After Dark December 1979 (The Ads)

Sometimes, my favorite part of an issue is the ads. This issue had some great ones that I wanted to share. First up, is an ad for ads. After Dark was reaching out to business to market and publicize their products in the magazine. I mean, with an audience of After Dark readers who were affluent, professional, educated, label-conscious and high-end drinkers, you couldn't go wrong.

Record companies always had a lot of ads in issues of After Dark. Casablanca had the hottest, new LP from Cher called Prisoner.

Not to mention, Casablanca also had the newest album from the Village People, Live and Sleazy. I love this photo of the guys.

Disco legend Gloria Gaynor had a new record from Polydor called I Have a Right.

And finally, two divas together: Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer.

Clothing ads are always great to see. They are usually filled with hot guys in very trendy clothes from Eleganza. But, this issue's only fashion ad worth showing was not for the clothes themselves, but just the hot guy in Dolfin Shorts.

Club, food and travel ads are always a lot of fun to look at. This first example is for a restaurant called Reverse. I just love the owner's statements. It seems it was more than just a restaurant with a cabaret and hours until 6 AM. This ad is very simple and I think that's the reason it struck me in this issue. It wasn't a quarter-page ad, it was a full-page ad and it was simple.

BC Club Miami wanted you to skip Fire Island and visit them in the winter. You could stay with a friend (or three...)

I think my favorite ads though, have to be for the weird products you could get. I'll post the conch shell earmuffs and nipple bra ads sometime in the future, but this issue had Attitude, an adult paperdoll book. Gee, you could dress Lance in leather and levis and play with him or thirty of the other "tricks and treats between these sheets". Yeah, this magazine didn't cater to gay men at all. Right. Who has a copy of this book?

I'll collect all the weird ads like the paper doll book together in one post sometime in the future. It will be good for a laugh.

After Dark January 1977

As I stated before, I bought three issues of After Dark because there were articles in them on people Mom Smackley and I liked. The first was because of Carrie Nye, but this issue was because of Susan Tyrrell. Mom Smackley became pen pals with Susan Tyrrell many years ago and that relationship grew to be friendship. We even named one of our cats Susu after Ms. Tyrrell's nickname. After Dark writer Viola Hegyl Swisher wrote an article titled "The Taming of Susu" where she talks about her career and acting style.






This issue was a cornucopia of treasures. I like to call it the Bad issue because it features the three stars of Andy Warhol's Bad.


In addition to Susu, cover boy Perry King is featured in an article by Norma McLain Stoop. He was coming off the success of Mandingo and The Wild Party.









"Baby Doll Grows Up" was an article by Foster Hirsch featuring Carroll Baker, the third star from Bad. A famous star of the 50's and early 60's, she received a revival of sorts by starring in Bad.





Marita Phillips revealed the inner thoughts of Terence Stamp in her article "I Would Starve If I Couldn't Cook".


Patrick Pacheco reviewed A Star is Born starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.




After Dark editor William Como had an editorial column called "Speaking Out" where he spoke of visiting movie houses in the 30's to see Mr. Skeffington, Watch on the Rhine and The Women. There was even a nice little tribute to Rosalind Russell who had passed away recently.
He also publicized a new book called "The Hurrell Style: 50 Years of Photographing Hollywood" which featured photographer George Hurrell's glamour shots of stars like Bette Davis.


Norma McLain Stoop featured A Little Night Music starring Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Rigg which I will probably review myself at a later date.




The rest of this issue will have to reviewed later today.