An old-timey ad from Brooklyn Magazine (No, not that Brooklyn Magazine)

Posted by: Scott    Tags:  , ,     Posted date:  August 13, 2011  |  5 Comments


Trying to stay as clutter-free as I can, I picked up a stack of back issues of Brooklyn Magazine, and put them to the “How many of these things do I really need?” test.

First off, let me explain that I mean the Brooklyn Magazine which started publishing in 1978, and as far as I know ended in 1979, not the Brooklyn Magazine that’s currently alive and publishing.

As you can see from the first cover of the earlier Brooklyn Magazine and the most current cover I could find for the more recent incarnation, the new publication is a far classier production than we were ever able to put out.

Saying “we” implies I had a lot to do with the mag, but I didn’t. I wrote a book review for each issue, and did an interview with Fred Pohl, since The Way the Future Was was, after all, about growing up in Brooklyn. But other than that, all I ever had to do with the publishing of the magazine was when I’d pop in to say hello while walking from my apartment off Dahill Road in Bensonhurst to my favorite Chinese restaurant on 65th Street, which is how I discovered the magazine existed in the first place.

Yes, that’s right—as I walked from my apartment to pick up Chinese food one day, I noticed a storefront with the Brooklyn Magazine logo, went in and introduced myself to the editor before the first issue was published, and convinced him that he really needed my book reviews to be a part of it all.

The magazine died a quick death, and seems to have left very little mark—my admittedly cursory Internet search reveals very little information about the publication. For all I know, save for a lone copy I found for sale on eBay, this is its first true online mention.

Which is all a roundabout way of getting to my point, because what I really want you to do is check out the ad below from the inside back cover of the first issue, and marvel at how far we’ve come since 1978.

I suspect there are a few more people who remember Wometco Home Theatre than remember Brooklyn Magazine—but probably not by too large an order of magnitude!

Eleven first-run movies for only $13.95 a month? Wow! Sign me up!





5 Comments for An old-timey ad from Brooklyn Magazine (No, not that Brooklyn Magazine)


James Wall

I remember WHT. My friends had it. I’d still take 11 movies for $13.95. In fact that is the price of one ticket in a theater for some of the more expensive theaters in NY.

Scott

Yes, but $13.95 for 11 movies vs. whatever HBO charges for hundreds of movies makes it sound both pricey in cost and parsimonious in the number of movies.

Lenny B

Just found copies of the “collectors first issue” (that is what is written on bottom of front cover) and 2nd issue (with Springsteen cover) that we had since the “good old days”. Amazingly enough like you mentioned there is nothing much information about the publication. Who knows maybe they are “one-of-a-kinds” and worth $2 million each (okay I will take $1 million each LOL)

Art Lieberman

Hi,
My name is Art Lieberman and I was the Publisher and Associate Editor of Brooklyn Magazine.

In 1978, when I was 38 YO, together with another man and a couple of friends we published 3 issues of that magazine. The Front cover is from a painting by Bill Woldson and is meant to be a collage of things that are representative of the Borough. There is a “Welcome” letter in the Magazine that I wrote along with several other articles. There is a wonderful ad for A & S Department Store which tells how Mr. and Mrs., Strauss stayed on board the Titanic because she refused to leave her husband as the boat sank.
We had several interviews lined up for future publications including one with Susan Hayward, another famous Brooklyn-born celebrity which I actually got as she laid dying in a hospital. We sold 36,000 issue of that first publication and it was looking good.
But my partner was a fan of Bruce Springsteen and insisted he be on the cover of issue two. No one even recognized that publicationas Brooklyn. That copy sold only 14,000 copies and disappeared after issue 3.

    Scott

    Sorry it didn’t last! It was fun working on the mag. And I guess we must have met back then, at least one of the few times I dropped by while delivering my assignments in those pre-Internet days. Hope life has treated you well since then.