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Hollywood And The Great Fan Magazines
Interesting hard cover book of newspaper clippings from old fan mags with studio photos and back stories.
- GenresFilm
Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 19, 2021
Honestly, I LIVE for stuff like this. This is one of my very favourite books.
I have a huge collection of original Picturegoer magazines from the 20s, 30s and 40s, a substantial collection of original annuals from magazines such as Film Pictorial, Filmland and Silver Screen, and a number of DVD-ROMs containing hundreds of issues of Motion Picture and Photoplay. This is one of the few books I've run across that actually reproduces articles and features from those magazines faithfully and in their entirety.
Either you like this kind of thing or you don't, but there's something very special that vintage periodicals have which books written decades later by people who weren't there will never have.
I got this is one of those great second-hand shops in Hay-On-Wye in around 2009. It's one of my most treasured possessions.
I have a huge collection of original Picturegoer magazines from the 20s, 30s and 40s, a substantial collection of original annuals from magazines such as Film Pictorial, Filmland and Silver Screen, and a number of DVD-ROMs containing hundreds of issues of Motion Picture and Photoplay. This is one of the few books I've run across that actually reproduces articles and features from those magazines faithfully and in their entirety.
Either you like this kind of thing or you don't, but there's something very special that vintage periodicals have which books written decades later by people who weren't there will never have.
I got this is one of those great second-hand shops in Hay-On-Wye in around 2009. It's one of my most treasured possessions.
August 1, 2021
Aside from a brief introduction by the editor, this is a curated collection of articles from old Hollywood fan magazines. The articles are not dated, but they are almost exclusively from the 1930s, with a few from 1940-41.
As someone fascinated by old Hollywood and familiar with many, if not most, of the names of that era, this was a very enjoyable read. (Admittedly, I skipped over perhaps 1/3 of the articles that were about personalities I am not particularly interested in.) The articles are clearly not randomly chosen, as at one point there were several articles about Joan Bennett and her marriages/divorces in the 1930s right after each other in the book, though several years apart in real time. Bette Davis gets a similar treatment later.
The subject matter of most of the articles was about the personal relationships of various stars, but there were a few broader Hollywood subjects occasionally included. Nothing focusing on any specific movies of the period was included, by my recollection.
Particularly noteworthy to me was reading an article about Joan Blondell discussing her very young son, Norman (born in 1934). The article appears to have been written in 1935, while Blondell was still married to George Barnes (divorced in 1936). I know from other reading that Blondell later married Dick Powell and young Norman took the Powell name. I looked up Norman Powell and discovered he had been a successful television executive and was still alive. Alas, less than a week later, news hit that this same Norman Powell had passed away at age 86.
As someone fascinated by old Hollywood and familiar with many, if not most, of the names of that era, this was a very enjoyable read. (Admittedly, I skipped over perhaps 1/3 of the articles that were about personalities I am not particularly interested in.) The articles are clearly not randomly chosen, as at one point there were several articles about Joan Bennett and her marriages/divorces in the 1930s right after each other in the book, though several years apart in real time. Bette Davis gets a similar treatment later.
The subject matter of most of the articles was about the personal relationships of various stars, but there were a few broader Hollywood subjects occasionally included. Nothing focusing on any specific movies of the period was included, by my recollection.
Particularly noteworthy to me was reading an article about Joan Blondell discussing her very young son, Norman (born in 1934). The article appears to have been written in 1935, while Blondell was still married to George Barnes (divorced in 1936). I know from other reading that Blondell later married Dick Powell and young Norman took the Powell name. I looked up Norman Powell and discovered he had been a successful television executive and was still alive. Alas, less than a week later, news hit that this same Norman Powell had passed away at age 86.
May 3, 2017
I love used book sales. I am particularly a fan of Bookstock, Michigan's biggest used book sale whose proceeds go to promoting literacy in schools and the community. It's a great sale, and it supports a really good case. At Bookstock, I always find things I don't expect. This year, I found this book full of old Hollywood fan magazines.
As an old Hollywood fanatic, this was a really great find for me. I do wish this book had a little more context. My favorite podcast, You Must Remember This, explores the myths and legends of Old Hollywood, and I would love to see Karina Longworth's analysis of this book. What is true here? What's false? What could be somewhere in the middle. I have learned enough about Old Hollywood to know that all the fan magazines of this era were carefully crafted by the studio system to portray a certain image of their stars. Maybe one day I'll take the time and do my own research on this book.
Until then, this is an interesting artifact and not much else. Recommended for Old Hollywood nerds as a fanatic.
As an old Hollywood fanatic, this was a really great find for me. I do wish this book had a little more context. My favorite podcast, You Must Remember This, explores the myths and legends of Old Hollywood, and I would love to see Karina Longworth's analysis of this book. What is true here? What's false? What could be somewhere in the middle. I have learned enough about Old Hollywood to know that all the fan magazines of this era were carefully crafted by the studio system to portray a certain image of their stars. Maybe one day I'll take the time and do my own research on this book.
Until then, this is an interesting artifact and not much else. Recommended for Old Hollywood nerds as a fanatic.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews