I’m posing the question in the title “How did a Duggar pregnancy score a People Magazine cover over Lauren Bacall passing?,” which someone brought up in the comments yesterday, but I know the answer already. Look at Bedhead’s post for screen legend Lauren Bacall’s passing last week. It received a respectable 89 comments, but it didn’t blow up like the two Duggar threads did yesterday. Bacall was a class act her entire life. She had a successful career and a quiet retirement. She passed away at 89, an age many people would be happy to live to. Hollywood was able to give her accolades while she was living. Plus People just ran an in memorial cover, for Robin Williams, last week. They probably didn’t want to have two in a row.
The Duggars are controversial and they have a current reality show. While they might not have as many fans as Bacall, they get more attention. That’s just the way it is, but it can be infuriating if you think about it too hard. So let’s give some more attention to Bacall while we can.
I had the chance to read People’s story on Bacall, and it’s a nice tribute to an early screen star who lived out her years quietly in New York, not shying from the spotlight but not seeking it out either. The one detail I got from this story was that Bacall lived in the same apartment in NY, in the historic Dakota building, for 50 years. She also was active in the Democratic party, and often attended fundraisers. Bacall was one of a kind, and she will be missed.
During her six decades in the spotlight, the bold beauty seamlessly transitioned from model to movie star to a real-life love story so spellbinding that even today, “Bogie and Bacall” remains shorthand for grand romance. At 89, the screen legend known as “Betty” to friends and family apparently suffered a fatal stroke on August 12 in the New York City apartment she had called home for more than 50 years…
Though she would eventually amass an impressive collection of accolades, Bacall was the first to admit,”I put my career in second place throughout both my marriages.” The How to Marry a Millionaire actress web Bogart in 1945 but raised their son Stephen, 65, and daughter Leslie, 62, on her own after Bogart died of esophageal cancer in 1957. She was briefly engaged to Frank Sinatra (“He behaved like a complete s*,” she later said) before marrying actor Jason Robards. They had a son, Sam, 52, but the tempestuous marriage ended in 1969 amid Robard’s alcoholism and infidelity. “They are all off-center people – trouble and troubled,” Bacall said of the men in her life. “I suppose I must like all of that. No one simple ever thought I was great.”
Bacall spent her final years with her papillon Sophie (“my partner”), attending parties and Democratic fund-raisers held in the historic Dakota, a building with as storied a past as the actress her lived there. “This bygone place has the same view it did [in the 1900s],” says Bacall’s longtime neighbor Jane Rosenthall. “It’s a very special place. And now a gaslight has burned out.”
[From People Magazine, print edition]
See that was nice, People Magazine kept the tribute simple and fitting. Bacall was an incredible presence on screen, did her thing in her last decades and she remained elegant and non-controversial. She wasn’t worth gossiping about, because there was nothing negative to say. When she passed, all people could say about her was what they’d been saying her whole life: she was a pro on so many levels.
Photo credit: WENN.com
It’s the devil’s work.
Ha ha ha!
YEP!
I don’t want to laugh because it’s f-cked, but I’m totally laughing. I hate you Kay-Z.
What illiterate types in these headlines?
89 comments and she passed away at 89. #Weird
I am guilty of paying attention to the Duggars as well, but you’re right: we need to spend more time thinking about people whose contributions to entertainment are actually admirable.
I pay attention to them because I find them despicable and dangerous. I’m glad they’re getting attention. The more comfortable they become, the more they expose themselves for the bigoted, ignorant, misogynistic loonies they really are. Maybe the people who admire them will wake up.
THIS!
