Man About Town magazine: August 1958 contents
 Man About Town August 1958 |
Man About Town can be seen as Britain's first modern consumer style magazine for men. Yet this was not its only influence on the development of magazine publishing in the UK. After being sold on, it provided the basis of success for Michael Heseltine's Haymarket. Furthermore, a similar business model was later used by For Him, which was initially distributed through men's wear shops, before becoming a news-stand title and being sold as FHM in 1994 to Emap by publishers Tayvale with sales of 60,000 a month. |
Man About Town: Autumn 1958 contents
The front cover of Autumn 1958 had no individual cover lines for features but listed the topics covered: clothes, sport, travel, drink; and a competition to win a Savile Row suit. Earlier covers had added: "women and various other bad habits". The magazine or perhaps editor John Taylor, was personified by a luxuriously moustachioed man in a dinner suit (though Taylor did not sport a moustache, but a beard much later on), who on this cover can be seen leaning against the masthead in the top left corner. He also appeared on the contents page.- IBC, pages 1-8: display advertising for clothes, shoes and restaurants
- 9-13: Gad About Guide listing restaurants, pubs, clubs, coffee houses, Turkish baths, etc. Adverts sold in vertical half-pages down the outside of the pages. Editorial overprinted with spot colour
- 14: display advertising for clothes
- 15 Contents. "Man About Town... helps you to be good... at being bad." Mustachioed man portrayed as a saint (with a halo, as in the Leslie Charteris Saint books and TV series) and devil. No staff listed apart from editor John Taylor, "the bottle neck with the bottle knack". Address in London, 42 Gerrard St, W1; in US: 30 East 60th Street, New York.
- 16: display adverts for whisky and clothes
- 17: Forty Three Today by the editor about the fact that the magazine occupied a building that was once one of London's most famous clubs, The Forty Three Club run by Kate (Ma) Meyrick. The building had a blue plaque as the former residence of poet John Dryden.
- 18-19: "Man on Fire" about history of tobacco tax and 1/2-page vertical strip adverts for Haig and ICI's Terylene
- 20-21: Puff Puff - a regular-looking feature that takes pride in "puffing up" products! Ad layout as above for Philishave Jet and Player's No 3.
- 22-23: "Your big chance" letters page, to most of which the editor has a pithy reply. From C.C., 7 Parade Mansions, Hendon Central NW4: "I was intrigued by the new Flair Line for men. I have had a pair of trousers made in this style by my tailor who fortunately is always ready to try anything. They are comfortable to wear and I like the feel and the look of them. But I think I should warn you that they want to be very carefully looked after." To which the reply is: "Readers; you want to be very carefully looked after. - Ed." With ads for Interflora and Lentheric
- 24: Ad for Wain Shiell cloth
- 25-40: colour section mainly using spot colour, but some 4-colour images
- 25-28: "Ain't gonna reign no more?" by L.G. Pine, editor of Burke's peerage, about monarchies. Illustrated by Heath
- 27: 1/2 page on the cover girl Pat Gardener and the significance of the cover "squiggle". Cover designer: Maurice Rickards. Rickards also designed the Spring 1956 cover and was probably employed as a freelance. He later came to fame by developing the theory of ephemera and collating the The Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator and Historian with Michael Twyman; his collection formed the basis of the Centre for Ephemera Studies at Reading university.
- "Night Spot: The Blue Angel". Review of the Berkeley Street club illustrated by still of Marlene Dietrich from the film of the same name.
- 30-32: "How Who What Where". How to choose a cloth for a suit
- 33: "Running Commentary." Trends in fashion.
- 34-37: "My memory serves me right." Spoof autobiography of the editor told in illustrations
- 38-39: "Tales of Toffman." Choosing evening wear.
- 40: adverts for men's jewellery and Holland & Sherry
- 41-48: "The joys of motoring: My old Volks." Stuart Marshall on his VW Beetle
- 44: Ad for Standard Pennant
- 46: Ad for Aston Martin DB Mk II from Brooklands of Bond Street
- 48-50: "Wear in the world." International men's fashion
- 51-53: "Music hath chums." S.R.C. Bar on the technology of LP records. Illustrated by advant garde artist Themerson
- 53: Half-page illustration on how to take snuff
- 54-56: "Look fellers no skis." Dick Pope on barefoot water skiing
- 57: "It pays to increase your word power." Spoof of the Reader's Digest feature. Example: Arrogate, Yorkshire spa town
- 57-72: use of spot colour green
- 58-59: "The sweater puzzle." The emergence of the sweater in fashion
- 60-63: Jools. Continued on 89
- 62: short poem by editor
- 63: "The perfect woman." How to shut a woman up with a brank, a scold's bridle
- 64-67: "Glasses" (drinking) and how to choose them
- 67: Poem by Rodney Hobson
- 68-69: "First night." Life in theatre land by Roy Russell. Continued on 90
- 70-73: "My angry old man or life with dad." By Ivan Roe, based on his autobiography. Illustrated by Beresford Egan
- 73: "Flashback" an article from Tailor and Cutter of 1869
- 74: Ad by Hatters Information Service
- 75- 79: "On your own head be it" about the latest styles in hats
- 76: 1/2-page ad by Woodrow hats
- 78: Ads for hats and shoes, promoted by BBC sports commentator Raymond Glendenning
- 80-81: "The male fist" on driving gloves
- 83: Competition to win a Savile Row suit; plus ads for cloth and wine
- 84: travel ads to Portugal
- 85-87: Portugal travel feature
- 86: 2 x 1/4-page ads for Eduardo VII hotel in Lisbon and wines
- 88: Ad for nylon socks
- 89: Jools continued from p63
- 90-91: First Night continued from p69
- 92-94: "Treat yourself." Gifts such as watches, lighters, hi-fi. Prices from 2/11 to 89guineas
- 95-104: The most of yourself: an advertorial for tailoring
- 106: Ad for Kilgour, French and Stanbury
- 107: Russell & Bromley and cloth adverts
- 108: adverts for tailors
- 109-120: At your service classifieds interspersed with some display
- IBC: James Hare tailor
- back cover: Keith & Henderson wool merchants
