Your Ed Emshwiller cover painting for the day.

January 1962 issue, edited by Cele Goldsmith. Also features stories by J. G Ballard, Miriam Allen deFord and others. "The Mars Snooper" is journalism by the concept artist Frank Tinsley about a proposed type of atomic-energy-fueled rocket; probably happily, it didn't get too much further into reality than an Estes model rocket kit. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?56381

I haven't read Bova's story, to know at all what his towers might've been inspired by (though Simon Rodia was another son of Italy), but the resemblance to a Watts Tower of the tallest segment in the painting is pretty obviously intentional...

The Estes model kit:

Did you ever fire off model rockets? I was just a little late for Centuri rockets, though had some Estes models. Lost one by putting a too-powerful engine in it, though watching it going up about 3000 feet was arguably worth it (it was one of the lightest, most basic models).

Cele Goldsmith Lalli

Michael and Cele Goldsmith Lalli at a 1980s LunaCon.

Photo by and Copyright © Andrew Porter; all rights reserved.

Andrew Porter:

And here's the obit I wrote for the April 2002 issue of Science Fiction Chronicle:

Cele Goldsmith Lalli, 68, former editor of Amazing and Fantastic and later editor-in-chief of Modern Bride, died January 14th [2002] in a car crash near her Newtown, Conn., home when she apparently lost control of her car and hit a tree. She is survived by her husband Michael Lalli, daughters Francesca Morrissey of New Milford, Conn. and Erica L. Sullivan of Stamford, and five grandchildren. 

Four decades ago, Cele Goldsmith took Amazing and Fantastic, two digest-size magazines which were practically moribund during the 1950’s, into the forefront of SF and fantasy publishing. Her reign lasted from Amazing and Fantastic’s December 1958 to their June 1965 issues. To honor her, she received a Special Hugo Award for her efforts, at the 1962 World SF Convention. During her tenure, and working with a shoestring budget, Amazing and Fantastic published stories by a pantheon of SF’s greats: J.G. Ballard, James Blish, John Brunner, Avram Davidson, Philip K. Dick, Thomas Disch, Harlan Ellison, Philip Jose Farmer, Frank Herbert, Keith Laumer, Ursula K. Le Guin, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Cordwainer Smith, Jack Vance, James White, Roger Zelazny and many others. She bought the first stories of a number of authors, including Zelazny and Le Guin. In Amazing, under her editorship Sam Moskowitz reprinted numerous long-forgotten stories, with background material, and Lester del Rey and Ben Bova ran nonfiction articles. 

Faced with falling sales, in 1965 owner Ziff-Davis, publisher since 1938, sold them to Sol Cohen, ending this intensely creative period. Goldsmith, now Cele Lalli following her marriage to Z-D assistant controller Michael Lalli, moved to Z-D’s Modern Bride, where she remained for another 33 years, retiring as editor-in-chief in 1998. Her years at Modern Bride made her one of the longest tenured editors of any major consumer magazine. She had converted to Catholicism upon her marriage to Lalli, which, according to associates, gave her insights into the wedding traditions of both Jewish and Catholic brides. Ironically, she died within a few hours of Modern Bride’s sale to Conde Nast for $52 million. 

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction stated, “Under Cele Goldsmith’s editorship Amazing improved dramatically, publishing good work by many leading authors... Zelazny was one of several writers whose careers were aided in their early stages by Goldsmith; others include Ben Bova, David R. Bunch, Thomas M. Disch, Ursula K. Le Guin and Robert F. Young”.  And The Encyclopedia of Fantasy noted, “In the period 1960-65 Fantastic was the premier fantasy magazine”.

Todd Mason: That last judgement isn't wrong, but I'd suggest that Mike Ashley, who made it, is more sweeping in putting Fantastic ahead of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Science Fantasy than he might be...all three together, with some not insignificant contributions from the Magazine of Horror and others mentioned recently and over the years on this blog, made the early 1960s a good time for fantasy short fiction in magazines. Among her other discoveries: Keith Laumer (see the interview, link below).

Previous Cele Goldsmith Lalli posts:

Barry Malzberg's interview with Cele Goldsmith Lalli 

Women editors in fantasy and sf at midcentury  

A Thomas Disch/Cele Goldsmith Lalli note 
Fantasy fiction magazines on US newsstands, March 1965

AMAZING, the first all-sf magazine: some of the best covers, for each editor:

Most images courtesy of Galactic Central and ISFDb.

1928: Editor: Hugo Gernsback; cover artist: Frank R. Paul:

 

1933: Editor: T. O'Conor Sloane; cover artist: A. Sigmond:

1942: Editor: Raymond A. Palmer; cover artist: Malcolm Smith:

 



1942: cover artist: H. W. McCauley (the male figure is Ray Palmer):

 
1947: cover artist: Arnold Kohn:

 

1952: Editor: Howard Browne; cover artist: Walter Popp:

 




1953: cover artist: Mel Hunter:

 



1958: Editor: Paul W. Fairman; cover artist: Edward Valigursky:

 




1959: Editor: Cele Goldsmith (later, Cele Lalli); cover artist: Albert Neutzell:

For more on Cele Goldsmith/Lalli, please see here.

 




1960: cover artist: Leo Summers:

 




1963: cover artist: Lloyd Birmingham:

1964: cover artist: Ed Emshwiller: 

For more on the Emshwillers, please see here.

1965: cover artist: Gray Morrow:

 




1966: Editor: Joseph Wrzos aka Joseph Ross; cover artist: uncredited:

(Publisher Sol Cohen had purchased inexpensively a number of uncredited paintings from
European publishers, along with reprinting art [as well as fiction] for which Ziff-Davis had 
purchased all rights over the decades, and sold to Cohen and his Ultimate Publications in 1965.)

1967: Editor: Harry Harrison; cover artist: uncredited:

 




1968: Editor: Barry Malzberg: cover artist uncredited: 

For more posts about and by Barry Malzberg and his work, please see here.

 


1971: Editor: Ted White; cover artist: Jeff Jones:

for more Jeff Jones, please see here.

1974: cover artist: Mike Hinge:

for more Mike Hinge, please see here.
Another good Hinge display.

 





1976: cover artist: Ron Barber:

 


1981: Editor: Elinor Mavor (briefly aka Omar Gohagan); cover artist: Vincent di Fate:

 



1983: Editor: George Scithers; cover artist: George Barr:

 



1987: Editor: Patrick Price; cover artist: Stephen Fabian:

 

1992: Editor: Kim Mohan; cover artist: Jon Weiman:

 


2004: Editor: Dave Gross; cover photo: uncredited:

 
2005: Editor: Jeff Berkwits; cover photo: uncredited:

As I finished this, Rob Latham drew the attention of fellow IAFA list members to two review essays he'd just put forth in the Los Angeles Review of Books:

Check out the pair of review-essays covering the recent biographies of Raymond Palmer and Richard Shaver that were just posted to the LA Review of Books's SF page:
http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-uses-and-abuses-of-illusion 
http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-shaver-mystery-the-most-sensational-true-story-ever-told 

To which I replied on list (and in comments to the essays):

 --Thanks, Rob.

 I’ve left a pair of comments, with the heavier one thus: The comparisons between Palmer and Campbell don't end with the cheerful little hoax issue of Astounding, sadly...Campbell would go on to support at least as much fringy nonsense, including some at least as pernicious as anything in Palmer's armory (until the late anti-Jewish lunacy you cite--though Campbell had discouraged use of Jewish bylines in Astounding in his early years as editor), including supporting George Wallace's American Independent Party run in 1968.