Movie Magazines.... Premier Entertainment Resource of the Past

Lights, Camera, Action!....Read!

Raja collects recyclables from my area regularly. We donate generously because we know he uses the money to help fray his costs in transporting volunteers to the soup kitchen in town. One morning I happen to be outside when Raja arrives. I help him load two large stacks of old newspapers into his van. Then, just as I am closing the door, I notice an old magazine on his passenger seat. I can see it is an old copy of the Shaw Brothers Indian Movie News. I offer to buy the magazine thinking that he got it during one of his recycling trips.

Realising my interest, Raja then regales me with the story about how his father, being an avid movie fan, formed a vast collection of movie paraphernalia during his youth. Raja inherited the collection after his father's demise several years ago. He likes to read about the old movies and occasionally brings the magazines to read in his van. Curiosity gets the better of me and I ask to see his collection.

I am filled with mixed emotions when I arrive at Raja's house that afternoon. I am happy to see so many items ranging from movie ticket stubs, promotional posters, calendars featuring movie stars, film related magazines, black and white photographs of cinemas, movie fliers and even rare pass out cards. But at the same time it pains me to see all these priceless items being haphazardly thrown all over his study. I begin to study the items while arranging them in order.

After going through half of the items, I become consciously aware of the importance of marketing and promotions to the film industry. This is especially so during the golden age of local movies which spanned some three decades, from the mid 1950s to the late 1970s. Movie producers then placed a lot of emphasis on publicity to help sell their films. Their preferred marketing method was to produce magazines to constantly position their newly launched movies in the minds of the fans.

A vast majority of the entertainment magazines in Raja's collection were produced by the famous Shaw Brothers. I also see other smaller publications like Arena Film, Berita Film dan Sport and Bintang but the magazines produced by Shaw are much superior in terms of content and quality.

Although not the first to produce movie magazines in Malaya and Singapore, Shaw Brothers thoroughly understood their effectiveness. They owned a printing press, the Shaw Printing Works, that soon churned out a continuous stream of publicity materials. Shaw published film magazines in four local languages under the banner of the Chinese Pictorial Review Ltd which was incorporated in Singapore.

The first film magazine to come into the market was in English called Movie News. Going by the tagline '.....by movie people, for movie goers......' the 60 page magazine featured reviews and glossy photographs of newly released movies from Hollywood as well as those from the Shaw Studios in Hong Kong and Singapore. To further attract readers, the magazine featured full page photographs of popular stars as well as a series of contests. Fans usually flip to the contest pages the moment they get their hands on the latest magazine. Their purpose? To see if they can answer the quizzes correctly and hope to win prizes in the form of cash and complimentary theatre passes.

The first Movie News issue was printed in July 1948 with 5,000 copies going out to the Shaw stable of cinemas in Malaya, Singapore and Borneo. Shaw wanted the magazine to be affordable to everyone and priced it at only 20 cents a copy, making it the cheapest monthly entertainment magazine in the market. The first issue was an instant success, selling out in just a matter of days. The magazine was so popular that people would buy, read and then resell them for a profit. Realizing the huge demand for the magazine, Shaw increased the print run for subsequent issues.

Among all the Movie News magazines in the collection, the one I like best is the June 1964 issue because Elvis Presley is featured on the front cover. I also notice that the selling price had increased by 30 cents since its inception 16 years earlier. Four new movies were featured, namely Wild and Wonderful, Sex and the Single Girl, Honeymoon Hotel and Rhino. The personality feature for that month include Rock Hudson, Ann-Margret, Claudia Cardinale and Connie Francis. Like most other magazines in the collection, the Film Quiz, Film Flam and Jig Saw contest entry forms are missing. I guess the original owner must have removed them in order to participate. I hope the person won something.

The Editor's Chair section catches my eye as it refers to the annual Asian Film Festival in Taipei. It further reported that Shaw Brothers submitted a total of eight films for the festival, two in the Malay language and the rest in Mandarin. The editor ends by advising readers to look out for complimentary postcard size portraits of film stars included in the magazine. The Editor said that this generous gesture was in response to the overwhelming requests from many readers.

