1930s Top Stars

Mae West didn’t arrive in Hollywood as a newcomer - she arrived as a fully formed, battle-tested star.

Before film, she built her reputation in vaudeville and on Broadway through the 1910s–1920s, writing, producing, and starring in her own material. That alone set her apart: West controlled her image and voice at a time when most performers did not. Her shows leaned into bold sexuality, double entendres, and a confident female persona that challenged social norms.

By the early 1930s, Hollywood was struggling during the Great Depression and looking for proven names who could draw audiences. West, already a household name from the stage, was a perfect fit - even if she was nearly 40 when she signed with Paramount Pictures in 1932.

RKO promoted Katharine Hepburn as a striking, modern figure well suited to magazine covers, whereas Spencer Tracy appeared less frequently in such features during the 1930s.

Studios tended to emphasize his reputation as a rugged, dedicated actor rather than a conventional screen idol.

His first known appearance on a cover likely occurred in 1933, when he was featured on issue #648 of the Brazilian magazine A Scena Muda.

Following her Oscar-winning performance in Morning Glory (1933), Katharine Hepburn’s fame exploded, leading to a surge of media attention.
Her role in Morning Glory transformed her into an "overnight" sensation.
Major U.S. fan magazines, such as Photoplay and Motion Picture Magazine, immediately rushed to feature her as a "dynamic new screen personality" in early 1933.
Picturegoer, January 1933, is among her earliest known covers, very possibly the first.

This cover of The Stage magazine (November 1932) features a portrait of Fred Astaire, illustrated by Martha Sawyers, known for her theatrical art.
It captures Astaire at a turning point, as he was about to star in Gay Divorce, a Cole Porter musical that opened on Broadway that same month. The show introduced the classic song “Night and Day.”
This period marked Astaire’s transition to a solo career after his sister Adele retired. It was also his final Broadway appearance before moving to Hollywood, where he signed with RKO and began his famous partnership with Ginger Rogers.

Jean Harlow’s first known magazine cover is believed to be the January 1931 issue of the British Picturegoer.

On May 3, 1937, she made history as the first film actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine.
The issue reached newsstands just one month before her sudden death at the age of 26.

Gary Cooper had long lashes and expressive eyes.
In the 1920s, actors-both men and women-relied heavily on facial expression to convey emotion, especially in the silent era. To enhance this, eye makeup was often applied quite heavily.

On this, probably one of Cooper’s earliest covers-of the Brazilian magazine Cinearte from 1927-the illustrator went even further, exaggerating his striking blue eyes and long lashes to create a more glamorous, "larger-than-life" image.

Myrna Loy rose from silent-era typecasting to become one of Hollywood’s most beloved and enduring stars, known for her sharp wit and sophisticated charm.

Some believe that a 1928 issue of the Spanish magazine *Popular Film* depicts Loy. However, that cover cannot be reliably identified as her.

Her first appearance on a major magazine cover is often cited as the March 1929 issue of *Screenland*. That cover, however, is a painted portrait and bears little resemblance to Loy.

Unlike James Cagney, Bette Davis did not become an immediate star. Her rise was gradual, developing between 1932 and 1934, before her breakthrough in Of Human Bondage.

As a result, early magazine covers (particularly before 1933) are rare and often poorly documented.

This issue of Movies, published by Alavania Publications, Inc., is a strong candidate for one of her earliest known cover appearances.

James Cagney was one of the biggest stars of the 1930s, yet his magazine cover presence is surprisingly limited. Despite his enormous popularity, he appeared on far fewer covers than many of his contemporaries-a rare case of a top-tier star with relatively modest representation in fan magazines.

Several factors help explain this:

Warner Bros. promoted Cagney primarily through his films rather than extensive magazine exposure
His tough, working-class persona didn’t align with the romantic, glamorous style favored by magazines like Photoplay and Modern Screen
His rise to stardom was rapid (1931–1933), leaving a relatively short window for heavy cover circulation
He was known to be private and at times resistant to the Hollywood publicity machine

As a result, Cagney’s covers are fewer-and more distinctive-today.

This Boy’s Cinema (1934) issue is the earliest example currently identified in the moviemags.com archive.

Greta Garbo’s first-ever magazine cover was likely for the Swedish publication Film-Journalen, released on September 23, 1923.

At the time, she was still using her birth name, Greta Gustafsson. She was only 18 years old and had just completed her first major role in the Swedish film The Saga of Gösta Berling (Gösta Berlings saga).

The original magazine is probably lost, or at least no confirmed image of it has surfaced. What you see here is a fantasy cover imagining how it might have looked.

Joan Crawford rose quickly after becoming an MGM “flapper” star in the mid-1920s, especially after films like
Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and
The Taxi Dancer (1927),
along with growing publicity from MGM beginning around 1925–1926.

However, the first magazine cover I have been able to find is this Moving Picture Stories issue from 1927.

Again, it is not confirmed, but the first magazine cover for Shirley Temple might have been this Screen & Radio Weekly issue from May 27, 1934.

Shirley Temple’s breakout rise happened in 1934 after films like:

Stand Up and Cheer! (1934)
Baby Take a Bow (1934)
Bright Eyes (1934)

There is no single universally documented "first ever" Clark Gable magazine cover.
However, when I asked Artificial Intelligence whether this Modern Screen cover from December 1931 might be the earliest one, I received this reply:

"We’re so sorry, but this image may violate our guardrails around lightly sexual or provocative themes."