Pageant was a 20th-century monthly magazine published in the United States from November 1944 until February 1977. Printed in a digest size format, it became Coronet magazine's leading competition, although it aimed for comparison to Reader's Digest. Pageant was founded and first published by Hillman Periodicals.  Publisher Alex L. Hillman saw Pageant as a prestigious addition to his magazine line that included true confessions (Real Romances, Real Story, Real Confessions), crime titles (Crime Detective, Real Detective, Crime Confessions) and comic books, and he went to press for a 500,000 print run on his first issue.^[2] With an emphasis on visuals, Pageant often mixed glamour photo features with informative text on a wide range of subjects. Pageant was purchased by Macfadden Publications in 1961 and published its last issue in February 1977.