Confidential, July 1957.

Confidential is a magazine founded in December 1952 by Robert Harrison. The magazine was a pioneer in gossip and exposé, featuring what Newsweek called "sin and sex with a seasoning of right wing politics"^[2]. Humphrey DeForest Bogart (December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957) was an American actor of legendary fame who retained his legacy after death. ... A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Gossip is used to mean casual or idle talk, sometimes (but not always) slanderous and/or devoted to discussing others. ... An exposé is an article or book intended to reveal shocking or surprising information. ... The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ...

Harrison is said to have been inspired by the live televised covering of the Kefauver hearings^[1]. To gather material for his new magazine, Harrison established an organization called Hollywood Research Inc., operated by his niece and her husband, which, fifty years later was described by a British celebrity interviewer as: Between 1950 and 1951, the Kefauver Committee held all of Americans attention. ...

a spy network of hack journalists, private investigators, waiters, call girls, and 75-dollars-a-week starlets who were on the rosters of the major studios and were going nowhere except to bed with anyone who might boost their careers^[1].

By July 1955, TIME was decrying its success: A private investigator, or PI, is a person who undertakes investigations, usually for a private citizen or some other entity not involved with a government or police organization. ... A call girl is a prostitute who is not visible to the general public, like a street walker, and who does not usually belong to an institution like a brothel. ... (Clockwise from upper left) Notable Time magazine covers from the dates May 7, 1945; July 20, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ...

In a little more than two years, a 25¢ magazine called Confidential, based on the proposition that millions like to wallow in scurrility, has become the biggest newsstand seller in the U.S. Newsmen have called Confidential ("Tells the Facts and Names the Names") everything from "scrawling on privy walls" to a "sewer sheet of supercharged sex." But with each bimonthly issue, printed on cheap paper and crammed with splashy pictures, Confidential's sale has grown even faster than its journalistic reputation has fallen.^[3].

Legal problems led to format and subject matter changes that in turn reduced circulation to less than a third of what it was at its heyday^[4]. By May 1958, Harrison sold the magazine to a group led by Hy Steirman. The magazine went through a number of further changes in format and ownership and eventually ceased publication entirely in 1978^[2]. 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Legal problems

In July 1955, Doris Duke sued the magazine for $3 million, claiming libel when Confidential wrote about her and a "Negro handyman and chauffeur" whom the magazine said she once employed.^[5]. Doris Duke, (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American heiress and philanthropist. ...

In August 1955, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield barred the mailing of Confidential, citing objectionable content such as a racy description of a stripteaser's gyrations and a "questionable" cheesecake photograph of Terry Moore^[6]. The Postmaster General is the executive head of the United States Postal Service. ... Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield (17 March 1899, Pinconning, Michigan – 26 April 1972, West Palm Beach, Florida) was a U.S. political figure. ... This image of Betty Grable became the archetype of pin-ups during World War II A pin-up girl or pin-up model is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as pop culture. ... On the cover of Playboy, August 1984 Terry Moore (born January 7, 1929 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress. ...

The July 1957 issue featured a cover story on Liberace headlined "Why Liberace's Theme Song Should Be 'Mad About the Boy.'" ^[7] It alleged that the actor had a homosexual dalliance with a press agent in Dallas. Liberace successfully sued for libel by proving he was not in Dallas at the time. ^[8]. Liberace shows off his rings (circa 1980). ... Dallas redirects here. ...

Actress Maureen O'Hara successfully sued the magazine for a story in the March 1957 issue falsely accusing her of having sex in the balcony of Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Movie Theatre. As she recounted in her 2004 autobiography "'Tis Herself," ^[9] her passport proved that she was in Spain on the date alleged by Confidential; the public exposure and large settlement were instrumental to the decline of the magazine. Maureen OHara Maureen OHara (born Maureen FitzSimons) on August 17, 1920 is an Irish film actress. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge successfully sued the magazine for a lurid story titled "What Dorothy Did in the Woods." ^[1] Dorothy Dandridge (1956) Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress. ...

Portrayal in Other Media

Confidential inspired the name of James Ellroy's novel L.A. Confidential, and is fictionally portrayed as the tabloid Hush-Hush, with Harrison fictionalized as Sid Hudgens, played in the film by Danny DeVito. Photo of James Ellroy by Robert Birnbaum James Ellroy (born Lee Earle Ellroy on March 4, 1948 in Los Angeles, California) is an American writer. ... L.A. Confidential is a crime novel by James Ellroy published in 1990 that was adapted into a 1997 feature film. ... Danny DeVito as Louie in Taxi. ...

See also

• Supermarket tabloid, gossip magazine

Supermarket tabloids are national weekly magazines in the United States, printed on newsprint in tabloid format, specalizing in celebrity news, gossip, astrology, and bizarre (some would say apocryphal) stories about ordinary people. ... Confidential, July 1957 Gossip magazines, which featured scandalous gossip about the personal lives of celebrities, were at their peak in the 1950s. ...

References

1. ^ ^a b c d The father of scandal, a 2002 British Journalism Review article
2. ^ ^a b Vintage Smear, a MediaDrome article
3. ^ TIME, July 11, 1955
4. ^ TIME, May 26, 1958
5. ^ TIME, August 1, 1955
6. ^ TIME, September 19, 1955
7. ^ http://www.bobsliberace.com/decades/1950s/1950s.17.html
8. ^ http://www.bobsliberace.com/decades/1950s/1950s.9.html
9. ^ Tis Herself by Maureen O'Hara, Simon and Schuster, 2004

External links

• Previews of TIME articles about Confidential:
  • Success in the Sewer (July 11, 1955)
  • Sewer Trouble (August 1, 1955)
  • Cat-o'-Nine-Tale (August 8, 1955)
  • Lid on the Sewer (September 19, 1955)
  • Confidential Wins a Round (October 17, 1955)
  • Ssh! (April 2, 1956)
  • Putting the Papers to Bed (August 26, 1957)
  • High Price of Virtue (May 26, 1958)
  • [http://www.bobsliberace.com/decades/1950s/1950s.9.html
  • [http://www.bobsliberace.com/decades/1950s/1950s.17.html Why Liberace's Theme Song Should Be Mad About the Boy"
  • Tis Herself by Maureen O'Hara, Simon and Schuster, 2004