First Issue of Adult Pin-up Magazine Sir Knight was Published
Inaugurals | Mar 1, 1958
On March 1, 1958, Sirkay Publishing Company released Volume 1, Number 1 of Sir Knight Magazine, a popular men’s interest pin-up magazine featuring articles, humor and fiction, along with its signature nude pictorials. Sir Knight was 8.25 x 11 inches in size and this initial issue was 66 pages in length. The issue had a full-color cover with black and white interior pages. The cover price was a relatively expensive 50 cents. Writers featured in the first issue of Sir Knight include Hank Kelly, K. Robert Howard, John Q. White, Lauren James, W. B. Burton, Paula McNeil, Keith Bernard, Leon Marsh, Bob Thompson, Lamont Cortwright, Keith Winfield, Martin Courtney and Harold Lucas.
The tagline for Sir Knight was “Fiction for Knights… and Their Ladies.” The cover of the first issue says “Sir Knight, Vol. 1 No. 1, Collector’s Edition, Adult’s Only!” The cover model is French model Domenika Brandy Case.
As a venture, Sirkay Publishing Company seems to have been launched especially to support the launch of Sir Knight, since its incorporation date is listed as January 15, 1958, just 2 months prior to the first issue of the magazine being released on newsstands.
Sir Knight Magazine was later owned by Bentley Morriss and Ralph Weinstock, a pair of publishing entrepreneurs that went on to found Players Magazine, the groundbreaking adult pin-up magazine geared towards African-Americans.