Although the numbering continued that of the monthly Splashes, the editorial of Vol.12, no.12 indicated that the magazine had changed hands. The previous editor, Mrs Fotheringhame, was to have charge of the society pages only, and the new weekly was to be 'specially written in the interests of women and children'. Over the next few months, it progressively increased in size, sported a new cover, and began publishing more extensive photographs, including full-page portraits of theatricals and celebrities and double spreads of various events. It presented its brief as 'to chronicle Music, Art, Drama, Sport, and all phases of Society, in clean and crisp journalism.' By mid-1914, drama incorporated film, with picture theatre listings and reviews, news, and fan tales. It carried brief news from Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, and London. From the outbreak of war, the magazine became overtly patriotic, with covers displaying nurses and flags, etc., while inside were reports from the front and photographs of soldiers killed. When it ceased publication in March 1917, because of paper shortages, it declared that it was retiring 'at the summit of our reputation... We have chronicled and richly illustrated all events of local interest until we have come to be known as the premier journal in our line'.
Splashes
Splashes : A Magazine for the Multitude
Pattie Fotheringhame
(editor),
1899
Sydney
:
George Wride Jr
,
1899-1911
Z1210732
1899
periodical
The magazine's motto was 'Fear God, speak evil of none, Stick to the truth, and never be done'. Justifying its existence in an already crowded magazine market-place, Splashes declared that 'the ear-mark distinguishing this young lamb from the majority of the newspaper flock will be - cleanliness'. To potential advertisers, it boasted of itself as 'a dynamite bomb which wakes up the sleepy would-be purchaser, and, magnet-like, draws him to your office, warehouse, shop or factory'. While it addressed its 'lady readers who preach the equality of the sex, an opportunity ... is here offered for securing converts', yet it was disparaging of 'The New Woman', found more often in 'books, magazines and comic papers' than in real life, calling her 'inconsistent, wanting in sense of humour, not ready to fulfil the duties for which she has obviously been made, wanting in commonsense, egotistical, and an enigma alike to herself and to other people'. It published news, gossip, anecdotes, verse, short stories, and serials, offered reviews of theatre and music, discussed weddings, royal visits and events, fashions and various occupations for women, ran competitions, and provided gratis paper patterns for home dressmakers.
