Sweet Sixteen #7
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSweet Sixteen #7 is a representative artifact of the postwar teen-girl comic, a genre that publishers explored as an alternative to the superhero and crime fare flooding newsstands in 1947. Its blend of illustrated fiction, celebrity biography, and the recurring adventures of a female stunt performer offered adolescent girls protagonists and role models rarely seen elsewhere in Golden Age comics. The issue's profile of Ronald Reagan — then purely a Hollywood contract player — is a notable cultural snapshot, capturing a future head of state at the very moment the comic-buying public first knew him only as a screen idol. Taken as a whole, the run's consistent focus on working women and female achievers (athletes, pilots, musicians, stunt artists) marked a deliberate editorial stance unusual for the period.
This anthology issue features "Brenda Smythe," a story about a young woman who arrives in New York and is mistaken for a famous stage actress by a theatrical agent; complications ensue when she attempts to secure a stage role while maintaining the deception. The issue also includes "The Riddle of the Rose," a romantic story in which Ellin receives red roses from an admirer and must discover the sender's identity, ultimately learning that Johnny has been the true suitor all along. Additional content includes humorous jokes, riddles, and reader submissions labeled "Dollar Pullers."
Dirinda Jones's day at the pier takes an unexpected turn when a case of mistaken identity lands her in the orbit of Broadway producer Maxwell Brockton—who mistakes the enthusiastic young woman for an important foreign actress and whisks her away to discuss a stage contract. As the mix-up unravels and the real actress finally arrives, Dirinda finds herself with a surprising new opportunity and an even more surprising invitation to a Broadway date. A lighthearted romp through New York that proves sometimes getting lost is the best way to be found.
Meet Peggy Lloyd, a rising disc jockey at New York's WOW radio station who wakes up the city each morning with records and cheerful conversation. This biography traces her path from a baseball-loving kid in Cleveland through various jobs in entertainment—actress, columnist, radio writer—before landing her dream role spinning records and reporting the news. Lloyd's journey shows how persistence and a willingness to try different paths can lead to an unexpected broadcasting career.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Sweet Sixteen was published by Parents' Magazine Press, the same institutional imprint behind the long-running Parents' Magazine, lending the title an educational-entertainment mandate pitched directly at teenage girls. The series ran from August–September 1946 through January 1948, producing thirteen bimonthly issues before ceasing publication. The editorial staff documented across the run included managing editor Jean M. Press, art director Ralph O. Ellsworth, and assistant art director Dorothea Filosa, with interior art contributed by a rotating pool of illustrators including Vic Herman, who appeared in most issues as a reliable anchor artist.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published July 1947 by Parents' Magazine Press (indicia publisher: Sweet Sixteen, Inc.); part of a 13-issue bimonthly series running August–September 1946 through January 1948.
- Cover features a photograph of young actress Peggy Ann Garner, whose work in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) had recently earned her a special Juvenile Academy Award — a rarity the issue's interior text highlights.
- Interior includes 'Here's Reagan!', a profile of then-Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, years before his political career; one of the earliest comic-book features devoted to him.
- The recurring strip Dorothy Dare, 'Queen of the Hollywood Stunt Artists,' appears in this issue executing a dangerous underwater stunt, continuing the series' flagship action feature centered on a professional stuntwoman.
- Contributing creators for this issue include Vic Herman, Mary Sellars, Edmund Jannace, Kay Deane, fashion columnist Candy Jones, and writer Mickey Klar Marks.
- Running editorial credits across the series: managing editor Jean M. Press, art director Ralph O. Ellsworth, and assistant art director Dorothea Filosa.
- The issue runs 32 pages in full color, one of several issues in the run that varied in page count (ranging roughly 32–52 pages) as the series evolved.
- No known reprints, collected editions, or adaptations of this issue have been documented in available sources.
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