Beauty and The Beast: The Newsletter

Beauty and The Beast: The Newsletter is a Beauty and the Beast fanclub newsletter and letterzine published out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
It was published four times a year: March, June, September, and December.
The first issue was published in March 1988 and ended in June 1990. The newsletter spanned from the end of the first season to two months before the show was cancelled. As a result, the letters, fan discussion, and translation of information doled out to fans by TPTB reflected a cycle of excitement and optimism, fear and anxiety about characterizations and show cancellation, fervent mobilization to keep what they loved, and finally, for many fans, the crushing defeat and sense of betrayal that fractured the fandom. 
This zine series was informally continued in Passages, which began the month "Beauty and the Beast: The Newsletter" ceased.
 
==The Issues==
See these subpages for details about individual issues, including quoted opinions and summaries of fannish views on topics current then, and now. 
Beauty and The Beast: The Newsletter Issues	Beauty and The Beast: The Newsletter Issues	Beauty and The Beast: The Newsletter Issues	Beauty and The Beast: The Newsletter Issues	Beauty and The Beast: The Newsletter Issues
Issues 001-002 	Issues 003-004 	Issues 005-006 	Issues 007-008 	
Issues 009-010 	 	 	 	
==Circulation==
The fan club, and by definition, this newsletter, grew very quickly. In March 1988, it had 100 members. In December 1988, it had 1632 members. From editor in the fifth issue: 
==Contents==
The newsletter contains a small amount of fanart, updates from TPTB, fan poetry, commentary from the editors, and writers, and showrunners.
Some issues have long and meaty letters of comment, and others did not.
Each issue contained one, sometimes two, interviews with people who were officially involved in the show. Many of these interviews included casual photos.
George R.R. Martin (v.1) | Roy Dotrice (v.2) | Ron Perlman (v.3) | Linda Hamilton (v.4) | Jay Acovone (v.4) | Margaret Bessara (v.5) | David Greenlee (v.5) | Kim Leigh Clark (v.6) | Kathryn Spitz (v.6) | Joseph Campanella (v.7) | Howard Gordon (v.8) | Robert John Guttke (v.9) | Shelly Moore and Linda Campan (v.10)
==Connections to TPTB==
As was common in fan club publications, various actors and showrunners were honorary members of the club and were sent copies of this newsletter. The newsletter listed their names: Jay Acovone, Edward Albert, Roy Dotrice, Alex Gansa, Ellen Geer, Howard Gordon, David Greenlee, Linda Hamilton, Ron Koslow, George R.R. Martin, and Ron Perlman..
This, of course, was no guarantee that TPTB noticed or read their offerings, but there are mentions in the club's newsletter that some of them did. One example from the third issue's editorial: "We have a request from George R.R. Martin; "Why don't you do a poll of your membership? Have everyone vote on their three favorite episodes, and their three least favorite episodes, use a point system and publish the results. The totals could be fascinating, and would give us writers an interesting measure of what the fans respond to..."
Sometimes the information offered to fans was reassurance about direction, casting, and characterization, things many fans were hungry for. These statements were almost always along the lines of official publicity. Fans were also given little details of things that occurred on the set, something that fostered connections between them and TPTB. example of The editor told fans in the fourth issue: "Word has it that Roy "Father" Dotrice is deadly with grapes. During a recent banquet scene on the set, Roy started a food fight between takes, with Ron Perlman was acting as lookout for Roy. David "Mouse" Greenlee was reported to have been walking around the set the other week muttering, "Mouse no die. Mouse got contract!" David has signed a contract to appear in fourteen episodes this year." Another example was the interview with, Jay Acovone, one of the actors. The interviewer asked Acovone: "Could you tell me about an incident or two that happened on the set that would give our members the feeling that they're receiving inside information that no one else has, perhaps something that will also teach them something that goes on behind the cameras as well?" 
 
While "official" eyes and comments on this newsletter thrilled many club members, this coziness likely had a cooling effect on their discussion. TPTB's attention and suggestion that fan comments directed decisions about the show also complicated things, especially later on when the show began to take a turn in ways many fans disliked. 
Despite the editor's statement in the first issue that fan's comments need not be "filled with praise, or its actors (although one or two lines or a paragraph or two is appreciated)," when things got too heated in later issues due to changes in the show, some fans scolded other fans in letters. These letters suggested and sometimes demanded, that they do not criticize the show as these complaints would hurt the TPTB's feelings, make fans appear imperious and critical, and scare sponsors away. It was often stated that the future of the show was in the fans' hands and their comments in this newsletter had real impact. One of many examples are the comments in issue #7.
Also See The Classic vs. Season 3 Split and The Beauty and the Beast Wars.
Two examples in this newsletter illustrating the subject of the well-behaved fan, and of fans policing themselves and others, are Do you really want to be a "FAN"? (June 1988) and The Lifeline Letter (June 1990).
==Submission Guidelines==
===The Long Version===
See "Your Club and How It Works". Embedded in that essay are more detailed descriptions of the newsletter.
===The Short Version===
From the first issue: 
==Regarding the Newsletter's Title==
Despite this effort to change the club's name, Beauty and the Beast, to something else, the original name remained.
From the second issue: 
 
From the third issue: 
==References==
Category:Beauty and the Beast Zines
Category:1988 Zines
Category:1989 Zines
Category:1990 Zines