January 2002
GOING HOLLYWOOD - MOVIE FAN MAGAZINES
In 1912, Photoplay was introduced and by the early 1920's, over a dozen such magazines crowded the newsstands with names like Cinema Art, Film Fun, Motion Picture Journal, Movie Weekly, Picture Play, and Screenland. The cover art (sample 1, 2, 3) captured the glamour of the times and featured beautifully detailed renderings of the popular stars of the day. The illustrators were some of the best in their field. By the late 1930's however the illustrated cover art was replaced by photographs which were cheaper to produce.
Most of the movie magazines relied on the movie studios for information and access to stars. The stories that appeared were carefully controlled by the studio's public relations staff. It was a strange marriage between the studios, who needed the support of the magazines, and the magazines, whose existence depended on the success and good will of the industry. The tendency was to create articles that reflected the movies as a hard working business and the stars as professionals. The magazines were filled with stories about actors like tough guy Edward G. Robinson and lover Rudolph Valentino, actresses like Ginger Rogers and Katherine Hepburn, as well as articles about social and moral issues created by the movies.
Beginning in the teens, movie magazine advertising appealed to men and women from all social classes. By the early 1920's, the ads began to focus on young, middle-class men and women who, like today, were viewed by advertisers as having greater disposable incomes.
In 1924 Photoplay promoted itself as the young generation's favorite periodical. By the later 1920's, that demographic had shifted further to focus heavily on women. Soon stars were making forays into the world of commercial advertising. Movie star endorsements of commercial products, considered taboo in the teens and 1920's became an accepted way of selling both stars and products by 1935. The emphasis, in most cases, was on beauty and hygiene products, and cigarettes.
The post World War II era produced a more cynical moviegoer whose interests were inclined to scandals and gossip and were no longer satisfied with the carefully crafted stories put out by the studios. Movie magazines changed with the mood of America but it wasn't enough. Increasingly, readers turned to the "scoops" and scandals handed out by "scandal sheets" like Confidential and Hush Hush. Television talk shows reduced the need to simply read about the stars when the information and the stars themselves were beamed directly into America's living room each day. In an attempt to survive, some magazines merged; others broadened their coverage to include music, television and other areas of entertainment. Slowly, the movie magazines vanished from the newsstand, with Photoplay lasting the longest, finally fading away in 1980. The movie magazines didn't really vanish, they just assumed a different form such as People, Premiere, and Soap Opera Digest.
The Movie Magazine Collection is a gift from the family of Clara Van Peymbroeck. Mrs. Van Peymbroeck lived in Norway, Michigan in the remote Upper Peninsula. She grew up going to the movies in the 1910's and began to acquire movie magazines in her early teens. She followed her favorite stars (particularly Gene Autry), wrote for autographs and hung pictures of the stars on her bedroom walls. After her marriage, movie going became a family affair. In her later years, she and her daughter would look through the magazines together and reminisce about the films they had seen and the stars they enjoyed. Mrs. Van Peymbroeck passed away in 1994.
For more information:
To use any portion of the 900 periodicals in the collection contact the Benson Ford Research Center at 313-982-6020 or research.center@thehenryford.org
Additional Readings:
- Fuller, Kathryn H. At The Picture Show: Small-Town Audiences and the Creation of Movie Fan Culture. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996.
- Gelman, Barbara. Photoplay Treasury. New York, Crown Publishing Co., 1972.
--Terry Hoover, Archivist
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