 The cover of the March 18, 1905 issue ofCollier's featuring an illustration byFrederic Remington | |
| Founder | Peter Fenelon Collier |
|---|---|
| First issue | April 28, 1888 (1888-04-28) |
| Final issue | January 4, 1957 (1957-01-04) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City (until 1939} and thenSpringfield, Ohio, U.S. |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 2161-6469 |
Collier's was an American general interestmagazine founded in 1888 byPeter Fenelon Collier. It was launched asCollier's Once a Week, then renamed in 1895 asCollier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal,[1] shortened in 1905 toCollier's: The National Weekly and eventually to simplyCollier's. The magazine ceased publication with the issue dated the week ending January 4, 1957, although a brief, failed attempt was made to revive the Collier's name with a new magazine in 2012.[2]
As a result of Peter Collier's pioneeringinvestigative journalism,Collier's established a reputation as a proponent of social reform. After lawsuits by several companies againstCollier's ended in failure, other magazines joined in whatTheodore Roosevelt described as "muckraking journalism." Founded by Nathan S. Collier, a descendant of Peter Collier, theCollier Prize for State Government Accountability was created in 2019.[3] The annual US$25,000 prize is one of the largestAmerican journalism prizes,[4] and it was established to honor Peter Collier's legacy and contributions in the field of investigative reporting.[5][6]
Peter F. Collier (1849–1909) leftIreland for the U.S. at age 17.[7] Although he went to a seminary to become a priest, he instead started work as a salesman for P. J. Kenedy, publisher of books for theRoman Catholic market. When Collier wanted to boost sales by offering books on a subscription plan, it led to a disagreement with Kenedy, so Collier left to start his own subscription service. P. F. Collier & Son began in 1875, expanding into the largest subscription house in America with sales of 30 million books during the 1900–1910 decade.[8]
With the issue dated April 28, 1888,Collier's Once a Week was launched as a magazine of "fiction, fact, sensation, wit, humor, news". It was sold with the biweekly Collier's Library of novels and popular books at bargain rates and as a stand-alone priced at seven cents.[7] By 1892, with a circulation climbing past the 250,000 mark,Collier's Once a Week was one of the best selling magazines in the United States. The name was changed toCollier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal in 1895 or the longer titleCollier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal of Art, Literature & Current Events. With an emphasis on news, the magazine became a leading exponent of thehalftone news picture. To fully exploit the new technology, Collier recruitedJames H. Hare, one of the pioneers of photojournalism.
Collier's only son,Robert J. Collier, became a full partner in 1898.
By 1904, the magazine was known asCollier's: The National Weekly. Peter Collier died in 1909.[9] When Robert Collier died in 1918, he left a will that turned the magazine over to three of his friends, Samuel Dunn,Harry Payne Whitney andFrancis Patrick Garvan.
Robert J. Collier won a lawsuit againstPostum Cereal Company and was awarded $50,000 in damages, but in 1912 an appeals court then handed down a majority decision that Postum deserved a new trial.[10] The Postum Company believed that Collier's weekly used magazine coverage to attack their company's products in retaliation for not advertising in Collier's after Collier's wrote against aGrape-Nuts's claim that it was an "A Food for Brain and Nerves." Postum then bought advertising pages in major newspapers in retaliation.[10]
The magazine was sold in 1919 to the Crowell Publishing Company, which in 1939 was renamed asCrowell-Collier Publishing Company.
In 1924, Crowell moved the printing operations fromNew York City toSpringfield, Ohio, but kept the editorial and business departments in New York City. Reasons given for moving print operations included conditions imposed by unions in the printing trade, expansion of the Gansevoort Market into the property occupied by the Collier plant, and "excessive postage involved in mailing from a seaboard city under wartime postal rates.[11] After 1924, printing of the magazine was done at the Crowell-Collier printing plant on West High Street inSpringfield, Ohio.[11] The factory complex, much of which is no longer standing (finally razed in 2020),[12] was built between 1899 and 1946, and incorporated seven buildings that together had more than 846,000 square feet (78,600 m2)—20 acres (81,000 m2)—of floor space.
