Hepworth Publicity

This page contains publicity material from the Hepworth film studios, including house magazines, photos and other movie memorabilia.

The Hepworth Studios produced a wealth of publicity material, including:

• Picture postcards of the stars,
• Posters and other advertising material,
• Magazines ("Pictures and Picturegoer, Hepworth Picture Player", and later on, "The Hepworth Magazine"),
• Magazine articles, and much more movie memorabilia.

We are developing galleries of this material - please contact us if you can help with the project!

The Postcards

Picture postcards were used to promote Hepworth film stars, and were one of the first promotion devices of this type. They were affordable and provided a way for the general public to send messages whist promoting the studios, films and stars. Perhaps this was one of the earlier forms of viral advertising!

An example postcard of Chrissie White is on the left. It seems that the studios produced large numbers of these, even if the actor had only appeared in a minor role in one film. Well, there is no such thing as too much publicity!

The Posters

We don't have many examples of Hepworth Film Posters and associated advertising material yet. It seems illustrated script telling the story of the films that were currently showing were very popular - as you might imagine it might enable the picturegoer to understand the plot before they went to the film - quite curious by today's standards. An example is on the right. Can you help?
Contact us!

The Magazines

We are progressively increasing our catalogue of copies of these magazines with the intention of making them available to visitors to this website. If you can help with this project please contact us.

Pictures and Picturegoer

Such was the interest in films that "Pictures and Picturegoer"  was initially a weekly publication. Due to wartime constrains many copies were printed on thin, poor quality paper and some of the images suffer as a result. Later on production values improved and it became a monthly.

"Pictures and Picturegoer" was a general publication, not specifically linked to any studios, but it carried a great deal of information about Hepworth productions. The general editorial tone is very frothy and optimistic. Sometime midway in its life it became "Picturegoer". Just to confuse matters, a similar publication called "Pictures" also emerged (we have a copy from 1917). Was it the same, a spinoff, or a competitor? Contact us if you know the answer.

Thanks to Chris Lynch This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for the Picturegoer referrals for 1920. 1921. 1924 and 1925

Hepworth Picture Player aka "Hepworth Picture-Play Paper"

The Hepworth Studio had a house magazine, "Hepworth Picture-Play Paper" (price 1d.) which ran monthly for many years. Each copy provided a fascinating cameo of a star, and more. Dr. Nicholas Hiley has provided some scans of the front pages- thanks!  I hope they are out of copyright by now!

Browsable PDF copies will appear here as soon as I can locate more material (and find some more web hosting space too).

We hope to bring further samples of this magazine soon. Please contact us if you would like to add to this gallery.

The Hepworth Magazine

The Hepworth Magazine was a substantial publication with high production values. As well as promotional material, it contained commentaries from famous people, articles on the state of the film industry, and product advertising. Cecil Hepworth was the editor and a frequent contributor.

Exeter University has some copies too.

We hope to bring further samples of this magazine soon.
Please contact us if you would like to add to this gallery.