August 1954
My grandparents always had plenty of magazines laying around. I always made a beeline for the mail slot in the front door when they were delivered. Sure, LIFE and LOOK were always favorites, especially for their photographs, but it was always Down East that intrigued me, long after the others had made it to the magazine rack next to the fireplace. What really piqued my interest was the section called North by East. It usually appeared near the front and contained essays, opinions culled from area editorial pages, a cartoon and a photo or a woodcut or two. Don't ask me why I went to this section first, because the reason still escapes me. There was some interesting stuff in that first August 1954 issue, that by the way only cost 25¢. In the Down East Homes section a beautiful colonial home in Camden was on the market for just $10,500. Imagine what that home would cost today. There was a photo of E.B. White in academic robes receiving an honorary degree from Harvard, and a short piece about a movie maker looking for 'a young beaver' to film. What? The magazine, that back then wanted to be a source of 'reflecting the beauty, the spirit, the unique and special qualities that make this corner of the world like no other place under the sun", is still very much alive and doing just that. It's still one of those monthly, glossy periodicals that I must get my hands on. In lots of ways, it's me.
* magazines pictured: Maine Home, Rolling Stone, Men's Health, Maine and Down East.
Sounds like a terrific magazine! Regional 'zines are very interesting and give lots of info on local lore. I have subscribed to the New Mexico magazine for years, but it's a poor substitute for being there...better than nothing, I guess.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of EB White!
I, too, love all those magazines. I love Maine.
ReplyDeleteWhen I grew up in New Jersey, I don't remember ever wanting to see a magazine about the so called Garden State.
Now only if the winters were shorter................
I have never read a Maine magazine in my life. So, I'll have to take your word for the goodness in them.
ReplyDeleteOur first house cost $11,250; a 3/2, brick, on a large corner lot in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Those were the days.
You made me think of Sunset magazine. My mother used to get that one and I still have some recipes she found within it's pages.
ReplyDeleteThe first magazines I can remember, almost ten years later, were nothing like these and were only in black an white.
ReplyDeleteLovely analogy
ReplyDeleteSuch magazines are part of our stories and cultures. I remember waiting for "Cine Revue" each week!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad when some still exist, but a lot have disappeared, gone as well as our young years
So what are 25 cents of 1954 worth in 2012? I've always been a magazine collector. I've got some in languages I don't understand because I can't resist buying some at the airport...
ReplyDeleteI like that the word of the day is peruse - seems suitable.
ReplyDeleteI am a sucker for regional magazines, too. Down East seems to have a rural, folksy tone appropriate to Maine, while Arizona Highways has a glossy feel and staggeringly beautiful photographs appropriate to Arizona. Connecticut magazine is functional, nothing to write home about and not worth saving.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I just finished reading a book about E.B. White and how he went about writing Charlotte's Web. Seems he spent his happiest days up in your neck of the woods. He would have been just as happy being a farmer instead of a man of letters.
The only problem with good magazines is finding time to sit down and read them. Could alway grab a magazine and head to the bathroom... BTW, don't we all have 20-20 hindsight with expensive luxuries of the past? If I could go back in time I'd buy a Bugatti, a 1958 Ferrari F250 car and a Gar Wood boat. All worth millions today.
ReplyDeleteWe have a pile of those same magazines right here on the coffee table! And those colonial homes in Camden are going for, oh, between 500-900k. Or 1 or 2 mil on the ocean. Aye-yuh.
ReplyDeleteYou have great memories. Keep posting, I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteLA By Diana Live Magazine
I too love ephemera
ReplyDeleteAloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
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> < } } ( ° >
I have the worst addiction to magazines. Good post.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a mystery as to which magazines appeal.. I live in Australia but the only magazine I buy is a monthly English mag called 'Country Homes and Interiors'..go figure!
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I really enjoyed when I was a kid was watching the photos on my parents' collection of Nat Geo magazine. There was no Portuguese edition at the time, so they always had to tranlate and tell me where those wonderful places and animals were located. My passion for travelling and exotic places has started early! :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, DownEast, captures the beauty well...such a nice memory for you!
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