The Ramparts Gang

When we last left the Ramparts Boys they were in a pretty tight fix: the phones were out, there was no more booze in the closet and, worst of all, they owed a million and a half dollars to angry creditors--including their archenemy, the Internal Revenue Service. When Leader Warren Hinckle III wrote the whole thing off, it sure looked like the end for the gang's magazine.

But not so fast, fellas and girls. Remember Publisher Freddy Mitchell's vow to keep the magazine alive at all costs? Well, no sooner had Warren left than the gang got together and decided that what they had to do was file bankruptcy papers. And they did! That was last February. Then the Boys went out to collect as much money as they could find. Which they did! More than $100,000 from ten new investors--enough to keep the IRS off their backs.

From now on, said Freddy, the gang has got to be run professionally. No more missing deadlines. No more late press runs requiring air shipments of magazines. No more scheduling a lot of articles there would not be room for. No more 10-c- a word for articles. Nickel a word is tops. And back to a monthly schedule.

The gang all pitched in and worked harder than they ever had before. Even in bankruptcy they managed to publish three issues of the magazine, each one on time (unheard of for the gang!), each less irresponsible and hysterical than the last. "We're less campy," says Editor Bob Scheer, "and less smartass. There's more emphasis on research and getting the facts. We've increased our range--music, the arts, and so forth."

Last week came the best news of all: the gang got out of bankruptcy. A majority of the creditors said it was O.K. if the gang just paid them an average of 4% of the money owed to them over the next three years. The judge said, well, you guys seem to be doing pretty well as far as I'm concerned. So you're back on your own. As we leave the Ramparts Boys, we find them back in the clubhouse happily pecking at their typewriters. Editor Scheer exults: "We did the impossible." But tune in to our next exciting episode!

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