After retiring from the Hearst organization I was recalled and asked
to go to Chicago and see if something could not be done to improve the
printing of illustrations. A trip to Chicago was not necessary, there
being an obvious change long overdue in the New York art departments,
and not in the Cuneo printing plant. This fact was reported to Mr.
Hathaway, who had relayed the request from Mr. Hearst in California;
but Chicago was in the cards and I went. Upon my return a written
report, the substance of which had received Mr. Cuneo’s approval,
was given to Mr. Long. In lay language, briefly expressed, it said:
“Illustrators should be cautioned about an over-use of fussy and
valueless detail and asked to restrict their compositions to only so
much of the figure or figures, backgrounds and accessories as are
required for dramatic story-telling and effective picture-making;
requested to forego a full palette when subjects are to be presented
in only one or two colors, and to simplify renderings and avoid so
many broken tones. Full-page and spread reproductions will then not
only solve your press-room worries but create a new and finer type of
magazine.”
Mr. Long read the report--thoughtfully, I believe--talked with his art
editors, and finally decided the suggestions were too radical. But
had Mr. Hearst been in New York, and had the report gone to him, his
_Cosmopolitan_ and _Good Housekeeping_ would have led the field in
adopting principles of illustration that are now universal.
When asked to provide a new lay-out for _McClure’s_ magazine, then
a recent purchase by Mr. Hearst, I reveled in an opportunity to
apply the suggestions presented in the report. Making photographic
enlargements of available illustrations and eliminating all
non-essentials I used full pages and spreads and prepared the dummy
with a new note in typographic headings. Ray Long looked at it and
gasped. “Will,” he said, “a magazine like that would outshine and
humble _Cosmo_.” Mr. Hearst was still in California. Too bad! I had
made suggestions of worth and Mr. Hearst, running true to form, would
have weighed their values--not for a revived _McClure’s_, perhaps, but
for his other magazines.
* * * * *
And now there is little more to tell, unless you want to listen to the
way I enthuse about our present-day illustrators, their delightfully
imaginative composition and masterly use of color. They are grand
campaigners! God love them and the editorial lads who give them
opportunity and encouragement. They are making an old man mighty
happy--yes, making him envy their fun while he is relegated to sheer
laziness in the siesta sun of California.
Before final retirement I managed to lay out a new _Delineator_, a new
Sunday magazine for the _Herald Tribune_ (about 1925), and a lay-out
suggested by early New England news-sheets for the _Yale Daily_, and
... well, I guess that’s about all. No! Listen. In these last three
lay-outs I continued to use my beloved Caslon!
[Illustration]