Today, a society without celebrity culture seems impossible. The intense public sensation with celebrities, characters celebrated for “well-knownness”, as Daniel Boorstin defined them, and their lives, is part of our culture. However, as with everything, celebrity culture has its roots in history. People always used to seek characters to rely on – a hero, someone to identify with. During the 18th century, these heroes used to be representatives of social institutions like the church and the military. But by the mid – 20th century, this shifted, and sportsmen and stars were of interest (Henderson). Several factors led to this development, starting with the end of the revolutionary
generation. Military heroes stopped to fit in with the spirit of the new generation, but Americans, as Washington Irving wrote, still “wanted something so rally round; some brilliant light to allure them from afar…they want something to attract and concentrate their affections…” (Henderson). Adding to that was the urbanization and rise of immigration. Between 1890 and the 1920s, twenty-three million people immigrated to America, forming a new society craving for self-definition (Henderson). This is the reason that personality became a means to distinguish individual selves from the masses. But that alone wouldn’t have caused the emergence of celebrity culture, without the revolution in technology and communication or “Graphic Revolution,” as Daniel Boorstin called it. Photography emerged, and so did the possibility of mass publication for magazines and newspapers. In the 1880s, the first mass urban newspaper appeared (Henderson). This matches the first publication of Town Topics, which was in 1879. Between 1870 and 1900, the circulation of daily papers increased 400% (Henderson). Magazines created to entertain by providing readers with literature, features about stars and sportsmen, theatre reviews, or even gossip, led to the redefinition of ideals of fame, success, and national heroism. At the end of the 19th century, inventors such as Thomas Edison were America’s most admired figures (Henderson). But that changed soon after. Journalist William Allen White wrote: “That decade which climaxed in 1912 was a time of tremendous change in our national life. … The American people were melting down old heroes and recasting the mold in which heroes were made.” This new culture emerged from the entertainment industry. As soon as mass publication appeared, the public became fascinated by entertainers and demanded articles about them. A journalist from the 1880s stated that drama made up a large part of the life of society and became a conversation topic among all social classes, making magazines with articles about leading actors highly popular (Henderson). This is exactly what Town Topics targeted by publishing theatre reviews and its gossip column. Luckily, the entertainment industry was centralized in New York, at least between 1900 and 1930 (Henderson). Since Town Topics was published in New York, the paper was at the very center of public interest. In conclusion can be said that print media was the origin of celebrity culture, and Town Topics: The Journal of Society, played its part in this development.