How hit magazine Jackie shaped the way girls live

The famous girls magazine Jackie hit the shelves 50 years ago and it’s influence remains strong today.

For young girls from 1964 onwards, it was essential reading and even today, many a young lass was moulded by Jackie, even if she doesn’t know it!

The magazine for girls began half a century ago, on January 11, although its real heyday was in the 1970s, when pop stars like Donny Osmond on the cover saw Jackie sell like hotcakes across the UK.

In every girl’s room, the wall posters of Donny, David Cassidy, Mud, Sweet and countless other stars would have got there courtesy of the latest Jackie pull-out.

With their musical tastes sorted, and with the latest photo of their heart-throb, they could then turn to the problem page for advice!Check out our gallery of Jackie magazine covers hereIrene Duncan, who was Head of Magazines at DC Thomson, who published Jackie, believes that even today, mums and grans who were shaped by Jackie are passing on tips to their young ones.

“I think parents’ relationships with their young sons and daughters are very different today,” says Irene, “and in some ways, they have more communication. Of course, back then, there were things you just didn’t discuss with Mum and Dad.

Mobile phones and social media have made a difference, but in the 1960s or ’70s, teenage girls were still very nave.

“So we’d have had 18 and 19-year-olds reading Jackie, but if you whizz forward to today, you’d be talking about 10 or 11-year-olds. The Jackie generations learned so much about life from the magazine. Agony aunts still play a major role and, while problems have changed, they haven’t changed that much.

“Mums or grans who got their advice from Jackie probably did shape things in society because of what they learned.”

Nina Myskow, first editor of Jackie and later a star of Daybreak, This Morning and all manner of media shows and papers, fought to tell young girls more, with more grown-up subjects being tackled.

And, back in those innocent, halcyon days, Irene reckons Nina probably had to fight to do it!

She admitted: “I can’t speak for her, but I think Nina would have had a bit of a battle on her hands! She made a major change in achieving that, however she did it.

“If Jackie was here today, it would be different. For instance, I saw a councillor being quoted the other day, saying something about ‘fur coat and no knickers’!

“I thought there was no way something like that would have been printed in papers in my day! So society has moved on, and things that publishers would have found bad are OK now.”

If British girls could turn to Jackie for advice on real-life problems, they could also explore their favourite magazine for access to what made them very happy.

Like Mr Cassidy and his latest photos, for instance! It was a Jackie with David on the front cover that sold over one million copies, a figure so astonishing that it would still be a record-breaker if it happened today.

“David was edgy compared to Donny, and if you were a bit of a risqu, edgy girl, you were definitely a David fan,” Irene recalls.

“If you were a bit safer, Donny was your man. Funnily enough, all these years later, look at the two and who would you rather have?

“Even the girls who fancied David Cassidy, I wonder if they’d go down that road now? I mean, maybe Donny’s the clean-living one, but he’s done well at the end of the day!”

Amazingly, the most famous girls’ mag of all time almost wasn’t called Jackie coming into a world still reeling from the assassination of John F Kennedy, there were serious concerns about having his widow’s name. In the event, of course, it turned out to be exactly right.

“That is true, definitely,” says Irene. “There was a fear of a connection between the two, of that being a negative thing, but Jackie was quite a trendy name, so we went with it. Look at all these years later, and you still just say the name Jackie and there’s a recognition from females everywhere.”

Irene’s been thrilled at the success of stage version, Jackie The Musical, which has wowed theatres everywhere.

She added: “I think they have the plot absolutely right. There’s an involvement, whether you were a Jackie reader from that age, or if you’ve brought your daughter to see it.

“There is fun, top-notch music, the perfect recipe for the perfect cake, and I think it’s right up there with Mamma Mia!.”