Among my favorite vintage magazines to collect are the gossip rags. While I don’t buy today’s celebrity gossip mags, I find these vintage issues to be very interesting. For one thing, I tend to at least have heard of, or recognize, the celebrities on the covers and headlines — the faces & names on those in the supermarket check-out lanes are virtually meaningless & unrecognizable to me.

But the old magazines, they are familiar…

While I’m not, as mentioned, a big fan or today’s celebrities, I do have a thing for the icons of yesterday. And these publications are full of them. While you can’t trust these old publications to have published the truth any more than you can the mags of today, you can find some photos you’ve never seen before, and read dramas that never were mentioned in celebrity biographies and autobiographies.

For me, it’s much more fun to live vicariously through those icons from the past.

But these old magazines aren’t only about the past.

Just look at the headlines on this October, 1959 issue of Top Secret:

Hypnosis — Secret Weapon Against Overweight

Why Brigitte Bardot Will Never Again Drop That Towel

Does Harry Belafonte Really Want To Be White?

For Sale: 20,000 Babies. Price: $35,000,000.

Now It Can Be Told: How Ike Saved The Life Of Maurice Chevalier!

The Real Inside Story: How Ava Gardner Sneaked 400 Gs Out Of The U.S.A…

The names may have changed over the years but some things never change… Sex, medical claims, race issues, celebrity & government scandals, fear-based “news”, legal issues… Gossip, gossip, gossip.

People haven’t changed much in nearly half a century, so the same issues and inflammatory headlines still work; just change a name or two, maybe update the street price of babies ($35,000,000? That’s a lot of money back now!), change who is suing who, and what’s really changed?

What has changed is the advertising.

With a cover price of just 25 cents, Top Secret and it’s ilk made money in volume — cranking out weekly or bi-monthly issues. Sure, the paper was cheap, more like newsprint than the slick pages of People or even Star, but then they were trying to quickly grind out more gossip for the mongers and rumor for the mills. Cheaper, both in terms of quality and cover price, than issues of Life, Good Housekeeping, Post, Ken, etc. the old gossip rags apparently didn’t need as much advertising to produce the magazines because they had far less of it.

Flipping through today’s celebrity publications, you find many ads; so many, they rival more “traditional” or “respectable” magazines. You might think that this is because the gossip business has grown over the years, become much more expensive with the slick paper etc. It could be those things.

It could also be that gossip magazines have grown to become more respectable than they once were. In vintage celebrity gossip magazines, you certainly do find much more risque advertising, sex fulfillment in marriage & Frederick’s ads, mixed in with the business opportunities, Bible fellowship out-reach, weight loss, body building, secrets to winning poker, and other ads for the easily susceptible.

There are a few other ads, toys for example; but they are not filled with the usual ads for food, cars, etc. Mainly these old gossip magazines are filled with the ads & offers reserved for the the back pages of other publications.

I’m not in any position to know the complete answer to the differences in advertising. But flipping through, it’s near impossible not to notice how different these magazines are from the more typical magazines.

Vintage gossip magazines are more difficult to find than other magazines. Their rarity is due in part to the cheaper paper, but other things shorten their lifespan.

Certainly then, as now, people quickly devoured their issues, passing them along to friends &/or cutting out photos of their favorite stars, then discarded them for the next issue with the latest celebrity news and gossip.

And I bet more than a few buyers & subscribers threw their issues away due to embarrassment; just like today, few want to keep their guilty pleasures laying around for others to see.

What issues do survive are fun to explore.

It’s fun to look at the past. Not just the celebrities, but to look at “the other side” of life from decades gone by. And to see how our culture still — perhaps even more so — idolizes celebrities.

We hear a lot about how American life changed from the atomic 50s to the rebellious 60s, but let’s take a look-see at some of the changes in material culture via The Saturday Evening Post (scans of issues from 1959 & 1960).

Television sets were BIG.

(I think I made one of those wooden birds on a stick in wood shop class… Now I have to look for that.)

Big ol’ console sets continue in the bottom part of the GE ad.

Not only were the sets big, but the screens were getting bigger too: “Owens-Illinois put more picture into your television picture tube.”

Cars, however, were getting smaller, as this 1959 feature “The Big Three Join The Revolution” shows us.

Above, Robert S. McNamara, Ford vice president, shows off his new “baby,” the Ford Falcon; small side photo shows “another proud parent,” Edward N. Cole, General Motors vice president, with the rear-end aluminum engine of Chevrolet’s Corvair. Below, the Corvair compared with a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air.

