Picturegoer

Picturegoer was a fan magazine published in the United Kingdom between 1911 and 23 April 1960. Its primary focus was contemporary films and the performers who appeared in them.

Petula Clark on the cover of the 3 December 1949 issue

Background

The magazine was started in 1911 under the name The Pictures and in 1914 it merged with Picturegoer.[1] Following the merge it was renamed Pictures and The Picturegoer, which continued until 1920.[1] The same year it was renamed as Pictures for the Picturegoer.[1] It began publication with the name Picturegoer in January 1921.[2][3] Odhams Press was the publisher of the magazine during the early years.[2] It was initially published monthly through May 1931, switching to weekly publication 30 May 1931 as Picturegoer Weekly.[4] In September 1939, Picturegoer incorporated Film Weekly, and in September 1941 it became a bi-weekly. Picturegoer featuring the screen's biggest stars and was sold at all cinemas. Clark Gable, Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Paulette Goddard, Petula Clark, Fred Astaire, and Richard Burton were among the hundreds of stars who graced its front cover. In July 1949 Picturegoer went back to weekly publication every Thursday.

Its circulation reached a peak of 325,000 during the mid-1940s.[5] After World War II, it found itself competing with periodicals published by the Rank Organisation, Odeon Cinemas, and Associated British Cinemas, which replaced Picturegoer with their own magazines at their theater kiosks. As a result, Picturegoer became more sensational in the 1950s, with covers featuring cheesecake and beefcake-style artwork.

It eventually merged with the pop music magazine Disc Date. Shortly after the Picturegoer name was dropped and the publication concentrated solely on music. The last issue of Picturegoer was published on 23 April 1960 with a cover showcasing Jackie Rae and Janette Scott.[6]

See also

References
  1. "The Pictures/Pictures For The Picturegoer/Pictures: The Screen Magazine". Movie Mags. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  2. "Picturegoer". Cinema St Andrews. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  3. "100 Years of cinema fan magazines". University of Exeter. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  4. British Library- Cinema and Film Periodicals: British and Irish, Picturegoer Retrieved 12 November 2012
  5. Mark Glancy, "Picturegoer: The Fan Magazine and Popular Film Culture in Britain During the Second World War'", Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 31:4 (2011), 453-478.
  6. Magazine history at Picturegoer.net

Media related to Picturegoer at Wikimedia Commons

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