The magazine history of gentleman

After Harold Hayes entered Esquire at the age of 24 in 1961, he crammed all the activities of the 196s into this men's magazine. In addition to the traditional pretty girls, fine wine and excellent novels, it has become the pioneer of "new news", new cover design and hippie reporting style. If "seriousness" is used to describe William Shawn's The New Yorker, and "impudence" is used to describe hugh hefner's Playboy, then the matching word must be "fun" for Gentleman directed by Harold Hayes. Carlo Posgru, who teaches journalism at Indiana University, wrote this long but interesting book after interviewing more than 5 clients and reading a lot of original materials: It's not elegant, but isn't it fun: Gentlemen's Magazine in the 196s. George louis described Hayes as a Mark Twain figure, who likes to wear a white suit, often shakes a long cigar and has a pair of eyes like a bridge master. This natural editor started an award-winning student magazine in high school. Before Hayes entered this magazine, under the guidance of the literary interest of Ginrich, the founding editor, Gentleman magazine, which aims at men's fashion, published Fitzgerald, Hemingway and other famous novels, which has a certain appeal in the literary field. However, the rich and disorderly social trends brought by the 196s made this old-fashioned magazine look dull. Harold Hayes is destined to be a model editor of noisy atmosphere. His lively, all-encompassing and even slightly low-grade taste has brought a style to Gentleman magazine that is in perfect harmony with the atmosphere of the 196s. Like all great editors, Hayes has an amazing talent for talent selection and gives absolute autonomy to the people he chooses. George louis, who is famous for his audacity in advertising, became the cover director of the magazine. Black boxers, native Indians, Nixon's face, and Andy Warhol's Campbell soup pot, the most classic symbols of the 196s, were boldly and exaggeratedly put on the cover of Gentleman. Faced with the accusation of "racist", Hayes fought side by side with Louis without compromise. Louis once chose the shocking black-faced Santa Claus as the cover, which angered advertisers and caused Gentleman to directly lose $75, in advertising expenses. But Hayes still insisted many years later that "Gentleman" would not be "Gentleman" without Louis. In 1991, Printing magazine recalled that the 92 covers designed by george louis for Gentleman were indeed the most unforgettable magazine covers in history. In 1963, a young man named Tom Woolf came to a magazine to apply for a job. Hayes's first task was to write a long story on special cars. The Yale graduate went to California to study this problem for weeks, but when it was time to hand in the manuscript, he couldn't write a word. He had to spend the whole night creating a 49-page conscious memorandum. Hayes's "Gentleman" magazine gave it the title of "Candy-colored Streamlined Doll with Orange Chips", and almost all of it was published. This article initiated the era of "new news writing", and Tom Woolf and hunter thompson of Rolling Stone later became among the outstanding contemporary American writers by this kind of semi-novel and semi-report writing. Gentleman, on the other hand, makes itself the first media in journalism. In Hayes' era, the list of contributors to Gentleman magazine was a series of writers with strange personalities and unconventional writing: norman mailer, truman capote, james baldwin, Jia Thales ... In order to seek innovation, Hayes sent an editor to accompany the Beat poet allen ginsberg to India and make a report. He himself flew to Paris to try to persuade Samuel Beckett to write for the magazine. In 1968, he successfully got William burrows, a beat writer, to cover the annual American election for Gentleman. In the messy manuscript sent back by Burroughs, Gingrich, the owner of Gentleman magazine, commented that he could only understand 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27, 29&; Paragraph 31, however, he has no objection, as long as other editors can understand the rest of the paragraph. In Hayes' era, the editorial ambition of Gentleman magazine was infinitely expanded, and they even wanted to write some articles about "honor" for the magazine in Charles de Gaulle, France. Of course, the editors didn't expect to reply. The French hero agreed. The board of directors represented by Gingrich seems to have tolerated Harold Hayes' unscrupulous editing style to the maximum extent. They watched helplessly, and this colorful editor really turned Gentleman into a weather vane in the 196s. Although Tom Woolf and William burrows's articles were too stubborn to read, and george louis's cover was too exaggerated, they were really fucking popular with young people. In 1967, the circulation of Gentleman magazine exceeded 1 million, with a profit of 3.4 million dollars. In the 196s, everything was seeking change, just like norman mailer tried to overthrow Hemingway. Gentleman magazine tried to convey the American situation in the 196s, which was constructed by rock music, student movements and sexual confusion. Gentleman in Hayes' era is still a men's magazine, and his outstanding point is to understand the definition of men to the greatest extent. Men not only care about the global political events reported by Time, but also pay attention to the business news of The Wall Street Journal, not only the debauchery in Playboy, not only the men's clothes and perfume emphasized by GQ, but also the mania in rock music ... In Hayes' view, a standard man is full of interest in all these things, and he edited Gentleman magazine. Harold Hayes is not trying to express the power of simple words or pictures, but he is trying to show a distinctive character and proposition through Gentleman, which is more attractive than simple editing ability. By 1973, the noisy and carnival 196s had completely passed, and our Harold Hayes seemed to have lost his passionate and creative editing style, and the board of directors gradually lost interest in him. He resigned angrily after his dual roles as publisher and editor-in-chief were rejected. In the following years, after doing TV and editing magazines briefly, he died of a brain tumor in 1989 at the age of 62. Today, when it comes to the list of great editors, Harold Hayes stands shoulder to shoulder with William Shawn (The New Yorker), Tina Brown (Vanity Fair), Glenn Ward (Time), Jane Wenner (Rolling Stone) and Lewis Lipham (Harper). Just as General Patton is only suitable for living in wartime, Harold Hayes' outstanding talent can only be fully demonstrated in chaotic times. This, as Columbia University News Review commented on Gentleman magazine in the 196s: crazy days with Harold Hayes. A joke strongly proves Hayes' paranoia in character. Thomas B. Morgan, who has written more than 4 articles for Gentleman, went to Hayes and asked for an increase in the manuscript fee from $1,35 to $1,5. Our editor said that only norman mailer was paid $1,5, and he deserved the Nobel Prize. Morgan protested that magazines such as Vanity Fair paid more. Hayes replied to this matter-of-factly: "When I was buried after my death, my last sentence was still that Morgan was worth $1,35 and Mailer was worth $1,5." This strong sense of posture seems to confirm Harold Hayes' famous saying. He claimed that an outstanding editor does not choose excellent manuscripts, but conveys an idea. Yes, Hayes's ideas have always been clear and firm, so he won a great victory in the 196s when he flaunted his ideas and passion. And in the next, relatively mediocre 7 s and 8 s, it was difficult.

