Beautifully engraved RARE uncancelled certificate from the Macfadden Newspapers Corporation issued in 1930. This historic document was printed by the Franklin Lee Division - American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of Bernarr Macfadden. This item has the signatures of the Company's President, Bernarr Macfadden and Secretary. This is the only example of this certificate we have seen.
Certificate Vignette Bernarr Macfadden (August 16, 1868 October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He also founded the long-running magazine publishing company Macfadden Publications. He was the predecessor of Charles Atlas and Jack LaLanne, and has been credited with beginning the culture of health and fitness in the United States. Macfadden Publications Physical Culture, Bernarr Macfadden's first magazine, was based on Macfadden's interest in bodybuilding. The launch of True Story in 1919 made the company very successful. Other well-known magazines, such as Photoplay and True Detective, soon followed. Macfadden also launched the tabloid New York Evening Graphic. Bernarr Macfadden withdrew from his leadership roles with the company in 1941. Born Bernard Adolphus McFadden in Mill Spring, Missouri, Bernarr Macfadden changed his first and last names to give them a greater appearance of strength. He thought "Bernarr" sounded like the roar of a lion, and that "Macfadden" was a more masculine spelling of his name. As a young child, Macfadden was weak and sickly. After being orphaned by the time he was 11, he was placed with a farmer and began working on the farm. The hard work and wholesome food on the farm turned him into a strong and fit boy. When he was 13, however, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri and took a desk job. Quickly his health reverted again and by 16 he described himself as a "physical wreck". He started exercising again with dumbbells, walking up to six miles a day and became a vegetarian. He quickly regained his previous health. Career Publishing and writings Macfadden founded Physical Culture magazine in 1899, and was editor up to the August 1912 issue. Aided by long-time Supervising Editor Fulton Oursler, Macfadden eventually grew a publishing empire, including Liberty, True Detective, True Story, True Romances, Dream World, Ghost Stories, the once-familiar movie magazine Photoplay, and the tabloid newspaper, The New York Graphic. Macfadden's magazines included SPORT, a preeminent sports magazine prior to Time, Inc.'s Sports Illustrated. Ghost Stories was a nod in the direction of the rapidly growing field of pulp magazines, though it was a large-size magazine that preserved Macfadden's confessional style for most of its stories. In 1928, Macfadden made more overt moves into the pulps with, for example, Red Blooded Stories (192829), Flying Stories (1928-29), and Tales of Danger and Daring (1929). These were all unsuccessful. In 1929, Macfadden underwrote Harold Hersey's pulp chain, the Good Story Magazine Company. Macfadden titles like Ghost Stories and Flying Stories continued as Good Story publications. Other intended Macfadden pulps, like Thrills of the Jungle (1929) and Love and War Stories (1930), originated as Good Story magazines. In 1931, Macfadden purchased the assets of the Mackinnon-Fly magazine publishers, which gave him the pioneering sci-fi pulp Amazing Stories, and several other titles; they were published under the Teck Publications imprint. This apparently made Good Story expendable and financial support was withdrawn almost immediately. The Teck titles lasted under Macfadden control until being sold in the late '30s, after which Macfadden was absent from the pulp field. Macfadden also contributed to many articles and books including The Virile Powers of Superb Manhood (1900), MacFadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture (19111912), Fasting for Health (1923), and The Milk Diet (1923). Health advocacy Macfadden popularized the practice of fasting that previously had been associated with illnesses such as anorexia nervosa. He felt strongly that fasting was one of the surest ways to physical health. Many of his subjects would fast for a week in order to rejuvenate their body. He claimed that "a person could exercise unqualified control over virtually all types of disease while revealing a degree of strength and stamina such as would put others to shame" through fasting. He saw fasting as an instrument with which to prove a man's superiority over other men. Bernarr MacFadden and Franklin D. Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Georgia, 1931 Macfadden had photographs of himself taken before and after fasts to demonstrate their positive effects on the body. For example, one photograph showed Macfadden lifting a 100-pound dumbbell over his head immediately after a seven-day fast. He also promoted fasting by appealing to racial prejudices, suggesting that fasting was a practice of self-denial that only civilized white men would choose to embrace. Macfadden acknowledged the difficulties of fasting and did not support it as an ascetic practice but rather because he believed its ultimate benefits outweighed its costs.