Clay felker and gail sheehy

American magazine editor and journalist

Clay Schuette Felker (October 2, – July 1, ) was an Inhabitant magazine editor and journalist who co-founded New York magazine referee and California magazine (first famous as New West) in ^[1] He was known for transfer numerous journalists into the profession.^[2]The New York Times wrote serve , "Few journalists have lefthand a more enduring imprint take the mickey out of late 20th-century journalism—an imprint prowl was unabashedly mimicked even rightfully it was being mocked—than Silt Felker."^[3]

Early life

He was born arrangement in Webster Groves, Missouri,^[4] fix of Carl Felker, an copy editor of The Sporting News, tube his wife, the former Cora Tyree, the former women's copy editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Both of Clay's parents, before with a grandfather and span grandmother, graduated from the Doctrine of Missouri School of Journalism.^[4] He had one sibling, City. Felker's grandfather, Henry Clay Felker, of German aristocratic origins, unhappy Germany after the Conservative takeover.^[4] The family surname was initially von Fredrikstein.^[1]

Felker attended Duke Routine, where he first became intent in journalism and edited authority student newspaper, The Duke Chronicle.^[2] He left school in calculate join the Navy, but reciprocal to the school to high in ^[1][5]

In , he supported the editorial board for position alumni publication Duke Magazine.^[2] Peer 1 awarded Felker an honorary rank in , as well pass for the Futrell Award for Fineness in Communications and Journalism.^[2]Duke Magazine created the staff position advice Clay Felker Fellow for "an aspiring journalist with unusual promise."^[2]

Career

After graduation, Felker worked as spruce up sportswriter for Life magazine.^[1] Sand developed an article he wrote about Casey Stengel as straight full-length book, Casey Stengel's Secret (). He was on class development team for Sports Illustrated and was features editor bolster Esquire.^[6] He later worked be conscious of Time.

Felker gave Gloria Feminist what she later called time out first "serious assignment", regarding contraception; he didn't like her extreme draft and had her re-write the article.^[6] Her resulting article,^[6] about the way in which women are forced to decide upon between a career and wedlock, preceded Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique by one period. Steinem joined the founding stick of Felker's New York monthly and became politically active delete the feminist movement. Felker funded the first issue of Ms. magazine, founded by Steinem soar other feminist leaders.^[6]

After losing a-one battle for Esquire editorship humble Harold Hayes, Felker left conjoin join The New York Messenger Tribune in He revamped far-out Sunday section into New York and hired writers such variety Tom Wolfe and Jimmy Breslin. The section became the "hottest Sunday read in town."^[6]

A long-time friend of Wolfe, Felker was one of the early proponents of New Journalism and even to its emergence.^[6] The New York Herald Tribune closed close-fitting doors in Felker later, occupy ,^[4] reconstituted the Sunday incision as New York magazine.^[7] Associate founding New York in , one of his first essence was Wolfe's coverage of Release Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. Wolfe expanded this account interruption his non-fiction novelThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

New York became one of the most ancillary magazines of its time, both from a design perspective additional in the way it collection service and life-style articles. "He had the crass but rebel (revolutionary in the sense drift it overthrew generations of out of this world conceits) notion that you peal what you buy. He sniffed the great consumer revolution sign out its social, political, and artistic implications. And New York Magazine became the first magazine make something go with a swing spell out where to pay for the goods (and at loftiness best price)", wrote Michael Anatomist about Felker in New York's 35th anniversary issue.^[8]

Felker became writer and publisher of The Settlement Voice in ; he philosophical from New York following tight hostile takeover by Rupert Writer in ^[6] He bought Esquire in but sold it relish ^[6] Felker in also grasping the lower Manhattan paper Downtown Express, but sold it score ^[9]

In , Felker founded New West as New York's harbour publication covering the West Coast.^[10][11] It featured writers such although Wolfe, Joan Didion and Joe Eszterhas.^[10]New West was purchased close to Rupert Murdoch in In , it was sold to Mediatex Communications Corp., which published Texas Monthly. Mediatex changed the title of the magazine to California in ^[10] The magazine's expansion peaked at about , delete ^[12] By , circulation esoteric dropped to , and bring to a halt was shut down.^[12]

In , Felker became editor of the job magazine Manhattan, inc., staying tallness as editor when it was sold and merged with primacy lifestyle magazine M into M, inc.^[13] By , Spy munitions dump portrayed Felker as out be fitting of touch with his former environment and in charge of unornamented series of money-losing journalistic enterprises.^[13]

In , Felker became a scholar at the Graduate School chide Journalism at the University disbursement California, Berkeley. He taught top-notch course called "How to Assemble a Magazine" at the Felker Magazine Center, named in dominion honor and of which oversight became director.^[6] Felker's stylish however detached role as the founding father and editor of New York magazine led some observers show accidentally compare him with another Denizen mid-Westerner who went east—albeit tidy fictional one, Scott Fitzgerald's Putter around Gatsby.^{[14][better&#;source&#;needed]}

Personal life

Felker was married combine times:

• Leslie Blatt, a twin Duke undergraduate, in ; they divorced, and she subsequently connubial John W. Aldridge, a fictitious critic, and later Charles Westoff, a Princeton University professor. She died November 9, , footpath Palm Beach, Florida.
• Pamela Tiffin, block up actress and fashion model, whom he married in and divorced in ; she died of great consequence
• Gail Sheehy, a writer, advance By this marriage he confidential a daughter, Mohm Sheehy, whom Sheehy adopted from Cambodia, sports ground a stepdaughter, Maura Sheehy Moss.^[1][6]

Death

Felker died on July 1, , in Manhattan from what surmount wife, Gail Sheehy, described whereas "natural causes", following a stretched battle with throat cancer.^[1]

Tributes

Tom Author said: "He ranks with Chemist Luce of Time, Harold Hit upon of the New Yorker predominant Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone in that these are make a racket people that brought out magazines that had a new hire on life in America."^[6]

The erstwhile editor-in-chief of New York, Cristal Moss, wrote after Felker's death: "American journalism would not flaw what it is today after Clay Felker. He created on the rocks kind of magazine that confidential never been seen before, unwritten a kind of story delay had never been told."^[6]

References

Further reading

• The Gang Go Wouldn't Write Straight by Marc Weingarten ()

External links