Below, the Falcon at a picnic.

A quote from the article gives us some haunting insight:

Detroit has not now and never had any intention of producing a so-called austerity car in which style, comfort and performance are too greatly sacrificed for low first cost and high gas mileage. What the auto makers have produced are cars which are nimble, cost a little less, use less gas, but are still six-passenger automobiles. In doing so, however, the producers have made a tacit admission — that their conventional smallest, lowest-priced three are no longer small enough and low-priced enough for an increasing number of customers who want something somewhat less splendid.

Above: “Sneak view of the Valiant, Chrysler’s economy candidate. A little more exotic than the other two, the Valiant will be introduced soon.” Which is odd they’d show such a blurry sneak-peek when they also include another photo of the Valiant (below), saying, “This picture, published prematurely by a newsmagazine, nearly destroyed Chrysler’s plans for secrecy prior to October introduction of the car.”

Mom’s life also got easier as GE offered mom a first: The General Electric Filter-Flo Washer with Automatic Bleach Dispenser.

Hey, it not only stored (& dispensed) a months’ supply of bleach, it was in that cool pink.

And, last (for today), but certainly not least… Little Friskies introduces boxed cat food.  Such a new idea, it took an entire page of explanation including approval from a crazy old cat lady and proof that cats would eat it.

Thirteen scans from the November 1964 issue of Family Circle.

Things remembered; things learned… And some mocking.

#1 This Lady Norelco ad reminds me to tell you that retro hair dryers sell; but shavers and beauty kits do not. Is it the resurgence of retro hairstyles, or the ick-factor of personal products which have been just a little too personal? Feel free to discuss.

#2 An ad for Oneida silverplate flatware you could ‘earn’ and buy with Betty Crocker coupons. Collectors may find this helps with pattern identification; the rest us are reminded that it really has been 43 years since we replaced our camping silverware.

#3 Hubby and I actually have owned an old Hoover Shampoo-Polisher. Ours was a lovely retro pink, and sexy — as far as old Hoovers can be — too. Though it traveled from Wisconsin to North Dakota, it ended up being donated to a thrift shop because no one would buy it. Not in an antique store, not at (the endless summer) rummage sales — it would not, could not, be sold.

#4 We’re having Beefaroni! It’s beef and macroni! Beefaroni’s full of meat. Beefaroni’s fun to eat. Beefaroni’s really neat. Hooray! Whee! For Chef Boy-ar-dee!

While uncredited, the illustration for this ad must be done by ‘the guy’ who did Alvin & The Chipmunks. Does anyone here know?

I know it can’t be just me; the tall kid in the band with glasses looks a lot like (the original) Simon Seville. Then again, so did lots of boys in band — especially the ones who ate Beefaroni.

#5 I don’t go ga-ga for planes, trains or automobiles (unless it’s the movie!). Just ask my husband (about me & transportation &/or the film) and you’ll see. But this retro “Jet-age flier” by Wen-Mac is too cool.

#6 This Playskool clock-radio is vaguely familiar… I don’t believe I ever owned one. It’s more likely I’ve seen it at thousands of rummage sales through the years.

#7 Playskool was big in ‘64 — and appeared as hand-me-downs in kids’ closets everywhere for at least a decade (and for two more decades at garage sales and thrift stores). Here’s a look at the ad for the Big, Big Workbench which I ‘remember’ even if there were no boys in our family.

#8 & 9 Here’s an ad for the Playskool “Door Knob Telephone play pay telephone”. Amazingly chunky-ugly, yes; but it certainly isn’t as ‘classic’ as the Pop-Pop Sweeper. (I know people, young and old, traumatized by this toy — ‘pop pop’ didn’t go well with hung-over moms and dads.)

#10 The Playskool play pay phone has this annoying toy phone beat. It’s not even a contest in looks, but this Talk-Back Phone by Sunset House likely made more noise than a chatty kid. As we say, that loud toy’s a gift just right for Grandma’s house.

#11 I literally said, “Oh. M. Gawd.” when I spotted this “Enchanted” Mirror and Comb Set because I’m absolutely sure I had one of these. A felt face with ‘real’ eyelashes and hair (made of yarn), I remember startling my young self when I had the mirror turned the wrong way. Oh yeah, and her face peeled up eventually… Frightening, that.

#12 Ah, smoking Fiji dolls. What else can I say?

