Variety (magazine)

Variety
Editor Timothy M. Gray
Categories Trade Entertainment
Frequency Weekly and Daily
First issue Weekly:
1905 (NY City, New York)
Dailies:
1933 (Los Angeles, California)
1998 (NY City, New York)
Company Reed Business Information
Country United States
Based in Los Angeles, California
Language English
Website variety.com
ISSN 0042-2738

Variety is a weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the Daily Variety Gotham edition, based in New York City was added. All three have been in continual operation since.

The magazine is owned by Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, with three print editions and a website.

For twenty years its editor-in-chief was Peter Bart, who worked previously at Paramount Pictures and The New York Times. In April 2009, it was announced that Bart was moving to the position of "vice president and editorial director", characterised online as "Boffo No More: Bart Up and Out at Variety". The current editor is Timothy M. Gray.[1][2]

Contents

History

Variety has been published since 1905, when it was launched by Silverman as a weekly periodical covering vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. In 1933, Silverman launched Daily Variety, based in Hollywood.

Silverman was the editor of the Variety Inc. publications until selecting Abel Green as his replacement in 1931; he remained as publisher until his death in 1933 soon after launching the daily. His son Sidne Silverman (1901–1950), known as "Skigie", succeeded him as publisher of both publications. Both Sidne and his wife, stage actress Marie Saxon (1905–1942), died of tuberculosis. Their only son Syd Silverman, born 1932, was the sole heir to what was then Variety Inc. Young Syd's legal guardian Harold Erichs oversaw Variety Inc. until 1956. From then Syd took over and managed the company until 1987, when he sold it to Cahners Publishing (later absorbed by Reed Elsevier) for US$64 million.

Circulation

Circulation hovers around 27,000 for the daily editions, and 25,000 for the weekly edition (Audit Bureau of Circulations, March 17, 2010)

Editions

Culture

For much of its existence, Variety's writers and columnists have used a jargon called slanguage or varietyese (a form of headlinese) that refers especially to the movie industry, and has largely been adopted and imitated by other writers in the industry. Such terms as "boffo box-office biz", "sitcom", "sex appeal", "payola", and even "striptease" are attributed to the influence of the magazine,[4] although its attempt to popularize "infobahn" as a synonym for "information superhighway" never caught on. Its most-famous headline was from October 1929, when the stock market crashed: "Wall St. Lays An Egg". Another favorite, "Sticks nix hick pix",[5][6] was made popular—although the movie-prop version renders it as "Stix nix hix flix!" in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Michael Curtiz's musical-biographical film about George M. Cohen; translated, it means that rural audiences were not attending rural-themed films. Television series are referred to as "skeins", and heads of companies or corporate teams are called "toppers". In addition, more-common English words and phrases are shortened; "audience members" becomes simply "auds", "performance" becomes "perf", and "network" becomes "net", for example.

Daily Variety's down-the-street competitor is The Hollywood Reporter. The papers have a long history of bad blood, but editorial talent migrates between them. Bart once said to a reporter, "They're not journalists at all", although Variety has a history of recruiting Hollywood Reporter writers once they have established bylines, and vice versa.

Facts and figures

A significant portion of Variety's revenue comes during the movie-award season leading up to the Academy Awards. During this time, large numbers of colorful, full-page "For Your Consideration" advertisements inflate the size of Variety to double or triple its usual page count. These advertisements are Hollywood's attempt to reach other Hollywood professionals who will be voting in the many awards given out in the early part of the year.

Location

The Variety Building in December 2008.

In late 2008, Variety moved its Los Angeles offices to a high-rise office building on Wilshire Boulevard in the heart of the Miracle Mile area. The building was dubbed the Variety Building because a red, illuminated "Variety" sign graced the top north and south sides of the building. The 31-story tower can be seen from any direction in Los Angeles, and has totally unobstructed, 360-degree views of the city. The city welcomed the new landmark with a lighting ceremony in December 2008.

Reprints of film reviews

This is the short list of English-language periodicals with 10,000 or more film reviews reprinted in book form:

Film reviews in Variety continued after the dates of the last reprints.

Reprints of obituaries

The complete text of approximately 100,000 entertainment-related obibuaries (1905–1986) were reprinted as Variety Obituaries, an 11-volume set, including alphabetical index. Four additional bi-annual reprints were published (for 1987–1994) before the reprint series was discontinued.

Film trailer charts

In 2009, Variety launched a chart showcasing the top performing film trailers ahead of theatrical release in partnership with media measurement firm Visible Measures. An example of these charts can be found here.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Barnes, Brooks; Cieply, Michael (April 6, 2009). "Change of Guard at Variety Reflects Shifting Landscape". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/movies/07bart.html?partner=rss&emc=rss.  Accessed July 30, 2009 (registration required).
  2. ↑ "Editorial Staff". Variety. Undated. Accessed August 9, 2009.
  3. ↑ Nakashima, Ryan (December 9, 2009). "Variety to begin charging for Web access Thursday". The Associated Press/Google News. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBCLQI3KL-K2QL_l9L2OsOzAG6xAD9CG1OI02. Retrieved December 11, 2009. 
  4. ↑ Hillard, Gloria (June 18, 2005). "A Century of 'Variety'-Speak". National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4708916.  Accessed March 15, 2008.
  5. ↑ McCall, George (July 17, 1935). "Sticks nix hick pix". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=variety100&content=jump&jump=article&articleID=VR1117922332.  Accessed July 30, 2009.
  6. ↑ Guider, Elizabeth (May 8, 2005). "1935 exhibitor perspective 'Sticks' in memory". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=variety100&content=jump&jump=article&articleID=VR1117922319&category=1930.  Accessed July 30, 2009.

External links