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66-473: Motion Picture was an American monthly fan magazine about film , published from 1911 to 1977. It was lastly published by Macfadden Publications . 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

132-614: A "Motion Picture Hall of Fame" in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California Fan magazine American examples include Photoplay , Motion Picture Magazine , Modern Screen , Sports Illustrated and Cinefantastique . The film fan magazines focused on promoting films and movie stars in a certain way, and in exchange for this control, the studios would purchase plentiful advertisements. Well known gossip columnists like Hedda Hopper, Walter Winchell, and Louella Parsons, among others, were published in various fan magazines. Readers of

198-455: A $ 5,000 fine for each magazine, Maureen O'Hara settled out-of-court for an undisclosed sum on July 1, 1958; Errol Flynn settled on July 8, 1958 for $ 15,000; and on July 16, 1958, Liberace settled for $ 40,000, an amount that the pianist might typically exceed with one or two performances. In addition to the legal fees and settlements, Harrison gave the Meades $ 150,000 as a gift. Harrison was still

264-770: A California District Attorney about prosecuting the publication for criminal libel , which was a misdemeanor in California at the time. Criminal libels trials were rare, and have since been eliminated by the courts. Confidential was charged with conspiracy to commit criminal libel, which was a felony even though the underlying crime was a misdemeanor. This distinction helped the prosecution to enforce subpoenas and extradition requests which were not available for misdemeanor charges. Back in New York, Rushmore used his severance pay from Confidential to buy an air ticket to California, where he contacted Giesler's office. Rushmore offered to become

330-628: A daily newspaper called the Los Angeles Examiner ran a photograph of them shaking hands in a hallway of the courthouse. At the end of the trial the jury was sequestered at the five star Mayflower Hotel . The jury set a new state record in deliberation time while enjoying Mayflower's amenities. After 15 days it was declared that the jury could not reach a verdict. After a mistrial was declared on October 1, 1957, Liberace, Flynn and O'Hara would give up on their own individual lawsuits. But Pat Brown preempted Confidential ' s win by calling for

396-465: A dispute with the subcommittee's chief counsel, Roy Cohn , Rushmore resigned. At the Journal-American , Rushmore criticized Cohn in print and was fired from the paper. Then his mentor, Walter Winchell , gained for him a new editorial job. Under Winchell's sponsorship, Howard Rushmore became the chief editor of Confidential. Rushmore, having earned the enmity of McCarthyite papers like those of

462-609: A distaste for full nudity and refused to follow the trend of magazines such as Playboy . By early 1952 his accountant told him that he was broke. In 1947, Harrison "mocked up a 'fact' magazine called Eyewitness ," which was never published. It would not be until 1952 that financial pressure forced Harrison to put serious effort in a new magazine. Harrison spent six months reworking the format of another factual magazine. He would later say: "I must have ripped that thing apart three times before I published it, and it still wasn't right." Supposedly inspired by Virginia Hill 's testimony to

528-447: A face-saving exit with token out-of-court settlements, such as the May 1957 $ 10,000 settlement with Dorothy Dandridge . After cashing Harrison's check, Dandridge testified for the prosecution anyway. Three of the most prominent witnesses for the prosecution— Liberace , Errol Flynn and Maureen O'Hara —refused to settle out-of-court. O’Hara and Dandridge were the only actors who testified, and

594-415: A focus on celebrities and attracted a larger female readership. In 1919, the circulation jumped from 248,845 to 400,000. 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. Its sister publication Motion Picture Classic , started as its supplement,

660-407: A multimillionaire. But the Hollywood informant network was in a shambles, mainly due to Howard Rushmore's courtroom revelations. Characteristically of Harrison, he bore no ill will toward Rushmore, who by 1957 was reduced to writing occasional articles on hunting for outdoors magazines. In December 1957, Rushmore chased his wife Frances and teenaged step-daughter Lynn out of their Manhattan home with

726-602: A nationwide manhunt by the FBI. As the nation speculated that Rushmore was either kidnapped or murdered by communists, he was discovered hiding under the name "H. Roberts" at the Hotel Finlen in Butte , Montana . Meanwhile, news reporters found "Lazarovich" living in Manhattan under his real name of William Lazar. Associate Director of the FBI, Clyde Tolson , wrote in the margin of a report on