Agree! When I see people defending them and saying how wonderful their family is and that wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if everyone raised their kids like this I have to jump in with…yeah, we’d have no doctors or scientists, or really any truly educated professionals…professionals the Duggars relied on to save their youngest daughter when she was born prematurely with serious medical issues. They didn’t just rely on God (thank goodness!) to save her, although that is who they credit when they talk about her being alive today. Left up to God, Josie would not have survived. So they are hypocrits as well as being narrow minded bigots who deny their children any real exposure to the world and the possibilities available. The girls have no idea (or encouragement) of careers available except what the Duggars deem appropriate. Women are simply property …subservient under their husbands, given to them on their wedding day. The husband makes the decisions. None of them are exposed to anything secular, no books, no university or even alternate viwepoints (other than Jim Bob telling them evolution has no basis in fact). ARGH. People need to scratch below the surface. If everyone raised their kids like this it would be a pretty rotten world.
That’s a good point, GoodNamesAllTaken. Ideally, I wish they’d be ignored entirely and not given a media platform, but if they must be famous, it’s good for us to call them out on their bigotry and hypocrisy.
Yep, goodnames, just like those duck dynasty dudes. Oversaturation can be a good thing.
@GNAT – excellent point.
GoodNames
I agree, but I disagree.
Yes to paying attentionin hopes they slip up and reveal what’s behind the wholesome family values of sorts they portray. It’s already unraveling, but not enough yet.
Although, If no one paid attention to them they would’t be covered at length like they are. It would shut down avenues for them to spread their message. They got put on the cover because love them or hate them they sell issues. And out of every 500 issues sold there might be 1 person who agrees with them and their message spreads that much further.
I treat them like those awful people of the WBC. Ignore and they weaken. Give them attention even to search out weaknesses and it’s the platform they seek.
For those reasons Im rarely on a Duggar page.
And Bacall was stunning! I can’t hate that she passed so quietly in the news. No one had a bad word are scandal to speak of. Only quietly remembering the great roles and good work. Contraversy sells.
Good point. I hope the expanding coverage makes them complacent and their fans start to see how crazy they are, but somehow I’m sure they’ll manage to keep spinning their peculiar world views as “traditional” or “family-oriented.” I’m constantly surprised by people like the Duggars who claim to reject “science” but happily benefit from scientific discoveries every.single.day.of.their.lives. You know – medicine, central heat and air, computers, cars, affordable mass-produced textiles and household goods, synthetic wiglets (I’m looking at you, Michelle Crazy-Eyes Duggar.)
I’m not religious, but I’m certain that there are plenty of religious people who’ve manage to reconcile their reliance on “God’s will” with a healthy relationship with modern science and technology. Can’t we just say that God inspired these discoveries, or the scientists who’ve made them? Wouldn’t that be more valid than pretending that “God” and human achievement are somehow separate or unreconcilable? But I suppose that’s at odds with their Fundamentalist insistence that the Bible is completely literal (having been, of course, magically written in Elizabethan English centuries before that language and dialect were developed, and never, ever altered or translated or intended as allegory.)
I feel sorry for the Duggar kids.
Well said about them being despicable and dangerous. I would have actually said something must nastier! I consider them enemies to all women as they have shown they want to strip us of our human rights. I can’t stand these jerks and really wish the media would stop giving them attention and hate Peeple (kneepads) for giving them covers. Okay, I hated peeple anyway, but giving these trolls a cover over Lauren Bacall is just disgusting.
Excellent points Suzy. Fish gotta fly and Duggars gotta spawn. I can’t believe these hicks got a cover. The kid will be homely too – look at them! Yes, that was mean and I don’t give a crap.
Actually, Lauren was quite lucky to get the coverage she received. When Joan Fontaine passed away in December, hardly anyone batted an eye and she was indeed a legend & Oscar winner. Even Mickey Rooney didn’t receive the attention he deserved at his passing. They just mostly talked about his ex-wives rather than his talent and enormous contribution to the film industry. Eli Wallach – the same. James Garner- the same.
I guess the sad reality is that these folks are pretty much forgotten on a general basis until they pass away and their careers are glazed over as a remembrance.
Sadly, a lot of these older entertainers don’t get the attention they deserve because the younger generations have no idea who they are, so covers with them on it don’t sell. I guarantee that a cover with Lauren Bacall would probably not sell as well as the Duggar cover. That said, I always thought Bacall was the ultimate in cool and gorgeous. She was stunning in her youth and never came across as stupid or vapid. RIP Lauren. You had class and talent!