Collier's popularized the short-short story which was often planned to fit on a single page.Knox Burger wasCollier's fiction editor from 1948 to 1951 when he left to edit books for Dell andFawcett Publications; he was replaced by Eleanor Stierhem Rawson. The numerous authors who contributed fiction toCollier's includedF. Scott Fitzgerald,Ray Bradbury,Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd,Willa Cather,Roald Dahl,Jack Finney,Erle Stanley Gardner,Zane Grey,Ring Lardner,Sinclair Lewis,E. Phillips Oppenheim,J. D. Salinger,Kurt Vonnegut,Louis L'Amour,Albert Payson Terhune andWalter Tevis. Humor writers included Parke Cummings andH. Allen Smith.[13][14]
Serializing novels during the late 1920s,Collier's sometimes simultaneously ran two ten-part novels, and non-fiction was also serialized. Between 1913 and 1949,Sax Rohmer'sFu Manchu serials, illustrated byJoseph Clement Coll and others, were hugely popular. The first three Fu Manchu novels by Rohmer were actually compilations of 29 short stories that Rohmer wrote forCollier's.
The Mask of Fu Manchu, which was adapted intoa 1932 film and a 1951Wally Wood comic book, was first published as a 12-partCollier's serial, running from May 7 to July 23, 1932. The May 7 issue displayed a memorable cover illustration by famed maskmakerWładysław T. Benda, and his mask design for that cover[15] was repeated by many other illustrators in subsequent adaptations and reprints.[8]
A 1951 condensed version of the bookDay of the Triffids byJohn Wyndham also appeared.[16]
Leading illustrators contributed to the covers ofCollier's. They includedC. C. Beall,W.T. Benda,Chesley Bonestell,[17]Charles R. Chickering,[18]Howard Chandler Christy, Arthur Crouch,Harrison Fisher,James Montgomery Flagg, Alan Foster,Charles Dana Gibson,Vernon Grant, Emil Hering, Earl Oliver Hurst,Alonzo Myron Kimball, Percy Leason,Frank X. Leyendecker,J. C. Leyendecker,Paul Martin,John Alan Maxwell, Ronald McLeod,John Cullen Murphy,Maxfield Parrish,Edward Penfield, Robert O. Reed,Frederic Remington, Anthony Saris,John Sloan,Jessie Willcox Smith,Frederic Dorr Steele,Emmett Watson,Jon Whitcomb and Lawson Wood. Other top illustrators contributed prolifically to their short stories. They includedHarold Mathews Brett,Richard V. Culter,Robert Fawcett, Denver Gillen andQuentin Reynolds.
In 1903,Gibson signed a $100,000 contract, agreeing to deliver 100 pictures (at $1000 each) during the next four years. From 1904 to 1910,Parrish was under exclusive contract toCollier's, which published his famedArabian Nights paintings in 1906-07.
WhenNorman Hapgood became editor ofCollier's in 1903, he attracted many leading writers. In May 1906, he commissionedJack London to cover theSan Francisco earthquake, a report accompanied by 16 pages of pictures. Under Hapgood's guidance,Collier's began publishing the work of investigative journalists such asSamuel Hopkins Adams,Ray Stannard Baker,C. P. Connolly andIda Tarbell. Hapgood's approach had great impact, resulting in such changes as the reform of thechild labor laws,slum clearance andwomen's suffrage. In April 1905, an article byUpton Sinclair, "Is Chicago Meat Clean?", persuaded the Senate to pass the 1906Meat Inspection Act.
