Part Two - Introduction

Summary

It is undeniable that examination of the regular editorial and advertising content of magazines provides vital insight into groups of publications, specific titles, and those who read them. The matter is complex, however, as content has been dubbed ‘the trickiest category of all’ since ‘[i]t can refer to the generic type of material published in a typical issue (reporting, reviewing, fiction, poetry, visual art, advertising and so on) or to the topics regularly covered (public life or private lives, local or distant)’ (Scholes and Wulfman 2010, 53). Anthony Slide, in Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers, provides a brief overview of contents in fan magazines from the 1910s, directly segueing into assumptions about their readers:

There were news stories, articles, and lavish photo spreads on the established stars, the up-and-coming new arrivals on the scene, and the major films in production, as well as reviews […] The emphasis was on glamour, and the magazines were generally directed at a female readership. (2010, 4)

Slide therefore suggests that it is fan magazines’ focus on stars and films as ‘topics regularly covered’ which sets them apart from other publications.

Sumiko Higashi's Stars, Fans, and Consumption in the 1950s: Reading Photoplay (2014) narrows Slide's attention from several US fan magazines between the 1910s and the 1980s to the ubiquitous Photoplay in the 1950s. Understandably, Higashi offers more detail on the ‘generic type of material’ than Slide, dedicating chapters to advertisements, beauty tips and fashion, houses, decor and food, advice columns, and contests. Like Slide, Higashi foregrounds glamour and the female reader, most notably in her chapter ‘Advertisements for Movie Star Glamour and Romance’. This chapter references women's magazine scholar Janice Winship on the intimacy created by the ‘reader identifying with the cover girl and buying products to imitate her look’ (2014, 152), before discussing the visual appeal of product advertisements for items such as shampoo, make-up, fragrance and underwear which were sometimes endorsed by stars. While Higashi examines women readers’ engagement with fan magazine content in terms of consumption, other fan magazine scholars spotlight the more overtly interactive – and primarily textual – features that Higashi affords less consideration.