before April, 1987, when Philip W·Moffitt was the editor-in-chief, the period of humor and intelligence dominated literature and art, with a strong literary accent and little talk about sex and women.

During this period, Gentleman mainly published humorous but serious literary comments, various columns and short stories praised by professional literary critics, with * * * accounting for more than two-thirds of the editorial pages, while men's magazines accounted for less than one-sixth of the editorial pages on men's clothing, social interaction and gender topics. However, since the baby boom, the number of American men reading serious magazines is decreasing. Although the readers of Harper's and Atlantic Monthly, which were founded in the 195s, are also decreasing, they are older than Gentleman after all, and after revision, they consider readers' reading needs more, but they still maintain a serious, in-depth, mature and rational style of writing, which is the most important in entertainment, practical information and professional fields. However, Gentleman, the first men's magazine in the world, can't surpass Harper's and Atlantic Monthly, but at the same time, it has lost a wider range of male readers looking for entertainment and practical benefits, and the number of readers has dropped a lot.

At this time, Gentleman's strong literary accent is mainly manifested in the fact that its authors are mostly literary critics, columnists or novelists, with the works of famous writers as the leading products, and almost at least one short story is published every periodical, and there are novel specials every year. For example, in September 198, Nabokov's famous article on how to read and write was published, and seven famous writers, including Fubailou, were discussed in detail in the Literary Lecture Notes.

since April 1987, Li? Eisenberg began to be editor-in-chief, and in October 199, Terry? McDonough began to take over as the new editor-in-chief, and then Kosner became the editor-in-chief in January 1994, which belonged to the "thematic leading period of the integration of culture and business".

This period can be said to be the most mediocre in the history of Gentleman. Its cover is less and less avant-garde, and its personality is not strong and it is not fashionable enough; Its layout is not pleasing enough, too steady and slightly boring; Its content orientation is vague, and there are many topics, but the topics are extensive. Originally, it wanted to enrich the content to attract readers, but it was too big to be used. For example, the content of commercial economy was a chicken rib.

Since February 1993, Gentleman has also become an international popular size, and the lines of its logo have become thinner to appear fashionable and energetic, all of which are efforts made to suit readers' tastes and achieve market success.

From May 1994, Edward Kosner, the former editor-in-chief of new york magazine and a former editor of Newsweek, took over as editor-in-chief and left his post in 1997. This can be said to be "the main period of culture with the topic of gender as the pioneer and literary and artistic works as the backing."

I'm afraid the success of The New Yorker magazine is the reason why the owner of Gentleman magazine invited Kosner to come over. Kosner was more smug than the last two editors-in-chief. He published a confession of innovating the magazine as soon as he took office, while the first two took office silently. Only careful readers can learn the news that the new editor-in-chief took office from the copyright page. But the next few years showed that Kosner could not make Gentleman, which was defined as a recession by Zhan Sen, the author of Magazine Industry, full of vitality.

Gentleman once again holds high the banner of "sex" to guide men, but focuses on in-depth analysis and reporting, and adds the content related to sex in its annual "Ambiguous Achievement Award". However, the original relaxed and interesting topic has also become serious and heavy, and this in-depth analysis can not attract many men's tastes.