''Photoplay'' was one of the first American

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

(another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that

J. Stuart Blackton James Stuart Blackton (January 5, 1875 – August 13, 1941) was a British-American film producer and director of the silent era. One of the pioneers of motion pictures, he founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897. He was one of the first filmmakers to ...

founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For most of its run, ''Photoplay'' was published by Macfadden Publications. In 1921 ''Photoplay'' established what is considered the first significant annual movie award. The magazine ceased publication in 1980.

History

''Photoplay'' began as a

short fiction A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

magazine concerned mostly with the plots and characters of films at the time and was used as a promotional tool for those films. In 1915, Julian Johnson and

James R. Quirk James R. Quirk (September 4, 1884 – August 1, 1932) was an American magazine editor. Career Quirk was the vice president and editor of '' Photoplay'' magazine, one of the earliest film or fan glamour magazines and particularly popular in t ...

became the editors (though Quirk had been vice president of the magazine since its inception), and together they created a format which would set a precedent for almost all celebrity magazines that followed. By 1918 the circulation exceeded 200,000, with the popularity of the magazine fueled by the public's increasing interest in the private lives of celebrities.

Popularity

''Photoplay'' reached its apex in the 1920s and 1930s and was considered quite influential within the motion picture industry. The magazine was renowned for its artwork portraits of film stars on the cover by such artists as Earl Christy and Charles Sheldon. Macfadden Publications purchased the magazine in 1934. With the advancement of color photography, the magazine began using photographs of the stars instead by 1937. ''Photoplay'' published the writings of Lillian Day,

Sheilah Graham Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for Flee ...

, Hedda Hopper,

Dorothy Kilgallen Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 – November 8, 1965) was an American columnist, journalist, and television game show panelist. After spending two semesters at the College of New Rochelle, she started her career shortly before her 18th birth ...

Hazel MacDonald Hazel MacDonald (1890-1971) was a Chicago journalist and foreign correspondent. Born in 1890, she was a pioneer in the field at a time when female newspaper writers were rare. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1913, and wrote for ''Phot ...

, Louella Parsons,

Adela Rogers St. Johns Adela Nora Rogers St. Johns (May 20, 1894 – August 10, 1988) was an American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. She wrote a number of screenplays for silent movies but is best remembered for her groundbreaking exploits as "The World's Grea ...

Rob Wagner Robert Leicester Wagner (August 2, 1872 – July 20, 1942) was the editor and publisher of ''Script'', a weekly literary film magazine published in Beverly Hills, California, between 1929 and 1949. Rob Wagner was a magazine writer, screenwrite ...

, later editor and publisher of

Rob Wagner's Script Robert Leicester Wagner (August 2, 1872 – July 20, 1942) was the editor and publisher of ''Script'', a weekly literary film magazine published in Beverly Hills, California, between 1929 and 1949. Rob Wagner was a magazine writer, screenwrit ...

, and Walter Winchell, among others. The magazine was edited by Quirk until 1932; later editors include Kathryn Dougherty, Ruth Waterbury, and Adele Whiteley Fletcher. It also featured the health and beauty advice of Sylvia of Hollywood, arguably the first fitness guru to the stars.

Sidney Skolsky Sidney Skolsky (2 May 1905 – 3 May 1983) was an American writer best known as a Hollywood gossip columnist. He ranked with Hedda Hopper (with whom he shared a birthday) and Louella Parsons as the premier Hollywood gossip columnists of the first ...

, a nationally syndicated

gossip columnist A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal li ...

for the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' and later the '' New York Daily Mirror'', had a regular column in ''Photoplay'' called "From A Stool At Schwab’s", the Hollywood drugstore he made famous; such was the magazine's popularity.

The ''Photoplay'' Magazine Medal of Honor

In 1921 ''Photoplay'' established what is considered the first significant annual movie award, the ''Photoplay'' Magazine Medal of Honor. An actual medallion produced by Tiffany & Co., it was voted on by the readers of the magazine and given to the producer of the year's best film, chosen with an emphasis on (according to Quirk) "the ideals and motives governing its production... the worth of its dramatic message." Though ''Photoplay'' only gave the single award for best film, its intentions and standards were influential on the Academy Awards founded later in the decade, and they overlap on Best Picture choices to some extent, though increasingly in the 1930s ''Photoplays choices reflected its primarily female audience. By 1939 the Medal of Honor had declined in importance and the award was discontinued that year. From 1944 to 1968, ''Photoplay'' awarded a Gold Medal for film of the year based on polling done by George Gallup's Audience Research Inc. through the 1950s, and then voted on by the magazine's readers. It also awarded Most Popular Male Star and Most Popular Female Star based on an actor and actress' popularity, not their performance. The awards were based on polling through the 1950s, and then on a vote by the readers, similar to the Gold Medal.