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792-428: A proposed story was assembled, it could be published outright. Or more typically, either Meade or an agent would visit the subject and present a copy as a "buy-back" proposal, or the story be held back for in exchange for information on other celebrities. But instead of paying the magazine not to publish an article about themselves or implicating others, two actors, Lizabeth Scott and Robert Mitchum, sued. Their attorney

858-545: A retrial. Harrison was rattled. To spare his niece another ordeal—and the danger of three-years' imprisonment—Harrison promised the Attorney General to publish only positive stories. Harrison's publicity stunt backfired. The deal with Brown became the effective end of Confidential and Whisper , as the magazines were no longer able to publish their usual scandalous stories. The magazines' one and only trial cost Harrison over $ 500,000—in addition to legal fees of $ 500,000 and

924-530: A shotgun. While Frances was under psychiatric care since the East River incident, Howard himself was now under psychiatric care. On January 3, 1958, at 6:15 pm, the Rushmores met in a final attempt at a reconciliation inside the lobby of their apartment building. An argument broke out between the couple and Frances exited the lobby and hailed a taxi. Simultaneously, Howard entered the cab. As the two continued arguing,

990-410: A staff of four (headed by associate editor Jay Breen) would rewrite it several times to achieve Confidential ' s "toboggan ride" style: "racy and free of embroidery, keeps the reader on the edge of his seat." The final product would be read aloud at a staff meeting for euphony. When Harrison published "Winchell Was Right About Josephine Baker !", he came out in support of his childhood mentor at

1056-548: A story about former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt having an alleged affair with her African American chauffeur. When Harrison refused, Rushmore quit. By early February 1956, Rushmore was reportedly an editor at the National Police Gazette . The next spring, despite Giesler's reassurances to the press, the legal effort against Confidential would go nowhere. Since the magazine was domiciled in New York State, and

1122-498: A story whenever she was short of cash. However, the informants could rise to the level of prominent Hollywood columnists such as Florabel Muir and in some cases, all the way up to a producer such as Mike Todd or even a studio head such as Harry Cohn . Money, publicity, revenge or blackmail was the lure. Contrary to the popular legend that the magazine double-checked its facts before publishing its articles, as well as being vetted by Confidential ' s lawyers as "suit-proof,"

1188-1014: A witness in exchange for a job in Hollywood, but Giesler refused. Then Rushmore became a witness for California Attorney General Pat Brown . On Wednesday, May 15, 1957, a Los Angeles grand jury investigating Confidential indicted 11 individuals—Robert Harrison (publisher and sole owner of Confidential Inc.), Francesca De Scaffa, Harrison's niece Marjorie Meade (president and sole owner of Hollywood Research Inc.) and her husband Fred Meade (secretary-treasurer of Hollywood Research Inc.), Harrison's sister Edith Tobias (Harrison's secretary) and her son Michael Tobias (vice-president of Hollywood Research), Harrison's sister Helen Studin (office manager of Confidential ) and her husband Daniel Studin (circulation manager of Confidential ), and Confidential managing editor A. P. Govani. In addition, two Illinois publishing executives, Robert Kable and Richard Cox of Kable Publishing, which printed Harrison's magazines under contract, were also indicted. The five corporations listed in

1254-500: A wounded Harrison in a hospital were staged, complete with an actor playing a physician. Even the "girlfriend" was an actress that Harrison hired for the publicity stunt. During a television interview with Mike Wallace , Harrison fooled the CBS film crew into thinking that a birthmark on his back was the bullet wound. The movie industry was constantly engaged in ways to suppress the stream of stories coming from Confidential . They approached

1320-477: The New York Evening Graphic (1924–1932), an ancestor of the supermarket tabloids that would emerge in the 1960s. Called "The Porno-Graphic" by detractors for its emphasis on sex, crime and violence, it provided many of the themes that Harrison would use as publisher of Confidential . When Harrison started as a copyboy at the paper, he met the theater critic, Walter Winchell , who would later promote

1386-463: The Confidential "Uncensored And Off The Record" tradition: "All The Facts...All The Names" ( Exposed and Uncensored ), "What You Don’t Know About The People You Know" ( Hush-Hush ), "Stories The Newspapers Won’t Print!" ( On The Q.T. ), "Great Moments of Passion!" ( Side Street ), "The Facts They Dare Not Tell You" ( The Lowdown ). Today, the only Confidential -inspired supermarket tabloids in

