 Cover of the February 2015 edition featuringKaley Cuoco | |
| Editor-in-chief | Meredith Kahn Rollins |
|---|---|
| Categories | Lifestyle, women's interest |
| Frequency | 12 issues/year |
| Founded | 1903; 122 years ago (1903) (asThe Red Book Illustrated) |
| Final issue | January 2019 (print) |
| Company | Hearst Magazine Division |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 0034-2106 |
Redbook is an American women's fashion magazine that is published by theHearst magazine division.[1] It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication after January 2019 and now operates exclusively online.
The magazine was first published in May 1903[1][2] asThe Red Book Illustrated by Stumer, Rosenthal and Eckstein, a firm ofChicago retail merchants. The name was changed toThe Red Book Magazine shortly thereafter.[3] Its first editor, from 1903 to 1906, wasTrumbull White, who wrote that the name was appropriate because, "Red is the color of cheerfulness, of brightness, of gaiety." In its early years, the magazine published short fiction by well-known authors, including many women writers, along with photographs of popular actresses and other women of note. Within two years the magazine had become a success, climbing to a circulation of 300,000.
When White left to editAppleton's Magazine, he was replaced by Karl Edwin Harriman, who editedThe Red Book Magazine and its sister publicationsThe Blue Book andThe Green Book until 1912. Under Harriman the magazine was promoted as "the largest illustrated fiction magazine in the world" and increased its price from 10 cents to 15 cents. According to Endres and Lueck (p. 299), "Red Book was trying to convey the message that it offered something for everyone, and, indeed, it did... There was short fiction by talented writers such asJames Oliver Curwood,Jack London,Sinclair Lewis,Edith Wharton andHamlin Garland. Stories were about love, crime, mystery, politics, animals, adventure and history (especiallythe Old West and theCivil War)."
Harriman was succeeded by Ray Long. When Long went on to edit Hearst'sCosmopolitan in January 1918, Harriman returned as editor, bringing such coups as a series ofTarzan stories byEdgar Rice Burroughs. During this period the cover price was raised to 25 cents.
In 1927,Edwin Balmer, a short-story writer who had written for the magazine, took over as editor; in the summer of 1929 the magazine was bought byMcCall Corporation, which changed the name toRedbook[3] but kept Balmer on as editor. He published stories by such writers asBooth Tarkington andF. Scott Fitzgerald, nonfiction by women such asShirley Temple's mother andEleanor Roosevelt, articles on theWall Street Crash of 1929 by men likeCornelius Vanderbilt andEddie Cantor, as well as condensed novels, likeDashiell Hammett'sThe Thin Man (December 1933).[4] Under Balmer,Redbook became a general-interest magazine for both men and women.
On May 26, 1932, the publisher launched its own radio series,Redbook Magazine Radio Dramas, syndicated dramatizations of stories from the magazine. Stories were selected by Balmer, who also served as the program's host.[5]
Circulation hit a million in 1937, and success continued until the late 1940s, when the rise oftelevision began to drain readers and the magazine lost touch with its demographic. In 1948 it lost $400,000 (equivalent to $5.23 million today), and the next year Balmer was replaced by Wade Hampton Nichols, who had edited various movie magazines. Phillips Wyman took over as publisher. Nichols decided to concentrate on "young adults" between 18 and 34 and turned the magazine around. By 1950 circulation reached two million, and the following year the cover price was raised to 35 cents. It published articles on racial prejudice, the dangers of nuclear weapons, and the damage caused byMcCarthyism, among other topics. In 1954,Redbook received the Benjamin Franklin Award for public service.
The next year, as the magazine was beginning to steer towards a female audience, Wyman died, and in 1958 Nichols left to editGood Housekeeping. The new editor was Robert Stein, who continued the focus on women and featured authors such asDr. Benjamin Spock andMargaret Mead. In 1965 he was replaced by Sey Chassler,[6] during whose 17-year tenure circulation increased to nearly five million and the magazine earned a number of awards, including two National Magazine Awards for fiction. HisNew York Times obituary says, "A strong advocate for women's rights, Mr. Chassler started an unusual effort in 1976 that led to the simultaneous publication of articles about the proposed equal rights amendment in 36 women's magazines. He did it again three years later with 33 magazines." He retired in 1981 and was replaced byAnne Mollegen Smith, the first woman editor, who had been with the magazine since 1967, serving as fiction editor and managing editor.[7][8]
Norton Simon Inc., which had purchased theMcCall Corporation, sold Redbook to theCharter Company in 1975. In 1982, Charter sold the magazine to theHearst Corporation, and in April 1983 Smith was fired and replaced by Annette Capone, who "de-emphasized the traditional fiction, featured more celebrity covers, and gave a lot of coverage to exercise, fitness, and nutrition. The main focus was on the young woman who was balancing family, home, and career." (Endres and Lueck, p. 305) AfterEllen Levine took over as editor in 1991, even less fiction was published, and the focus was on the young mother. Levine said, "We couldn't be the magazine we wanted to be with such a big audience, you have to lose your older readers. We did it the minute I walked in the door. It was part of the deal."
Levine moved toGood Housekeeping in 1994, being replaced byMcCall's Kate White, who left forCosmopolitan four years later. Succeeding editors were Lesley Jane Seymour (1998-2001), Ellen Kunes (2001-2004), and Stacy Morrison (2004-2010).[9]
Redbook Magazine has ceased print publication as of its November/December 2018 issue [Vol. 231, No.4]. Redbook's Customer Service page notes itself that Redbook magazine "is no longer being published".[10]
A column by Kelly Faircloth at Jezebel reports secondhand though an AdWeek October 10, 2018, article "that after January 2019, Redbook will become an 'online-only destination'."[11]
Redbook's articles are primarily targeted towards married women. The magazine features stories about women dealing with modern hardships, aspiring for intellectual growth, and encouraging other women to work together for humanitarian causes. The magazine profiles successful women to provide inspirational testimonies and advice on life.[12]
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