16 Magazine 1957 Tapestry

Founded in 1956, the first issue of 16 hit the newsstands in May 1957 and was well received from day one. However, longtime editor-in-chief and former model, Gloria Stavers, transformed 16 from a standard general-interest celebrity magazine into a major fan magazine focused on the preteen female as its primary reader base. Despite the lack of serious journalistic content and fierce competition from similar publications, 16 remained the top-selling teen celebrity magazine for many years. Amazingly, for the first 30+ years, 16 Magazine was entirely self-supporting and contained no advertisements.