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1452-618: The Graphic during the Stork Club controversy. Winchell returned the favor by mentioning Confidential in his newspaper column and television and radio broadcasts. Harrison would rent 4,000 square feet of office space at 1697 Broadway in New York City, but never had more than 15 staff members, mostly family relations of whom the most important were his sisters Edith Tobias and Helen Studin. He would also move into an even more luxurious apartment at

1518-630: The Hearst chain , found himself cut off from his usual employment. Rushmore hoped to use Confidential as a new venue to expose communists, though he often had to settle for suspected Hollywood fellow travellers , who were implied in stories to be sexual "deviates." While his anti-communist hit pieces were bylined under his own name, he used a host of pseudonyms for Hollywood exposés, such as "Juan Morales" for "The Lavender Skeletons in TV's Closet" and "Hollywood—Where Men Are Men, and Women, Too!", or "Brooks Martin" for

1584-565: The Hollywood Reporter and Agnes Underwood of the Los Angeles Herald Express . One of Rushmore's most prolific discoveries was United Press columnist Aline Mosby . Despite his high salary, Rushmore was repelled by the informants and Harrison. Rushmore considered his employer a "pornographer," though Rushmore himself was a collector of erotica . Harrison communicated with his West Coast network by telegram and phone. But in

1650-610: The Kefauver Committee hearings, Harrison finally launched his tabloid-style gossip magazine: Confidential . "The name came from a series of exposé books by Lee Mortimer and Jack Lait ." As with the earlier New York Graphic , it concentrated on exposing the substance abuse habits, criminal records and hidden political and sexual preferences of celebrities. Though Harrison would publish non-show business stories involving "racketeering, consumer scams and politicians' peccadilloes," like Quigley Publishing that he previously worked for,

1716-628: The Zsa Zsa Gabor story "Don't Be Fooled by the Glamour Pusses." Beside Rushmore-authored pieces unmasking communists and homosexuals in Washington and Hollywood, he also wrote how-to articles on divorce and conducting extra-marital affairs, echoing his past relationships with his two wives. In January 1955, Rushmore flew to Los Angeles to confer with old Harrison informants like De Scaffa and Quillan. He also recruited new ones like Mike Connolly of

1782-740: The Hotel Madison cooperative on East 58th Street. From his two new headquarters, Harrison developed a Hollywood network of informants—prostitutes, hotel employees, down-on-their-luck actors and vengeful celebrities —working with local detective agencies such as the Fred Otash Detective Bureau and H. L. Von Wittenburg's Hollywood Detective Agency. Among the informants were minor actresses such as Francesca De Scaffa (ex-wife of Bruce Cabot ) and Ronnie Quillan (ex-wife of screenwriter Joseph Quillan). According to Harrison, Barbara Payton would stop by Confidential ' s Hollywood office and sell

1848-607: The State of California v. Robert Harrison et al. trial began. It would eventually involve over 200 members of the film industry, most of whom fled California to avoid defense subpoenas. Rushmore, now the state's star witness, testified that the magazine knowingly published unverified allegations, despite the magazine's reputation for double-checking facts: "Some of the stories are true and some have nothing to back them up at all. Harrison many times overruled his libel attorneys and went ahead on something." According to Rushmore, Harrison told

1914-407: The U.S. that remain are National Enquirer , Globe , InTouch Weekly , OK! , and Life & Style . Television tabloid shows such as A Current Affair and Hard Copy are also inspired by the tabloid, as well as the celebrity news and gossip website TMZ . Film historians usually assume that Confidential inspired the name of James Ellroy 's novel L.A. Confidential , although

1980-412: The apartment topped with phones and recording and listening devices and files and photographs. John was taken to the head tough guy and recognized him—it was Fred Otash, a notorious ex-Los Angeles policeman turned private eye, Hollywood fixer, problem solver, leg breaker, a big mean Lebanese, looked like Joe McCarthy with muscle." The Harrison enterprise had evolved into a "quasi-blackmail operation." Once

2046-405: The attorneys, "I'd go out of business if I printed the kind of stuff you guys want." Rushmore even fingered Aline Mosby , who was in the press galleries covering the trial for the newspaper wire service called United Press. It was revealed that Mosby wrote more than 24 stories for Confidential . United Press replaced the disgraced Mosby with another reporter. During the trial, two witnesses for