Agree with you both.
I have never understood the need to re-do films over and over again, instead of enjoying the classics or to concentrate on people that have gotten celebrity status by doing nothing. I am starting to believe that there is a young generation out there that thinks romance and sucking blood are synonyms and if the characters don’t have a cell phone then it’s not worth watching.
My two cents: I only wish this was a celebrity that CB could throw out the query, “We only got 89 comments on this post, honk if you’re interested in furthers?”. Sadly, that opportunity has been lost. I grew up on old B & W movies and I adored Lauren Bacall. Acknowledging another thirsty Duggar on its cover, rather than a legend, was a HUGE fail on People Magazine’s part. Sads.
This is not something new. It happens all the time. Every time a legend passes, they get the corner and the latest, blink and you’ll miss them pseudo celebrity gets the cover.
The Duggars are a freakshow, which will always get much more attention than an legendary actress who lived her life well. This is obvious.
I don’t understand the interest in the Duggars.
I don’t either and I kinda don’t want to understand. Oooh they have a tribe of children. That’s nice. My dad had 13 kids from 3 different women–where’s his show? /eyeroll
Did your father forbid you to get an education, to go to public school, to have a career beyond mid-wife and mother? Did he teach you that women are less than men? Did he pick you spouse for you? Did you spend your youth mothering your younger siblings because your mother was too busy popping out more children because white people are being outnumbered by other races or protesting the fact that transexuals might be allowed to use public restrooms of their new gender? Ugh. These people are dangerous.
Nah he just disappeared 3 hours after I was born and I didn’t see him again until I was an adult. I actually preferred it that way.
I’m sorry. Well, you certainly managed to turn into a beautiful person without him, so it was his loss.
Thanks 😀 I needed that today more than you know.
@Monica Q-I feel ya. Your dad may not win any prizes for Parent of The Year, but you are one of my fave posters, so your mom must be an awesome lady. Not everyone needs a tribe of children-I think what this world needs are tribes of women. Bring back the Amazons!!
I think it’s because of the imagage that they portray. Everyone’s comments in the dugger’s posts have really openned my eyes to what they really are. To how Michelle spends a hour one on one time with each kid once a week, to their buddy (push of child rearing ) system, to even their play mat discerplen. It’s just there values and beliefs that gets the topics going. I think they are just a uber weird cult and what they put out on the tv show is different to what they really stand for. Making for great conversation/comments.
It just kills me that they’re calling it a “surprise” pregnancy. Really? A surprise pregnancy is when your birth control fails. These people don’t use any birth control. They don’t believe in it. Unprotected sex = pregnancy. Instead of traveling and working as missionaries Jill can look forward to a baby almost every year for the next 20 or so years. It would be pretty hard to drag that many kids around the world. It’s her deal, not mine and for that I am thankful.
Or the interest in Jon and Kate Plus eight, or The Kardashian’s.
ditto ditto.
Well I think the early interest in Jon and Kate was due to people curious about how parents coped with caring for six babies and then people got hooked and kept tuning in to see the kids growing into toddlers and kids because they got emotionally invested in the kids. The Kardashians I don’t get at all.
Consider it the train wreck you can’t take your eyes off.
Me either. I discovered them through this site and meh. They have really questionable values but eh, lots of people do. Conservative families with armies of children are no novelty to me. It’s a reality show based off a stereotype, for me. Nothing more. Like Princess Clara from Drawn Together got her own show, except I’d probably watch that on marathons lol.
As I said upthread, the Duggars are a freakshow to many, and a “shining example of real American values” to a similar bunch of right wing Christian nutjobs. Obvious.
I don’t either. Its like stopping the world to see a dog give birth to 7 pups. I think she has a medical condition that has her addicted to being pregnant. If she’s not in that state, she gets manic. Because if you notice, she’ll give birth, but not RAISE her kids. Every older child is responsible for a younger sibling. That’s a double whammy. Not only do they not get any lap time, but they don’t get much play time either. Kids need that.