#13 I know you think I liked the smoking dolls the best (what’s not to love?), but I did save the best for last.

“Slide Rule Tie Clip Really Works!” Hot-diggity! With all the geeks, engineers, mechanics, and Mr. Smarty-pants in my family I could use a case of these for the 2008 holidays.

Matching but non-moving cuff links? I’m soooooo there.

From Spencer Gifts? Huh. Maybe there’s a case hiding in a warehouse somewhere… Like behind those cases of crossword puzzle toilet paper or something.

Why they keep selling that when they could have continued the slide rule men’s jewelry is beyond me.

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I really do spend my weekends reading old magazines. It’s not just to rationalize yet another auction or thrift store purchase, or even to mock (though that’s certainly a plus!); but rather there’s all sorts of neat-o info in old magazines. Here are some examples.

 

Thirteen Things You Can Learn From Good Housekeeping, November 1957

(Typos and all.)

#1 In a feature called May We Present, we learn of the miracle of dog obedience via Blanche Saunders (featured with her poodles).

“Miss Saunders’s talents are now so much in demand that getting your dog into one of her classes is roughly comparable to getting your son into Harvard.”

Well, at least it was easier than getting your daughter in.

#2 Also in that feature, Samuel Davenport is presented.

Billed as the Answer Man of Capitol Hill, “Sam” was the go-to-guy for congressmen. His official title was Co-ordinator of Information. Sadly (ironically) there is no information on the web about Davenport. Or maybe I just need a new Answer Man to help me find it…

#3 Another person presented was J. Arthur Rank.

Rank also had rank; his title was Baron Rank of Sutton Scotney, member of the British House of Lords. He was a movie-mogul and the founder of the Rank Organization — and we were all to be surprised to learn that the ‘J’ in his name stood for Joseph.

#4 The last person presented in this feature was French-born Amanda Benik Smith, the first woman mayor of Olympia, Washington — and “the only woman mayor of a state capital”.

No one has, as of yet, dedicated an online shrine to her either. :sigh:

#5 What’s a woman’s magazine without the beauty advertisements?

A lot slimmer. *wink*

I selected this one for viewing for the fabulous Rita Hayworth, shown here promoting both Pal Joey and Lux soap with the tag line, “Color does something for you… and so does a lovely complexion!”

#6 Apparently color did nothing for Marlon Brando.

His full-page ad for Sayonara, with “an exquisite new Japanese star”, is in black & white. (At the very bottom the exquisite star is named with a small box which reads, “And Introducing Miiko Taka.”)

#7 One can safely assume that then, as now, a prominent front ad will garner you some free press too.

The one page “Assignment in Hollywood” by Ruth Harbert, Hollywood Editor, features Brando and Miiko — with a bit of spot-color. (Perhaps if the studio had sprung for a color ad…)

#8 What was the medical news in ‘57? Here’s a blurb about treatment for “Cancer of the Womb”, a phrase not heard oft today. Neither is the term “Lying-in Hospital”.

#9 Being a vintage magazine about domesticity, it’s only natural that we find ads for Betty Crocker. This is a two-page ad spread, in color, featuring “Crazy Mixed-up Cakes!”

I must point out that of all the visuals presented in full-Lux-soap-color-scope, number 5, the “Inside-Out” cake, is the most nauseating.

Two slices of white loaf-cake (1957 was a great year for the hyphen) with frosting smeared between it — like a sammich.

That’s. Just. Wrong.

#10 Here’s an article that might be interesting and even useful to typewriter collectors: The Latest Word on Buying Typewriters.

#11 & 12 On Our List was a “monthly report on what the intelligent American may want to read, see, hear and talk about” by Mary Ellin and Marvin Barrett.

I’ve selected the picks and pans on books for you today…

Francoise Sagan, poor dear, had two of her three books panned. Thus she is the “petty” in the Petty and Grand.

But Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged was “grand”.

She even had her photo included in the feature.

#13 While “9 out of 10 Hollywood stars depend on Lux”, what do stars use on their hair in 1957?

“For the most beautiful hair in the world 4 out of 5 Top Movie Stars use Lustre-Creme Shampo” coos Joan Collins.

Say what you will about the silly superficialness of this magazine, but what’s really telling is who & what we collectively remember…

There are shrines to Joan Collins, Brando & Hayworth; but nothing for Davenport and Smith. Even the dog trainer is more well remembered than they.

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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