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2112-429: The basis of new ones." Robert Harrison himself described it thus: "Once we establish the star in the hay and that's documented, we can say anything we want and I think we make them a hell of a lot more interesting than they really are. What's a guy gonna do, sue us and admit he was in the hay with the dame, but claim he didn't do all the other things we dress the story with?" After the "facts" of an article were assembled,

2178-435: The beauty parlor or the barbershop." Harrison soon started making approximately $ 500,000 per issue. By 1955, Confidential had reached a circulation of five million copies per issue with larger sales than Reader's Digest , Ladies' Home Journal , Look , The Saturday Evening Post , or Collier's . That year Harrison shut down all his men's magazines except Beauty Parade and Whisper . Beauty Parade would cease

2244-454: The cab driver raced to the 23rd Precinct at Third and 104th. Suddenly, the driver heard three gunshots fired inside the cab. Rushmore had shot his wife in the right side of the head and neck then put the pistol to his temple and shot himself. Harrison heard about the murder-suicide when a taxicab picked him up at Idlewild Airport . The driver told Harrison that the publisher of Confidential just killed himself and his wife, momentarily confusing

2310-564: The circulation jumped to 800,000. The quarterly magazine then became bimonthly and was the fastest growing magazine in the United States at the time. Harrison would claim its circulation reached four million, and because every copy was estimated to be read by ten persons, it might have reached a fifth of the US population. "The Confidential house style was laden with elaborate, pun-inflected alliteration and allowed stories to suggest, rather than state,

2376-471: The content of both magazines. But Harrison remained in publishing. In 1963 he started a much smaller magazine called Inside News (in which he authored "Who Really Killed Howard Rushmore?"), as well as one-shot publications like New York Confidential . Harrison continued to live in New York City during the next two decades under an assumed name, while plotting a comeback. But lacking the financial pressures that drove Harrison to create his previous magazines, he

2442-498: The defense unexpectedly died. Private detective Polly Gould was found dead in her apartment of disputed causes. She was a former investigator for Confidential and Whisper . The previous week, Mae West 's alleged love interest in Confidential ' s "Mae West's Open Door Policy", Chalky Wright , was found dead in a bathtub before he could testify that the story was factual. Harrison's attorneys tried to give witnesses (who were also plaintiffs in other lawsuits against Harrison)

2508-473: The disappearance: "Rushmore must be a 'nut.' We should have nothing to do with him." J. Edgar Hoover added in the margin: "I certainly agree." Rushmore's second marriage was deteriorating. In addition to Rushmore's amphetamine habit, he became an alcoholic as did his wife. On Monday, September 5, 1955, Frances Rushmore jumped into the East River in a suicide attempt, but was rescued by an air terminal worker. Meanwhile, Rushmore tried to get Harrison to publish

2574-480: The emphasis was Hollywood, but with a twist—"exposés of star secrets" became Confidential ' s prime focus. The first Confidential issue was dated December (released November) 1952 under the caption "The Lid Is Off!" Its circulation was 250,000 copies. But when the breakup of Marilyn Monroe 's marriage to Joe DiMaggio was reported in the August 1953 issue ("Why Joe DiMaggio Is Striking Out with Marilyn Monroe!"),

2640-560: The existence of scandal." But if Harrison had sworn affidavits or photographic/audio proof, the story would go beyond innuendo (unlike an earlier Hollywood scandal publisher, Frederic Girnau of the Coast Reporter —who was tried for libeling Clara Bow —Harrison usually protected himself with signed affidavits). Film historian Mary Desjardins described Confidential ' s editorial style as using "research methods and writing techniques that recycled old stories or created 'composite' facts as

2706-404: The fan magazines enjoyed reading about their favorite celebrities in "candid" articles supposedly penned by the stars themselves, even though they were most likely written by press agents and usually served to defend recent behavior or deflect rumors. The reporting on stars in this period by Photoplay and others was often positive due to the studios' influence over the publications. Photoplay

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2772-519: The future Confidential toward Hollywood. Having learned from Quigley what he could get away with legally, Harrison struck out on his own with a series of non-pornographic " cheesecake " magazines. His first was Beauty Parade (1941–1956), started in October 1941. Using the facilities of Quigley Publishing surreptitiously at night, Harrison used publicity photos collected from a visit to the company's Hollywood offices to paste together his galleries. When he

