''Modern Screen'' was an American

fan magazine A fan magazine is a commercially written and published magazine intended for the amusement of fans of the popular culture subject matter which it covers. It is distinguished from a scholarly, literary or trade magazine on the one hand, by the tar ...

that for over 50 years featured articles, pictorials and interviews with film stars (and later television and music personalities).

Founding

''Modern Screen'' magazine debuted on November 3, 1930. Founded by the Dell Company of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

it initially sold for 10 cents. ''Modern Screen'' quickly became popular and by 1933 it had become '' Photoplay'' magazine's main competition. It began to brag on its cover that it had "The Largest Circulation of Any Screen Magazine", and

Jean Harlow Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the ...

is seen reading a copy of ''Modern Screen'' in the 1933 film '' Dinner at Eight''. During the early 1930s, the magazine featured artwork portraits of film stars on the cover. By 1940 it featured natural color photographs of the stars and was charging 15 cents per issue. ''Modern Screen'' had many different editors in chief over the years, including Richard Heller, who understood the importance of the fan magazine's contribution to movie sales and Mark Bego, the latter of whom edited the book ''The Best of Modern Screen'' (St. Martin's Press, 1986). The editor most associated with the magazine, however, was Regina Cannon (1900-1992), but her standards for publication were so low that Carl F. Cotter, who wrote 'Forty Hacks of the Fan Mags' (''The Coast'', 1939), declared her stories to be the worst of the entire lot. Contributors to the magazine included famed photographer George Hurrell and famed writers like

Faith Baldwin Faith Baldwin (October 1, 1893 – March 18, 1978) was an American writer of romance novels and other forms of fiction,

Louella Parsons Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and s ...

wrote a column entitled "Good News."

Decline of the magazine

''Modern Screen'' remained a major success through the 1950s but a downturn in movie ticket sales at the end of the decade led to a general sales decline in the magazine. Still '' Modern Screen'' managed to remain popular. On January 3, 1967, ''The Film Daily'' declared that 50% of movie ticket sales were influenced by fan magazines such as ''Modern Screen'' and ''Photoplay''. The magazine remained popular through the 1970s, and

Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the varie ...

released her 1975 comedy album ''Modern Scream'', a parody of celebrity magazines. In the early 1980s, however, the popularity of general interest celebrity publications like ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' proved to be the end of old-fashioned movie fan magazines. ''Modern Screen'' became a bimonthly magazine, but in 1985 publication of the magazine ceased.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Modern Screen Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Film magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Celebrity magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1930 Magazines disestablished in 1985 Magazines published in New York City