[5] He was particularly opposed to the consumption of bread, which he called the "staff of death". Macfadden established many "healthatoriums" in the eastern and midwestern states. These institutions offered educational programs such as "The Physical Culture Training School". Although he gained his reputation for physical culture and fitness, he gained much notoriety for his views on sexual behavior. He viewed intercourse as a healthy activity and not solely a procreative one. This was a different attitude than most physicians had at the time. He also attempted to found a "Physical Culture City" in Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, which folded after a few years and became the vacation-cabin neighborhood, and, later, suburban development of Outcalt. Nicknamed "Body Love Macfadden" by Time a moniker he detested he was branded a "kook" and a charlatan by many, arrested on obscenity charges, and denounced by the medical establishment. Throughout his life, he campaigned tirelessly against "pill-pushers", processed foods and prudery. Macfadden made an unsuccessful attempt to found a religion, "cosmotarianism", based on physical culture. He claimed that his regimen would enable him to reach the age of 150. His Macfadden Foundation established two boarding schools for young boys and girls in Westchester County, New York, the Macfadden School in Briarcliff Manor (Scarborough) and the Tarrytown School in Tarrytown. The Macfadden School took the younger children, with some being as young as 3. On March 7, 1943, the advertisement in The New York Times Magazine for the Tarrytown School read: "To Meet the Needs of a Nation at War". The boys at the Tarrytown School wore uniforms and were subject to military type discipline. The Macfadden School operated from 1939 to 1950, the Tarrytown School from 1943 to 1954. Other enterprises At the peak of his career, Macfadden owned several hotels and a major building in Dansville, New York. He also opened a restaurant in New York City in 1902 called Physical Culture, which was one of the city's first vegetarian venues. Physical Culture vegetarian restaurants were established in other cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago. By 1911, there were twenty such restaurants. Macfadden was a proponent of raw foodism and a follower of Sylvester Graham's philosophies. Macfadden was married four times and had eight children, seven of whose names began with the letter "B". One of his sons (Jack) made an appearance on the Groucho Marx show You Bet Your Life (December 31, 1953) and talked about his father (who was 84 at the time). He met his third wife, Mary Williamson Macfadden, in England when she won a contest "for the most perfect specimen of England womanhood," sponsored by Macfadden. More importantly, she was a champion British swimmer.[8][9][10] The couple had eight children: Helen, Byrne, Byrnece, Beulah, Beverly, Brewster, Berwyn, and Braunda. Bernarr and Mary separated in 1932 and divorced in 1946. Macfadden held ambitions to hold political office. He made efforts to run for president as well as United States senator from Florida and New York City mayor. Macfadden is one of the subjects of Bill Bryson's 2013 book One Summer: America 1927. Bryson recounts that when one of Macfadden's daughters died of a heart condition he remarked that "it's better she's gone; she only would have disgraced me." He was an acquaintance of Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Will Rogers, and Rudolph Valentino. Macfadden died of a urinary tract infection in 1955 in Jersey City, New Jersey, after refusing medical treatment. He is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. Upon his death, Edward Longstreet Bodin became the president of the Bernarr Macfadden Foundation. After his death, his fourth wife Johnnie Lee Macfadden claimed that there was still money that was buried at various locations across the country. She said that Bernarr told her that he buried the money in steel cartridge boxes, and it amounted to millions. Several people have reported that they saw Macfadden leave one of his hotels carrying a bag and a shovel, thereafter returning with only the shovel. Most attempts to locate the buried treasure have failed. People close to Macfadden have said that the rumors of buried money were false, although in 1960 a steel cartridge box was found buried on Long Island on some property that was once owned by Macfadden; it contained approximately $89,000.[citation needed] Critical reception Macfadden has drawn criticism for requesting in his books for patients not to consult any professional physician. It has been noted by critics that Macfadden was a proponent of unorthodox ideas that are widely derided as quackery such as grape therapy supposedly healing cancer. Morris Fishbein wrote that "In his campaign, Bernarr Macfadden aligned himself with the border-line cultists that oppose scientific medicine and devote themselves to the promotion of some single conception of disease causation, prevention, and treatment."[17] Some of Mcfadden's publications also drew criticism for their erotic and sexual content.