Starting October 7, 1905, Adams startled readers with "The Great American Fraud", an 11-partCollier's series. Analyzing the contents of popularpatent medicines, Adams pointed out that the companies producing these medicines were making false claims about their products and some were health hazards. Hapgood launched the series with the following editorial:
In the present number we print the first article in "The Great American Fraud" series, which is to describe thoroughly the ways and methods, as well as the evils and dangers, of the patent medicine business. This article is but the opening gun of the campaign, and is largely introductory in character, but it will give the reader a good idea of what is to come when Mr. Adams gets down to peculiarities. The next article, to appear two weeks hence, will treat of "Peruna and the 'Bracers'," that is, of those concoctions which are advertised and sold as medicines, but which in reality are practically cocktails.
Since these articles on patent medicine frauds were announced inCollier's some time ago, most of the makers of alcoholic and opiated medicines have been running to cover, and even the Government has been awakened to a sense of responsibility. A few weeks ago the Commissioner of Internal Revenue issued an order to his Collectors, ordering them to exact a special tax from the manufacturer of every compound composed of distilled spirits, "even though drugs have been added thereto." The list of "tonics," "blood purifiers" and "cures" that will come under this head has not yet been published by the Treasury Department, but it is bound to include a good many of the beverages which, up to the present time, have been soothing the consciences while stimulating the palates of the temperance folk. The next official move will doubtless be against the opium-sellers; but these have likewise taken fright, and several of the most notorious "consumption cures" no longer include opium or hasheesh in their concoction.[8]
"The Great American Fraud" had a powerful impact and led to the firstPure Food and Drug Act (1906). The entire series was reprinted by the American Medical Association in a book,The Great American Fraud, which sold 500,000 copies at 50 cents each.
Hapgood had a huge influence on public opinion, and between 1909 and 1912, he succeeded in doubling the circulation ofCollier's from a half million to a million. When he moved on toHarper's Weekly in 1912, he was replaced as editor for the next couple years byRobert J. Collier, the son of the founder.Arthur H. Vandenberg, later to become a prominentSenator, had a brief stint as aCollier's editor during the 1900s.H. C. Witwer was a war correspondent in France during World War I.Rob Wagner covered the film industry forCollier's during the 1920s. They reversed their position on prohibition in 1925. This was due to the difficulty in enforcing the referendum, and people's unwillingness to stay away from alcohol. The new law brought about bribing, thieving, corruption and other ills, which far exceeded their expectations. This new alignment gained favor with the public and helped to rebuild circulation.
Writers such asMartha Gellhorn andErnest Hemingway, who reported on theSpanish Civil War, helped boost the circulation.Winston Churchill, who wrote an account of theFirst World War, was a regular contributor during the 1930s, but his series of articles ended in 1939 when he became aminister in theBritish government.Carl Fick was aCollier's staff writer prior to World War II.
The magazine's roster of top cartoonists includedCharles Addams,Carl Anderson,Stan and Jan Berenstain,Sam Berman,Sam Cobean,Jack Cole,A. B. Frost,Ralph Fuller,Dave Gerard,Vernon Grant,Jay Irving,Crockett Johnson,E. W. Kemble,Hank Ketcham,George Lichty,David Low,Bill Mauldin,Virgil Partch,Mischa Richter,William Steig,Charles Henry "Bill" Sykes, Richard Taylor,Gluyas Williams,Gahan Wilson andRowland B. Wilson. Irving's association withCollier's began in 1932, and his "Collier's Cops" became a mainstay of the magazine during his 13-year association with it.[19]
Kate Osann'sTizzy cartoons first appeared inCollier's. The redheaded Tizzy was a teenage American girl who wore horn-rimmed glasses with triangular lenses.Tizzy was syndicated byNEA afterCollier's folded. The cartoons were in color inCollier's but black-and-white in syndication and paperback reprints.