2838-741: The future magazine. After the New York Graphic shut down, Harrison moved to the editorial staff of the Motion Picture Herald , a film trade publication whose conservative Catholic owner, Martin Quigley, Sr. , helped create the Motion Picture Production Code . Though Harrison was more interested in Broadway and New York social life, his tenure at the Herald would bias the direction of

2904-560: The guidance of attorney Jerry Giesler . John, pretending to have scandalous information on his brother, described a visit to Fred Otash, where he was taken to "a ground floor apartment in a luxury apartment building in Beverley Hills, the offices, it turned out, of Hollywood Research Inc., command central for Confidential ' s fact-gathering and surveillance agents. The place was filled with big, tough looking guys, and some of them looked like they were packing heat. There were desks around

2970-494: The indictments were Confidential Inc., Whisper Inc., Publishers Distributing Corp. of New York, Kable Publishing Inc. of Illinois and Hollywood Research Inc. of Los Angeles. But the magazines and main distributor were ensconced in New York state, and New York refused to let Brown extradite Harrison and the others to California. Illinois also refused to cooperate with the Attorney General. Brown eventually put Marjorie and Fred Meade on trial. The Meades were actually in New York City at

3036-449: The later 1957 court case would show otherwise. Despite spending over $ 100,000 a year having a Manhattan law firm, "Becker, Ross, and Stone to vet each story," Harrison would still ignore the lawyers' warnings, as in the case of the article on Maureen O'Hara . But Harrison had further safeguards in place. In addition to articles being vetted by lawyers and sworn affidavits or photographic/audio proof of claims, Harrison compartmentalized both

3102-614: The magazine if it also is quashed here." Though Giesler's initial attack failed, lawsuits from other actors continued to pile up—they would eventually total $ 40 million. In September 1956, Harrison generated front-page headlines around the world when he allegedly was shot in the shoulder during a safari in the Dominican Republic by Richard Weldy, a travel agency owner and former executive for Pan American Grace Airways . Harrison claimed to be searching for Paga Palo (Rhynchosia pyranzidalis)—a vine used to restore virility in males, which

3168-579: The magazine that is portrayed in the story is Hush-Hush . The novel became the basis of the film of the same title. The graphic design of the 1994 album Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins by Sparks is an homage to Confidential. In July 2014, the New York Musical Theatre Festival opened Mr. Confidential , a musical starring Kevin Spirtas as Robert Harrison. The play's title derived from Samuel Bernstein's Robert Harrison biography of

3234-556: The next year and Whisper would continue as Confidential ' s sister publication, which recycled variants of Confidential ' s stories. A former film reviewer for the communist Daily Worker , Howard Rushmore was fired for a too-favorable review of Gone With The Wind . He moved to the New York Journal-American and became an active anti-communist. He later became director of research for Senator Joseph McCarthy 's Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953. After

3300-412: The plaintiffs were California residents who initiated the suits in their own state, the suits were stopped. On March 7, 1956, Los Angeles Supreme Court judge Leon T. David quashed Lizabeth Scott's suit on grounds that the magazine was not published in California. Despite this setback, in addition to Scott's suit, "Giesler said he also would refile in New York a $ 2 million suit by actor Robert Mitchum against

3366-543: The printing and distribution channels. Though the editorial content was prepared in the New York offices, the magazine itself was printed in Chicago by an independent contractor (Kable Publishing of Mount Morris, Illinois). The copies were sold before they came off the presses and neither Confidential Inc. nor the printer had any corporate connection to the chain of "distributors, wholesalers and retailers that provided Confidential to all those people who claimed they only read it at

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3432-465: The publication. Contributors included Rex Beach , Will Carleton and Horatio C. King . 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

3498-530: The rising face of legal threats from the film industry, Harrison would make his boldest move yet. Hollywood Research Inc. was the new intelligence-gathering front of Confidential , run by Marjorie Meade, Robert Harrison's now 26-year-old niece. Despite her youth and red-headed beauty, she was one of the most feared persons in Hollywood after her arrival in January 1955. John Mitchum , the younger brother of Robert Mitchum , tried to infiltrate Hollywood Research under

3564-468: The scene, leaving Harrison to die alone in the jungle with his blonde girlfriend; the two were eventually rescued by either the Dominican Army or local police and boy scouts. Newspapers reported that Weldy was later arrested by police. But Harrison refused to press charges against Weldy and the two publicly reconciled. Later the whole story was revealed to be a hoax—the shooting never took place. Photos of

