Blueboy

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Background

Adapted from Blueboy® Archives & Cultural Arts Foundation:

Blueboy® magazine was founded in 1974 by editor and publisher Donald Embinder. Embinder came across a small black and white journal called Blueboy. He purchased the journal and soon after reinvented it as a full color glossy magazine.

Blueboy® debuted in 1974 and touted itself as, "The National Magazine About Men," a tag line the publication maintained for decades. The inaugural cover was a playful parody of the Blueboy painting by 18th century master Thomas Gainsborough. By the fourth issue, Embinder was the first gay magazine to secure national distribution and the success of Blueboy® lead to a new visibility for Embinder.

Blueboy® quickly established itself into a lifestyle brand due to Embinder's experience with product advertising campaigns. Various extensions of the magazine included an array of personal accessories, clothing, beauty products and home furnishings. The magazine's outreach included branded ventures such as Blueboy Library, a collection of gay themed novels and Blueboy Forum, the nation's first weekly, live, sponsored forum from a gay perspective. Blueboy Forum debuted on October 25, 1976 on WKID-TV in Hallandale Florida and also aired as a late-night Manhattan talk show on UHF Channel 68.

Embinder also published Torso, Numbers, Jock, and Stars. He also created For Women Only, geared to a straight female audience and marketed for its lifestyle columns and male pictorials.

Blueboy® was a pioneering national men's lifestyle magazine that went from being sold at adult bookstores and gay bars to being front and center at pharmacies and mainstream book & magazine shoppes across the country. Features included lifestyle columns, film and music reviews, excerpts from nonfiction authors, lush original illustrations, celebrity interviews, discourse on politics and gay rights, and gay popular culture. ​ Noted contributors, artists and interviews included Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, William S. Burroughs, Edmund White, John Rechy, Patricia Nell Warren, Christopher Isherwood, Randy Shilts, Mel Odom, George Stavrinos, Robert W. Richards, and Emanuel Schongut. Blueboy® featured stories on Harvey Milk, Ed Koch, Anita Bryant and the AIDS epidemic.

Blueboy® paved the way for gay monthly publications. Its focus was on an affluent, urban gay market that extended its presence in unexpected places. It was the first gay public corporation in the U.S. and traded on Wall Street. The magazine even found its way into the opening lyrics of Cyndi Lauper's hit song, She Bop! Blueboy's success made the magazine a template for which other gay magazines styled their content. During its heyday it was one of the largest selling gay magazines in the marketplace. ​ Blueboy® ceased operations with its final issue in December 2007.

See also Blueboy Annual.

Collected issues

Blueboy 6

1. Blueboy, 4 (January-February 1976)
2. Blueboy, 5 (April 1976)
3. Blueboy, 6 (May-June 1976)
4. Blueboy, 7 (July-August 1976)
5. Blueboy, 8 (September-October 1976)
6. Blueboy, 11 (April-May 1977)
7. Blueboy, 17 (February 1978)
8. Blueboy, 24 (September 1978)
9. Blueboy, 25 (October 1978)
10. Blueboy, 37 (November 1979)
11. Blueboy, 38 (December 1979)
12. Blueboy, 39 (January 1980)
13. Blueboy, 44 (June 1980)
14. Blueboy, 46 (August 1980)
15. Blueboy, 47 (September 1980)
16. Blueboy, 55 (May 1981)
17. Blueboy, 56 (June 1981)
18. Blueboy, 68 (June 1982)
19. Blueboy, vol. 15 no. 3 (June 2004)
20. Blueboy, vol. 18 no. 9 (December 2007)