Back in the 20's-70's the Holloywood media knew about the the dirt on celebs. They just didn't print it. There had to be one event that caused what we have today with people trying to get that shot to sell. I remember when the National Enquire was a gore rag. Showed people run over by trains etc. I am trying to remember when the NE changed.
I believe Hedda Hopper and Louella Parstons decided what stories would be kept secret or told. Back then they ruled Hollywood. You would never dare cross them. LOL
You got that right....they had more power than the studio exes.....Originally Posted by Kathyf
That's it in a nutshell. Great memory.......gives gold star.
[SIZE=3]National Enquirer [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]When I was a kid this rag was blood/guts and gore paper. They had pictures of people run over by trains. My Dad would bring it home from the bar. My 1st real exposure as a death hag. [/SIZE]
Really? That is crazy. If you don't mind me asking, how long ago was that? I started reading it when I was a teenager (my Gramma bought it for me!) when they had like half fish/half fish men being caught and stuff like that. Funny, I would never pick it up now...
lol donchya hate it when theyr right tho lol
I don't even remember the 1st celeb they went after.
I'm afraid I first saw the Enquirer in the late 70's when it started to fixate on UFO sightings and Bigfoot. Is the "Police Gazette"-type stuff you're talking about from the 60s or early 70s?
Oh, and it was in Black and White then, too, unlike today. I don't think the color came in until the mid-1980s.
My grandma used to buy it for me too! Early 70's. I always grab the Enquirer when I'm shopping, I don't care what anyone in line thinks. I would never stoop so low as to read those other rags, The Sun or Globe or whatever.
I remember a magazine by the California Highway patrol that was for officers only (I believe). It would have unedited accident photos including body shots.
Very Graphic
Ick.
Seems as if Death Hags have been around forever.
Imagine that....
Me too! My adult daughter makes a beeline for my copies when she comes to visit so she is hooked too. In fact some of the older copies I kept like when they showed Elvis in his casket and a few others. Maybe they will be worth something one day? I agree the Sun & Globe are really stupid and unbelievable.
Renowned Death Hag
I like The Globe, The National Examiner and The Enquirer - I get those 3 every week.
The lame ones are The Sun and Weekly World News - those are the two with the alien babies and other crap in it.
Actually the Globe is prety good - I read that one first!
I've been reading them all since I was 12 years old.
http://www.suicidemethods.net/pix/listpix.htm
This is what they use to show. WARNING! DEAD PHOTOS! Don't blame me if you toss. Someone posted this great link. For true Death Hags.
My mom has that copy of the Enquirer with Elvis in his casket. She won't part with it and I think I'm going to have to steal it from her someday when she isn't looking (which is often....LOL)
Several years ago I caught an interview on the radio with the Enquier's Mike Walker. Someone called in and asked what issues sell more than others. If I remember correctly Walker said their list of who is/who is not gay in Hollywood sells more than any other issue.
Is it me or does it seem that whenever these tabolids do these "gay lists" usually the same names appear? Barry Manilow and John Travolta's names it seems usually appear year after year.
And the reasons why these tabolids give for thinking someone is gay is sometimes quite funny as well as strange. I think it was the Sun or one of those less popular tabolids who published their own list and they had Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal listed only because they did Brokeback
Mountain ( have they ever heard of acting ? ). Also Ellen DeGeneres was listed. People still don't know she is a lesbian?
The same list had another actor who I never heard of but I do remember why they felt he could be gay. Why? Because he was seen in Denver, Colorado but NOT attending a sporting event or skiing. Thats it !!! WTF? !! Yeah, right, that sounds gay to me LOL !!!
I'm pretty sure I have the Elvis in the casket one and also John Lennon in casket. I also saved local newspapers of Elvis dying, Lennon being killed, Thurman Munson (Yankees catcher) dying in a plane crash, my dad's death, and some friends from high school dying in a car wreck.
Renowned Death Hag
Sure do. It was so much fun to read!
Renowned Death Hag
I believe Carol Burnett sued sucessfully?
