Harlem’s Tattler Girls Magazine World, From Basketball Teams To Fashion Shows, Fabulous Harlem In The 1920s

The Tattler Girls magazine was the Amsterdam News of its time during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s.

Each year the Tattler Girls magazine, had a group of ambassadors each year that they called tattler girls, which included basketball team games, fashion shows, and much more.

Here’s a cover from Harlem from a magazine cover in the 1920s:

The magazine’s staff included Managing Editor Bennie Butler, Hubert Delany, and Johnny Hudgins.

The photograph above is a group portrait of beauty contestants from a contest possibly sponsored by the Inter-state Tattler magazine, at the Savoy Ballroom in the late 1920s.

The Tattler’s managing editor, Bennie Butler, is in the top row at far left.

Members of Chick Webb and his Harlem Stompers, who are appearing at the Savoy, are shown in the far background.

Items Group portrait of beauty contestants, possibly sponsored by the Inter-state Tattler magazine, at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.

The photograph below is from one of the Tattler Girls Athletic & Social Club or AC basketball teams, which originated in 1924 (the photograph was taken in 1927).

The photograph is some of the winning participants, we’re not sure since the photo does not tell us either way – but we love them.

The Inter-State Tattler (also called the Interstate Tattler) was a cross between a newspaper and a magazine.

Published weekly in Harlem it covered cultural affairs, particularly the theater, and billed itself as “America’s Great Pictorial Weekly.” Theophilus Lewis was an editor with Major as managing or associate editor and star columnist.

The paper began publication in February 1925 and no issues have been found after August 1932.

Photo credit: 1) Tattler staff, beauty contestants, and guests attending beauty contests sponsored by the Tattler. 2) Tattle Magazine cover 1940. 3) The Tattler Girls Basketball Team 1924, source.