Well, every older GIRL is responsible for a younger sibling. The boys don’t have to do as much with the younger kids.
Such a beautiful lady, may she rest in peace.
That photo with her and Bogey stopped me in my tracks.
Breathtaking.
And although I don’t know much about her personal life, i’d wager her inside was even more beautiful.
Yup I have goose bumps just looking at it. They were stunning and in love. Le sigh.
Bogie kept his mistress from his 3rd marriage throughout his marriage to Bacall. He hired her as his assistant after he married Bacall so he could keep her near and travel with her. She also managed his toupees because he was almost bald at the time. Bogie’s two passions were booze and sailing and Bacall was not big on either, but his mistress was. Bacall figured it out at some point, but Bogie would not let her go. She is rumored to have had an affair with Sinatra while Bogie was dying and she said herself that Bogie hated having Sinatra around because she enjoyed his company so much and suspected Sinatra was in love with her.
She was young and probably thought she could change him, but if you drink and cheat in your previous marriages you’re probably to keep doing it.
Yeah I loved that photo. I was sitting here like ‘kiiiiisssss…. KIIIIIISSSSSSS!!!!!’ The tension was off the charts.
She didn’t mince her words that’s for damn sure! I’m also sure she’d have loved my use of the word, ‘damn’.
She was stunning and one of my favorite actresses. I think her passing didn’t garner as many comments simply because it didn’t encourage any debate the way the Duggar posts do.
Incredibly beautiful! It is the death of a icon and a legend. It was certainly worth of more attention, but I guess this would be the way she would have wanted it anyway. She never seemed to care much about the over the top celebrity exposition. May she rest in peace.
+1
One of our greatest actresses ever.
Cate Blanchett would make a GREAT Lauren Bacall in a classy biopic. Even though she already played Hepburn. They look somewhat similar.
I agree. Cate Blanchett was the same kind of class.
I guess controversy and negativity sells. How many people hate watch things, pick up a magazine with Kim Kardashian on the cover, click on an article with Justin Beiber. see a movie just so they can complain about it later on Rotten Tomatoes? But how many of those same people are going to say, “That livescience article about helping ebola patients is pretty good.”?
True! +1
+2
When Elizabeth Taylor died, I mentioned it to my 25-year old friend who shooed me away with her hand and said, “Whatever, she was old.”
This. I’m thinking that from Gen X forward few know who she is. Or have seen these movies. WWII generation experienced the original movies but then many baby boomers became big fans during the height of the art house cinema era during the 197Os into the 80s. Bogie and Bacall festivals , double features, etc. were a reliable recurring draw. That’s over now. Maybe as online streaming adds more classic films there will be a revival. Feel free to disagree.
I agree! I’m an 80’s child who grew up watching old black and white movies during the dawn of this computer age we are now in. Not everyone had cable like they do now and they still showed those old films on regular TV.I LOVED THEM! Most kids now don’t like b & w films at all. At one time People would give whole tributes to stars and figures like Lauren Bacall but not anymore. Reality stars and the like get covers now because most gen-xers don’t seem to know or relate to actors from the golden screen era. They are missing alot I think.
I respectfully disagree about Gen X not knowing about Lauren Bacall. We Gen Xers are now in our mid/ late 30s to early 50s. When we were growing up, old movies were still shown on regular channels, not just cable, and Nick At Nite was filled with sitcoms from the 50s and 60s. Bacall was still active in the theatre in the 70s and 80s. During those years, Bogie was still regularly celebrated and her second husband, Jason Robards, was still a prominent actor on the stage and screen. Generations after us may not really know Bacall but I’m certain most Gen Xers do.
Well, I was born and raised in Paris and a teen in the mid 90’s. I discovered all the classics on the big screen because many theaters in the Quartier latin had festivals/retrospectives every week, usually centered around a director (Cukor, Hitchcock or Bergman, Rossellini, Satyajit Ray). They still do.
