325. Hooray for Hollywood! 40s AND 50s MOVIE MAGAZINES

Just  perfect for my post-Oscar fever! These stash of U.S. movie magazines from the last 40s and 50s were just given to by my longtime antique dealer. Talk about loyalty rewards!! They come from a collection of a female fan who's into Hollywood, its movies and its stars. Represented are such classic mags as Photoplay (established in 1911, one of the very first fan magazines), Screen Stories, Motion Picture (also started in 1911) and Movie Story.

Many familiar movies are featured here, including synopses, cast and crew, many now considered classics. The latest "chismis" from Hollywood, dished by Hedda Hopper and cohorts are constant features of these magazines. There are tearsheets of James Dean's "East of Eden", "Rebel", "Giant", Garland's "A Star is Born", Deborah Kerr's "The King and I" , William Holden's "From Here to Eternity", and many more.You would also known why the period was considered the golden age of movie glitz and glamor: there are many colored pages of veteran stars--from Jane Russell, Vivien Leigh, Shirley Temple, to Roy Rogers, Laurence Olivier, Joan Crawford--to the up-and coming ones--like the young Robert Wagner, Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson, Marlon Brando, Tab Hunter, Debra Paget, Doris Day, Shelley Winters, Pier Angeli, and Marilyn Monroe.

Just look at the very young Ronald Reagan above--the future U.S. president, in a beefcake pose with his leading lady. Below, is the mild-mannered looking Joanne Crawford, soon to be the evil 'Mommie Dearest ' in the 1981 movie. And look--there's even a double spread ad for "Demetrius and the Gladiators", a staple TV movie during Holy Week!!

Some magazines have special features tucked between the covers like this rare Marilyn Monroe 1954 collectible calendar. It's a collectible within a collectible.

I thought I'd won my own Oscar after getting these magazines for free; the movie stories, pictures and features on these magazines are sufficient enough to give me a semblance of the Hollywood experience, allowing me to peek behind-the-scenes, in front of the camera and into the private lives of glamorous movie stars. Once again, I would like to thank the Academy.....