3630-411: The time of the grand jury indictments and originally intended not to participate in the California trial—libel was not an extraditable offense under New York state law. But Harrison, seeing an opportunity of a lifetime for front-page headlines, wanted to avoid a trial in absentia and encouraged the Meades to return to Los Angeles with defense attorney Arthur Crowley to plead their case. Crowley's strategy

3696-482: The unmarried Harrison. Later Harrison refused to believe the suicide narrative and thought Howard Rushmore was murdered. He remained loyal to Rushmore even after the California trial and the Rushmores' scandalous deaths. The once biggest-selling magazine in the United States plunged to a circulation of 200,000, smaller than its December 1952 début. The rights to Whisper and Confidential were sold off in May 1958 for $ 25,000. The buyer, Hy Steirman, further toned down

3762-523: Was Jerry Giesler, who also represented tobacco heiress Doris Duke . On July 8, 1955, Rushmore appeared on The Tom Duggan Show in Chicago. He claimed on air that he was on a secret mission to uncover the communist assassins of former Secretary of Defense James Forrestal . Rushmore told the viewers that the leader of the "Chicago Communist Party," whose name was given as "Lazarovich," was in hiding and that Rushmore needed their help in locating him. Rushmore later disappeared from his hotel room, leading to

3828-452: 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

3894-409: Was an American magazine considered a pioneer in scandal, gossip and exposé journalism. Founded by Robert Harrison , it was published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953 and then bi-monthly until it ceased publication in 1978. Following World War II , Robert Harrison , a New York City publisher of men's magazines , decided to return to investigative journalism. He was previously a reporter on

3960-420: Was caught and fired on Christmas Eve 1941, his sisters Edith Tobias and Helen Studin rallied around him and raised several thousand dollars in capital, $ 400 of it from his favorite niece, Marjorie Tobias, who would later become a central figure in his most famous enterprise. Harrison had great success with Beauty Parade and five sister magazines, but their circulation declined in the post-war years. Harrison had

4026-554: Was essentially retired, living his remaining years at "the Delmonico Hotel, at 59th Street and Park Avenue." Robert Harrison died in 1978 with his long-time mistress, Regi Ruta, at his side; that same year Confidential was shut down. Due to Confidential ' s success, competing magazines soon were created— Exclusive , Exposed , Hush-Hush , Inside , On The Q.T. , Rave , Revealed , Side Street , The Lowdown , and Uncensored. All of these magazines had striking slogans in

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4092-496: Was founded in 1952 by Robert Harrison and published until 1978. More of a tabloid than a fan magazines because of its salacious content and irreverent celebrity gossip. Unlike other fan magazines, Confidential did not cooperate with the studios allowing for more scandalous content. Contrary to its reputation for double-checking its facts, the magazine knowingly published unverified allegations which opened themselves up to libel suits. Confidential (magazine) Confidential

4158-515: Was one of the first American film fan magazines. Founded in Chicago in 1911 by Macfadden Publications, Photoplay was founded the same year as Stuart Blackton's Motion Picture Story , a similar publication. Photoplay , as one of the first and most popular fan magazines, is credited as the originator of celebrity media. Photoplay was published from 1911 until 1980, at several points merging with other publications. Other fan magazines include Modern Screen and Cinefantastique . Confidential

4224-664: Was published monthly from September 1915 to March 1931. The Motion Picture Hall of Fame was a contest held by Motion Picture Magazine. 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

4290-470: Was simple: put subjects of Confidential ' s stories on the witness stand and ask them under oath if the stories were true. Film industry executives, who previously tried to convince Pat Brown to charge Robert Harrison with conspiracy to publish criminal libel , now tried to backpedal for fear of adverse publicity from what would be "heralded by the press as the 'Trial of a Hundred Stars'." But Brown would have none of it—on August 7, 1957, The People of

4356-462: Was the subject of a January 1957 Confidential article. The shooter, Weldy, variously described as a "jungle trapper and guide" or "a big game hunter," purportedly harbored a grudge over a Confidential story about his ex-wife, Pilar Pallete , a Peruvian actress who was then married to John Wayne . The nonexistent Confidential article depicted Pallete as having an affair with Wayne while married to Weldy. According to newspaper accounts, Weldy fled

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