It was pre internet era and basically the only way to “ear” english. In 1997, after Mitchum’s death, the theater was packed with people of all ages for Cape fear and Night of the hunter.
That’s where I fell in love with K.Hepburn, Gena Rowlands (Cassavetes always sells good). I don’t know for the US but for many french cinephiles, experiencing those classics in a theater, even if you own copies, is a must.
Another problem for the young generation,I found, is how they’re used to see their lead stars so neat and washy. I explain :I tried to show All about Eve to a teen. All I got was OMG!She smokes! all the time! And in bed!
Kate Hepburn drives drunk in The Philadelphia story. The horror! Etc…
I agree with BoxyLady. I’m a Gen-X-er who ABSOLUTELY knows who she is, and am saddened that she is gone. I watched the Bogie/Bacall movies on TV, and admired her beauty, charisma, and intelligence. It’s really the Milennials who don’t know or care. Not all of them, but most of them don’t care about much before they were born.
A little off-topic, but I really appreciate Bacall’s candor in that interview excerpt. While Bogie and she were indeed very much in love, I like that she was honest about it not being the perfect little love story that everyone wanted it to be. Bogie could be difficult, and it couldn’t have been easy dealing with a much older man, especially once he got sick. I think it’s important not to get too romantic about relationships. They are WORK, and the more complex your partner, the more work it is!
My husband and I are in our mid to late 40s and regularly enjoy TCM and their classic movies. We both grew up with them and encourage our younger friends and family members to enjoy the timeless classics. Rest in peace, Lauren Bacall, one class act among many!
I agree with you. Those purchasing People magazine are most likely younger and therefore only have a vague notion of who Lauren Bacall even was; so the magazine will pander to that demographic.
It’s sad that so many of the young have such a dismissive and often rude attitude about these older stars. My boys grew up watching a lot of old movies (the old Philadelphia Story with Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant, the Thin Man movies, etc.) and really enjoyed them. My youngest is now 23 and he thinks Kate Hepburn was a fantastic and strong female role model. Sadly, I doubt many in his generation even know who she is.
@Suzy, The Philadelphia Story starred Katharine Hepburn, not Audrey. Katharine was considered “box office poison” at that time. She had to buy the rights to the movie and it revitalized her career.
Yes, you are right. I typed Audrey in error. I mean Katharine Hepburn. 🙂
People magazine should be ashamed. Duggars have become the new Kardashian’s as far as media coverage and fame seeking. How does all of that fall into their religion? Do as I say, not as I do? Duggars have lost credibility and dignity.
I don’t like them, either.
I read somewhere about the stuff Michelle did premarriage/early in their marriage, and it’s sad to think she changed so much. Her daughters won’t get to do the fun stuff she did.
The Duggars lost all credibility months ago when they couldn’t distance themselves fast enough from their family mentor Bill Gothard who abused young teenagers/women, where Duggar kids served as retreat leaders, where Quiverfulls get their home schooling curriculum from.
But of course a Christian fundamentalist being pregnant a few days after getting married is more important to PEOPLE than a fitting and respectful tribute to a legend.
They probably didn’t want to have death covers back to back.
Lauren Bacall never carried a movie on her own. She was not big box office. I was surprised when they gave her an honorary Oscar a few years ago. I was surprised when they gave one to Steve Martin, too.
People magazine sucks, that’s why.
+1
It seems to have fallen over the years. I loved reading it in the 1980s, but find it completely different now.
The fact that she’s on the cover when she’s not even 12 weeks is just famewhorish.
Yep. People probably had a deal with them for a cover and if she wasn’t pregnant it would have been about adjusting to married life or something. This way it’s ratings gold for the show and if she miscarried, it’s even more ratings gold and probably another cover. I guess People (and TLC and Jim bob) figure it’s a win-win no matter what happens. I think a lot of people are curious now that the older ones are marrying, if (hopefully) one or two break away from their parents rigidity and get exposed to the world a bit. Here’s hoping for a rebel!
