Author Topic: Pictures: OLD IronMan magazine (Perry Rader's) (Read 6413 times)

Les Kernodle · « **on:** Jan 25, 2006, 11:22 PM »

I was asked about Ironman magazine , NOT the one on the stands today , but back when it was published by a fellow called Perry Rader.
A digest size mag , with ads for both the house brands of equipt. but ads from all , classified etc,, news from the world , no politics just reporting on the sport. MILO reminds me in size and content to the true Ironman.
Rader also published Lifting News (which had been incorporated into Ironman by the time I was buying mags on the stands). It was devoted to Olympic/powerlifting. I was surprized when I got my first copy of that recently it was oversized. Here are a few examples ....
check out the Hall of fame under Schemansky and Kono as there are Ironman covers there and I think about the ONLY two to ever have Lifters on the cover. The rest are BB'ers.
so here are a few .. for an example ....

michael murphy · « **Reply #1 on:** Mar 25, 2006, 03:48 PM »

Peary Rader's IRON MAN Magazine featured a lifter on the cover of his first issue known as Super Physique (Vol. 1 No. 1-August 1936). The cover man was none other than John Grimek, a member of the 1936 Olympic Team.

Starting with the second issue the magazine was known as IRON MAN.

Volume 1 No's 5 & 6 featured Joe Miller and Bill Good on the front cover. Actually Bill Good shared the front cover of Vol. 1 No. 6 with a line drawing of Apollon's (Louis Uni's) arm. One could lift the attached photo of Bill Good and see the drawing of Apollon's arm.

Both Joe Miller and Bill Good were members of the 1936 Olympic Team.

As a matter of fact, Peary Rader was a member of the National W/L committee and chairman of the Mid-Western District.

On the inside cover of Super Physique Peary Rader wrote a "Greetings" article that was continued on page 22. Peary stated the following in his "Greetings" to readers.

"We felt it our duty as a work of promotion to start this paper in order to promote lifting in this and nearby districts which heretofore have had very little lifting activity."

The point is that IRON MAN was created as a LIFTING magazine and not a bodybuilding publication. Peary Rader was always a lifting man first.

For covers of IRON MAN Magazine & others take a look at Bob Adams website www.vintagemusclemags.com

michael murphy · « **Reply #2 on:** Apr 14, 2006, 05:48 AM »

Possibly some interested members are not aware of the conditions under which Iron Man Magazine was started. Initially it started out as a dittoed booklet. A mimeograph was purchased and shortly thereafter a HAND FEED printing press, a linotype (to set the type) along with some other small pieces of equipment were added to enable the Rader's to publish photographs in Iron Man.

Peary & Mabel Rader did all of the publishing and printing of Iron Man. All of this work on Iron Man came after their normal working day had ended.

They debated discontinuing the magazine but they loved the work they were doing so they set out to purchase an automatic fast press.

The first issue of Iron Man off the automatic fast press was Vol. 6 No. 2. (early 1945). The automatic fast press eliminated the "hand fed" process and enabled the Raders to increase the amount of copies printed with each issue.

The fact that the Raders did their own printing and publishing kept the magazine almost entirely "advertisement free" with a few minor exceptions. Barbell manufacturer, Andy Jackson, was with the Raders almost from the start and his ads appeared in Iron Man.

If the Raders hadn't printed and published their own magazine they would have been faced with "selling advertisement space" and this would have diminished the value of the magazine.

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Rader's last issue of Iron Man. These issues remain as a treasure house of information and most likely the finest American publication ever printed.

michael murphy · « **Reply #3 on:** Apr 20, 2006, 05:31 PM »

The first three issues of Iron Man were printed on the ditto machine. Actually at the time Volume 1 No. 4 issue was due to be mailed out, and after printing part of the magazine with the ditto machine, the Raders realized that a mimeograph machine would need to be purchased so they could make several thousand copies IF necessary.

Volume 1 No. 4 issue presented problems with the mimeographing. They typed this issue five times and printed it three times. It was done on an old wreck of a mimeograph machine and with poor stencils ink typewriter and paper that was much too light. They even debated sending out the issue to the readers.

This issue marks their first attempt with the mimeograph machine.

michael murphy · « **Reply #4 on:** May 04, 2006, 02:41 PM »

When Iron Man arrived in the mail in the late 1930's this is one of the mailing sleeves that it was delivered in. This particular issue was postmarked out of Alliance, Nebraska on September 23, 1939.

This sleeve now contains the Volume 3 No. 5 issue but I am quite certain that this postmark date reflects an earlier issue. Early issues of IM were not dated-only the volume & number appear.

michael murphy · « **Reply #5 on:** May 06, 2006, 07:50 PM »

A postcard from Peary Rader dated 2:20pm October 16th, 1950 out of Alliance, Nebraska.

michael murphy · « **Reply #6 on:** May 18, 2006, 11:21 AM »

An early advertisement for Iron Man Magazine

michael murphy · « **Reply #7 on:** May 19, 2006, 03:13 PM »

In the early days of Iron Man Peary Rader sent you this notice when your subscription was expiring.