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

and Greer Garson were frequently named the most popular film stars during the 1940s and later winners of the title included

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

, Jane Wyman,

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake ...

, Marilyn Monroe, Rock Hudson, and Kim Novak. Most popular television stars were also named in the 1960s. In 1948, the ''Photoplay Awards'' were broadcast on network television as part of '' The Steve Allen Plymouth Show''.

Medal of Honor winners: 1920–1939

* 1920: '' Humoresque'' * 1921: ''

Tol'able David ''Tol'able David'' is a 1921 American silent film based on the 1917 Joseph Hergesheimer short story of the same name. It was adapted to the screen by Edmund Goulding and directed by Henry King for Inspiration Pictures. A rustic tale of violenc ...

'' * 1922: '' Robin Hood'' * 1923: '' The Covered Wagon'' * 1924: ''

The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln ''The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln'' is a 1924 American feature film directed by Phil Rosen and written by Frances Marion. By the date of release, the film's title was shortened to ''Abraham Lincoln'', since the previous title was regarded ...

'' * 1925: '' The Big Parade'' * 1926: '' Beau Geste'' * 1927: '' Seventh Heaven'' * 1928: '' Four Sons'' * 1929: '' Disraeli'' * 1930: ''

All Quiet on the Western Front ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (german: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit=Nothing New in the West) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma du ...

'' * 1931: '' Cimarron'' * 1932: '' Smilin' Through'' * 1933: ''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Alcott wrote the book, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives ...

'' * 1934: '' The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' * 1935: '' Naughty Marietta'' * 1936: '' San Francisco'' * 1937: '' Captains Courageous'' * 1938: '' Sweethearts'' * 1939: '' Gone with the Wind''

Gold Medal Winners for film of the year: 1944–1968

* 1944: '' Going My Way'' * 1945: '' The Valley of Decision'' * 1946: '' The Bells of St. Mary's'' * 1947: '' The Jolson Story'' * 1948: '' Sitting Pretty'' * 1949: ''

The Stratton Story ''The Stratton Story'' is a 1949 American biographical film directed by Sam Wood that tells the true story of Monty Stratton, a Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1934 to 1938. The film is the first of three ...

'' * 1950: '' Battleground'' * 1951: '' Show Boat'' * 1952: '' With a Song in My Heart'' * 1953: '' From Here to Eternity'' * 1954: '' Magnificent Obsession'' * 1955: '' Love is a Many-Splendored Thing'' * 1956: '' Giant'' * 1957: '' An Affair to Remember'' * 1958: '' Gigi'' * 1959: ''

Pillow Talk Pillow talk is the relaxed, intimate conversation that often occurs between two sexual partners, sometimes after sexual activity, usually accompanied by cuddling, caresses, kissing, and other physical intimacy. It is associated with honesty, sex ...

'' * 1960: no awards * 1961: '' Splendor in the Grass'' * 1962: '' The Miracle Worker'' * 1963: '' How the West Was Won'' * 1964: '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' * 1965: '' The Sound of Music'' * 1966: '' The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'' * 1967: '' The Dirty Dozen'' * 1968: '' Rosemary's Baby''

Mergers and closure

''Photoplay'' merged with another fan magazine, ''Movie Mirror'', in 1941; and with ''TV-Radio Mirror'' in 1977, when the name became ''Photoplay and TV Mirror''. The magazine published its final issue on April 15, 1980. In a sign of changing times, the cover photo featured not movie stars but two television actresses, Victoria Principal and Charlene Tilton. The skeleton staff of six people were all transferred to '' Us'' magazine, which Macfadden Publications had recently acquired. The president of Macfadden, Peter J. Callahan, said the decision to cease publication was made "very reluctantly", but also added the bald observation that "the day of the traditional movie magazine is over". A British version of ''Photoplay'' debuted in March 1950, and in April 1981 it was rebranded as ''Photoplay: Movies and Video''. It featured an equal mix of American and British films and stars, and ceased publication in 1989.

References

External links

{{Wiktionary, photoplay
Original ''Photoplay'' interview with Greta Garbo - as told by her to Ruth Biery
Film magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Fiction magazines Magazines disestablished in 1980 Magazines established in 1911 Magazines published in Chicago