Editing Modern Screen

{{Short description|20th-century American fan magazine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title           = Modern Screen
| logo            = 
| logo_size       = <!-- default is 180px -->
| image_file      = Modern Screen, March 1950.jpg
| image_size      = <!-- default is 180px -->
| image_alt       = 
| image_caption   = Cover of the March 1950 issue featuring [[Elizabeth Taylor]]
| editor          = <!-- up to |editor5= -->
| editor_title    = <!-- up to |editor_title5= -->
| previous_editor = 
| staff_writer    = 
| photographer    = 
| category        = [[Fan magazine]]
| frequency       = Monthly
| format          = 
| circulation     = 
| publisher       = 
| paid_circulation =
| unpaid_circulation =
| circulation_year =
| total_circulation =
| founder         = 
| founded         = 1930
| firstdate       = <!-- {{Start date|year|month|day}} -->
| finaldate       = 1985
| finalnumber     =
| company         = [[Dell Magazines]]
| country         = United States
| based           = New York City
| language        = English
| website         = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| issn            = 0026-8429
| oclc            = 
}}

'''''Modern Screen''''' was an American [[fan magazine]] published between 1930 and 1985 that featured articles, pictorials and interviews with film stars (and later television and music personalities).
<!--  Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:amsjoan.jpg|frame|'''Modern Screen''' February 1931 issue with [[Joan Crawford]] cover.]] -->

== Founding ==

''Modern Screen'' magazine debuted on November 3, 1930.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/modernscreenmaga01unse/page/n5 Ref to First Issue]</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Shine|first=Anthony|title=Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers.|year=2010|publisher=University of Mississippi Press|isbn=978-1-60473-413-3|pages=114}}</ref> Founded by the Dell Company of [[New York, New York|New York City]] it initially sold for 10 cents. ''Modern Screen'' quickly became popular and by 1933 it had become ''[[Photoplay]]'' magazine's main competition. It began to brag on its cover that it had "The Largest Circulation of Any Screen Magazine",<ref name="Shine114">{{cite book|last=Shine|first=Anthony|title=Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A history of star makers, fabricators, and gossip mongers.|year=2010|publisher=University of Mississippi Press|isbn=978-1-60473-413-3|pages=114}}</ref> and [[Jean Harlow]] is seen reading a copy of ''Modern Screen'' in the 1933 film ''[[Dinner at Eight (1933 film)|Dinner at Eight]]''.

During the early 1930s, the magazine featured artwork portraits of film stars on the cover. By 1940 it featured natural color photographs of the stars and was charging 15 cents per issue.

''Modern Screen'' had many different editors in chief over the years, including Richard Heller, who understood the importance of the fan magazine's contribution to movie sales <ref name="Shine188">{{cite book|last=Shine|first=Anthony|title=Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A history of star makers, fabricators, and gossip mongers.|year=2010|publisher=University of Mississippi Press|isbn=978-1-60473-413-3|pages=188}}</ref>  and [[Mark Bego]], the latter of whom edited the book ''The Best of Modern Screen'' <ref>{{cite book|last=Bego|first=Mark|title=The Best of Modern Screen|url=https://archive.org/details/bestofmodernscre00bego|url-access=registration|year=1986|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn= 9780312077211|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bestofmodernscre00bego/page/224 224]}}</ref>  (St. Martin's Press, 1986). The editor most associated with the magazine, however, was Regina Cannon (1900–1992), but her standards for publication were so low that Carl F. Cotter, who wrote 'Forty Hacks of the Fan Mags' (''The Coast'', 1939), declared her stories to be the worst of the entire lot.<ref name="Shine114"/>

Contributors to the magazine included famed photographer [[George Hurrell]] and famed writers like [[Faith Baldwin]].<ref name="Shine114"/> [[Louella Parsons]] wrote a column entitled "Good News."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kashner|first=Sam|title=The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood in the 50s|year=2003|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn= 9780393324365|pages=281}}</ref>

==Decline of the magazine==

''Modern Screen'' remained a major success through the 1950s but a downturn in movie ticket sales at the end of the decade led to a general sales decline in the magazine. Still '' Modern Screen'' managed to remain popular. On January 3, 1967, ''The Film Daily'' declared that 50% of movie ticket sales were influenced by fan magazines such as ''Modern Screen'' and ''Photoplay''.<ref name="Shine188"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Fan Mags Fill 50% of Seats?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zgUPAQAAIAAJ&q=the+film+daily+january+3,+1967|access-date=September 5, 2011|newspaper=The Film Daily|date=January 3, 1967}}</ref>  The magazine remained popular through the 1970s, and [[Lily Tomlin]] released her 1975 comedy album ''Modern Scream'', a parody of celebrity magazines. In the early 1980s, however, the popularity of general interest celebrity publications like ''[[People Magazine]]'' proved to be the end of old-fashioned movie fan magazines. ''Modern Screen'' became a bimonthly magazine, but in 1985 publication of the magazine ceased.

== Legal issues ==

=== Troy Donahue lawsuit ===
On January 16, 1963, actor [[Troy Donahue]] filed a $200,000 lawsuit in [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]] against ''Modern Screen'', [[Dell Publishing|Dell Publishing Co.]], and 17 year old Joyce Becker, a self-described actress and writer, who wrote an inflammatory article the magazine published titled, “The First Time Troy Made Love to Me.”<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Michaud |first=Michael Gregg |url=https://www.everand.com/book/628192247/Inventing-Troy-Donahue-The-Making-of-a-Movie-Star |title=Inventing Troy Donnahue - The Making of a Movie Star |publisher=BearManor Media |year=2023 |isbn=979-8-88771-104-1 |location=United States |language=English}}</ref><ref>“Troy Donahue Sues Magazine,” ''News Journal/Wilmington'', Jan 16, 1963</ref>

Donahue protested that the article described them as better friends than they really were.  His lawyer said they were only casually acquainted and had met only once, when Becker interviewed Donahue for a teen magazine. Donahue's action claimed that the story violated privacy and said the statements in the article were “unjustified and untrue.”<ref>{{cite news |date=Jan 16, 1963 |title=Film Star Actor Sues Fan Magazine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/481484570/ |access-date=Feb 8, 2024 |work=The Calgary Herald}}</ref>

Eventually, Dell Publishing Co. printed a retraction, and paid Donahue an undisclosed settlement.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Modern Screen}}
* [https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22Motion+Pictures%22+%22Modern+Screen%22&page=8&sort=-date ''Modern Screen'' 1930–1960] at the [[Internet Archive]]

[[Category:Bimonthly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Film magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Celebrity magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1930]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1985]]
[[Category:Magazines published in New York City]]