300,000 pieces of light reading to trade

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33675, 26 October 1974, Page 12

300,000 pieces of light reading to trade

(By

KEN COATES)

From where he sits, keeping watch over his wares for swap or trade, “Ringo” can keep an eye on everyone — that is, when he is not watching his colour TV. His real name is Tom Redden, and he runs one of Christchurch’s most unusual businesses — exchanging or trading 300,000 comics, paper-backs, girlie magazines and novels a year.

His littered counter, with cash register drawer sagging cpen, resembles a used book-stall half-way through a jumble sale. Records are in a looseleafed exercise book with thickly-pencilled entries. But Ringo claims he makes an excellent living.

It all began with a yen for collecting comics and selling a few, "to buy fish and chips and go to ,the movies.” , In 1966, he was written about in "The Press” as the man who had 15,000 comics. Ten years ago he began travelling around the suburbs swapping and selling comics. Since then he has shifted shop several times, had a brush with the church and a visit from the vice squad — and has dealt with many customers. Ringo, who is aged 38, wears his hair long these days and has a philosophy to match: “I was bom under Sagitarrius and I like meeting people. Live and let live is my motto.” An ‘insult’

He said the vice squad found no material in his shop that was not allowed to be sold, but he felt its visit was an “insult to his character.” “I felt it was a violation against the freedom of my individual throught,” he said.

Ringo explained that in his shop there was a “good or spicey side,” labelled "adult books” and an “average side” which included mysteries, westerns and general books.

In the middle was a table packed with used glossy magazines including “Penthouse,” “Playboy”, “Playgirl”, “Oui”, “Forum”, ’’Men Only”, “Players” and others with varying displays of bared body.

Pulp magazines In the space of half an hour, there were few moments when there was not some male at the table, steadily leafing. Much is pure ex-

ploitation of sex for the ’ huge pulp magazine market. But Ringo said Miss Patricia Bartlett would not be at all shocked by the erotica in full colour on art paper to be found in his shop. “She has seen all the books before,” he said. “I admire Patricia because her standards are high. She knows she is on to a good thing. But she is against these books being on sale in dairies where kids can get at them — and I agree with that. “These spicy books should be in plain covers — novels included.” Ringo said that at one stage his shop was next door to a church. “I had a bit of flirt and skirt in the window, and I don’t see anything immoral about that,” he said. “But unfortunately, the church took a dim view of the girlie magazines and tried its best to stop me.” One for two Just then, a couple of schoolboys, wearing the blazers of a church school came in with three paperbacks which they swapped. Ringo’s basis of exchange is one book for two. He said lack of storage space in flats helped his business. And this seemed to be borne out during 25 minutes on a week-day afternoon in which there was a steady flow of customers, some carrying cartons of books. Ringo said that his most sought-after magazine was “Perithouse”, which describes itself as an international magazine for men. Information “They go for it — not for the pictures, but for the readin’. It’s the best,” he affirms. “This is the reason most intelligent people want high-class magazines — for the readin.” “The Games Girls Play,” “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex,” “The Oldest Profession,” "Confessions of a Film Extra,” — these are

just a ,few of the titles from Ringo’s "spicey” side. “Many men read sexy magazines because they get information about sex,” he said. Xaviere Hollander’s articles were some of the best in dealing with problems; some shy people made mistakes and many marriages had been saved through people reading about how problems were solved, said Ringo. How about younsters being corrupted? Ringo said that if they lingered over the spicey books he ordered them to move on, But he did not refuse to sell sexy books to them. “The young are always keen to prove a point. They will take them, or get them from somewhere,” he said. Ringo said he enjoyed his job. “Some very distinguished people come in here. Some have titles,” he said. Love stories A well-dressed, elderly woman came to the counter with an armful of books. “Such a lot of lovely love stories here,” she said. “And every Western in the shop was read by my husband before he died.” According to Ringo, the kids like James Bond, Alistair Mac Lean, Hammond Innes and Commander comics. Elderly ladies love Agatha Christie, Inspector West stories and romances, and the average man likes Westerns. As for the more lurid publications in his shop which does business seven days a week, they were a commentary on the times and an indication of the extent to which publishers have realised that sex is a seller. Ringo’s view: “Running this shop is much better than making black-ball sweets in the boiled sugar department of a factory for £9 a week. That was a terrible job.”