishers should be remembered as free speech crusaders. They were businessmen.

[@garylovisi357]

Hard nosed businessman looking to make money certainly. They were not saints at all but to have government control of writing and publishing is not the way to go. I think it was best nothing came of the committee regarding paperback censorship.