The reference to the film festival jolts my memory. Taipei played host to the 11th Asian Film Festival in 1964. I clearly remember the Best Comedy Film category was won by Madu Tiga. This black and white romantic comedy film was both directed and starred by the screen legend, P. Ramlee. The plot revolves around a childless couple, Jamil (P. Ramlee) and Latifah (Zaharah Agus). Jamil subsequently marries Hasnah (Jah Hj Mahadi) without his first wife's knowledge. After that, Jamil meets Rohani (Sarimah) during the course of his work and marries her as well. The scene becomes chaotic when the women realize that they were all married to the same man. Like most movies of that era, the film ends on a happy note when Jamil promises to be equally fair and loving to each one of his wives. In October 2014, The Straits Times called Madu Tiga a classic and ranked it among the top five greatest Malay films made in Singapore.    

On a more solemn note, the film industry lost one of its prominent leaders when Loke Wan Tho together with his wife, Mavis Lim perished in a plane crash on 20 June 1964. The couple had just attended the 11th Asian Film Festival days earlier. Loke's untimely death sent shockwaves throughout the movie making industry. Many of his peers knew him as a prominent film entrepreneur who built up Cathay Organisation and established the Cathay chain of cinemas throughout Malaya and Singapore.

Spurred by the success of Movie News, Shaw Brothers branched into other film publications - the Malay version, Majallah Filem and Indian magazine, Indian Movie News. Movie News circulation topped 30,000 copies by 1980 before declining rapidly due to the introduction of entertainment magazines from abroad. Finally, Shaw stopped the production of all its magazines in the late 1980s.

The Chinese language entertainment magazine was dominated by the 200 page monthly called Southern Screen. It was produced the Shaw Brothers Hong Kong division. Southern Screen was first published in 1957 when Run Run Shaw took over the Hong Kong film production from his brother Runde Shaw. Right from the start, Southern Screen showed a marked improvement from Rundme's Screen Voice Pictorial film magazine by increasing content on newly released films, producing high quality photographs of famous stars and even including lengthy commentaries on the latest gossip and news to come out of the Shaw Studios at Clearwater Bay.

Southern Screen quickly became the best selling film magazine of all time among all of Shaw Brothers publications. Monthly circulation hit the magical 100,000 mark in the mid 1960s, reaching readers as far away as the Americas and Europe.

Shaw did not only depend solely on print publicity to increase its fan base. Personal appearances by stars from Hollywood and Shaw Studios during movie premieres, cinema openings, festivals and charities in Singapore and Malaysia also helped promotional efforts greatly. Charity premiers were often attended by prime ministers of both countries as well as other important government officials. The dignitaries who once graced these gala events include Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Lee Kuan Yew and Yusof bin Ishak.

Sporting events were also used to promote films. Premier of the movie Around the World In 80 Days in 1956 was made extra special with a cycling race held in Alor Star. It was reported that more than 1,000 spectators turned up for the event. Two years later, the organisers took the opportunity to promote air-conditioning in cinemas during the Johore-Singapore walking competition. Signs with the words 'Every stride you take means you are getting closer to a Shaw air-conditioned cinema' clearly emblazoned on them greeted participants at each water stop. In 1960, a Vespa race was organised at the Great World Amusement Park by the Singapore Vespa Club to promote the Ben Hur blockbuster movie. Spectators received car bumper stickers, records, sunshades, postcards, stamps and bookmarks during these promotional events.

I turn to a bewildered Raja as I plastic wrap the last magazine and return it to the shelf. He must have been very surprised at the way I treat his items with such tender loving care. He could not believe his eyes when I showed the value of the Majallah Filem sold on social media these days. I nearly fainted when he said he nearly brought the items to the recycling shop last year. Fortunately, he changed his mind because of the sentimental value attached to the items. I thank Raja for a most enjoyable evening and leave with a warm feeling in my heart knowing that I have helped a friend preserve his valuable heirloom.