The 60s and '16 Magazine' Trivia Quiz

Answer: It concentrated on celebrities

In 1956, teen magazines for girls (notably 'Seventeen') were primarily sources of fashion, hairstyles and dating advice. Jacques Chambrun in New York thought there was money to be made in a magazine with the same target audience, but primarily focused on the music scene. When he launched '16 Magazine', he turned down advertising revenue because he didn't want to be tainted by accusations of payola. This policy lasted right up until 1990.

By the middle of the '60s, the magazine had a readership of over a million, which sold enough copies to make the venture successful. '16 Magazine' petered out around 2001, but in its heyday it was one of the most powerful starmaking organs in North America and a major player in the music industry.

Answer: Gloria Stavers

Gloria Stavers (1926-1983) was a young model who talked her way into the editor's job at '16 Magazine' in 1958. She wrote the magazine almost single-handedly and maintained an intimate and understanding relationship with her readership that was absolutely unparalleled. Variously described as saintly or terrifying (depending on the source), she was one of the most powerful women in the music industry for the length of her run.

The British Invasion of the early '60s was very much driven by Stavers' magazine. Although the Beatles were popular, it needed a single organ to promote band after band, to promote British slang, British fashion and simple 'Britishness' that drove the phenomenon. '16 Magazine', with Gloria Stavers at the helm, filled the bill.

Answer: "What's your dream date?"

'16 Magazine' was full of nice, respectful young men. It didn't matter whether or not they actually were all these things, that's how they appeared in '16'. Questions like 'What's your favorite colour', or 'What's your favorite food' were the norm and disturbing things like politics, race issues or nasty behaviour were ignored.

The inevitable answer to 'What's more important to you in a girl, looks or personality' was, of course, personality. 'Dream dates' usually included hand holding and ended with a tender kiss and that's as far as they went.

The first '40 questions' were answered by Paul Anka in 1958.

Answer: Somewhere on the back pages

Although by the mid-60s Motown was a mainstream force in music, R&B and African-American artists like Otis Redding or Smokey Robinson or the Ronettes were not part of the '16 Magazine' worldview. From 1964, the Supremes had five straight number one (US) hits and became huge international stars, yet '16' virtually ignored them.

It was only with the Jackson Five and later Michael Jackson that Black artists made it to the centre of the magazine.

Answer: The Dave Clark Five

The 'Dave Clark Five' was the official second band of the British Invasion and for a few years (roughly 1963 to 1970) the band did well in the UK, but just great in the US. This was largely due to '16 magazine's' relentless promotion of the group as 'rivals' to the Beatles.

In doing so, Dave and the boys were put on the same level as the Beatles, which they were not. However, catchy hits like 'Can't You See that She's Mine' or 'Bits and Pieces' kept them going. In keeping with the 'rivalry', they also had a movie ('Catch Us if You Can', 1965) and appeared on Ed Sullivan 18 times.

Answer: Herman's Hermits

Herman's Hermits were a collection of musicians thrown together by a British manager to cash in on the British Invasion in the USA. Although 'I'm Into Something Good' (1964) reached number one on the UK charts, after that the band pretty much disappeared from Old Blighty altogether. US hits like 'Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter' and 'I'm Henry the Eighth I Am' (both 1965) were never released in the UK at all.

Peter Noone was no fool and was very aware that Herman's Hermits' success in the music business was due to the assistance of Gloria Stavers and her '16 Magazine' publicity machine. Unlike many others, Noone actually WAS a nice, respectful boy and was just about the only musician who remained Staver's friend after her retirement in 1975. When Gloria Staver's died of cancer in 1983, Noone was at her bedside.

Answer: Pattie Boyd

Although most of the stars appearing in the pages of '16 Magazine' were mysteriously girlfriend-less, the Beatles' girlfriends (and wives) enjoyed close to same level of celebrity as the Fab Four did. Jane Asher (Paul's bird) got '40 Intimate Questions', Maureen Cox (Ringo's bird) told of her wild nights with Ringo (dancing) and Cynthia Lennon opened her 'secret heart' to '16' readers. George's Pattie Boyd had her own column ('Pattie Boyd's Letter from London'). She reported on the latest London slang, chronicled her fab life in clubs and at parties with the Beatles, and spun vicarious magic for her thousands of fans.

Rock muse Pattie married and divorced both George Harrison and Eric Clapton. She later became a professional photographer.

Answer: Peter and Gordon

Peter Asher and Gordon Waller met and started playing together as teenagers at their private school. Inspired by the Everly Brothers, they started playing clubs in and around London, where they were discovered. At the time, Paul McCartney was going out with Peter's sister Jane and actually living at their house, so a lot of the compositions the duo recorded were written by Paul (including 'Woman', which he authored under a pseudonym). In '16', articles like 'Peter Says Paul's My Best Mate!'(1965) appeared on a regular basis.

