McCall Corporation was an American publishing company that produced some popular magazines. These included ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...

'' for women, ''

Bluebook ''The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'' is a style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. It is taught and used at a majority of U.S. law schools and is also used in a majority of federal ...

'' for men, ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...

'', the '' Saturday Review'', and ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

''. It also published ''Better Living'', a magazine that was distributed solely through grocery stores.

History

The company is named after the founder of its namesake magazine, James McCall, who was a Scottish tailor. ''

'' and ''

'' were purchased in 1929. The '' Saturday Review'' was purchased in 1961. In later years,

Marvin Pierce Marvin Pierce (June 17, 1893 – July 17, 1969) was president of McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women's magazines '' Redbook'' and ''McCall's''. He was the father of United States First Lady Barbara Pierce Bush, the maternal gra ...

, the father of

Barbara Bush Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...

, served as the McCall Corporation's president. A controlling stake in the company was bought by

Norton Simon Norton Winfred Simon (February 5, 1907 – June 2, 1993) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He was at one time one of the wealthiest men in America. At the time of his death, he had amassed a net worth of nearly US$10 billion. S ...

Hunt Foods Hunt's is the name of a brand of preserved tomato products owned by Conagra Brands. The company was founded in 1888, in Sebastopol, California, as the Hunt Bros. Fruit Packing Co., by Joseph and William Hunt. The brothers relocated to nearby S ...

in 1956. It became a division of Norton Simon Inc., along with Hunt and

Canada Dry Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks founded in 1904 and owned since 2008 by the American company Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper). For over 100 years, Canada Dry has been known mainly for its ginger ale, though the company also manuf ...

, in 1968. The ''Saturday Review'' was sold in 1971, and ''McCall's'' was sold in 1973, both to groups of private investors. ''Redbook'' was sold to the Charter Company in 1975.

McCall's Magazine

''McCall's'' began as a four-page fashion journal entitled ''The Queen: Illustrating McCall's Bazaar Glove-Fitting Patterns''. It would become one of the country's leading women's magazines. Its name was changed to ''Rosie'' in 2001 as part of a partnership with then-

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

host Rosie O'Donnell to capitalize on the success of

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', b ...

's '' O: The Oprah Magazine'' for the

Hearst Corporation Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, telev ...

. The magazine ceased publication in 2002.

Blue Book and Red Book

In 1929, McCall's Corporation purchased two short story magazines. ''Blue Book'' had its name modified to ''Bluebook'' and remained a short story magazine until McCall's discontinued publication in 1956. ''Red Book'' had its name modified to ''Redbook'' and evolved into a general interest magazine that published fiction and nonfiction. It is now owned by Hearst Corporation, and has a target audience of women.

Popular Mechanics

''Popular Mechanics'' began publication in 1902. By the late 1930s, it was owned by McCall Corporation. The magazine is now owned by the Hearst Corporation, and has a circulation of nine million readers.

Saturday Review

From 1920 to 1924, ''Literary Review'' was a Saturday supplement to the ''New York Evening Post''. In 1924, it became a separate publication entitled ''The Saturday Review of Literature'' ''Magazines in the United States'' In 1942, the name was shortened to ''The Saturday Review''. McCall Corporation purchased the magazine in 1961. It changed ownership several times after 1977, and ceased publication in 1986.

Better Living

In 1951, McCall Corporation began publishing ''Better Living''. The 100-page monthly magazine sold for five cents, and was distributed through stores that were members of the Super Market Institute. It ceased publication in 1956.''A History of Popular Women's Magazines in the United States, 1792 - 1995''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCall Corporation Publishing companies established in 1913 Publishing companies disestablished in 1956 1913 establishments in New York (state) 1956 disestablishments in New York (state) Companies based in New York City Magazine publishing companies of the United States