Motion Picture Magazine

''Motion Picture'' was an American monthly fan magazine about film, published from 1911 to 1977.Fuller, Kathryn H. “Motion Picture Story Magazine and the Gendered Construction of the Movie Fan.” ''At the Picture Show: Small-Town Audiences and the Creation of Movie Fan Culture''. Smithsonian Institution: Washington, 1996. pp. 133–149. It was lastly published by Macfadden Publications.

History and profile

The magazine was established by Vitagraph Studios co-founder J. Stuart Blackton and partner Eugene V. Brewster under the title ''The Motion Picture Story Magazine''. In contrast to earlier film magazines such as ''The Moving Picture World'', which were aimed at film exhibitors, ''The Motion Picture Story Magazine'' was aimed at regular film goers. It has been regarded as the first fan magazine.

The magazine was very successful from its inception, with an initial run of 50,000 copies and a circulation of 200,000 by 1914. Writers were amazed at the outset to receive their checks for contributions almost immediately on acceptance, a policy on the part of Brewster that was effective in quickly inducing the highest grade fiction authors to become affiliated with the publication. Contributors included Rex Beach, Will Carleton and Horatio C. King.Robert Grau (1914) ''The Theatre of Science: A Volume of Progress and Achievement in the Motion Picture Industry'', Broadway Publishing Company, New York

The magazine's most successful column was entitled "The Answer Man" (written by a woman) that answered readers' questions about the film world. This was an innovation, the first of its kind in journalism.

In 1914, it was renamed ''Motion Picture Magazine''. Early editions included fiction and information on how to get involved in film production. The magazine shifted to a focus on celebrities and attracted a larger female readership. In 1919, the circulation jumped from 248,845 to 400,000.Bordwell, David (1985). ''The Classic Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960'', p. 99. Columbia University Press

In 1941, ''Motion Picture Magazine'' merged with ''Hollywood'' ("Motion Picture combined with Hollywood Magazine"),
*
* and ''Screen Life'' and continued to be published for almost four more decades, ending its run in 1977.

''Motion Picture Classic''

Its sister publication ''Motion Picture Classic'', started as its supplement, was published monthly from September 1915 to March 1931.

The Motion Picture Hall of Fame

''The Motion Picture Hall of Fame'' was a contest held by Motion Picture Magazine.
::"The Motion Picture Hall of Fame." Motion Picture Magazine. Dec, 1918: 10.

''The Hollywood Motion Picture Hall of Fame'' exhibit, at the California Pacific International Exposition, in 1935–36, had a stock company of actors that signed with the Screen Actors Guild and The Dominos Club of Hollywood (social organization for actresses, including: Carole Lombard, Thelma Todd, and ZaSu Pitts).

"Wax Mannequins of Film Stars" were housed in a "Motion Picture Hall of Fame" in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

References

External links

{{Commons category, Motion Picture
Motion Picture Magazine
The Online Books Page
Motion Picture Story MagazineMotion Picture Magazine
via University of West Florida
Motion Picture Magazine #June 1914 issue,.. $00.15cents
archived)
;movie-fan-magazines
*https://mediahistoryproject.org/collections/fan-magazines/
*https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/fan-magazines
*https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/blog/going-hollywood-movie-fan-magazines
*Slide, Anthony,
The Birth of the Fan Magazine
, Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers (Jackson, MS, 2010; online edn, Mississippi Scholarship Online, 20 Mar. 2014)

Film magazines published in the United States
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1911
Magazines disestablished in 1977