My copy of The Talkies published in 1971 by Dover. Notice details from 2 magazines featuring Joan Bennett and Claudette Colbert on cover.
If you want to explore the world of Old Hollywood known by those who lived it, magazines of the era are one of the best ways. The Talkies: Articles and Illustrations from Photoplay Magazine, 1928-1940, published in 1971, is a gathering from one of the most popular fan magazines. Fan magazines were once the only way, besides radio or newspapers, for audiences to find out about the latest movies, those who helped make them on camera and occasionally those behind the scenes, as well as what Hollywood might be like. Today they’re a great artifact to enjoy and see how Old Hollywood was perceived in its own time.
Photoplay also had a long running Gold Medal of Honor award ceremony. At first it was a single award for the best movie selected by the readers. This started in 1921 and continued into the 1970s, which by that point included awards for theatre and TV performances. Previously I reviewed Photoplay Treasury, which covered the 1920s-40s. However, I personally think The Talkies is a better volume, although others may prefer Photoplay Treasury. In The Talkies, founder James Quirk’s nephew wrote an informative foreword, sharing how his uncle navigated Photoplay to be well-written and the value of fan magazines decades before, as well as the change in the magazine after his uncle’s death. Photoplay was still in print in 1971, continuing until 1980.
Not all articles were about the actors, some were about designers or in the case of above photo, director John Ford.
One of the best traits of The Talkies is that the scope is narrow, centering mostly on a single decade, giving room for a variety of selections. Chapters such as “Living and Working in Movieland” and “Picture Trends” have sub categories, making it easy for a reader to find a subject. Selections include full page portraits of different actors, photo spreads on set and of events as well as many articles featuring interviews. Some of the articles that I found interesting included the jobs of four different studio workers, a feature story about character actors, and a photo spread of favorite places in Los Angeles that actors often visited. There were a range of actors included in articles such as Deanna Durbin, Gene Autry, Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Basil Rathbone, Corrine Griffith, Laurel & Hardy, Bing Crosby, Charles Laughton, Ruth Chatterton and Katherine Hepburn. Some topics were how the actor entered movies, others were of a theme, such as Ginger Rogers encouraging audiences to dance for fun and exercise, with tips on dancing at social events.
One of the four magazine cover plates is this one of Norma Talmadge on the December 1929 issue.
Fan magazines continue to be recognized by their vivid paintings of an actor on each cover. This phased out in the 1940s when photo covers took over as we know them today. The Talkies includes 4 full color plates of magazine covers. You could keep them in the book or remove to frame. The latter I might do, since my copy is becoming worn along those pages anyway. The plates are double sided and I’d have personally like to have seen more throughout the book, especially since there are none of males. Also for most articles you have to turn several pages to continue reading–similar to the original magazines. However the italicized “Turn to page 102 to continue” is in a similar font to the original article, so readers shouldn’t misunderstand and assume that the articles are incomplete. Furthermore, while I found all of the text throughout to be readable, certain articles have a somewhat smaller size of about 10 point. Thankfully this isn’t the case entirely, so readers who feel eye strain on those particular articles won’t feel so during the rest of the book.
An example of the type of articles and photo spreads about events is the premiere of Strange Interlude (1932).
Overall The Talkies is a wonderful book to collect by those who enjoy Old Hollywood, specifically the 1930s. This book is out of print, but easy to buy used online. It’s a great resource for those who want to study the history of movies as well as light reading for fun. You can read it out of order and each time find something new to look at. Fan magazines are often seen today as quaint or doubtful. Times were very different back then because magazines typically worked with the publicity departments at movie studios to showcase more positive traits, such as promoting an actor, as opposed to airing personal conflicts. The Talkies shows how Photoplay specifically gave a satisfying glimpse into Hollywood to those who were intrigued by the fantasy of a life in movies and whose patronage were responsible for the movies and careers of performers–both the forgotten and remembered today.
Vintage Stardust 