Helen Gurley Brown - FishbowlLA

Hearst Documentary Highlights Life, Legacy of California’s Greatest Media Baron

Richard Horgan — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:45:15 +0000

This weekend, the “H” in William H. Macy will stand for not just “Hall” but also “Hearst.” That’s because the Oscar-nominated actor does a very capable job as narrator of the feature documentary Citizen Hearst, opening Thursday at Laemmle movie theaters in Beverly Hills (Music Hall), Pasadena (Playhouse 7), Encino (Town Center) and Claremont (Claremont 5).

After highlighting the life exploits of William Randolph Hearst, the movie really hits its stride once it gets to the post-World War II era and success of magazines like Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan. It’s fun to hear interview subjects recall how Helen Gurley Brown‘s stewardship hit town “like a thunder clap.” Here for example is a recollection in the film from Kate White, Cosmo editor-in-chief from 1998 to 2012:

“Helen’s first cover is still an inspiration to me, it’s so sexy. The woman, a blonde, buxom. The little hint of Brigitte Bardot… One of my favorite all-time [first cover] lines is, ‘THE NEW PILL THAT PROMISES TO MAKE WOMEN MORE RESPONSIVE.’”

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UCLA Prof Appointed Co-Head of Columbia Journalism School New Media Institute

Richard Horgan — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:15:02 +0000

Major congratulations are due to Mark Hansen (pictured), a statistics professor at UCLA. He just landed one of plummest assignments in U.S. journalism academia.

Hansen has relocated to New York to oversee the east coast half of the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation, a new joint venture between Columbia’s Journalism School and Stanford University’s School of Engineering. From a report in school newspaper the Columbia Spectator:

As director, Hansen will conduct research, award fellowships and grants, and teach journalism courses that integrate data, algorithms, and computation.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Helen Gurley Brown, Legendary Cosmo Mag Editor, Dead at 90

Pandora Young — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:39:38 +0000

Helen Gurley Brown, longtime editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, died today at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital. She was 90.

Brown, a Los Angeles native, became a famed author in 1962 with the publication of her the bestselling self-help book, Sex and the Single Girl. In 1965, Brown became editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, a failing title at Hearst that the new editor swiftly revitalized.

For a younger generation of women, Cosmo may be little more than a guilty pleasure, but the fact is the publication, under the leadership of Brown, revolutionized the industry of women’s magazines. Brown pushed social boundaries by turning Cosmo into a publication for young, single, sexually liberated women at a time when women’s titles were largely written for housewives.

Though the changes were controversial, Cosmopolitan became a huge success under Brown’s guidance. The mag now boasts a circulation of 3 million in the U.S., with 64 international editions. Brown was forced out of her role as editor in 1997, but stayed on as editor of Cosmopolitan‘s international editions.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.