The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American [[magazine]]. ==History== While the publication traces its historical roots to [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Pennsylvania Gazette (newspaper)|The Pennsylvania Gazette]] was first published in 1728 by Samuel Keimer, The following year (1729), Franklin acquired the Gazette from Keimer for a small sum and turned it into the largest circulation newspaper in all the colonies. It continued publication until 1815. It is claimed that the publication reemerged as The Saturday Evening Postunder new ownership as a four-page .... Read More

Information On The Saturday Evening Post

Image:Saturday evening post 1903 11 28 a.jpg illustrated by George Gibbs (writer) ] The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American [[magazine]]. ==History== While the publication traces its historical roots to [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Pennsylvania Gazette (newspaper)|The Pennsylvania Gazette]] was first published in 1728 by Samuel Keimer, The following year (1729), Franklin acquired the Gazette from Keimer for a small sum and turned it into the largest circulation newspaper in all the colonies. It continued publication until 1815. It is claimed that the publication reemerged as The Saturday Evening Postunder new ownership as a four-page newspaper It eventually became the most widely circulated weekly magazine in America after Cyrus Curtis purchased it when it was nearly defunct in 1897 for $1,000. The magazine gained prominent status under the leadership of its longtime editor George Horace Lorimer (1899–1937). The Saturday Evening Postpublished current event articles, editorials, human interest pieces, humor, illustrations, a letter column, poetry (with contributions submitted by readers), single-panel cartoon (including Hazel by Ted Key) and stories by the leading writers of the time. It was known for commissioning lavish illustrations and original works of fiction. Illustrations were featured on the cover and embedded in stories and advertising. Some Postillustrations became popular and continue to be reproduced as posters or prints, especially those by Norman Rockwell Curtis Publishing Co. stopped publishing the Postin 1969 after the company lost a Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts and was ordered to pay over $3 million in damages The Postwas revived in 1971 as a quarterly publication. As of the late 2000s, the Saturday Evening Postmagazine is published six times a year by the "Saturday Evening Post Society", which purchased the magazine in 1982.

Illustration

Image:Rockwellboywithstereoscope.png Postcover illustration from January 1922]] In 1916, Saturday Evening Posteditor George Horace Lorimer discovered Norman Rockwell then an unknown 22-year-old New York artist. Lorimer promptly purchased two illustrations from Rockwell, using them as covers, and commissioned three more drawings. Rockwells illustrations of the American family and rural life of a bygone era became icons. During his 50-year career with the Post Rockwell painted more than 300 covers. The Postalso employed Nebraska artist John Philip Falter who became known "as a painter of Americana with an accent of the Middle West " who "brought out some of the homeliness and humor of Middle Western town life and home life." He produced 120 covers for the Postbetween 1943 and 1968, ceasing only when the magazine began displaying photographs on its covers. Other popular cover illustrators include the artists W. H. D. Koerner N.C. Wyeth J. C. Leyendecker John Clymer and John E. Sheridan (illustrator)

Content

Each issue featured several original short stories and often included an installment of a serial appearing in successive issues. Most of the fiction was written for mainstream tastes by popular writers, but some literary writers were featured. The opening pages of stories featured paintings by the leading magazine illustrators. The Postpublished stories and essays by Ray Bradbury Kay Boyle Agatha Christie Brian Cleeve William Faulkner F. Scott Fitzgerald C. S. Forester Kurt Vonnegut Paul Gallico Hammond Innes Louis L'Amour Sinclair Lewis Joseph C. Lincoln John P. Marquand Edgar Allan Poe Sax Rohmer William Saroyan John Steinbeck and Rex Stout and Rob Wagner It also published poetry by such noted poets as Carl Sandburg Ogden Nash Dorothy Parker and Hannah Kahn Jack London s best known novel [[The Call of the Wild]]was first published, in serialized form, in the Saturday Evening Postin 1903.lt;/ref> Emblematic of the Posts fiction was author Clarence Budington Kelland who first appeared in 1916-17 with stories of homespun heroes, Efficiency Edgar and Scattergood Baines Kelland was a steady presence from 1922 until 1961. For many years William Hazlett Upson contributed a very popular series of short stories about the escapades of Earthworm Tractors salesman Alexander Botts. Publication in the Postlaunched careers and helped established artists and writers stay afloat. P. G. Wodehouse said "the wolf was always at the door" until the Postgave him his "first break" in 1915 by serializing [[Something Fresh|Something New]]lt;/ref> After the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Postcolumnist Garet Garrett became a vocal critic of the New Deal Garrett accused the Roosevelt administration of initiating socialist strategies. After Lorimer died, Garrett became editorial writer-in-chief and criticized the Roosevelt administrations support of the U.K. and efforts to prepare to enter what became World War II Garretts positions aroused controversy and may have cost the Postreaders and advertisers.

