Variety Obituaries

Variety Obituaries is a 15-volume series with facsimile reprints of the full text of every obituary published by the entertainment trade magazine Variety from 1905 to 1994. The first eleven volumes were published in 1988 by Garland Publishing, which subsequently became part of Routledge.

Information

Information for each deceased person can include the following:

• Date, place and cause of death.
• Birthdate and birthplace.
• Birth names, nicknames, aliases and other names used by celebrities.
• Education.
• Military record.
• Film, television and stage appearances.
• Awards.
• Career narrative.

Volumes and years covered

VARIETY OBITUARIES

Volume	Date Range	ISBN
1	1905–1928	ISBN:978-0-8240-0835-2
2	1929–1938	ISBN:978-0-8240-0836-9
3	1939–1947	ISBN:978-0-8240-0837-6
4	1948–1956	ISBN:978-0-8240-0838-3
5	1957–1963	ISBN:978-0-8240-0839-0
6	1964–1968	ISBN:978-0-8240-0840-6
7	1969–1974	ISBN:978-0-8240-0841-3
8	1975–1979	ISBN:978-0-8240-0842-0
9	1980–1983	ISBN:978-0-8240-0843-7
10	1984–1986	ISBN:978-0-8240-0844-4
11	1905–1986 Index	ISBN:978-0-8240-0845-1
12	1987–1988	ISBN:978-0-8240-0846-8
13	1989–1990	ISBN:978-0-8240-0847-5
14	1991–1992	ISBN:978-0-8240-0848-2
15	1993–1994	ISBN:978-0-8240-0849-9

Indexes

Volume 11 is the alphabetical index for 1905 to 1986. It contains approximately 120,000 names. There are multiple entries for some people, so 100,000 different people is a realistic estimate.

Each of the four volumes after 1986 has its own index.

Celebrities are indexed under their birth names also. For example, Cary Grant is also indexed as “Leach, Alexander Archibald”. Clara Bow is also indexed by her popular nickname “The It Girl”. The names of living celebrities appear in the index when there are obituaries for their spouses and relatives; for example, Bob Hope died after the reprints were discontinued, but immediately beneath his indexed name are the obituary references of nine of his relatives, as well as his masseur and his business agent.

Non-human celebrities also appear in the index, such as Champion (Gene Autry’s horse) and Bonzo the chimpanzee.

Critical evaluation

Excerpt from a review in Library Journal by John Smothers:

Almost since the periodical's inception, obituaries have been an important feature, and all of them (through 1986) have been gathered together here chronologically in 10 volumes, plus an index volume. The obits vary in length from one sentence to 30 paragraphs and more, with the average entry running about three paragraphs.