Louis Silberkleit
| Louis Horace Silberkleit | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 November 1900 Manhattan, New York City, New York |
| Died | February 21, 1986 (aged 85) New York City |
| Residence | New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Morris High School (Bronx) (1919) New York Law School (1934) |
| Occupation | Publisher |
| Known for | Co-founder and Publisher of Archie Comics |
| Successor | Michael I. Silberkleit |
| Spouse(s) | Lillian Meisel (1903–1970) Nicole Bernheim (1972–1986) |
| Children | Michael I. Silberkleit |
| Parent(s) | Israel Silberkleit & Julia Winik |
Louis Horace Silberkleit (17 November 1900 – 21 February 1986) was an American magazine, comic book, and book publisher, who was founder (along with Maurice Coyne and John L. Goldwater) of MLJ Magazines (later known as Archie Comics), and served as its publisher for many years.
Silberkleit attended Morris High School in the Bronx, graduating in 1919. His first job was in 1923 as Circulation Promoter for The New York Evening Mail. In 1925 he moved over to Eastern Distributing Corporation, which distributed many of the early pulp magazines published by Hugo Gernsback. Silberkleit started out as Eastern's Circulation Manager of periodicals, and by 1929 had been promoted to Circulation Manager of the entire company. That same year Silberkleit hired a young Martin Goodman to be his assistant, beginning a long professional relationship. Eastern Distributing went bankrupt in 1932.
According to his son Michael, Silberkleit began his career in publishing when he founded Columbia Publications, a publisher of magazines featuring science fiction, westerns and detective stories by writers such as Isaac Asimov and Louis L'Amour. According to other sources, in October of 1932 Silberkleit and Goodman formed the two companies Mutual Magazine Distributors and Newstand Publishers; their first publication was the pulp magazine Complete Western Book Magazine, cover-dated October 1933. (Mutual Magazine went bankrupt in 1935.)
Silberkleit graduated from New York Law School in 1934. That same year, Silberkleit formed Winford Publications with John L. Goldwater; Winford's business manager was Maurice Coyne. Winford published such titles as Double Action Western, Real Western, Mystery Novels, Underworld Detective, and Complete Northwest Novel Magazine. Editor Abner Sundell came on board in 1935; he later played an important role at MLJ Magazines. In short order, Silberkleit and partners (including Harold Hammond) formed a number of other pulp publishers: Chesterfield Publications, Northwest Publishing, Blue Ribbon Magazines, Columbia Publications, and Double Action Magazines. The headquarters of all these companies were in the vicinity of Manhattan's City Hall; by May 1937 they were consolidated under the name Double-Action Magazines, located at 60 Hudson Street. By 1941, Silberkleit had phased out all the other publisher names and merged all the titles under the umbrella of Columbia Publications (and hired Robert A. W. Lowndes as his lead editor).
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