The ''New York Evening Graphic'' (not to be confused with the earlier ''
Daily Graphic
''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication ...
)'' was a
tabloid newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
published from 1924 to 1932 by
Bernarr Macfadden
Bernarr Macfadden (born Bernard Adolphus McFadden, August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine pub ...
. Exploitative and mendacious in its short life, the ''Graphic'' exemplified
tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...
and launched the careers of
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
,
Louis Sobol
Louis Sobol (August 10, 1896 – February 9, 1986) was a journalist, Broadway gossip columnist, and radio host. Sobol wrote for Hearst newspapers for forty years, and was considered one of the country's most popular columnists. Sobol wrote about ...
, and sportswriter-turned-columnist and television host
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television personality, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New York ...
.
History
The ''New York Evening Graphics founding editor was investigative reporter
Emile Gauvreau
Emile Gauvreau (1891-1956) was an American journalist, newspaper and magazine editor and author of novels and nonfiction books. He is best known as editor of two of New York's entertainment and sensation oriented "jazz age" tabloid newspapers.
E ...
, who grew up in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
and in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec, the eldest son of an itinerant French Canadian war hero. Gauvreau, a
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
drop-out, began his
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
career as a cub reporter on the New Haven ''Journal-Courrier'' — alongside part-time Yalies such as
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...
— during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and by 1919, had moved on to become the youngest managing editor in the history of the ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' after only three years on the job. He was fired when an investigative project embarrassed "Boss" Roraback, Connecticut's state
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
utilities tycoon
J. Henry Roraback. In 1924, Gauvreau made his way to New York to seek his fortune on ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' under
Carr Van Anda
Carr Vattal Van Anda (December 2, 1864 – January 29, 1945) was the managing editor of ''The New York Times'' under Adolph Ochs, from 1904 to 1932.
Biography
Van Anda was born in Georgetown, Ohio to Frederick Van Anda and Mariah Davis. He m ...
, when, as he relates in ''My Last Million Readers'', he was introduced to Macfadden through the publisher's editor in chief,
Fulton Oursler
Charles Fulton Oursler (January 22, 1893 – May 24, 1952) was an American journalist, playwright, editor and writer. Writing as Anthony Abbot, he was an author of mysteries and detective fiction. His son was the journalist and author Will Ou ...
, an almost chance encounter which became "the most violent turning point of my life."
My departure from the ''Courant'', as a result of the medical diploma-mill revelations had injected my name into newspaper stories of investigation. A number of those accounts pictured me as some sort of martyr. MacFadden, who had no use for doctors, quack or legitimate, was keenly interested in the fight I was waging. As a result of our conference I was engaged to organize an afternoon tabloid newspaper to be published in New York under the name ''The Truth''.(...) He spoke of his projected newspaper as a crusading daily, which would tell the truth under all circumstances, and I listened to him with enthusiasm."
Notable content
From the beginning, the paper featured a
gossip column
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal li ...
by
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
and when he quit in 1929, Louis Sobol. In 1931,
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television personality, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New York ...
, who had authored a sports column entitled "Sport Whirl", debuted his column, ''Ed Sullivan Sees Broadway''. Film director
Sam Fuller
Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and World War II veteran known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made ou ...
worked for ''The Graphic'' as a crime reporter.
Ernie Bushmiller
Ernest Paul Bushmiller Jr. (August 23, 1905 – August 15, 1982) was an American cartoonist, best known for creating the daily comic strip ''Nancy (comic strip), Nancy'', which premiered in 1938 and features the title character who has remained ...
created the comic strip ''Mac the Manager'' at the ''Graphic'' prior to his creation of the ''
Nancy'' comic strip.
The ''Graphic'', which sported the motto "Nothing But the Truth", often exploited a
montage
Montage may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Filmmaking and films
* Montage (filmmaking), a technique in film editing
* ''Montage'' (2013 film), a South Korean film
Music
* Montage (music), or sound collage
* ''Montage'' (Block B EP), 201 ...
technique known as the
composograph Composograph refers to a forerunner method of photo manipulation and is a retouched photographic collage popularized by publisher and physical culture advocate Bernarr Macfadden in his ''New York Evening Graphic'' in 1924.
The ''Graphic'' was dubb ...
to create "photographs" of events it could not obtain actual photos of, such as
Rudolph Valentino
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
's corpse, or Valentino's spirit being greeted in heaven by
Enrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
.
In his 1931 autobiographical novel, ''Hot News'', Gauvreau takes personal credit for the invention and for launching "a new chapter in the history of tabloid journalism". Gauvreau, the ''Graphic's'' contest editor Lester Cohen, and
Fulton Oursler
Charles Fulton Oursler (January 22, 1893 – May 24, 1952) was an American journalist, playwright, editor and writer. Writing as Anthony Abbot, he was an author of mysteries and detective fiction. His son was the journalist and author Will Ou ...
,
Macfadden Publications
Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century.
History
Macfadden Publ ...
' second-in-command, later claimed the images were intended to catch attention, present the news in pictorial form, and sell newspapers, but not to deceive. Gauvreau, however, said his staff had to create news to maintain its circulation, and composograph pictorials helped move things along. "We could no longer wait for calamities to happen. "Characters were built up and paraded. Hot news became the wild, blazing, delirious symptom of the time." Cohen credits art department staff member Harry Grogin as "the inventor of the composite picture."