Peter Asher went on to become one of the great rock producers and recorded talents like Linda Ronstadt, Cher and James Taylor. Gordon Waller continued to record and play in musicals. He died in 2009.

Answer: Brian Jones

Gloria Stavers fell out with the Rolling Stones, the story goes, over a mixed up party invitation in 1965. After that, although the editor couldn't ignore them, they were pretty much slammed on a monthly basis ('The Rolling Stones: Have They Gone Too Far?' 1964; 'The Rolling Stones Get Away With Murder!' 1965).

The troubled and talented Brian Jones (1944-1969) did appeal to 14-year-old girls - and they certainly appealed to him. Of all the members of the band, he was closest to the '16' ideal, with his 'warm smile' 'sensitive face' and 'gear' outfits. He was a highly versatile musician with some serious personal problems and died mysteriously in his swimming pool in 1969.

Answer: Dino, Desi and Billy

Dino (Dean Paul Martin), Desi (Desiderio Arnaz IV), and Billy Hinsche were fourteen-year-old friends from school who had a little band. As Dino's dad was Dean Martin and Desi's parents were both mega-stars, they made good fairly easily. Although they played and recorded until 1969, their big hits were issued in 1965-66. Gloria Stavers knew good bubblegum when she saw it and touted those nice, respectful young men month after month.

Much has been made of the fact that none of the boys played their own instruments, either in the recording studio or on stage. To be fair, this was standard practice at the time. Most bands were at the very least helped along by studio musicians and many, including Herman's Hermits, The Monkees, and Gary Lewis and the Playboys, did not play their instruments at all in recording sessions, even though many were capable of doing so. Dino, Desi and Billy were not talentless. They wrote a lot of good songs and Billy, in particular, went on to be a member of the Beach Boy's touring band. Desi Arnaz Jr. became a fairly successful actor.

Dean Paul Martin became a professional tennis player, actor, and pilot in the California Air National Guard. He was killed in a crash in 1987.

Answer: The Monkees

Over two seasons from 1966-67 'The Monkees' became one of the most popular shows on television. All four members (Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones) were chosen out of a Screen Gems casting call. All were musicians (even though Dolenz, a guitarist, had to be taught how to play the drums) and eventually they morphed into a pretty good band. The band also toured, made a film and recorded a number of internationally successful albums.

The studio executives who put together the group made the not-to-be-repeated mistake (no disrespect intended) of hiring smart, talented people for their made-up band. The guys worked fiendish hours to pull themselves together as a band, shoot episodes of the show and tour, and pull themselves into a real band. Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork in particular agitated for higher standards in the show and succeeded in eliminating the laugh track the second season, unheard of in 60s TV. However, rising tensions between the cast and the execs failed to dissipate and the show was cancelled at the end of the second season.

All four Monkees remained in music, and a big Monkees revival in 1987 helped their careers.

Answer: Gary Lewis and the Playboys

To be fair, Gary Lewis already had a band and was playing anonymously in a club at Disneyland when a friend of his father Jerry spotted him. A few calls later and everything was set to go. Although Gary and the band were adequate musicians, when they recorded their first hit ('This Diamond Ring', 1965) studio musicians filled in and Gary's voice was a skillful blend of tiny vocal bits all stuck together. Yet in 1965, Lewis won 'Cash Box' magazine's 'Vocalist of the Year'. He had to lip sync in concert and on live television, but that was a secret.

Answer: The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys; Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine began singing together in 1961. They are arguably the best rock band The United States ever produced. But they weren't bubble gum and they weren't cute, so although they usually got a mention, a magazine like '16' would tend to overlook them.

Answer: Sonny and Cher

With two hit singles in 1965 ('Baby Don't Go' and 'I Got You Babe'), Sonny and Cher were on their way. Unusually, they were married and Sonny was over 30, but as their initial success had little to do with music and a lot to do with the right look at the right time. They were '16' darlings from 1965 to 1967, and hey wrote a monthly advice column in the magazine ('Dear Cher...and Sonny'). Their advice wasn't very glamorous, and actually sounded a little like something your mother might tell you ('you know he likes you when he introduces you to his family and washes his car before he picks you up').

Everyone knows what happened over the years - Cher became an Oscar-winning actress and Sonny became a Republican member of Congress (the first one with a hit record, by the way). Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998.

Answer: Rolling Stone

'Rolling Stone', founded by Gleason and his partner Jann Wenner, is a rock newsmagazine with great photographs, probing articles and a cover to die for - seemingly light years away from the kiddy charm of '16'. Gleason, however, was a close friend of editor Gloria Stavers, and John Lennon graced the cover of 'Rolling Stones' first issue.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.