Variety Obituaries is a 15-volume series with facsimile reprints of the full text of every obituary published by the entertainment trade magazine Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

from 1905 to 1994.

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.

The first eleven volumes were published in 1988 by Garland Publishing, which subsequently became part of Routledge

Routledge

Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...

.

Volumes and years covered

|+ VARIETY OBITUARIES>

Volume	Date Range	ISBN-10	ISBN-13
1	1905–1928	ISBN 0-8240-0835-9	ISBN 978-0824008352
2	1929–1938	ISBN 0-8240-0836-7	ISBN 978-0824008364
3	1939–1947	ISBN 0-8240-0837-5	ISBN 978-0824008376
4	1948–1956	ISBN 0-8240-0838-3	ISBN 978-0824008383
5	1957–1963	ISBN 0-8240-0839-1	ISBN 978-0824008390
6	1964–1968	ISBN 0-8240-0840-5	ISBN 978-0824008405
7	1969–1974	ISBN 0-8240-0841-3	ISBN 978-0824008413
8	1975–1979	ISBN 0-8240-0842-1	ISBN 978-0824008420
9	1980–1983	ISBN 0-8240-0843-X	ISBN 978-0824008437
10	1984–1986	ISBN 0-8240-0844-8	ISBN 978-0824008444
11	1905–1986 Index	ISBN 0-8240-0845-6	ISBN 978-0824008451
12	1987–1988	ISBN 0-8240-0846-4	ISBN 978-0824008468
13	1989–1990	ISBN 0-8240-0847-2	ISBN 978-0824008475
14	1991–1992	ISBN 0-8240-0848-0	ISBN 978-0824008482
15	1993–1994	ISBN 0-8240-0849-9	ISBN 978-0824008499

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

Cary Grant

Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

 is also indexed as “Leach, Alexander Archibald”. Clara Bow

Clara Bow

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...

 is also indexed by her popular nickname “The It Girl

The It Girl

The It Girl is the first book in The It Girl series. It was written in 2005 by a ghostwriter with suggestions from Cecily von Ziegesar. Aimed toward young adults, it is a spin-off from the bestselling Gossip Girl series....

”. The names of living celebrities appear in the index when there are obituaries for their spouses and relatives; for example, Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

 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 is the index, such as Champion

The Adventures of Champion

The Adventures of Champion is a 15-minute adventure serial radio drama directed by William Burch and heard weekday afternoons on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1949-50.-Radio:...

 (Gene Autry

Gene Autry

Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...

’s horse) and Bonzo

Bedtime for Bonzo

Bedtime for Bonzo is a 1951 comedy film directed by Fred de Cordova, starring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It revolves around the attempts of the central character, Professor Peter Boyd , to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, hoping to solve the "nature versus nurture" question...

 the chimpanzee.

Critical evaluation

Excerpt from review in Library Journal

Library Journal

Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...

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.