The Improbable First Century of Cosmopolitan Magazine

10. Continuation

295 C o n t i n u a t i o n 10 The Future and a Past The first decade of the twenty-first century accelerated a revolution in communications begun in the last decade of the twentieth. The World Wide Web matured, making accessible to an individual with a computer all matter of information and entertainment at all times. The development of wireless mode freed computers to receive information and entertainment anywhere a signal was receivable. Then the evolution of handheld mobile telephones enabled a person to talk, text, and watch/listen to information and entertainment whenever the need or a whim arose. Finally, the availability of portable digital-reader devices allowed downloading of text and imagery. Every revolution creates and destroys. The communications revolution of the new century destroyed many magazines or compelled their publishers to cease printing and transition to an online publication. Rarely was a magazine’s death or metamorphosis caused by lack of readers; rather, it usually resulted from a loss of advertisers. Media diffusion created newer cost-effective avenues to deliver advertisements, whether to Web sites, cell phones, digital readers, or other personal communications technology. The future of print magazines cannot be forecast. Simply transitioning from print to online or to digital-reader screens will not necessarily save a magazine, any more than transforming an editorial format will prevent its demise. Neither will mere marketing research offer salvation. Most people can’t describe what they want from a magazine if they haven’t already seen it someplace else. Cosmopolitan seemed not to be in danger at the start of the twenty-first century ’s second decade. Its circulation was sliding year by year, a situation afflicting practically every magazine, but the number of copies being sold and the amount of advertising pages being bought indicated its continuation for a 296 The Improbable First Century of Cosmopolitan Magazine while. Yet the history of magazines has recorded a sudden shift in fortune for many apparently invincible publications. Cosmopolitan’s editorial format was older in 2010 than most of its readers. The format had lasted the longest of any in the magazine’s history, although it was tweaked to include explicit prose and imagery. Still, the format was fundamentally the same one envisioned by Helen Gurley Brown decades ago. If Cosmopolitan will have a certain future beyond the exceptional 125 years it already has endured, it must come from the imagination, intelligence, and self-confidence of a person who believes people will respond to ideas expressed by the magazine. The lessons of Cosmopolitan’s past verify this, and signify the importance of audacity, constancy, and sincerity. The three men and one woman who transformed Cosmopolitan at crucial moments embodied all three characteristics: John Brisben Walker, who created a modern magazine for middle-class Americans to enlighten them about national and international events; William Randolph Hearst, who wished for political power to change society and subsequently desired to create the finest magazine for popular literature; Ray Long, who considered the magazine an arbiter of middle-class literary standards; Helen Gurley Brown, who wanted the magazine to candidly describe women’s attitudes and behavior. John Brisben Walker transformed Cosmopolitan from a nondescript literary publication to an intelligent and provocative general magazine starting in 1889. Conventional thought at the time was that a magazine must emphasize quality fiction and perhaps offer a modicum of nonfiction to succeed. Walker instead reversed the formula. Topics concerning horrid working conditions at factories and foundries, unsafe and hazardous workplaces for women, racial tension, and the proper place for the United States in world affairs were presented to a readership of men and women eager to learn. Nothing in Walker’s background suggested he was a political radical. His wealthy and well-connected father helped him throughout his teenage years and early adult life. Walker was an adventurer, however, and his willingness to take personal and financial risks extended to an embrace of radical political ideas, including Christian socialism. Walker espoused his various principles through commissioning articles from like-minded activists, experts in a variety of subjects, and writers whose viewpoints challenged mainstream ideals. It was risky, but Walker believed Cosmopolitan must provoke discussion and reaction. His anger at the robber barons and mistreatment of laborers, his advocacy of a global role for the United States, his effort to modernize American colleges and universities, his promotion of aviation and automobiles, and his optimism about the benefit of scientific and technological progress brought Cosmopolitan...