Uncensored #2 - Plaza Digest

Jan. 1956 - "Lowdown On What's Behind The Headlines"

I like occasionally branching out and looking at other kinds of magazines here on the blog. I've covered a couple of what are called "Men's Magazines", so today we're going to take our first foray into the classic "gossip rag."

The most famous of these was Confidential, which caused a huge uproar when it debuted in 1952. It named names, spilled shocking secrets, etc. And even though the magazine got sued all the time, it was so popular it caused dozens of knock-offs, like this mag, Uncensored.

I picked up an issue of Uncensored cheap, and it did not disappoint. First off, I just love the cover--the whole b/w photos-plus-big-blocks-of-color-look just really appeals to the graphic designer in me.

But that bold, in-your-face look extends to the inside. Check out the very first article, about Rex "Dr. Doolittle" Harrison:

The spot color, the layout, the addition of the cartoony figures with the phone cord twirling through the text--I mean, that's just beautiful.

Each article in the magazine runs about 2-3 pages, and basically follows the same formula: "Did you hear (fill in name of celebrity) is doing (fill in name of salacious activity)?"

There's one on Gwen Verdon, "Hollywood's Happy Ingrates", Liz Taylor (I'm surprised she didn't have a gossip mag devoted to her exclusively, she provided so much gossip material), a weird article about another looming Pearl Harbor(?), and then this:

Considering that Rudolph Valentino died about a quarter century earlier, I don't think is the most juicy piece of gossip Uncensored ever ran.

There's a piece called "What's Gotten Into TV's Mary Sinclair?" (ho, ho!), one called "The Tantrum That Marked Lanza Lousy" (not a Dick Tracy villain, its the magazine's nickname for singer Mario Lanza), "Why Maureen O'Hara Can't Handle Love!", and then something called "Cafe Society's 'Hush-Hush' Game":

It took me a couple of minutes to realize I think that's two guys, which would've been pretty shocking for 1952. The article doesn't make much mention of it, oddly enough.

There's a piece called "Tab Hunter and The Man Who Made Him"--supposedly about his talent agent, but the way they have the agent's photo looking at a separate photo of a shirtless Tab, I think we all know what they're getting at.

After a piece on Marilyn Monroe, there's this startling expose:

The article features all sorts of crazy add-ons that supposedly make cars safer, like a sand spray, an automatic tire alarm, and something called a "seatbelt."

Following that is an article featuring a combo of words I never thought I'd see put all in a row:

There's an expose on "Sandra Rambeau, The Showgirl Who Made Jokers of Kings", an article called "How To Raise Circulation with Sex" (they mean magazine circulation; get your minds out of the gutter!), a piece on Socrates Onassis, one on Toots Shor, and then this beauty:

...not a Universal "B" sci-fi film; rather its about a tough time in Coward's life before he hit it big.

The rest of the magazine is devoted to the conclusion of all the articles, interspersed with lots of ads for various products--girdles, dance books, encyclopedias, etc. Nothing terribly exciting, except for this one which caught my eye:

...what is there to say, really?

All in all, some pretty fun stuff--the articles are goofy, full of double-entendres, and the whole layout of the magazine is pretty attractive. And when you consider all this stuff had to be done by hand, you have to have an appreciation for all the work that went into an issue of Uncensored.