She was a legend. I wasn’t sad at her passing but overwhelmed with admiration-she lived a great long life with class and she wouldn’t give a fig about the Duggar trash.
RIP
Because they’ve been like this for years. They used to run covers for famous Golden Age stars but not in recent memory. I think I first noticed it when Jimmy Stewart got relegated to a side panel and not the main cover. (In favor of IVANA TRUMP’S latest divorce!) I guess they think (wrongly) that no one is interested or ‘know who they are’.
I think that’s the shift that’s happened to all the magazines and perhaps coincides with changes in who buys print media. When I was a little girl, the gossip was always about Princess Diana and Elizabeth Taylor, but now it seems like all the magazines cover about are the Real Housewives, the Teen Moms, the Duggars, and the Kardashians, and getting any real gossip requires going on the internet. I suppose it makes sense: reality people happily provide easy access to information, cutting down on the need to maintain some kind of TMZ-like network, and there are apparently people who both still buy magazines and care about all those stories. It’s a shame someone like Bacall can’t interrupt the same old same old, but I’m guessing the magazines know who their regular audience actually cares about and would prefer to make them happy than try to attract new readers.
I think they’re in a death spiral. They lost a ton of readers with the trashy covers but are locked into them now to maintain their audience. That’s why Brangelina is always on some cover–2 huge, real movie stars. There aren’t many of them anymore in the mix of all the tabloid/reality stars who make the covers. There are just a few ‘go tos’ and that’s why it is all endlessly recycled stories and faces. It’s like celebrities booted models off of fashion mags creating a vacuum for tabloid covers which was filled by faux-celebrities.
But I know a ton of people my age (40) and younger who love old movies, old movie stars and the like. It would be nice to see if they tried a cover just to see how it sold before trotting out another person we won’t remember 5 years from now.
she was amazing. i love film noir, and she was the freaking queen of it (she didn’t do as many movies as perhaps other actresses, but she was stunning in the ones she did). the AFI has a film noir festival in our town, and i hope they do a tribute to her this year.
God! She was a Gorgeous woman!
Stunning, and talented.
She really possessed a fascinating beauty. It’s hard to take your eyes off her.
She spoke her mind, too. I love reading her interviews. Her autobiography is said to be a very good read.
The story of how Sinatra coldly dumped her (after asking her to marry) is something else. If it happened today, we’d see far more than 89 comments!
whoa! now i want to read her book.
Did anyone else know that Lauren is credited with naming the Rat Pack? Apparently the guys had been partying all evening, and she said they looked like a bunch of drowned rats or something to that effect.
Hear hear. I wish there were a few more Bacalls and a few less Duggars.
This is why I stopped reading People years ago. It used to be a really interesting magazine with a mix of famous and regular people, and a mix of feel-good stories, gossip stories, and even NEWS stories. It was crazy. Now it’s just another US weekly or In Touch or whatever. Maybe has a bit more cred than those mags, but not much (IMO at least).
It’s because there is a generation who have no idea who she is. Plus, having talent doesn’t make one “famous” anymore. Releasing a sex tape and/or be on a “reality” show is how people become famous. Such a shame.
Lauren didn’t force feed us every detail of her life. I think she would have preferred the tiny little box to the left. Or actually not on the cover at all.
Most entertainment magazines are just over priced tabloids anyway. They have been going back and forth with being tabloidy, since the backlash of tabloid crap and reality tv. That has occurred in the last few years The discussion of magazines never having models on magazine covers is one example of this.
Because we live in a world where almost an entire generation think culture is KUWTK, taking selfies with their feet…that Bieber and his ilk actually have talent, …do not read or take time to appreciate true art, literature, or history. Do I sound jaded and cynical…hell yeah…am I exaggerating…look at the front of People Magazine on any given week.
Personally I think Lauren Bacall is too good for a People Magazine cover. She was a legend. She doesn’t need to be on the cover of some two bit magazine that declares Adam Levine the sexiest man alive.
Ditto to everything!
Lauren had been out of public consciousness for a long time. She’s very low key. The people commenting on here were probably too young. The comments The Duggars garnered were mostly negative.