AfterWorld War II,Harry Devlin became the top editorial cartoonist atCollier's, one of the few publications then displaying editorial cartoons in full color. During the 1940s, Gurney Williams was the cartoon editor forCollier's,American Magazine andWoman's Home Companion, paying $40 to $150 for each cartoon. From a staggering stack of some 2000 submissions each week, Williams made a weekly selection of 30 to 50 cartoons, lamenting:
The other day I found myself staring at the millionth cartoon submitted to me since I became humor editor here. I wish it could have been fresh and original. Instead, it showed several ostriches with their heads buried in the sand. Two others stood nearby. Said one to the other: "Where is everybody?"[20]
Joseph Barbera, before he found fame in animation, had several cartoons published inCollier's in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The circulation battle withThe Saturday Evening Post led to the creation ofThe Collier Hour, broadcast 1927–32 on theNBC Blue Network. It was radio's first major dramatic anthology series, adapting stories and serials fromCollier's. The hour-long program initially aired on the Wednesday before weekly publication, but switched to Sundays to avoid spoilers with stories that appeared simultaneously in the magazine. In 1929 the program began to incorporate music, news, sports and comedy with the dramatic content of the show.[21]
At the outbreak ofWorld War II in 1941 with William L. Chenery as editor,[22]Collier's readership reached 2.5 million. In the October 14, 1944, issue, the magazine published one of the first articles about concentration camps. It wasJan Karski's "Polish Death Camp," a harrowing account of his visit toBelzec. The now problematic title is explored in"Polish death camp controversy", under the heading "Use and Reactions". Karski's bookStory of a Secret State, which included theCollier's excerpt, was published later that year byHoughton Mifflin. It became aBook of the Month Club selection, and bestseller with 400,000 copies sold in 1944-45. TheCollier's selection was reprinted in Robert H. Abzug'sAmerica Views the Holocaust: 1933-1945 (Palgrave, 1999).
Collier's had a circulation of 2,846,052 when Walter Davenport took over as editor in 1946, but the magazine began to lose readers during the post-World War II years.Collier's published a regular men's fashion feature contributed byEsquire co-founderHenry L. Jackson and also published long-awaited images from the 200-inch (5.08 m)Hale Telescope'sfirst light in 1949.[23] In the early 1950s,Collier's ran a groundbreaking series of science-based articles speculating on space flight,Man Will Conquer Space Soon!, which prompted the general public to seriously consider the possibility of a trip to the moon, with the percentage of Americans who believed a crewed lunar trip could happen within 50 years changing from 15% to 38% by 1955.[24]
In 1951, an entire issue described the events and outcome of a hypothetical war between the United States and the Soviet Union, entitledPreview of the War We Do Not Want.Collier's changed from a weekly to a biweekly in August 1953, but it continued to lose money. In 1954,John O'Hara became a columnist with his "Appointment with O'Hara" column.
The magazine ceased publication with the issue for the week ending January 4, 1957.[25]Princess Grace of Monaco was featured on the cover, pregnant with her first childCaroline.
The company also published theCollier's Encyclopedia,Collier Books and theCollier's Year Book.
Patricia Fulford editedOver 100 Best Cartoons from Collier's, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, The American Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker, Argosy, Sport (Checkerbooks, 1949), andCollier's cartoon editor Gurney Williams editedCollier's Kids: Cartoons from Collier's About Your Children, Holt, 1952.
Collier's fiction editor Knox Burger chose 19 stories forCollier's Best (Harper & Bros., 1951).[26] He also selectedBest Stories from Collier's (William Kimber, 1952). A huge history and collection appeared with the publication of the 558-pageA Cavalcade of Collier's, edited by Kenneth McArdle (Barnes, 1959).
Cornelius Ryan's 1957 bookOne Minute to Ditch!, about the successful ocean ditching of a Pan American Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, was an expansion of hisCollier's article on December 21, 1956. Ryan was an associate editor of the magazine during the mid-1950s, and the novelistLonnie Coleman was an editorial associate during that same period.
Peter F. Collier, publisher ofCollier's Weekly and well known in society here and abroad, dropped dead ofapoplexy in the Riding Club, at 7 East Fifty-eighth Street, early this morning. Mr. Collier had been attending the annual horse show which the club gives, and death overtook him as he was descending the stairs to the street.
