Who's who in Town

When I did that recent post of my holy grail of missing vintage magazines, that 1962 issue of English  magazine TOWN, with Marilyn Monroe on the cover of their November 1962 issue, which I saw on-line for the ridiculous price of £299 - I did not realise I would soon have a copy of it again myself, plus their '62 issues with Monica Vitti (then the sensation of L'ECLISSE) and new girl in town Sarah Miles (then in TERM OF TRIAL) - so it pays to check out vintage magazine sites, and whats new on eBay - as new stuff comes on every day. TOWN issues are surprisingly large, bigger than the usual A4 magazine size and heavy too, with all those fascinating early 60s advertisements - TOWN was styled for the smart man about town, with men's fashion, cars, the emerging Sixties high life, drinks, food, and ladies. The sort of magazine the young master in THE SERVANT would be reading, in 1963. I had those issues with Monroe and Vitti on the covers when I was 16 in Ireland, and was dying to see them again. Young Sarah gives good interview and photos too ...

Luckily I checked a vintage magazine site I had bought from, Tilleys Vintage Magazines, and saw that they had just received a selection of TOWN magazines, which they were selling for £30 or £40 each, and yes they had the Monroe and Vitti and Miles ones, so I made sure I jumped in and got them before anyone else did. Still expensive of course, but as my pal Martin said, "if you want it badly enough then it is worth the price you pay". 

I also got a delicious pile of the American WHO'S WHO IN HOLLYWOOD annual magazines (on eBay), I have had the 1966 one since, well, 1966 - and its a collector's item. Fantastic to get issues covering 1957 to 1967! lots to peruse there .... these feature thumbnail portraits and information on all the current players - making up a fascinating record of who was who then: the leading stars, featured players, older stars, newcomers, musical stars, comedy stars, etc, and who had just passed away .... so the 1957 one features that interesting new actor Anthony Perkins who was playing in LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL on Broadway (I remember reading about that at the time in the Hollywood fan mags), Jean Seberg ("from Marshalltown, Iowa") who had done SAINT JOAN and was about to discover France in BONJOUR TRISTESSE, Kay Kendall is featured each year - until 1960, as she had died in 1959, along with Henri Vidal and Gerard Philipe; Italian import Sophia Loren grows in stature in each issue, until she is on the cover of the 1967 issue, along with Julie Andrews. Liz and Debbie of course feature on each year's covers too. Fascinating stuff then, and at a bargain price!