''The American Weekly'' was a Sunday newspaper supplement published by the

Hearst Corporation Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...

from November 1, 1896, until 1966.

History

During the 1890s, publications were inserted into

Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born Pulitzer József, ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in ...

's ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...

'' and

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

's ''

New York Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

''. Hearst had the eight-page ''Women's Home Journal'' and the 16-page ''Sunday American Magazine'', which later became ''The American Weekly''. In November 1896, Morrill Goddard, editor of the ''New York Journal'' from 1896 to 1937, launched Hearst's Sunday magazine, later commenting, "Nothing is so stale as yesterday's newspaper, but ''The American Weekly'' may be around the house for days or weeks and lose none of its interest."Woodward, Calvin. "Rough Seas: Say a prayer for the Sunday magazine, a meandering journey for the mind that's sailed into some dangerous waters", American Society of News Editors: ''The American Editor'', October-November, 1999.
/ref> Magazine and illustration historian Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr. outlined the contents and detailed the publication's leading illustrators: :It was billed as having a circulation of over 50,000,000 readers and was filled with scantily clad showgirls and tales of murder and suspense. It was large—about 21" x 15"—and printed on fragile newsprint, so few copies have survived the ensuing decades... While much of each 12-24-page issue was taken up with sensationalistic photos and text (and even some acknowledged fiction), the illustrations are generally top-notch... Cover artists include

Howard Chandler Christy Howard Chandler Christy (January 10, 1872 – March 3, 1952) was an American artist and illustrator. Famous for the "Christy Girl" – a colorful and illustrious successor to the "Gibson Girl" – Christy is also widely known for his ico ...

James Montgomery Flagg James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877 – May 27, 1960) was an American artist, comics artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters, particularly his 1 ...

Nell Brinkley Nell Brinkley (September 5, 1886 – October 21, 1944) was an American illustrator and comic artist who was sometimes referred to as the "Queen of Comics" during her nearly four-decade career working with New York newspapers and magazines. Sh ...

, A. K. Macdonald, C. D. Mitchell, Léon Bakst, Erté, Lee Conrey, Fish,

Russell Patterson Russell Patterson (December 26, 1893 – March 17, 1977) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and scenic designer. Patterson's art deco magazine illustrations helped develop and promote the idea of the 1920s and 1930s fashion style known as t ...

, Henry Raleigh, José Segrelles, G. E. Studdy and lots more. The best (and most) of the interior art is by the amazing Lee Conrey. Our collection runs from 1918 to 1943 and issues from 1923 through 1943 have his work. It's clear to me that he was a major influence on

Virgil Finlay Virgil Finlay (July 23, 1914 – January 18, 1971) was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. He has been called "part of the pulp magazine history ... one of the foremost contributors of original and imagi ...

and probably on

Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the '' Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into m ...

. Thousands of his sensational pen and ink drawings appear in these issues... If you've seen the book ''Virgil Finlay in The American Weekly'', you have an inkling of the type of work he's done for these issues between the years 1938 and 1943... Nothing was too farfetched to speculate upon if it could offer the possibility of a good picture. Finlay and Conrey both provided lots of imaginative drawings. Other regular contributors included Joe Little, Gordon Ross, Edmund Frederick, Ben Jorj Harris, et al, and I've turned up occasional work by John R. Flanagan,

Orson Lowell Orson may refer to: Places United States *Orson, Iowa, an unincorporated community *Orson, Pennsylvania, a village in Preston Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania Fictional places *Orson, Indiana, a small fictional town in the TV series '' The M ...

Otto Soglow Otto Soglow (December 23, 1900 – April 3, 1975) was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''The Little King''. Born in Yorkville, Manhattan, Soglow grew up in New York City, where he held various jobs as a teenager and made an ...

... The ads were often spectacular. Not to imply that the following list is typical, but we have found a couple of large color ads each so far by

Willy Pogany William Andrew Pogany (born Vilmos András Pogány; August 24, 1882 – July 30, 1955) was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books. His contemporaries include C. Coles Phillips, Joseph Clement Coll, Edmund Dulac, Harvey Du ...

N. C. Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was the pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...

, McClelland Barclay, Matt Clark, Dean Cornwell, Bradshaw Crandell, John Lagatta, Andrew Loomis, Rose O'Neill,

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

and others.Vadeboncoeur, Jr., Jim. Illustrators: ''The American Weekly''.
/ref> The name was changed to ''Pictorial Living'' in 1963 before it was finally cancelled in 1966. Due to the low quality of the paper on which it was printed, many issues have been lost despite the large circulation. As a result, it has become a collectors item.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:American Weekly, The 1896 establishments in the United States 1966 disestablishments in the United States News magazines published in the United States Weekly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1896 Magazines disestablished in 1966 Newspaper supplements Sunday magazines

History

See also

References