Movie Fan Magazines

[Novella]

Anyone know information or sources on movie fan magazines? I'm especially interested in fan magazines of the 1930s. I'm writing and researching a paper for a class on British film magazines of the 30s with a look at the American influence/presence in the magazines. I've used it as an excuse to buy a few magazines off of eBay. Regardless of the paper I'm writing I'm interested in general movie fan culture of the golden era so any interesting tidbits would be fun to learn about/discuss.

This is one of my favorite sections from a 1939 Picture Show magazine.

Ah, The Thin Man.

I put on a CD of songs from Busby Berkeley musicals (for atmosphere )and have been reading the magazines. I've also been reading J. P. Mayer's study "British Cinemas and their Audiences" and Annette Kuhn's "Dreaming of Fred and Ginger" and it's so fun to read about movie going experiences of the 1930s and to identify with the movies they discuss. If only all my class readings were so interesting!

 

[Lauren]

I have some Photoplay magazines from the late 30's that I bought off of Ebay. Maybe a really old library might have some back issues in the reference department [huh]

 

[Novella]

Thanks for the suggestion! What is it that you enjoy about old movie magazines?

 

[imoldfashioned]

I adore old movie magazines. I collect mostly Myrna Loy and Carole Lombard covers, but I have some from the 1920s too. I started collecting when I was a teenager because I couldn't afford movie posters. The cover art on the magazines before photography took over can be extrodinary -- often the likenesses are better than those on the movie posters. The articles and photos are great too. It is always fun to see George Hurrell photos that are so iconic now slipped into the center of a sepia movie magazine section. Here's a couple of my favorite covers.

 

[jitterbugdoll]

I have found quite a few movie magazines on eBay, and I have actually found them in antique stores as well. I always enjoy looking at the movie star fashion spreads they would show, and reading the bits of gossip they would tell!

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Photoplay," especially during the twenties and thirties was a really fine magazine -- the editor, a fellow by the name of James Quirk, was a real Hollywood insider, and if you read the articles carefully and knowledgeably, you might be able to pick out between-the-lines information that cuts thru the fan-mag stuff to give you an idea of what was really going on in Hollywood politics at the time. The editorials, especially, made for very very interesting reading.

A few years back, a second-hand bookstore up near here got a big cache of Photoplays from about 1928 thru the late forties. I picked up a couple of issues containing articles relating to research I was doing at the time, but they were going for $15 apiece, and there was no way I could have afforded all the copies I'd liked to have gotten.

(I do, however, have tons and tons of radio magazines from the thirties, sort of the movie-magazines' cousin!)

 

[Novella]

I started collecting when I was a teenager because I couldn't afford movie posters. The cover art on the magazines before photography took over can be extrodinary -- often the likenesses are better than those on the movie posters. The articles and photos are great too. It is always fun to see George Hurrell photos that are so iconic now slipped into the center of a sepia movie magazine section.

The usually affordable prices of fan magazines is one of the reasons I like them. I love when Hurrell photos pop up too - one of Robert Montgomery was hiding in one of the last magazines I bought! (Oh and that Myrna Loy and William Powell cover is divine!)

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(I do, however, have tons and tons of radio magazines from the thirties, sort of the movie-magazines' cousin!)

What sort of contents do radio magazines have? And that's so cool that there was a second hand bookstore with Photoplay magazines - but tough not to be able to buy them all! There's an antique store near my parents' house and everytime I visit I go and look at the LIFE magazine section. The magazines are $6 to 7 but there are *tons* of them and if I could afford it it would be so tempting to buy them all!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Radio magazines are pretty much the same type of content as movie mags of the era -- there were monthly titles like Radio Digest, Radio Mirror, Radioland, and Radio Stars, all of which featured personality articles and portraits and such. There were also weekly program guides, of which Radio Guide was the most important -- in fact, in 1940, it became Movie-Radio Guide, combining the functions of both a movie and a radio magazine. It was a large tabloid-size publication, and often featured beautiful cover art.

Meanwhile, there's an excellent article on the history of Photoplay at http://www.24hourscholar.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100954 -- some very good basic information!

 

[Novella]

Meanwhile, there's an excellent article on the history of Photoplay at http://www.24hourscholar.com/p/artic.../ai_2419100954 -- some very good basic information!

Ooo, that is very good.

Thanks for the info on the radio magazines - they're next on my list of things I want to explore and learn more about!