In 1929, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine in a profile of Winchell, wrote:
Not all readers of that gum-chewers' sheetlet, the ''New York Graphic'', are gum-chewers. Some of them smuggle the pink-faced tabloid into Park Avenue
Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...
homes, there to read it in polite seclusion. They have reason: the ''Graphic's'' gossip-purveying, scandal-scooping, staccato-styled Monday column, "Your Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
and Mine.
Further evidence that the ''Graphic'' was secretly enjoyed by the intelligentsia is provided by a 1929
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
lyric, in which the heroine asks "Should I read
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
or continue with the ''Graphic?''"
Criticism
![Peaches & Daddy Browning Composograph 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Peaches_%26_Daddy_Browning_Composograph_1.gif)
The ''Graphic'' was dubbed the "porno''Graphic''" by critics of the time
[Hunt, William R. ''Body Love: The Amazing Career of Bernarr Macfadden''. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1989: 135.] and journalist
Ben Yagoda
Ben Yagoda (born 22 February 1954) is an American writer and educator. He is a professor of journalism and English at the University of Delaware.
Early life
Born in New York City to Louis Yagoda (1909-1990), a labor mediator and arbitrator with ...
in 1981 called the trashy, enormously popular daily, "one of the low points in the history of American journalism",
offering sample headlines: "Aged Romeo Wooed Stage Love with a Used Ring", "Weed Parties in Soldiers' Love Nest", and "Two Women in Fight, One Stripped, Other Eats Bad Check". Yagoda quotes "one reader" as saying "The only value ever claimed for it was that it educated readers up to a point where they were able to understand the other tabloids."
In 1930, ''Time'', after saying that "Publisher Bernarr Macfadden's feelings are hurt by any suggestion that he or any of his publications are pornographic", added that recent ''Graphic'' headlines included "Girls Need Sex Life for Beauty" and "
Rudy Vallee
Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
*Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...
Not So Hot In Love's Arms".
Barry Popik notes that the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
believed the ''Graphic'' to be trashy and did not collect the issues, which are now lost."
Decline
Despite the enormous popularity of its puzzle contests and
lonely hearts page, page, the ''Graphic'' had trouble securing advertisers who feared being associated with the scandal-fed image of the porno''Graphic''. Some advertisers claimed the ''Graphic's'' readers had no buying power. By 1929, however, the ''Graphic's'' racy editorial had become mainstream in New York's tabloidia, but competition with papers such as the Tribune's ''Daily News'',
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
's ''Journal'' and ''
New York Daily Mirror
The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and ''N ...
'' had become cutthroat and the ''Graphic's'' cost structure was out of control. The
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
further exacerbated the paper's economic troubles.
In Gauvreau's 1956 obit, ''Time'' filed a choice anecdote illustrating his freewheeling indifference:
He "exposed" the Atlantic City beauty contest as a "frame-up," thereby pushing the total libel suits filed against the Graphic to $12 million. When the treasurer complained wistfully, Gauvreau cracked: "Take it out of my salary.
Some half-hearted attempts at implementing cost-cutting measures – re-use of crossword puzzle engravings, for example – served only to alienate its loyal readership, and a dispirited Gauvreau met secretly with Hearst and signed on to take the helm at the ''Mirror''.
As the ''Graphic'' began its final decline, Macfadden was also distracted by his risible and ultimately futile quest for the
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
presidential nomination. ''The Graphic'' finally folded on July 7, 1932, after years of losses, as much as
$11,000,000, according to his wife and business partner, Mary Macfadden.
The ''Graphics demise was precipitated by pressure from other rising New York tabloids and financial pressures throughout Macfadden's faltering publishing empire. Author Helen MacGill Hughes draws on Gauvreau's ''Hotnews'' to conclude that Macfadden's late entry into the tabloid game was a key contributing factor in the ''Graphic's'' difficulty in competing with the New York genre's first movers, Patterson's ''Daily News'' and Hearst's ''Mirror:'' "What does seem probable, however, is that the latter two already had most of the advertising suited to the sort of readers that tabloids attract."
Aftermath
Lester Cohen, the paper's contest editor and Gauvreau confidante, chronicled its rise and fall in his 1964 book, ''The New York Graphic: The World's Zaniest Newspaper:''
Guavreau never tired of reminiscing on the phenomenon that was "the newspaper that never was," dwelling at length on his remarkable experience in his 1931 novel ''Hot News,'' a second novel, ''The Scandal Monger'' in 1932 (the basis for
Universal's ''
Scandal for Sale
''Scandal for Sale'' is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Russell Mack and starring Charles Bickford, Rose Hobart and Pat O'Brien.Schindler p.25 The film's sets were designed by the art director Charles D. Hall.
Cast
* Charles B ...
'', 1932, starring
Charles Bickford
Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The ...
), his 1941 memoir, and later, in ''Dumbbells and Carrotstrips'', a vilfying book on Macfadden himself, co-authored with Mary Macfadden, whom Bernarr Macfadden had sued for divorce in 1933.
References
External links
The Evening Graphic's Tabloid Reality{{Authority control
Newspapers established in 1924
Publications disestablished in 1932
New York Graphic (1924-32)
1924 establishments in New York (state)
1932 disestablishments in New York (state)
Daily newspapers published in New York City