Mags and Rags

In the time between the invention of printing and the advent of the Internet, many types of periodicals have come and gone. In our own era, we have seen the birth and demise of magazines of news, humor, commentary, housekeeping, and many other more specialized subjects. A key element in the survival or failure of all such publications has been the financial aspect. How were the costs of printing, paper, and postage covered? Not to mention salaried personnel. The main sources of funding were individual sales, as at newsstands, subscriptions, usually by the year, and paid advertising. But the rise and growth of electronic communication has changed the whole picture.

What we once called magazines, newspapers, and journals hardly exist as they once did. In recent decades, the number of daily newspapers has declined drastically, and those which survive have shriveled in size and coverage. Family life has accordingly been transformed – starting with the neighborhood kid who delivered to a certain route (becoming expert at throwing the rolled-up paper to each subscribing house) and the family dog, who was trained to pick it up and bring it into the house.

The one magazine I was most sorry to see go was the British PUNCH, which closed in 2002, after 161 years of publication. Besides humorous articles, it was most famous for its cartoons, particularly the semi-serious political ones, which sometimes crystalized the feelings of the whole British nation. One, which helped to precipitate Britain’s declaration of war against Germany in 1914, was based on sympathy for “gallant little Belgium,” which the Germans had invaded in violation of a long-standing treaty (a copy of which the magazine also printed). The political cartoon showed a young Belgian peasant-boy standing up defiantly at the gate to his property, while being approached threateningly by a vulgar, uniformed, club-carrying German. (To rub it in, the invader confirms the stereotype of his countrymen as eaters of sausages by having a string of them trailing out of his pocket.)

But many widely read American magazines – usually weeklies with names like LIFE, and LOOK – have also disappeared, or have been drastically changed in format and frequency. One of the most notable of these was the SATURDAY EVENING POST, which now, despite its name, comes out only six times a year. It was famous for its cartoons and illustrations. One artist particularly associated with that magazine’s cover was Norman Rockwell, whose series on the “Four Freedoms” (originally proclaimed by President Franklin Roosevelt) actually got onto U.S. postage stamps.

But one American magazine, though founded in the early 1920s, is now still alive – and still appearing weekly despite its apparent emphasis on one particular urban area. It is THE NEW YORKER. It has been called the world’s best magazine, and probably owes much of its fame to the quality and variety of its articles. It was also celebrated for its cartoons – but I personally would question that part of its reputation. It still has many cartoons, but in that field, they are no longer first-rate. I feel that a really good cartoon should have skillful and appropriate art. And the caption should be as clever as the picture. And, above all, the whole thing should be FUNNY. Very few of the ones I see nowadays meet these high standards. Rarely is the picture itself at all skillfully drawn, let alone enjoyably amusing. And in many cases the caption has little connection with, or dependence on, the art.

Another magazine which is still hanging on is the READER’S DIGEST, which appears in various editions, all over the world. Compared with its early issues, in the current format it is scarcely recognizable. However, in their regular section called “Quotable Quotes,” I have been quoted (at least in the American edition) no fewer than 14 times. Here are a few of my gems which have appeared there:

“Keep some souvenirs of your past, or how will you ever prove it wasn’t all a dream?”

“If we could all hear one another’s prayers, God might be relieved of some of his burden.”

“I can do only one thing at a time, but I can avoid doing many things simultaneously.”

“All I ask is a chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.”

“Success, for some people, depends on becoming well-known.

For others, it depends on never being found out.”

It has been nice to see myself appearing on the same page with such eminent people as Pope John Paul II and Mark Twain.