Roundup: Tales of the Old West (November 1946) is a pulp fiction magazine printed in Toronto, Canada by The Globe Printing Company and published by the Universal Publishing Company. Cover art rendered by H. Thomson. Per the contents page, copies locally sold for 15-cents, and annual subscriptions at $1.50. World Distributors of Manchester, England were the English distribution agents. They also released Universal Western (December 1946) the following month. Neither title had a second issue. If Universal published any other fiction magazines, I’ve yet to discover them.
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Besides 10 short stories, the magazine is filled with full-page ads for various Hollywood films (and one smaller ad). One might think they’d all be westerns, but that wasn’t the case. These include:
- The Blue Dahlia (Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix)
- The Virginian (Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, Barbara Britton)
- Smoky (Fred MacMurray, Anne Baxter)
- “O.S.S.” (Alan Ladd, Geraldine Fitzgerald)
- “Our Hearts Were Growing Up” (Gail Russell, Diana Lynn, Brian Donlevy)
- Cluny Brown (Charles Boyer, Jennifer Jones) – a small ad
Hell-Bound Herd * William F. Bragg (pages 4-9, 59-64)
Murderous cattle rustlers leaving behind a wolf’s paw meet their match when a stranger rides into their midst to solve and put an end to their actions.
Backfire Brand * Alan D. Cameron (pages 10-15)
Mike Moran — a man who carries no gun after killing his brother during the Civil War and ousted from his family — confronts cattle rustlers. After beating up the leader with his fists, Pogin delivers an ultimatum: leave town or I’ll mark you for life! Pogin’s specialty involves slicing off parts of his ears! Pogin delivers on his promise, and a bloody Moran makes to leaves town in shame. The town doctor discovers Moran’s brother is alive! Moran’s six-shooters once more leap into his hands to mete out vengeance.
Gun-Brand for Brandon * Glenn Pierce (pages 16-20)
A case of mistaken identity leads Brandon to flee for his life, only, Brandon has no intention of running. He leads the sheriff and his posse on a merry chase through the wilderness to a remote cabin, where they find themselves looking at two men. And both look like one another!
Dead Riders * Wayne L. Gorton (pages 21-25)
Deputies and sheriffs are systematically murdered and tied upright in their saddle, and permit the horse(s) to ride into town. Nobody wants the job of hunting The Valencia Kid, killer of these dead riders…until Ranger Tom Hays rides into Golden to confront a seemingly innocent local citizen.
Sixgun Sermon * Bob Yorke (pages 26-31)
When Happy Day arrives in the guise of a parson on the local stagecoach, the hell-bound denizens of Hell Plus fail to take note that this particular Bible-thumper is dead set on a Biblical cleanse.
Without Benefit of Guns * Marshall Breeden (pages 32-37)
Snap Barker had returned to Thunder Mountain but not permitted to carry his guns! He must locate the outlaws and take them all down, without the aid of his guns. (Side note: the story concludes with the sheriff wanting to know why Barker returns to Thunder Mountain every five years only to depart each time).
Stagecoach Showdown * Jack H. Waite (pages 38-43)
Wade hires on with the larger of two stagecoach operations and discovers the rival outfit is owned by a beautiful young lady set to marry a wimp of a man, the butt of the town. She asks Wade to make a man of the boy, teach him to fight back. Against his better judgment, he does just that, and creates a malicious asshole not worth loving. When both coaches are riding into town, the boy races his against Wade, only to lose control and roll it over. He jumps clear…but makes no effort to save the girl. Wade quits his coach, assists the girl, rights her rolled wagon, and wins the girl.
Ranger Law for Ulvalde * Melvin Aronson (pages 44-48)
Lantry must intervene before a range war ensues. Only one problem: the man he must stop is his own brother!
Dead Man’s Wagon * W. Edmunds Claussen (pages 49-53)
Ash Barnette’s love for Elsa sends him chasing a wagon filled with guns to be sold to Indians. She’s being held captive in case he should manage to track the wagon.
Luck in the Palos * Frank Hubbard (pages 54-59)
Eb West is financially broke and due to lose what remains of his ranch to the local railroad interests. They’ve already purchased a worthless portion of his land that dried up. Now they want the other half. The only thing standing in the way of corrupt men and hollow souls is Carew, and undercover railway detective, working on behalf of the larger rail conglomerates. They wish to make sure the lands acquired or used are all done so legally, without any entanglements. That’s where Carew comes in; offering his services to Eb West, he investigates the worthless land, discovers the water was dammed and redirected to the portion Eb West currently has. Once the local villains convince Eb to sell that good land, they’ll remove the walls blocking the water and have two valuable halves as a whole! Carew is no fool. He’s seen this trick before and plays a fast one on the railway gang.