Renowned Death Hag
Yes. It was late 70's-early 80's. They reported that she was drunk and obnoxious at a party. She was able to clearly prove she was not. I don't think she was even at this party they placed her at. She sued and got an apology and a large award. She donated the money to charity.
Wanna see my grandkids?
I preferred the older National Enquirers...more variety it seems. They seem to revolve around the same 25 celebrities nowadays. I think the world has gotten over Branjelina and Tomcat by now...
Shirley Jones sued before Carol (I believe). The Inquirer said Shirley drank because Marty Ingels (her husband) cheated on her.
They sued, and received an out of court settlement.
I remember many years ago doubling over in laughter at the Sun, when I was in the grocery stoe line. The title read "Lost Titanic Disaster Body Found!" And it was a "photo" of a RMS Titanic rescue ring with a skeleton sitting in the middle of it floating in the ocean!!!
Weekly World News was also great...especially when they "Raised Abe Lincoln from the Dead"...he was able to live just for a couple of minutes...and muttered only a phrase...
(here's an article about it)
"Imagine my surprise, then, when checking out of the local grocery store, I read the startling headlines on page 4 of the October 5, 1993, issue of Weekly World News: Abraham Lincoln's corpse had been revived with a miraculous new drug called Revivitol. According to special correspondent Beatrice Dexter, the mummified remains of the sixteenth president had been exhumed and taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for a "hush-hush experiment." After injection of Revivitol, according to Dexter, the dead man opened his eyes and was heard to say clearly, "Gentlemen, where am I?" According to the report, Lincoln was alive for ninety-five seconds, thereby experiencing firsthand the miracles of genetic manipulation. The purpose of the scientists' project, according to Dexter, was "to dramatize their work and win public support for the experiment."
The Enquirer, the Star and the Globe are the triple crown I've been reading for years, since the early 80s. I don't remember the Enquirer publishing gory accidents, are you sure it's not the Weekly World News you're thinking of? Anyway, amazingly enough, when I quit smoking, I lost all interest in the rags. I'm not renewing any of them as the subscriptions expire. They used to have real articles about real stars, now it's just full of Norma Desmond "nobodies."
And don't knock the Weekly World News, it has its place. Two headlines stand out over the years. The first was "George Washington was a lesbian named Jane." The second one was "Laura Bush and Theresa Heinz-Kerry cheat on husbands with space alien in a hottub" and the accompanying photo was pretty clearly the ladies' heads pasted onto the bodies of two women in a hottub, but the alien looked totally real. I admit, I actually bought that one. One of the stories inside was about an 80-pound cat whose owners was putting it on a low-carb "Catkins" diet to save its life. I'm not saying it's an every week read, but it is amusing.
I remember the National Enquirer office was located here in South Florida. Every Christmas they would have a Christmas Tree brought in that would rival the one at Rockefeller Center. They also had a really beautiful Christmas "wonderland" set up outside the office for all to come and see. It was a yearly ritual for everyone to go and stroll the grounds. After Mr. Pope (the owner) dies, the ritual stopped. His wife is a philanthropist and donates huge sums of money every year. His son Paul is somewhat troubled. Here is a link to the current legal wranglings of Mother and Son http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowln...tune_62463.asp
Mom got me hooked on National Enquirer [yeah! That's the ticket! LOL!] We called it our "Cash Trash" (gossip).
I was really impressed in more recent years about how often they have done well in helping with crime cases. It was the National Enquirer who proved OJ Simpson a liar when he said something like 'I would never wear anything ugly like those [Bruno-somebody] shoes!' In less than two weeks the Enquirer found a picture of him wearing those exact shoes he claimed he'd never wear!
Twenty years ago they used to be more like the now-defunct "Weekly World News," but over time since then, they've really become better and known for helping in various ways:
Helping people in distress/disasters
Gathering clout to halt animal torture here and in other countries
Helping with high-profile criminal cases such as the OJ trial
Tracking down deadbeat fathers, making them pay
That's just a few I can think of .. the Enquirer also gets involved by helping to organize writing-campaigns to government figures for various humanitarian causes. This is a far cry from what this newspaper was into decades ago. Back then it seemed every other week they were getting sued by one star or another for printing something false. You see that far, FAR less frequently in today's National Enquirer. They really have upped their standards in the past decade.
