It was September 1965, and I was 14.
... Tiger Beat had it all covered — or at least what mattered most to girls from about 8 to 14. The Beach Boys’ loves! Jan and Dean’s comeback! The private lives of the Beatles!...
Its mainstay... was “guys in their 20s singing La La songs to 13-year-old girls”...From the NYT obituary of Charles Laufer, the founder of Tiger Beat, who died at age 87.
[S]ome things never change: the cluttered collages of the covers of his day featuring the likes of David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman bear a striking resemblance to today’s Tiger Beat, with its endless renderings of Justin Bieber.
ADDED: If the idea was cute boys for young girls, it's hilarious that the first cover featured the Righteous Brothers. They look like Mitt Romney and Mitch Daniels.
IN THE COMMENTS: As my whimsy leads me says:
"Read" in the present or past tense sense? (Imagining Althouse poring over her 40+ year old stash of Tiger Beats when needing a quick pick-me-up.)LOL.
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70 comments:
I just got some old Mad Magazines in the mail from my aunt who found them in my grandmother's attic (I must have left them there). Good times, good times.
English Groups: Why They All Copy Chuck Berry!
Was there an actual article to go along with this headline?
Article seems entirely unnecessary.
Of course Woody Allen was interested in Mia Farrow! She was the oldest teenager!
Upper right corner is that Justin Beiber? If so, he has Dick Clark disease.
Fred;
I just got some old Mad Magazines in the mail from my aunt who found them in my grandmother's attic (I must have left them there). Good times, good times.
That's funny. As soon as I saw this post I thought "What's the pre-teen male equivalent of Tiger Beat?" My immediate thought was: "MAD"
So I guess girls think about the opposite sex earlier than guys but by 16 guys have caught up and surpassed girls in the opposite sex obsession category.
MAD is the first magazine I subscribed to. I think I was about 11. I had discovered it at the newsstand on my own. I loved it, but I was dismayed and embarrassed when a friend told me I was reading a boys' magazine.
"Read" in the present or past tense sense? (Imagining Althouse poring over her 40+ year old stash of Tiger Beats when needing a quick pick-me-up.)
I think Mitt Romney looks like the young Billy Graham.
Toy
You want to know how low Newsweek has fallen?
I'll tell you how low Newsweek has fallen.
Today, the owner of Newsweek Magazine died and Ann Althouse responded by featuring the obit of the founder of teen rag Tiger Beat.
THAT'S how low the once mighty Newsweek has fallen.
Below Tiger Beat!
Well, the image makes me curious. Should Lesley Gore help Donna Loren?
My first magazine subscription was Highlights. Goofus and Gallant molded me into the fine specimen you're all familiar with today. In fact, the GOP should enlist them for their campaign:
Goofus borrows money to pay the interest on his outstanding debt; Gallant keeps a balanced budget.
Otherwise, um, the "spot the difference" feature was always a big draw. I once submitted a joke and almost got it published but it turns out I plagiarized it from somewhere else. "Why was the pig all covered in ink? Because he was in his pig pen." I was like 7 so shut up.
The Righteous Brothers sang
You lost that loving feeling oh oh that loving feeling... baby baby I get down on my knees for you for you oo ho..
One of the greatest songs ever to sing along with.
Coincidentally 1965 was when I first discovered Playboy magazine. Or was it '64.
A win/win for all concerned! :)
Once upon a time had every copy from 1963 to 2000 but gave them all to my oldest nephew (8) years ago.
carry on
You gave them to your nephew eight years ago? Or you have them to your nephew, who is eight, years ago?
Goofus gives his eight year old nephew pornography; Gallant understands that eight year olds have no interest in the articles and would rather read Highlights.
Naturally a possible break up of the Righteous Brothers was big news. You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling was a song that should be on the top of any list of most passionate break-up songs ever. It got endless radio play even as the British invasion and Motown sounds were hitting their peak. It was also the highpoint for Phil Spector’s career, who never produced that kind of magic again.
Coincidentally, my youngest nephew was born 5/6/78 and he has a son born 5/6/99.
I'll let Coketown do the math. :)
Article seems entirely unnecessary.
Who needs an article, when the longing of one's heart is articulated, affirmed,and boldly emblazoned for all to to see. In 1965, I longed to be intimate and personal with David McCallum.
Only to discover years later, he turned into Ducky; and I into someone a little less dreamy myself.
I used to do Mad Magazine musicals in grade schools..."Can-a-lot" and "West Coast Stoty"
Dear Kindly Richard Nixon,
You've headaches by the score,
Like Civil Rights and
Taxes, and Spiro and
The War!
And though these weighty problems
May be an awful chore,
Thanks to us, you've got a million more!
sung to the tune of "Officer Krupke"
I'll do the math when you start writing clear, concise sentences with all relevant information present.
Freddy and the Dreamers.
