During the Great Depression Americans flocked to amusement parks to hear swing bands and to moviehouses to watch battalions of Busby Berkeley chorines sing We're In the Money. Hard times, it seems, called for escape. For half a century, TIME'S People section, with its glimpses of the famous and infamous, has offered readers escape from news of assassinations, wars and economic woes. Today, though recession is crimping the style of many of their subjects, Staff Writer Gina Mallet and Reporter-Researcher Amanda Macintosh, our People section's Sherlock Holmes and Watson, carry on the department's tradition.

Macintosh and Mallet spend several nights a week at art gallery and nightclub openings, film and theater premieres, sports events, gala concerts, parties and award dinners, often accompanied by TIME'S celebrity-hunting paparazzi. Fortunately Mallet explains, quips often since most of the people we talk to are under the in fluence of something." Unfortunately, Macintosh points out, some call the next morning and ask to have their best quotes stricken from the record.

The throwaway lines that can bring People items to life are also sought over lunch and by telephone. Calling up Barbra Streisand or Paul Newman can be difficult. "It's not easy to get that one good quote from a celebrity," says him up at Macintosh, noon." "especially if you wake To illustrate the section, Assistant Picture Editor Michele Stephenson scans hundreds of photos for offbeat images of "name" names. "We're not just looking for any old king or billionaire," Stephenson says. "People have to have qualities that have captured the imagination of millions, like Jackie O. or Liz Taylor. We especially like out-of-character shots or incidents." The New York staff is aided by correspondents and photographers monitoring celebrity watering holes in London, Paris, Rome, Hollywood and Washington.

People is a TIME tradition that began when the news in our first issue (March 3, 1923) was lightened by "Imaginary Interviews" with that week's newsmakers: Jack Dempsey, Prince George, Henry Ford Sr. and Benito Mussolini. In the decades since, People has become one of the most popular sections in the magazine. Many readers turn to it first for sort of an editorial hors d'oeuvre because of its varied items, some funny, some nostalgic, some simply newsy. Says Senior Editor Martha Duffy, who has edited the section for more than a year: "It is often the lightest part of the magazine, full of incongruities and wit." Gina Mallet has her own analysis of why people need People. Says she, "As Marshall McLuhan once told us, 'Gossip and malice are supreme forms of entertainment and control.' "

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.