In a recent post I wrote about a Christmas story by Dorothy Parker titled The Christmas Magazines And the Inevitable Story of the Snowbound Train. An early piece of writing by Parker, it was published by Vanity Fair in December 1916. In it she essentially laments and belittles the sentimentality of the Christmas magazines of the day. I suppose not much has changed today, with the same criticism being leveled at the onslaught of the rather saccharine Hallmark Christmas movies. But it got me thinking about those magazines of the 1920s and thought we would look at some of the great covers from that period.
Saturday Evening Post
Everyone knows this one, famously printing many of Norman Rockwell’s works. First published August 4, 1821, it’s still going today.
Boys’ Life
First published in March 1911, Boys’ Life is the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. It’s also still going.
Judge
This is one that I was not familiar with at all. Judge was a weekly satirical magazine published from 1881 to 1947. Here are a number of their great Christmas covers.
Life
Another classic American magazine, Life was published weekly from 1883 to 1972. Since then a changed format a number of times, most recently being turned into special issues issued on notable occasions.
Any other great magazines of the day that you think we missed? Leave a comment below!
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