The Play Pictorial (1925)

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The Play Pictorial

Sep 1925

George and Ira Gershwin's “Tell Me More”

The magazine lasted from 1902 until 1939 and each issue concentrated on a then current London West End Theatre production.

Heather Thatcher (left) went to Hollywood in 1937 and appeared in about 30 films, Leslie Henson was a comedian, theatre and film actor and film producer and director, Elsa MacFarlane appeared in one film in 1929 (The Co-Optimists).

At some point ‘The Play Pictorial’ began featuring cinema releases by incorporating ‘The Cinema Pictorial’, which, in this edition covered Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Gold Rush’.

Life (1941)

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Life

USA Jul 7 1941

U.S. Arms Defense Issue

Publisher Henry Luce launched Life as a large format illustrated news magazine in 1936. It ceased regular publication in 2000.

This edition is dated exactly 5 months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and brought the Yanks into WWII.

Cracked (1985)

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Cracked

USA Feb 1985

Monsters and Bad Guys edition

Cracked was created as a competitor to Mad Magazine in 1958 and lasted, on and off, until 2007.

Freelance Informer (1994)

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Freelance Informer

May 6 1994

Cartoon

Magazine for freelance computer staff. The 'Page 84' inscription is because on that page appeared a short story by yours truly.

Films and Filming (1970)

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Films and Filming          

Oct 1970       

Raquel Welch in "Myra Breckinridge"

Picture Post (1951)

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Picture Post

May 26 1951

London Bobby and tourist

“Look Miss, I can do a shadow puppet of a German Shepherd while balancing the Picture Post logo on his ear!”

“Very nice, but could you direct me to Soho?”

National Geographic (1928)

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The National Geographic Magazine

USA Jan 1928

Seeing America with Lindbergh

The National Geographic had variations of this generic cover from its birth in 1888 until June 1959, after which they started featuring photographs. Charles Lindbergh was America’s hero at the time having flown from New York to Paris the previous year (May 20-21 1927), the first man ever to cross the Atlantic alone. A couple of months after returning to the USA Lindbergh took his plane, The Spirit of St Louis, on a 22,000 mile aerial tour of the country.

Sight and Sound (1968)

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Sight and Sound

Jun 1968 

Alain Dellon in ‘Le Samouraï’

The magazine for the serious cine buff, Sight and Sound, has been around since 1932 and is published by the British Film Institute (BFI).

Rolling Stone (1972)

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Rolling Stone

Dec 21 1972

Keith Moon of the Who

Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph J. Gleason and published fortnightly. Early editions had the front cover printed sideways (as shown above) and presented in the shops folded to show the front upright.

Rod and Custom (2009)

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Rod and Custom

USA Sep 2009

Black Widow Hot-Rod

This magazine for custom car and hot rod lovers has been going since May 1953. In 1960 I was given a Monogram 1/24 scale plastic kit of the fictitious Black Widow hot-rod. Someone else must have good memories of the kit, enough to go to the trouble of building a full-size Black Widow car. 

The War Illustrated (1915)

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The War Illustrated

Aug 21 1918

Civilised warfare (an oxymoron if ever I heard one)

It ran from August 1914 until February 1919. It was revived for the return engagement in 1939.

Flying (1938)

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Flying

May 21 1938

Gloster Gladiator bi-plane cover art by Howard Leigh.

Flying was an aviation magazine started in 1938 and was the weekly sister to the monthly “Popular Flying”. Both titles were edited by a certain W E Johns, the creator of Biggles, and both ended during WWII.

Radio Times (1965)

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Radio Times 

Dec 16 1965

Bruce Forsyth

Good old Brucie when he had his own hair and teeth (allegedly).