Do you mind being sworn? Do you swear that the evidence you are about to give before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole trath, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mrs. Meyer. I do.
The Chairman. Thank you, Mrs. Meyer. Do you have someone who is going to assist you?
Mrs. Meyer. Mr. Matthew Murphy, the editor of Dell Publications.
The Chairman. Will you be giving evidence or will you be agsist- mg Mrs. Meyer?
Mrs. Meyer. I don't now whether I will need him.
The Chairman. We will swear you anyway.
Do you swear that the evidence you are about to give before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. Murphy. I do.
The Chairman. Will you both state your home addresses and your associations, with whom you are engaged, or by whom you are engaged?
TESTIMONY OF MRS. HELEN MEYER, VICE PRESIDENT, DELL PUBLICATIONS, ACCOMPANIED BY MATTHEW MURPRY, EDITOR, DELL PUBLICATIONS, NEW YORK, N. Y.
Mrs. Meyer. Mrs. Helen Meyer, 231 Montrose Avenue, South Orange, N. J. Tam vice president of the Dell Publishing Co.
Mr. Murphy. My name is Matthew Murphy, of 284 Bronxville Road, Bronxville, N. Y. I am employed by Western Printing & Lithographic Co., as Dell comies editor.
The Chairman. You may proceed.
Mrs. Meyer. Although we are not here te defend crime and horror comics, the picture is not as black as Dr. Wertham painted it. We must give our American children proper credit for their good tasie in their support of yood comics. What better evidence can we give than facts and fignres. Here they are:
Dell's average comic sale is 800,000 copies per issue. Most crime and horror comic sales are under 250,000 copies. :
Of the first 25 largest selling magazines on newsstands—this includes Ladies Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post, Life, and so forth—11 titles are Dell comics, with Walt Disney's Donald Duck the leading newsstand seller. Some of these titles are: "Walt Disney's Comics"; "Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny"; "Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse"; "Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, Porky Pigs"; "Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker"; "Margie's Little Lulu"; "Mom's Tom and Jerry."
The newsstand sales range from 950,000 to 1,996,570 on each of the above-mentioned titles, I mean newsstands only, and I am not in- eluding any subscriptions, and we have hundreds of thousands of subscriptions.
With the least amount of titles, or 15 percent of all titles published by the entire industry, Dell can account for a sale of approximately 32 percent, and we don't publish a crime or horror comic.
Dr. Wertham, for some strange reason, is intent on condemning the entire industry. He refuses to acknowledge that other types of comics are not only published, but are better supported by children than crime and horror comics. I hope that his motivation is not a selfish