Decline, demise and reemergence

The Postreadership began to decline in the late 1950s and 1960s. In general, the decline of general interest magazines was blamed on television which competed for advertisers and readers attention. The Posthad problems retaining readers: The publics taste in fiction was changing, and the Posts conservative politics and values remained controversial. Content by popular writers became harder to obtain. Prominent authors drifted away to newer magazines offering more money and status. As a result, the Postpublished more articles on current events and cut costs by replacing illustrations with photographs for covers and advertisements. The magazines publisher, Curtis Publishing Co., lost a landmark defamation suit, [[Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts]]Case citation (1967),lt;/ref> resulting from an article, and was ordered to pay $3,060,000 in damages to the plaintiff The Postarticle implied that American football coach (sports) Bear Bryant and Wally Butts conspired to Match fixing a game between the Alabama Crimson Tide football and the Georgia Bulldogs football Butts sued Curtis Publishing Co. for defamation. The case went to the Supreme Court of the United States which held that libel damages may be recoverable (in this instance against a news organization) if the injured party is a non-public official. But the plaintiff must prove that the defendant was guilty of a reckless lack of professional standards when examining allegations for reasonable credibility. William Emerson (journalist) was promoted to editor-in-chief in 1965 and remained in the position until the magazines demise in 1969.Applebome, Peter. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/business/media/27emerson.html "William A. Emerson Jr., Editor in Chief of Saturday Evening Post, Dies at 86"], [[The New York Times]] August 26, 2009. Accessed August 30, 2009. In 1968 Martin Ackerman, a specialist in troubled firms, became president of Curtis after lending it $5 million. Although at first he said there were no plans to shut down the magazine, he halved its circulation in an attempt to increase the quality of the audience, and then shut it down.lt;/ref> In announcing that the February 8, 1969, issue would be the magazines last, Curtis executive Martin Ackerman stated that the magazine had lost $5 million in 1968 and would lose a projected $3 million in 1969.Bedingfield, Robert E. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?resF10D12F73A541B7B93C3A8178AD85F4D8685F9 "Feb. 8 Issue of Saturday Evening Post to Be Last"], [[The New York Times]] January 11, 1969. Accessed August 29, 2009. In a meeting with employees after the magazines closure had been announced, Emerson thanked the staff for their professional work and promised "to stay here and see that everyone finds a job".Carmody, Deirdre. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?resFA0E12F73A541B7B93C3A8178AD85F4D8685F9 "MAGAZINE STAFF SAYS SAD GOOD-BY; Post Secretaries Find a Rose on Desk to Mark the Day"], [[The New York Times]] January 11, 1969. Accessed August 29, 2009. At a March 1969 postmortem on the magazines closing, Emerson stated that The Post"was a damn good vehicle for advertising" with competitive renewal rates and readership reports and expressed what [[The New York Times]]called "understandable bitterness" in wishing "that all the one-eyed critics will lose their other eye".Dougherty, Philip H. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?resF70A11FF355D137A93C2AA1788D85F4D8685F9 "Postmortem on Saturday Evening Post"], [[The New York Times]] March 30, 1969. Accessed August 29, 2009. Otto Friedrich, the magazines last managing editor, blamed the death of The Poston Curtis. In his Decline and Fall(Harper & Row, 1970), an account of the magazines final years (1962–1969), he argued that corporate management was unimaginative and incompetent. Friedrich acknowledges that The Postfaced challenges as the tastes of American readers changed over the course of the 1960s, but he insisted that the magazine maintained a standard of good quality and was appreciated by readers. In 1971, The Postwas revived as a quarterly publication, gaining wide recognition for its in-depth coverage of health and disease prevention, in additional to general interest articles. More recently, the Post embraced a broader range of subject matter for its readers, while maintaining its tradition of cover illustration.lt;/ref> Today, the Saturday Evening Postmagazine is still published six times a year by the "Saturday Evening Post Society", a 501(c) non-profit organization

Editors

(from the purchase by Curtis, 1898)Otto Friedrich, Decline and Fall(Harper & Row, 1970), flyleaf, chapter 2, and passim, provides info for 1898-1969 * William George Jordan (1898–1899) * George Horace Lorimer (1899–1937) * Wesley Winans Stout (1937–1942) * Ben Hibbs (1942–1962) * Robert Fuoss (1962) * Robert Sherrod (1962) * Clay Blair, Jr. (1962–1964) * William Emerson (journalist) (1965–1969) * Beurt SerVaas (1971–1975) * Cory SerVaas, M.D. (1975–2008) * Joan SerVaas (2008–2009) * Patrick Perry (2009)lt;/ref> *Stephen C. George (since 2009)lt;/ref>

Cover gallery

Image:1905-05-20 Saturday Evening Post.jpg|May 20, 1905. Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth Image:Babynew.jpg|December 28, 1907. Cover by J. C. Leyendecker