Sassy Magazine

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Sassy
The April 1992 cover of Sassy featuring Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love
editor-in-cheif	Jane Pratt
Categories	Teen Magazine
Frequency	Monthly
Publisher	Matilda Publications (1988-89), Lang Communications (1989-1994)
First Issue	March 1988
Country	United States
Language	English
Website
ISSN	unknown

Sassy Magazine is a defunct cult fave teen magazine. It was founded by an Australian feminist, Sandra Yates, CEO of Matilda Publications, who based it on the teen magazine Dolly, which is still in publication in Australia.

1 Editorial Staff
2 Publishers
3 Dirt Magazine
4 Chia Pet
- 4.1 Releases
5 Book: How Sassy Changed My Life
6 Trivia
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Editorial Staff

Its founding editor was Jane Pratt, and it had a half Australian, half American staff. Its original main writers were referred to by Pratt as "Sex" (Karen Catchpole), "Drugs" (Catherine Gysin), and "Rock 'n Roll" (Christina Kelly)^[1] because of the topics they covered. The fashion department was headed by Mary Clarke and Andrea Lee Linett, and one of their discoveries was Chloë Sevigny, whom they spotted on the street and hired as an intern. The Australian half of the staff covered the art & design (Neil McCutcheon) and beauty departments.

[edit] Publishers

Begun in March 1988, Sassy was originally published in the United States by Matilda Publications, and was later owned by Lang Communications from 1989 to 1994^[2]. Petersen Publishing officially took over with the February-March 1995 issue ^[3], and its editorial offices were moved to Los Angeles from Manhattan. It then stopped publishing as its own title in 1996, when editorial sections (and staff) of Sassy were absorbed into another magazine published by Petersen called `TEEN ^[4] beginning with the January 1997 issue.^[5]

[edit] Dirt Magazine

In the early 1990s, Sassy spun off a short-lived title for teen boys called Dirt, which was edited by Andy Jenkins, Mark Lewman and music video director Spike Jonze (collectively known as "the Master Cluster"). It published seven sporadic issues before ending its run in 1994.

[edit] Chia Pet

Sassy's in-house band was named after the Chia Pet, with various members from the editorial staff, including Jane Pratt on violin, Christina Kelly on vocals, her then-husband Robert Weeks on guitar, her then-sister-in-law (and Sassy writer) Jessica Vitkus Weeks on bass guitar, Mary Ann Marshall (also a Sassy scribe) on drums. Karen Catchpole also lent co-lead vocals to some songs. ^[6]

[edit] Releases

Hey Baby -- CD single of original songs 1. "Hey Baby"
2. "Lunch"
3. "Blind Date"

Tannis Root Presents: Freedom Of Choice -- various-artists pro-choice fundraising CD of cover songs 16. "Don't You Want Me Baby"

[edit] Book: How Sassy Changed My Life

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events.
It may contain information of a tentative nature and the content may change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

In April 2007, Faber and Faber will publish a tribute to and history of Sassy by Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer called How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter To The Greatest Teen Magazine Of All Time. The book recounts the magazine's rise and fall; its unusual appeal to both men and women, teenagers and adults; and its influence on mainstream as well as alternative women's magazines. It will include interviews with staffers and fans.

[edit] Trivia

The November 1990 issue contained an offer to win a free 7" single by Sonic Youth. The A-side was a cover of "Personality Crisis" by the New York Dolls; the B-side was "Dirty Boots (8-track demo short version)." It was limited to 2000 copies. View cover here.
Ian Svenonius of the punk rock band The Nation of Ulysses was named the inaugural "Sassiest Boy In America" in the October 1991 issue.
After excerpting it three times, Sassy led to the publication of Blake Nelson's first novel Girl, which had been rejected previously by over forty publishers and agents.
Three teen magazines have now folded under Christina Kelly as Editor in Chief: first Sassy Magazine, then YM Magazine, and most recently ELLEgirl, which only lasted five issues under Kelly.
Sassy is also a Hawaiian youth magazine published by Double Talk Publishing. Its companion title is G. Both titles are unaffiliated with Jane Pratt's periodical.
Sassy was the subject of some mockery and criticism during its run for what some saw as superficiality and trendiness. These attacks included a profanity-laden rant by the lead character in the first chapter of the Dan Clowes graphic novel Ghost World, and the recurring Saturday Night Live sketch with Phil Hartman as "Russell Clark, Senior Editor of Sassy Magazine" serving as the rather strenuously hip host of a roundtable discussion of "sassy" young men; his character inexplicably declared every utterance from the men to be "SASSY!"
A line in the Cap'n Jazz song "Planet Shhh" references the magazine with the line "I can't shake the shapeless memories every time I read Sassy."

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Sassy, Jane Pratt's Editor's Page, 1988
^ Stakes Sold In Magazines
^ Petersen Will Restart Sassy With Push for Older Readers
^ TIME, INC. v PETERSON PUBLISHING, Decided: April 14, 1999
^ "Sassy and Teen Will Be Merged" -- The New York Times, October 30, 1996
^ "Hey Baby" CD liner notes

[edit] External links

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Categories: Future events | Teens' magazines | American magazines | Defunct magazines