Altogether:
Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah...Do the Fre-eh-dee!
(The Crypto Jew)
In 1965, I longed to be intimate and personal with David McCallum.
Dr. Mallard is STILL pretty kewlllll…did you see the episode where Ziva asked “what ‘Ducky’ looked like when he was younger?”
Are heterosexual males welcome at Althouse anymore?
Hey, I was only 8 when Grandpa caught me reading Penthouse at the Keltie Newsstand in Cape May. He elbowed Dad and they both had a good laugh.
Then they bought me my first Mad magazine.
(The Crypto Jew)
Are heterosexual males welcome at Althouse anymore?
Why do you ask, looking to pick one up?
Hand me down porn magazines, what a treat. Hope none of the pages were stuck together.
did you see the episode where Ziva asked “what ‘Ducky’ looked like when he was younger?”
No! It would be Ziva doing the asking. I love quirks like that, where the writer does a little dance step with the viewer.
Truly Ducky is Kwell, but Illya Kuryakin...back then, he was to sigh for.
Coketown, don't make me add you to my growing groupie list.
Again, as long as you're reading er hangin' on my every word. Your lack of reading comprehension notwithstanding.
btw, you and Meade would make a great team as you both "appear" ;) to be party animals ...
take care
What I remember from Mad is a cartoon of two women. We used to talk over our problems over coffee and cigarettes. Now those are our problems! Har har.
Tiger Beat - bought a new one whenever it came out. Leif Garrett, John Travolta, Shaun Cassidy.
Those bands and the attendant "young girls" caused me to pick up a guitar and learn the catalogues of the Beatles, Stones, Dave Clark 5 up and through Led Zep, Eagles, Jackson Browne, et al eventually ending up at John Dowland and Christopher Parkening. What a long strange trip it was...
What did Ducky look like when he was younger ...
Spy vs. Spy! And I used to love the back cover fold over that Mad mag. had.
pre teen girls rule fashion if not the world
I think you were my babysitter in 1965/66.
Screw Tiger Beat.
My most favoritestest feature of Mad is the back cover fold in.
Wikipedia 'splains.
NYT, bless 'em, shows.
I got Highlights and Cricket, but my Mom subscribed to them, not me.
My first subscription was to Spiderman.
Ha! I just saw two Mourning Cloak butterflies out the window.
When I was I grade school, my friends and I were, naturally, rabidly scornful of the kind of piffly pop stars covered in Tiger Beat. We got hold of a copy, removed its fold-out poster of Bobby Sherman, and affixed it to the hay bale we used for archery practice. Then we shot him.
Years later, when I was doing publicity for the debut album by singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet, one of the publications we’d persuaded to interview him was Tiger Beat. As it was still lodged in my memory as the positively uncoolest music magazine on the face of the earth, I dreaded having to tell him that we’d arranged for him to appear in its giggly, preteen pages. Matthew, being a nice guy with a sense of humor, thought it was a great idea.
These tiny coffee grinds floating in my mug look like two whiteflies landed in my coffee. They're disturbing me.
Chip Ahoy said...
Screw Tiger Beat.
My most favoritestest feature of Mad is the back cover fold in.
Wikipedia 'splains.
NYT, bless 'em, shows.
4/13/11 1:38 PM
Chip. that was basis of another NCIS show
The NYTimes is Tiger Beat for adults.
Thanks Shilo. Kate not Ziva, but still fitting. What turned out to be fun about the clip wasn't the flip at the end but Ducky's sparkle...Sigh.
Wow! I'm as old as Tiger Beat! To the month!
When I was I grade school, my friends and I were, naturally, rabidly scornful of the kind of piffly pop stars covered in Tiger Beat. We got hold of a copy, removed its fold-out poster of Bobby Sherman, and affixed it to the hay bale we used for archery practice. Then we shot him.
I don't think that it was just grade school. I am maybe a year older than Ann, and all of us guys scorned the magazine too.
But there was a lot of teenaged girls we just didn't get. The screaming, fainting, etc. with the musicians. The ironing their hair. Girls practicing dancing together.
As for MAD, I loved it, but my mother was not about to condone our getting it. Yes, it is probably better than Playboy. But she had her rules...
Those Mads she sent were from the seventies. Good stuff. They still crack me up...
Cracked was okay too. And old National Lampoons were great. I remember reading them when I was ten and thinking---"I can't wait to be an adult*!"
* over 18 and on my own!
Up to this moment, I had never even been aware of the existence of a magazine called Tiger Beat. To some extent girls live in a parallel universe with different gods with their own strange rituals. There's some overlap I guess with the Beach Boys and the Righteous Brothers, but Fabian, David Cassidy, and Justin Bieber exist as rock stars only in the minds of pre adolescent girls. No wonder so many marriages end in divorce.
