Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

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SOMANHIS EVENTS 25 MODERN MAGAZINES No other country in the world has such an array of periodicals as America. There are magazines to appeal to every individual taste and hobby. Different types of people naturally demand different types of magazines. A business man looks forward with interest to the arrival of his particular business journal; the farmer peruses every issue of the agricultural journals in order to follow each step in the development of good farming; the housewife is delighted when, in scanning the pages of the latest issue of her favorite ladies’ magazine, she discovers a new recipe for making pudding, a new crocheting pattern, or a new device for simplifying her housework. Then there are the news magazines which are of interest to all those who wish to follow the important events of the day. These have become very popular because of their independent discussion of a wide range of subjects dealing with current affairs. By far the most widely circulated news magazines are: “The Out- look,” “The Literary Digest,’ “The Independent,” and “The Weekly Re- view.” “The Ladies’ Home Journal,” “The Saturday Evening Post,” and “The American Magazine” are typical of the most popular periodicals for leisure reading. “Harper’s Magazine,” “Vhe Atlantic Monthly,” and “Scribner's,” represent the best of our literary magazines. “The Scientific American,” though not so generally read, has its appeal for the many inter- ested in science. Magazines published entirely for entertainment are becom- ing more and more popular. “Puck” was for many years the most popular comic magazine, but it has recently been discontinued, leaving the field to “Judge” and “Life.” Almost all of these magazines have grown from small unrecognized publications to popular, widely circulated periodicals. “The Saturday Evening Post” was established in 1728 by Samuel Keimer, Benjamin Franklin’s first employer. It was originally named, “The Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette.” When one year later Benjamin Franklin became the owner of it, he changed the name to “The Pennsylvania Gazette.” Despite many advers ities it existed under this title until 1821 when the name was again changed, this time to “The Saturday Evening Post.” Through the enthusiasm of the new owners and editors, the magazine was able to boast, in 1827, of a circulation of more than 7,000 copies weekly. But when in 1899 its fortunes began to decline, Cyrus Curtis of the Curtis Publishing Company took over this unimportant periodical at its lowest ebb. By persistent effort, he made it what it is today, one of the most popular and most widely circulated periodi- cals in the world. Its development illustrates the most spectacular growth of a periodical in the history of America. Its distribution has for several years reached 2,000,000 copies a week. It has been necessary to limit the output to prevent its circulation from reaching an unmanageable figure. “The Ladies’ Home Journal” and “The Country Gentleman” are other examples of what Cyrus Curtis has accomplished with periodicals. ‘The Ladies’ Home Journal” consisted originally of only a few columns on domes- tic life which appeared in a back section of one of Mr. Curtis’ magazines. Mr. Curtis, with the aid of clippings from other periodicals, compiled these rather unimportant columns himself. Mrs. Curtis thought some of the material very absurd and often jested with her husband about it. One day, as a result of having his rather poor attempts at writing a woman’s column ridiculed, he turned to his wife with, “If you think you can do any better, why don’t you write it yourself?” Mrs, Curtis, spurred on by this remark, took over the writing of the columns which, under her head, became so popular that it was established as a separate edition. The publishers, on printing the first edition, asked Mr. Curtis what he wished it to be named. He answered casually, “Oh, call it anything; it’s a sort of a ladies’ journal.”

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24 SOMAN EIS” EVENTS So the periodical first appeared with “Ladies’ Journal” for its title. Under the title was a picture of a house and the word “Home.” The first sub- scriptions received asked for “The Ladies’ Home Journal” and thus it is still known, At the present time it is so widely circulated that one out of every ten women in the land wait eagerly for each issue. The purely literary magazines are among the most widely read. The “Port Folio,” founded in 1801, was the first noteworthy literary magazine in America. Its superiority to earlier magazines was promptly recognized and it soon claimed among its contributors, Charles Brockden Brown and John Quincy Adams. Its literary standard is continued today in such mag- azines as “Harper’s,” established in 1850, “The Century Magazine,” estab- lished in 1870, ‘“Scribner’s,”’ established in 1877, and “The Atlantic Month- ly,” established in 1857. . “The Atlantic Monthly” was established to express the social, ethical, and artistic tendencies among our leading writers, and to give publicity to various reforms that were under discussion. It was published without illustration. Its policy made for quality rather than large circulation. Every important American man of letters has appeared in it. It has the most distinguished array of editors in the annals of literary history, among whom are: James Russell Lowell, James Fields, William Dean Howells, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Horace Scudder, and Ellery Sedgwick. Though the magazine has become widely circulated, it has achieved its success with- out sacrificing its high standards. All these literary periodicals contain the latest works of our best American authors. These works are often in short story form, the type of story which has become so popular in recent years. Besides providing liter- ary entertainment, these magazines often publish a supplement containing a discussion of and criticism of the newest books. Despite their obvious differences because of their variety of readers, magazines are really constructed on about the same basis. The editorial column holds an important part in most of our modern magazines. In England and in some parts of the United States, editorials are called “Leaders”, for they express what is understood to be the editor’s policy on a leading subject which engages the mind of the public. The end of all editorials is the expression of good judgment and intelligent opinion. Usually the subject of an editorial originates from a newspaper article of general interest. From the facts of this article, the editor draws some con- clusion. The editorials cover a wide area range of subjects relating to politics, religion, war, business, finance, education, behavior, or philan- thropy. A local editorial takes a current civic problem and discusses whether, for instance, the city can afford a certain outlay, whether the public work is needed or desired, and whether the sum provided is enough or too much. Very often the editorial discusses and reflects upon the moral aspect of some event or utterance, thereby leading and forming public opinion. The advertisements in our modern magazines add greatly to their inter- est. Advertising has become an art in itself, partly as a result of the great competition in modern business. Corporations vie with one another in advertising their goods. Thus, the advertising section of a magazine has become a section to which readers turn with curiosity and anticipation. In these advertisements all sorts of novel devices are used to create in the reader, desire, longing, or admiration for the goods advertised. Often inter- esting little stories or a news element may be embodied. But greater and more appealing to the human emotions than any other advertisements we have today, are the pictorial ads, which have become exceptionally fine in quality. The very attractive and artistic color schemes used in these pictor- ial ads make them especially effective. Contrary to other advertisements, the reading matter in a pictorial ad is of the least importance. It is the ex-