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Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century. Macfadden Publications Physical Culture, Bernarr Macfadden's first magazine, was based on Macfadden's interest in bodybuilding. The launch of True Story in 1919 made the company very successful. Other well-known magazines, such as Photoplay and True Detective, soon followed. Macfadden also launched the tabloid New York Evening Graphic. Bernarr Macfadden withdrew from his leadership roles with the company in 1941. Macfadden/Bartell In 1961, the Bartell Broadcasting Corporation bought a controlling share in Macfadden and merged with the company, forming Macfadden/Bartell. Bartell owned WADO New York, WOKY Milwaukee, and KCBQ San Diego. A share in Bartell was acquired by Downe Communications in 1967, with full control in 1969. Between 1969 and 1974 Downe was acquired by Charter Company. Bartell was fully acquired by Downe in 1976, and Downe was fully acquired by Charter in 1978. Downe purchased the newspaper supplement Family Weekly in 1966, and the Ladies' Home Journal and The American Home from the Curtis Publishing Company in 1968. Macfadden Group Macfadden's women's magazines were spun off in 1975, and sold to the unit president, Peter J. Callahan. These magazines were: True Story Photoplay TV-Radio Mirror True Confessions Motion Picture True Romance True Experience True Love Us was purchased in 1980, and sold in 1986. In the mid-eighties, Macfadden bought the Ideal Publishing Company, which published Teen Beat and other fan magazines, from Filmways. MacFadden acquired a stake in what would become American Media in 1989 when it bought a stake in the National Enquirer. Sterling/Macfadden In 1991, the Macfadden consumer magazines were spun off and merged with Sterling's Magazines. Sterling's published fan magazines such as Tiger Beat, as well as the music magazine Metal Edge. The merger was finalized in October 1992.[1] In 1998, the conglomerate's line of youth music publications was sold off to Primedia; the rest were bought by Dorchester Media in 2004. Teen Magazines Right On! Teen Beat 16 Magazine Tiger Beat Teen Macfadden Holdings The trade magazines Chief Executive and Discount Merchandiser, as well as the company's stake in American Media, remained a separate company. American Media was sold in 1999 to the investment group Evercore Partners. The Macfadden trade titles were sold to VNU the same year. Present day The executives of Macfadden Business Communications started a new company using the Macfadden name. It is a publisher of business-to-business magazines. Historical publications Magazines [2][3][4] Physical Culture True Story (1919 Brain Power (192224) (also titled National Pictorial Brain Power Magazine) True Experiences (1922- True Romances (1923- Love and Romance (1923- Muscle Builder (1924- True Detective (19241971) Master Detective (1930- Famous Detective Cases True Love True Love Stories (1924- True Marriage Stories (1924- Modern Marriage Own Your Own Home Your Faith Dream World (also titled Dream World: Love and Romance) Ghost Stories (192632) (under Harold Hersey's control 1930-32) Macfadden's Fiction Lovers' Magazine Midnight (also titled Midnight Mysteries) The Dance Magazine Climax: Exciting Stories for Men Photoplay (19341980) Secrets (1936- Personal Romances (1937- Movie Mirror Radio Mirror ( -1948) Saga: Adventure Stories for Men (195x-198x) TV Radio Mirror (19491977) True Confessions (19631992) Motion Picture (19111977) Sport (19461975) Intimate Stories (1948- Revealing Romances (1949- Pageant (19611977) Liberty (19311950) Home Furnishings News (2006-2014)[5] also known as HFN Newspapers New York Graphic (19241932) Philadelphia Daily News (19251932) Detroit Daily Detroit Mirror (? 1931) Teck Publishing Corporation (19311938) Amazing Stories Radio News Wild West Stories & Complete Novel Magazine Current publications Grocery Headquarters (purchased in 2004) Pet Business (purchased in 2000) The Pet Aisle Grooming Business Beverage World Dance Media Dance Magazine Dance Spirit (acquired 2006)[10] Dance Teacher (acquired 2006)[10] Pointe (acquired 2006)[10] Dance Retailer News (acquired 2006)[10] History from Wikipedia and OldCompany.com (old stock certificate research service)