National Lampoons were not quite as forbidden as Playboy, but they were geared for adults and not kids, and were definitely funnier than anything else.
wow I was a mere few months old! What a great year!
As longtime readers of this blog know, I was reading Playboy in the mid-1950s. It was put out on the coffee table along with Life and Look and nothing was ever said about whether or not we were allowed to read it, which we did openly whenever we wanted.
I don't know if it's just a mental defect I have, but young clean cut guys from the 40s - 60s always look older than they were. Guys like Sinatra, never looked like they were under 35 to me. A lot seem to have - what would be considered today - a receding hairline in their early 20's, or at least the hairstyles made it seem so. When long hair came in, young guys had it, and old guys didn't, and it became easy. I think I just have a form of dyslexia with men's hair
"Today, the owner of Newsweek Magazine died and Ann Althouse responded by featuring the obit of the founder of teen rag Tiger Beat."
That guy just acquired Newsweek late in life. He owned it. What did he create that matters to me?
That said, at no point in my existence has Newsweek meant anything to me. I have never been interested in a weekly news magazine. I read the news daily.
That Tiger Beat:
Lies by The Knickerbockers.
Never went for Tiger Beat but sure did like Mad, just like Ann did. I think the first one I saw was a spoof of the 1960 conventions. Hence the name "Harold Stassen" entered my 11 year old consciousness.
Still don't know what an axolotl is, though. I think it goes on pizza.
I too was 14 in 1965 byt I wasn't reaing Tiger Beat. I was reading any mag about hot cars.
What is the connection between TIGER BEAT and TIGER MOTHER? Both are strange to me.
The Crypto Jew)
Still don't know what an axolotl is,
I wouldn’t swear to it, but I BELIEVE it is the tank the Bene Tleilaxu use to produce “Gholas”….
Love the 'Herman, Herman, Herman, Why the Hermits?' just under the header...Peter Noone is still out there belting out Henry VIII and other Herman's favorites...
Second verse, same as the first...
Hate to think what "Peyton Place a GoGo" is.
Chip, that NYTimes link was awesome. I even remembered some of them from the 60s and 70s.
Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity
Wasn't a frequent Man From UNCLE viewer back in the day, but never missed an episode of Outer Limits and Star Trek.
It Takes a Thief and The Wild, Wild West were also entertaining ...
carry on
It was September 1965, and I was 14.
Just saying "jailbait" would suffice. That same month and year I was 22.
Shindig...All those real rock and rollers and ....... wait for it ... Donna Loren.
I loved Tiger Beat. I remember scanning the magazine racks at People's Drugstore on Wisconsin Ave in Washington DC, hoping that a new issue had come out.
Dino, Desi & Billy 4 Ever!
Joe,
Still don't know what an axolotl is,
I wouldn’t swear to it, but I BELIEVE it is the tank the Bene Tleilaxu use to produce “Gholas”….
Yep.
@Carol: "Still don't know what an axolotl is, though. I think it goes on pizza."
Isn't it an amphibian of some kind? At least that's what Marvin Kaputnik told me. Mad made me laugh a lot years ago, but I've kind of lost track of it over time. A favorite shared joke with one of my friends in high school was to imitate the "Startled Don Martin Character" look, wide-eyed, purse-lipped, with fingers flying in the air.
As far as Tiger Beat goes, my 12-year-old daughter saved their Jonas Brothers, Milely Cyrus, etc. posters. I guess they're still going strong enough...
wait for it ... Donna Loren.
Hey, she was a lot more accomplished than Leslie Gore.
"My most favoritestest feature of Mad is the back cover fold in."
Meh, that was OK, I guess, but that's not the reason you'd buy Mad Magazine.
The reason you'd by Mad Magazine was Spy vs. Spy.
Mad was great, but my first subscription was Humpty Dumpty. I bought Mad at the news stand.
Are heterosexual males welcome at Althouse anymore?
Why do you ask, looking to pick one up?
But wouldn't that be a good, heroic thing if I came out? Aren't we all so tolerant and welcoming of homosexuals? Aren't the gays the good guys now? Thus I find your comment heterosexist and offensive.
I never liked Tiger Beat. Steve Martin and Harrison Ford weren't in it.
My cousins still tell me that the grand allure of a visit to our place was not just the swimming pool but my stack of Mad Mag, Famous Monsters, Donald Duck etc comics in the hall closet. By the end of the day the hall would be filled with kids reading.
Luke Halpin!? Flipper!!
Oh gawd. I remember that issue. Herman, why the Hermits?
No thanks to you [for the memories], Ann.
...I sigh for my squandered youth.
Althouse, do you remember Calling All Girls magazine?
I'm a guy, I claim, but I had a thousand sisters, one of whom sent a story in for their "My most embarrassing moment" section, something about hiding under a table for some reason and knocking it over. It got printed. Unfortunately, she'd made the whole thing up.
Dad rat it.
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