She probably didn’t get as much attention as other golden age stars because she kept it pretty low key in her later life. She also didn’t get the Hipster /Retro immortalization treatment that the likes of Audrey Hepburn, lizzie taylor and Marilyn Monroe got. You don’t see her or Bogey on t shirts at Walmart so I could see why the younger general population didn’t care much; not legandary enough. I hope the film community gives her the proper send off at least.
This, I agree.
People magazine is a business. Lauren Bacall has been my favorite actress since childhood, but I don’t read People and wouldn’t have purchased a memorial issue. On a separate topic, though, it’s actually a little terrifying that the Duggars got the cover over *any* legit entertainment story.
Robin William’s death was unexpected and especially tragic, as he took his own life. As much as Lauren Bacall was a beautiful, talented figure, she was 89 and had led a full life, so her death was sad, but not shocking. I would have loved for her to have the cover, but we ARE talking about a magazine most people read furtively in the dentist’s office.
Why anyone would put those hideous Duggars on the cover of anything is beyond me, so I can’t help there. What’s the story? Girl who was raised to believe her role in life was subservience to men and childbearing gets pregnant immediately? Well, knock me over with a feather.
I hate those “we’re pregnant” stories anyhow. Its basically a few pages that can be boiled down to ‘we’re excited’ and ‘I’m really constipated but I can’t tell you that’ and ‘at some point I will expel this baby from my body but I don’t know how’. Not worth the $4.
Lol. I guess we can count our blessing that we don’t have to hear about the constipation these days.
That’s what I was thinking too. What did you expect? Condoms?
Yeah, the surprise would have been she isn’t pregnant.
PEOPLE magazine sales aren’t what they use to be.
It’s a bad magazine anyway. I use to love it in the late 80’s and early 90’s when they had actual insider info on Princess Diana before the rest of the magazines, but I ended my subscript and stopped even buying it on new stands after PrincessDiana died, I think that was my last real purchase of a People mag.
LaurenBacall was a wonderful actress, true Beauty and part of Hollywood Golden Age, it would have been nice to see her gorgeous face commanding the entire cover.
People is not what it use to be.
This is also a magazine that did not think that Nelson Mandela deserved a cover, so I don’t see the shock in it. These are older people who died in old age, so their deaths did not generate the horrid shock of the death of Robin Williams. I also agree that People caters to the internet and twitter crowd, so they have probably never heard of her and I doubt they spend time watching TCM or other older films to see who she was.
Yes, People is a business and for the life of me, I don’t understand this cover, but People has degenerated into tabloid territory now and they used to be something of a quasi legitimate entertainment magazine. That time has passed.
Because it’s People Magazine, and they only care about weddings, pregnancies/births, and kidnappings/family tragedies that affect white people.
Lauren Bacall is far too good for People magazine. FAR too good.
I read up on the Duggars and they are also beneath my notice now. These useless twats, give me a break. She’ll pop out a kid a year and raise daughters to raise the other kids. The kids will never do anything interesting, groundbreaking, or important. Who cares?
Argh, seeing her in a small box next to the Duggars says so much about People Magazine, our society and even Bacall herself, who was content without drama and attention. We need more like her, but I don’t see that happening. Unfortunately.
Well come on now. People die all the time. How often does a Duggar get pregnant?
Oh, wait. Never mind.
Lol.
Lauren Bacall is my Old Hollywood girl crush. How to Marry a Millionaire is one of my favorite movies of hers. It always kind of surprises how in love people are with Marilyn Monroe, because Lauren had it all, imho.
I think people love MM because she’s frozen in time. She died at 36 so she’s forever young like James Dean and Jim Morrison. I guess Lauren Bacall’s story isn’t as exciting. She kept making movies, got married, had children,and got old.
That’s true. It’s hard to be critical of a person who dies young. Living a long, full life is pretty dull for gossip!
Next spring, the museum at FIT in NYC is having an exhibit of Miss Bacalls’ clothes. ( it was in the works before her death)
She was a style icon since Dianna Vreland discovered her.
