JGDB: Collecting Judy Garland Magazines

Who could possibly resist this cover? Magazines are my favorite area of collecting. See the Judy Garland in Magazines section right here on the Judy Garland dataBase for the world's biggest online magazine cover gallery, magazine articles and more.

The movie fan magazine market literally exploded in the mid-1930s, and there were dozens of fan magazines with beautiful color covers, gorgeous color portraits inside, and many fascinating articles. This is just about the only way to find color portraits of Judy, and the magazine articles provide some great insight into her personal life as well as her work -- more accurately, I think, than many books written after she passed away.

Fan magazines generally sell for around $10.00 each and up (mostly up). Antique stores are one good place to check. Many used book stores also sell old magazines. Buy a copy of Movie Collector's World, Paper Collector's Marketplace, or any one of the other dozen or so movie collector's magazines that are available at most newstands. These magazines contain display ads for the larger dealers and generally have a classified section where smaller dealers and other collectors may place ads for magazines for sale, as well as magazines wanted.

Be aware that there are many other similar types of "paper" (or ephemera) that are available and that you may wish to collect. This includes magazine and newspaper clippings, flyers, programs, and so on. Collecting paper can be a lot like a treasure hunt. I found a program for a play at a theater in New York in 1940, and inside with all the ads was a fashion ad with a picture of Judy! You never know what you'll find.

Sadly, the magazine market is beginning to dry up and prices are on the rise. I think this is primarily due to two things: collectors are grabbing them up, and dealers have found that they can make more money by cutting the magazines up and selling individual articles and pages to collectors.

Find good deals on
magazines at eBay!