When editors were gods

The murdered editor and the famous L.A. landmark

On this day (May 20) in 1931, Herbert Spencer, associate editor of a Los Angeles political magazine called Critic of Critics, was shot to death in the office of Charles Crawford, a notorious L.A. crime figure. Crawford, who by some accounts funded Spencer's publication, was also shot dead. An allegedly corrupt former district attorney was charged with the murders but acquitted by a jury. On the site of the crime, Crawford's widow later built Crossroads of the World, an early shopping center and longtime Hollywood landmark.

He started a famous magazine in his dorm room

Today is the birthday of Paul Williams, founder of Crawdaddy magazine, born in Boston on May 19, 1948. Williams started the pioneering rock magazine at age 17 in his dorm room at Swarthmore. According to his wife's Beloved Stranger blog, Williams is currently in a nursing home with early-onset dementia as the result of an accident.   

Raymond Chandler on the two faces of magazine editors

"I am well aware that magazine editors, like the Roman god Janus, must of necessity have two faces, one to smile benevolently on the literature contributor as writer and the other to regard more grimly the matter of his remuneration." — mystery writer Raymond Chandler in a 1948 letter to The Atlantic Monthly, asking for more money for an accepted piece. The letter appears in "Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler" (1981). Chandler also had this to say about magazine writing.

 

Malcolm Forbes on the fate of nice guys

"Contrary to the cliché, genuinely nice guys most often finish first or very near it." — Malcolm Forbes, late editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, in his little green book, "The Sayings of Chairman Malcolm" (1978). 

One famous editor's faith in intuition

"I have never had much faith in meetings and opinion polls....I believe that the editor of a magazine must make the decisions, and if the editor operates by intuition, as I do, he or she must be guided by instinct. For myself, I adore decisions." — Carmel Snow, longtime editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar, as quoted in her biography by Penelope Rowlands, "A Dash of Daring" (Atria Books, 2005).

 

L. Frank Baum, magazine editor and creator of Oz

Today is the birthday of L. Frank Baum, author of the Oz books, born May 15, 1856 in upstate New York. Before finding his calling as a novelist, Baum edited several magazines—one for stamp collectors, one on poultry, and one for store window dressers called "The Show Window."

 

A now-forgotten editor on how soon we forget

"[O]ne of the sad things of life is how soon—how tragically soon—even the greatest among us are utterly forgotten." — Charles Hanson Towne, now-forgotten editor of such major magazines as Harper's Bazaar, The Delineator, and the Smart Set, in his 1931 memoir, "This New York of Mine."

The woman and magazine behind Mother's Day

Today (the second Sunday in May) is, of course, Mother's Day. The holiday, which got its start in the early 20th century, was created largely by Anna Jarvis with the help of the National Magazine. As Jarvis advised in the National, "Live the day as your mother would have you live it."

How to suck up to editors, 1849

"Editors are fond of relaxation, and many if them appreciate flattery, because it affords them the only lively pleasure attachable to their calling. After obtaining the first paragraph of praise at their hands, you must go out of your way to convince them that you esteem them beyond all others. You must play the 'good companion' with them—invite their wives to your house and declare that their children—if they have any—are cherubs, and if they haven't, that [they] themelves are." — John Pierpont, writing in Holden's Dollar Magazine, 1849.

A well-known health editor ends it all, 1911

One hundred and one years ago today (May 11, 1911), Dr. W.R.C. Latson, editor of Health Culture magazine, apparently shot himself in the head at his office on Riverside Drive in Manhattan. He left behind a note saying, "I have done my best—death."

Editor Elbert Hubbard on fearing mistakes

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one." — Elbert Hubbard, founder and editor of The Philistine and The Fra magazines, from "The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard." Hubbard died 97 years ago this past Monday in the sinking of the Lusitania.

 

The editor as defined by Elbert Hubbard, part 2

"Editor: ... 2. A delicate instrument for observing the development and flowering of the deadly mediocre and encouraging its growth." — Elbert Hubbard, founder and editor of The Philistine and The Fra magazines, from "The Roycroft Dictionary."