Next spring mrs Duggar will again be hanging her granny panties out on the clothes line to air.
The soiled panties might well draw a bigger crowd, but it means nothing.
More like POD People. Hiyooo!
Good lord this is all kinds of messed up..All of the kinds.
She was a super diva in her era, that’s the point. Her era has come and gone and the people who stanned for her are long since gone or not of the social media generation. Sad but true.
It’s a sad state of affairs. They could have used the cover to promote something worthwhile, her career and her achievements. The almighty dollar strikes again.
I have to point out, the header of this article is awkward. It should read “does” not “is”. Also, a comma after “cover”.
But People. Mag is not really doing the stellar business they did in the past, so their new model is not really working. Princess Diana s death was still one of it’s biggest sellers and the guy who landed a airplane on theHudson.
Even Kate Middleton, who they have continually tried to push, does not sell when shes a cover for them,baby George sold a bit more, but never equaled that of his Princess Grandmother Diana.
I think it’s a sinking magazine, anyway.
Answer: We lived in a f*cked up world where crazy, famewhoring nutjobs get the most attention. Therefore, the passing of Lauren Bacall isn’t really news. She died at an old age, with quiet dignity. That doesn’t grab headlines. That maniac with the teflon uterus is more imprtant. Somehow. RIP Lauren.
+1000
I can’t stand the duggars and actively avoid all stories about them. And now I’ve lost respect for people mag too. Bacall should have been the cover. What a class act.
I was infuriated when they gave that Glee kid who overdosed a tribute at the emmys but snubbed Larry Hagman. This is more of the same.
+1
I agree wholeheartedly.
Jeebers.
Having living in NYC, my first thought is: “There are a lot of people in the city saying ‘Soo… there’s an available apartment in the Dakota?'”
I was too shocked and devastated by Robin Williams death that I didn’t really pay attention to anything else that was going on in entertainment news. So I didn’t pay my respects at the time to this wonderful, smart, beautiful ,talented woman Who will live on through her outstanding movies.R.I.P.
Class act? Did people forget that every man that she had been with except Sinatra was married/in a relationship? She even admitted it in her book.
In this era of internet news gossip saturation surely no magazine let alone tabloid would be selling in acceptable numbers. Why pay when you can get it free? RIP Lauren.
Kim K sold over half a million VOGUE, setting a record.
Which says a lot about what some of the market goes for these days and many of the magazines were said to have brought. VOGUE a new youthful audience which had never gone near a VOGUE Mag before KimK got the cover.
Maybe it’s Reality T V people who gets the sales, these days? SADLY. 🙁
RiP Lauren Bacall.
She was not a saint, but she was an interesting and intelligent lady. Something I’m sure many of us on Celebitchy can empathize with. So, in honor of Lauren, let this be the last post on this thread that mentions the freaking D*&&`2s by name. If you loved Betty, just whistle!
The truth is people know who the Duggars are but they have no idea who Lauren was or had no idea that she still was around. PeopleMag wants to sell
I have a morbid fascination with the Duggars’ as well. I don’t know why but I find myself watching the show in curiosity of their cult. I read that their beliefs tell them that if children are in a bad-mood they reflect badly on the parents so the kids are required to have a ‘cheerful continence’ at all times.
The entire thing seems so charming from the outside. Big beautiful family full of smiling kids but in reality they are highly trained and watched, controlled, and lorded over. I feel happy that the girls are getting out from under their creepy parents thumb but they will simply be forced to live a life of merely procreating and doing nothing else.
I read their bio’s the other day on their website. In the “future plans” section, all the young boys had plans of “learning to fly a plane” or “be a fireman” or “learn about construction equipment.” All the girls “future plans” were “become a wife and mother” except for Jinger, who said her future plan was to learn more photography techniques. Being a wife and mom is awesome, but to me its a season of life and its not something I want to do for 30+ with no other ambitions and you can bet I’d never teach my daughter that being a mother/wife is her only destiny.