University of Miami - Ibis Yearbook (Coral Gables, FL)

Page 3 text:

A TRIBUTE TO WILSON HICKS Every photojournalist owes a gutsy chunk of his professional way of life to Wilson Hicks even those one-camera first story editor-baiting art director-hating young misunderstood geniuses who ' ve never heard of Wilson Hicks. Executive Editor at Life during the late 30 ' s and the War years and each of the years until 1950, when standards of excellence within the single shot and the picture story were being established at Life sometimes to be mimicked worldwide by others Hicks laid down the artistic-editorial ground rules by which photo-essays were constructed and judged. It was Wilson Hicks- revered by some, hated by others, respected by most who sat behind his desk, impeccablv dressed, feet often on the desk top itself . . . the old AP newspicture editor, icy-eyed and unbending . . . the man who carried each Life photographer ' s story and battle for identity into the inner sanctum of Life ' s brass. The man who spun slowly in his chair to stare out across the spires of Rockefeller Center into the heart of the stories his photographers were shooting around the world. Hicks, the photo-dreamer who, as far as I know, never shot a picture in his life. Hicks, who was never conned by a padded or rigged-shot whose imagination in pictures and picture stories spanned the spectrum of all that Life offered its weekly waiting audience in those hectic outrageous king-of-the-mountain years. Hicks, who dealt kid-glove or brass-knucks with such diverse individuals as Bourke-White, Capa. Mili, Kessel, Elisofon, Coro, Eisen- staedt. Silk, Parks or Duncan each of us shooting flat-out against the others as though every photo- grapher, on staff or off, was our deadliest foe . . . we were all gunning for those few available editorial pages. Few, very few, when one considered the number of photographers shooting each week for the same space. Hicks, during all of those years, Hicks and no one else, made us a team and the product set the standard for ourselves which we always tried to surpass, a standard in pictures and photo-e and sheer quality badly needed today. Now, Capa, Chim and Bischoff have been killed, a few others have died, some have retired, Parks has broken into films, many have stayed with Life, advertising and television have challenged a handful, Elisofon and I have turned mostly to books, and one or two old- timers have just disappeared. But, no matter where we have gone, regardless of the new horizons or even those old ones that beckon us, we all take Hicks along as our silent co-pilot. Welcome aboard again Wilson . . . I ' ve got the damndest idea . . . David Douglas Duncan

Page 5 text:

A TRIBUTE TO WILSON HICKS i Every photojournalist owes a gutsy chunk of his professional way of life to Wilson Hicks- even those one-camera first story editor-baiting art director-hating young misunderstood geniuses who ' ve never heard of Wilson Hicks. Executive Editor at Life during the late 30 ' s and the War years and each of the years until 1950, when standards of excellence within the single shot and the picture story were being established at Life sometimes to be mimicked worldwide by others Hicks laid down the artistic-editorial ground rules by which photo-essays were constructed and judged. It was Wilson Hicks- revered by some, hated by others, respected by most who sat behind his desk, impeccably dressed, feet often on the desk top itself . . . the old AP newspicture editor, icy-eyed and unbending . . . the man who carried each Life photographer ' s story and battle for identity into the inner sanctum of Life ' s brass. The man who spun slowly in his chair to stare out across the spires of Rockefeller Center into the heart of the stories his photographers were shooting around the world. Hicks, the photo-dreamer who, as far as I know, never shot a picture in his life. Hicks, who was never conned by a padded or rigged-shot whose imagination in pictures and picture stories spanned the spectrum of all that Life offered its weekly waiting audience in those hectic outrageous king-of-the-mountain years. Hicks, who dealt kid-glove or brass-knucks with such diverse individuals as Bourke-White, Capa, Mili, Kessel, Elisofon, Coro, Eisen- staedt, Silk, Parks or Duncan each of us shooting flat-out against the others as though every photo- grapher, on staff or off, was our deadliest foe . . . we were all gunning for those few available editorial pages. Few, very few, when one considered the number of photographers shooting each week for the same space. Hicks, during all of those years. Hicks and no one else, made us a team and the product set the standard for ourselves which we always tried to surpass, a standard in pictures and photo-essays and sheer quality badly needed today. Now, Capa, Chim and Bischoff have been killed, a few others have died, some have retired, Parks has broken into films, many have stayed with Life, advertising and television have challenged a handful, Elisofon and I have turned mostly to books, and one or two old- timers have just disappeared. But, no matter where we have gone, regardless of the new horizons or even those old ones that beckon us, we all take Hicks along as our silent co-pilot. Welcome aboard again Wilson . . . I ' ve got the damndest idea . . . David Douglas Duncan