But I still love it for the GOSSIP! lol
Cool link! Didn't know. Thanks!
My Grand ma read The NE religiously... and believed ever story...then again she also always wondered why the people on the Beverly Hillbillies never aged (re runs on forever)
That is a HOOT, bless her heart!
Renowned Death Hag
Don't forget the classic:
Headless Body found in Topless Bar!!!
Ahh...I love these things. Speaking of rag mags....do they still make Weekly World News? I can't find it around here.
Death Hag Extraordinaire
I don't remember the Nat'l Enquirer being blood-and-gore, but my mom had several cartoons published in it when I was a kid!
The most dangerous woman of all is the one who refuses to rely on your sword to save her because she carries her own.
- R.H. Sin
Good one!
I talked to a woman who had worked for them once. It was a staff of like 6 and they worked in a single room that was like 20 feet by 20 feet and just brainstormed the stuff. It didn't pay well, but they all loved it. It's owned by one of the major rags. Actually, I think all the rags are owned by one of two companies.
In the early 60 confidentail mag was going to out Rock Hudson, the Enquirer was about thesame kind of mag too. They had some great stuff but I think one of the movie stars sued them and they toned down. I have some papers from the 20's and they show blood and guts on the front page LOL Miss that real stuff.
Excellent thread guys!!! I just saw the post above with the link to the photos and shouted in Homer Simpson style
"Woohoo!!! death pics!!"
Mr Snudgie...in the next room watching Stargate muttered...."I married a bloody wierdo.." Hahahaha!!
Sadly not. It ceased publication in August 2007. According to Wikipedia, it is still published as small insert in The Sun. I loved the Batboy and Merfolk stories. Good stuff!Ahh...I love these things. Speaking of rag mags....do they still make Weekly World News? I can't find it around here.
Renowned Death Hag
There was another black and white tabloid with craptastic headlines called the midnight sun. I used to see it at the checkout line when I was buying my tabloids! It finally gave up the ghost!
Wanna see my grandkids?
Renowned Death Hag
I remember hearing that the WWN's Ed Anger and Dotty Pemore were the same person and wrote their colums while drunk LOL
The Weekly World News YEARS ago had a "TV Critic" named Rex Winston.
Some of this "reviews" were downright funny but they came to a sudden stop when he attacked Dick Clark and American Bandstand. Ah Dick is not a happy camper when you attack HIS AB !!!.
Also I think the cable channel Showtime had some kind a deal back then NOT to publish the name of that channel in the Weekly World News. I remember reading all these letters that appeared in the WWN about how trashy HBO was and HBO is bad for kids ( including Fraggle Rock !! ), how HBO would air porn ( they never did ). One day I myself wrote a letter to WWN and asked them "..hey if everyone is going to bash HBO..might as well bash Showtime too..two different trees from the same forest LOL"
Well several weeks later I received a letter from the Weekly World News informing me that they can not publish my letter because I had mentioned the name "Showtime". But it was ok to bash HBO. I always wondered what was up with that?
I don't even look at the Enquirer anymore.... it's the same stuff regurgitated...... but when I was younger, it was so delicious I would take them and read them over and over.
I remember the NE ran a picture of the Jane Mansfield wreck with photos and details about her "decapitating"
In 1984 Showtime/The Movie Channel sued the Weekly World News over some story that was published which turned out to be false. I think the story went about how some child saw the Showtime comedy show "Bizarre" and afterwards tried to sexually attack his baby sister thanks to an "idea' from Bizarre. Showtime sued, The Weekly World News admitted their error ( it was made up ) and the Weekly World News was not allowed to as much as even publish the names "Showtime" or "The Movie Channel" in its taboild.
I believe for a time this "ban" even extended to the News's big brother..
That National Enquier.
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