I found an old Home Viewer magazine recently, and I’ve been reading through it. It was known as “The VCR Entertainment Program Guide”. This is the February 1986 edition and costed $1.95. The highlighted movie at the time was Return of the Jedi.
It’s pretty fun to read through and recall many movies I had forgotten about. Including all the ads selling VHS copies of various hit movies, and even a full-page ad for the “CBS Video Club” – “Own a movie forever for the cost of seeing it once – Just $4.95”. You pick from 70 top movies and when you pay the $4.95 you commit to purchasing at least 2 more movies at regular club prices within the next year. THOSE prices, or even samples of those prices, are not shown. I remember my brother-in-law paying $99.99 for Star Wars on VHS though, so I can only imagine.
There’s a lot of full-page ads for movies in here, including Ben (remember the Michael Jackson song?), Mask (starring Cher and Eric Stoltz) , and the brat pack’s St. Elmo’s Fire. Even a few good articles, like one on Orson Welles and Return of the Jedi, which I’ll probably re-read.
I gotta dig up some more of my old books and magazines, this is fun.
JimTrottier.com 