Category Archives: Magazines

The Back Of The Book Part II: (Still) More From Seventeen, May 1978

So, a big THANK YOU for eveyone who shared their memories about the fat camps, boarding schools of questionable repute, and get-rich-quick schemes that Seventeen was trying to sell to the impressionable teens of 1978. They were a blast to read! This … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

The Back Of The Book Part I: More From Seventeen, May 1978

As voted upon by YOU, THE READERS, this week we take a second look at the May, 1978 issue of Seventeen, specifically the tiny, black & white advertisements for teenage dreams and schemes. As a Seventeen reader in the early 1990s, I have … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , | 28 Comments

Magazine Madness and/or Mania: Ideas For Hideous Entertaining from Seventeen, May 1978

Ah, the late 1970s. So many Earth Tones, so many ads for tanning oil. What did it mean to be a teenager 42 years ago? Well, I am actually rather unclear, because a lot of the content in this issue … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Three Decades of Short Fiction from SEVENTEEN Magazine

Like its older sisters in the field of mass-market women’s magazines (everything from Cosmopolitan to Woman’s Day) Seventeen featured a great deal of short fiction in its pages from its debut in 1944. Some of these were reprinted in anthologies, … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Magazine Madness and/or Mania: Co-Ed, May 1963

Published by Scholastic between 1959 and 1985, Co-Ed’s somewhat confusing tagline was “The High School Magazine For Homemakers and Career Girls”, which covers pretty much every group of young women except collegiate co-eds.

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

Magazine Madness and/or Mania: Seventeen, June 1988

Any guesses on who the cover girl is? Scroll to the bottom to find out! Even for Seventeen, this issue has an incredibly high ratio of advertising to editorial content. In the latter category, we have a helpful suggestion from the … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Magazine Madness and/or Mania: 16 Magazine, August 1966

I’ve talked before about the how difficult it must have been to get the tone right when writing for teen mags. Act too much like the actual adult you are and you sound outright contemptuous about the-kids-these-days, what with their … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Magazine Madness and/or Mania: Seventeen, February 1991

Time-traveling Richard Grieco is here to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day, 1991-style! Even for Seventeen, this is an issue almost completely devoid of content. Possibly because the editors seared their eyeballs into oblivion looking at the featured fashion spread (click all … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Magazine Madness and/or Mania: “A Woman Doctor’s Crash Diet For Teenagers” (Woman’s Day, January 15, 1980)

Well, that’s a headline you’re not going to see on any of WD’s contemporary covers. I was kind of hoping that said diet would include some of those groovy earth-tone cookies. Also the ones at the top and left of … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Magazine Madness and/or Mania: Cookies à la Kookie

77 Sunset Strip was the first of four detective series produced by Warner Brothers for ABC between 1958 and 1960 (The others were Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye and Surfside 6) Each featured a (semi-)exotic locale, a cast of faces familiar … Continue reading

Posted in Magazines | 5 Comments