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Endpoint: Joe van Cottom

created on: 4/09/2017
by: Lo55o (12478)

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Joe van Cottom (born 5 September 1898, Brussels, Belgium - died 30 October 1994, Brussels, Belgium (aged 96)) was a Belgian reporter and editor.
He was the son of a butcher family.
As founder of the celebrity magazine Ciné Revue in 1944 he met people like Natalie Wood, Walt Disney et Cecil B. de Mille and organized the glorious galas «Nuits électriques» during the 50s in Brussels.

He would remain editor of Ciné-Revue till 1980.

A fishing enthusiast, he started his career as a journalist in the sports section of an Antwerp newspaper before writing for the daily newspaper "Demain" in Brussels, where he became director of sports services.
In 1921, he created the periodical "L'Echo théâtral et cinématographique", the ancestor of "Ciné-Revue", of which he was founder, director and editor-in-chief.
In 1925, he was co-founder of the Professional Association of the Cinematographic Press ( l'Association professionnelle de la presse cinématographique - APPCB) and, one year later, of the "Union of theatrical press" (Union de la presse théâtrale). Fishing enthusiast, he launched the magazine "La Pêche Sportive", set up the "National League Against Water Pollution" (igue nationale contre la pollution des eaux») in the early 1930s, and became responsible for the radio chronicle at Radio Belgium with Ernest Hemingway.

It was in the immediate post-war period that the cinema completely captured Joe van Cottom. Beginning in 1946, he attended Hollywood regularly. Every two years, he returns with anecdotes and meetings that he shares with the readers of "Cine-Revue". During his travels, he became a friend of Walt Disney, Gary Cooper, Olivia de Havilland. He interviews the biggest, from Hitchcock to Mitchum, from Chaplin to Mack Sennett, from Frank Capra to Rita Hayworth. It thus amasses cinematographic treasures: recordings, photos, letters of stars ...

In the 80s he published his memories in two large books illustrated with rare or unpublished photographs: Ce monde fou-fou du cinéma français» (That crazy world of French cinema) and «Ce monde fou-fou de Hollywood (That crazy Hollywood world)".

He almso published «Amours et scandales à Hollywood» (Love and Scandals in Hollywood), where he described the lifes of Frank Sinatra, Elisabeth Taylor, Cary Grant ...

Joë van Cottom represented the popular memory of the 7th art. A decade ago, at a Deauville festival, Alain Delon summed up the man as: "Here's a gentleman to whom we all owe something."