Once upon a time, circa 1965, teen idols arose and began dominating the daydreams of young ladies. The media industry picked up on this, and began covering the newsstands with brightly colored magazines with titles such as 16, Tiger Beat, and FaVE.
These periodicals were a source of great consternation to young males, who considered the adoring photographs and articles which paid homage to young male heartthrobs as the height of silliness. Magazines were more properly devoted to august subjects such as hot rods and Alfred E. Neuman.
The teen mags would feature pinups, which would adorn the rooms of the sisters of my buddies. These pinups were often the earliest cause of eye-rolling in the male populace, such reactions being provoked at the tender age of five of six, in many cases.
But they are a memory for all of us, whether we scarfed up the magazines themselves and snuck them into class, or whether we simply acknowledged their presence on the magazine racks, as we dug past them for the more socially significant CARtoons.
The fan mags have an origin which is difficult to track down. Their nature defies conventional postings of their histories. For instance, check out Tiger Beat's website. With all of the flashing graphics, the exclamation points, and the OMG!'s, a staunch historical narrative of the magazine's origin would seem out of place.
The Wikipedia entry tersely states that Tiger Beat was founded in 1965 by Charles "Chuck" Laufer and his brother, Ira.
I do know that 16 magazine, according to this article, began in New York in 1957. However, the author of the article stated that the magazine was still thriving as of the 2003 date of writing. I could find no online evidence that 16 magazine still exists today.
Readers, correct my assumption and I'll happily change this article.
FaVE magazine was published by the Tiger Beat folks, but vanished at some point in history. There is a Fave magazine out there today, but if you're looking for the latest dreamy photos of Donny, David, or Bobby, you may possibly find them, but in the context of a gay publication!
Our fellow female Boomers kept these three periodicals, as well as others, on the magazine racks and making money throughout the 60's and 70's. And they also kept their bedroom walls well papered with pinups.
I don't know if my parents were familiar with the faces on the covers. The Monkees were prominently featured, as were David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson, Kevin Tighe, Randolph Mantooth, and numerous other dreamboats.
Looking at a recent cover of Tiger Beat featured at their website, I see Jonas, Taylor, Demi, and Rob. I have absolutely no clue who they are! Were my parents as clueless about the subjects of 60's and 70's covers?
This article, published in 1994, lamented the disappearance of the teen idol. I don't know if it's true or not, but Tiger Beat survives today. And obviously, young females continue to buy the magazines, or they would have vanished from the shelves.
Boomer ladies, I have thrown down the gauntlet. My own recollections of 60's fan magazines are quite spotty. What did they mean to YOU?
Comments (3)
Yeah, My sister was into Tiger Beat and 16! I must admit, I leafed through them! Donny Osmond, Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy the whole nine yards! I have a couple of these magazines for retro purposes. They were pretty silly! I did like when they featured Elton John! I remember all the poster that were in these magazines. My sister had them all. Me, I was reading MAD, Cracked, Famous Monsters! I was warped!
Posted by Rivers End | April 16, 2009 1:28 PM
Posted on April 16, 2009 13:28
By the time these magazines were established, I had already moved on to Playboy – my sister however subscribed to Tiger Beat for a time but as I was into the Beatles I couldn’t be bothered with the inferior American clones of the British Invaders (maybe Paul Revere & The Raiders.)
She was also superficially into the Beatles but besides thinking Paul was the cutest ever and John Lennon was weird, she wasn’t the screaming teen fan the Beatles attracted.) I’m sure I was way less than charitable when it came to ridiculing the Bubblegum music idol’s posters that adorned her walls.
CARtoons OTOH was a favorite along with Big Daddy Roth and his Rat Fink and Gilbert Shelton’s Wonder Warthog. I had all but forgotten my interest in hot rods & drag racing in the middle ‘60s – thanks for the nostalgia.
After I got my driver’s license, my interest in vicarious automotive thrills waned in favor of parking in obscure secluded locations and experimenting with and observing the effects of raging hormones when exposed to the opposite sex.
Posted by Burt | April 16, 2009 6:29 PM
Posted on April 16, 2009 18:29
I love this topic. My first intro to 16 and similar was through my aunts who were teens when I was say, 5 or 6. Beatles really kicked things off and then many more followed. Herman’s Hermits, Rolling Stones (I had no idea who there were at the time) Bee Gees, Peter and Gordon, tons of British Invasion groups and a few Americans like Paul Revere and the Raiders. These mags were prominently displayed in the grocery stores so I knew some due to listening to my aunt’s records, as we visited them most weeks.
I really started to get interested with the Monkees. After that, I sort of lost touch. I remember Bobby Sherman as one of the first big heart throb promotions. He was in a series called Here Come the Brides. The brides were men on a ship stumbling upon a colony of women who had no men. Hey, it was 1969! Wha da ya want, anyway? Then the came David Cassidy creating a huge interest. Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson, Leif Garrett, etc.
I would listen to a portable transistor radio one summer or two, maybe 67/68. AM radio was the thing then. FM came to Portland about 1974. AM had a much different delivery than later FM.
But I remember the style of 16 mag with the pasted photos of the heads of the groups and cartoon bodies. I even had a few magazines bought which prominently featured the Monkees. Of course, I was later putt off by the heart throbs but the Monkees could do not wrong, you must know. So being so familiar with teenaged girls as a boy and seeing the mags all the time and being somewhat musically aware at an early age, I have fond memories of the funny looking magazines of the 60s.
It was just such a great decade. The music really got good. I see the 60s as a transition decade where the old conservative world and some sanity was still around yet we were getting rid of some of the prudishness and unquestioning obedience and acceptance. But the 60s soon went too far in the 70s and we lost the family somewhere back there.
So I look back at that time, an innocent wonderful time, with great love. There was no other time quite like it. We who were boomers and barely remember JFK, were very lucky people in so many ways.
Posted by Scott | April 25, 2009 1:35 AM
Posted on April 25, 2009 01:35