Variety Obituaries

Variety Obituaries is a 15-volume series with facsimile reprints of the full text of every obituary published by the entertainment trade magazine Variety from 1905 to 1994.

Information for each deceased person can include the following:

Date, place and cause of death.
Birthdate and birthplace.
Birth names, nicknames, aliases and other names used by celebrities.
Education.
Military record.
Film, television and stage appearances.
Awards.
Career narrative.

The first eleven volumes were published in 1988 by Garland Publishing, which subsequently became part of Routledge.

1 Volumes and years covered
2 Indexes
3 Critical evaluation
4 Notes
5 External links

Volumes and years covered

VARIETY OBITUARIES
Volume	Date Range	ISBN-10	ISBN-13
1	1905–1928	ISBN 0-8240-0835-9	ISBN 978-0824008352
2	1929–1938	ISBN 0-8240-0836-7	ISBN 978-0824008364
3	1939–1947	ISBN 0-8240-0837-5	ISBN 978-0824008376
4	1948–1956	ISBN 0-8240-0838-3	ISBN 978-0824008383
5	1957–1963	ISBN 0-8240-0839-1	ISBN 978-0824008390
6	1964–1968	ISBN 0-8240-0840-5	ISBN 978-0824008405
7	1969–1974	ISBN 0-8240-0841-3	ISBN 978-0824008413
8	1975–1979	ISBN 0-8240-0842-1	ISBN 978-0824008420
9	1980–1983	ISBN 0-8240-0843-X	ISBN 978-0824008437
10	1984–1986	ISBN 0-8240-0844-8	ISBN 978-0824008444
11	1905–1986 Index	ISBN 0-8240-0845-6	ISBN 978-0824008451
12	1987–1988	ISBN 0-8240-0846-4	ISBN 978-0824008468
13	1989–1990	ISBN 0-8240-0847-2	ISBN 978-0824008475
14	1991–1992	ISBN 0-8240-0848-0	ISBN 978-0824008482
15	1993–1994	ISBN 0-8240-0849-9	ISBN 978-0824008499

Indexes

Volume 11 is the alphabetical index for 1905 to 1986. It contains approximately 120,000 names. There are multiple entries for some people, so 100,000 different people is a realistic estimate.

Each of the four volumes after 1986 has its own index.

Celebrities are indexed under their birth names also. For example, Cary Grant is also indexed as “Leach, Alexander Archibald”. Clara Bow is also indexed by her popular nickname “The It Girl”. The names of living celebrities appear in the index when there are obituaries for their spouses and relatives; for example, Bob Hope died after the reprints were discontinued, but immediately beneath his indexed name are the obituary references of nine of his relatives, as well as his masseur and his business agent.

Non human celebrities also appear is the index, such as Champion (Gene Autry’s horse) and Bonzo the chimpanzee.

Critical evaluation

Excerpt from review in Library Journal by John Smothers

Almost since the periodical's inception, obituaries have been an important feature, and all of them (through 1986) have been gathered together here chronologically in 10 volumes, plus an index volume. The obits vary in length from one sentence to 30 paragraphs and more, with the average entry running about three paragraphs.^[1]

Notes

^ Library Journal review; 1989

External links

The reprints are out of print. Possible sources as follow: Variety Obituaries at Amazon