Did You Hear?: History of Gossip Columns

Gossip has been an aspect of civilization since the dawn of time. Human nature calls us to gossip when a large group of people live together or share a sense of community. 

Ancient Greek literature is mainly gossip and stories about revenge and love. 

However, majority of the time, gossip is spread verbally, a twisted aspect of the art of storytelling. It wasn't until the development of journalism and news corporations in America that gossip got printed as news, instead of fables. 

While Europeans had been publishing gossip columns throughout the 17th and 18th century, American's didn't follow until the 19th century with the writer James Gordon Bennett. 

James Gordon Bennett was a writer for the New York Herald in the 1800's. He starting writing to show Europeans that American society was as developed and as successful to their culture. Bennett's intent was to compare American life to European aristocracy but through sharing stories about the lives of the commoners, the playboys, and the New York elite, he had started a gossip column. 

Bennett had started a new aspect of American journalism, one filled with stories and rumors and (sometimes) lies. 

Walter Winchell started the first, official, gossip column, On Broadway. Winchell first published in 1929, during the rise of Hollywood and the began to write about the mainstream celebrities at the time. Mainly he published rumors about these celebrities and commenting on their careers. 

Winchell paved the way for other writers to began their own columns, which shaped how we see gossip columns in our society today. With the rise of Hollywood throughout the 1920's, Americans now involved themselves in the lives of the stars living in glitz and glamour. 

Specially, the 1930's-1940's, gossip columns took off and became extremely popular.  

Luella Parsons and Hedda Hopper were some of the most influential gossip columnists during their time.

Hedda Hopper (Left), Louella Parsons

Parsons was a screenwriter while also writing her column, In and Out of Focus while Hopper was an actress when writing Hedda Hopper's Hollywood. 

In both of these columns published rumors about other celebrities and were not always known for the truth. However, they were extremely popular and influential. 

It was said that Hopper held the power to destroy any celebrities' career or movie she did not like. 

In these columns, they would publish about people's career choices, movie reviews, relationship status, and pit celebrities against each other. They each got millions of readers and continued to write until gossip columns started to fizzle out in the 50's and 60's. 

Until they came back. 

Magazines were the most popular source of entertainment and news during the 90's and 2000's, full of trends and current events. 

Including the hottest gossip. 

Us Weekly, People, TMZ, and In Touch were the most popular and influential magazines publishing celebrity gossip. This was a change from the columns of the past because instead of a singular column in a newspaper, now there is entire magazines dedicated to publishing the intricate details of celebrities life. 

TMZ and In Touch were most known for their sensationalism and large claims. 

These articles ruined reputations, careers, and relationships for the sake of entertainment. Now, it wasn't enough for the American people to only have the movies and TV shows these celebrities produced as entertainment, but their personal lives were placed on display. 

Today, magazine sales have dropped significantly with the rise of online outlets and social media. Instead, outlets like Tiktok or Youtube have accounts dedicated to relaying the current drama. These platforms have in-depth explanations, backed with sources which is something the columns didn't always have. In fact, they were known to spread rumors with little factual backing. 

Gossip is something that has always existed and will forever exist but the way information has spread and how it has benefited or harmed certain people has changed, drastically. 

With the on-going development of technology, is every detail of everyone's lives, not just celebrities, up for discussion?