Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Session:         Page of 1029

Also, trends are changing, and the magazine that doesn't change with the trends is like everything else. Today everything changes so fast. Some professor at M.I.T. said last year, “If it works, it's obsolete.” Everything changes so fast, and you've got to keep on the ball. This is why youth is so much more and more in demand.

For instance, the other night at a party where Governor Rockefeller was present, we got on the subject of magazines because Gardner Cowles, the publisher of Look was there. I mentioned the fact that the current issue of Esquire was quite fascinating to me because there were three things in it that I found very interesting. One was an unconvincing article by Mr. Roy Cohn about the McCarthy hearings, defending McCarthy and his own conduct. I think that the McCarthy affair was a disgrace from beginning to end, but Cohn did make a pitch that was at least interesting. Then there was an article about Peter Fonda, Henry Fonda's son and the brother of Jane Fonda, which was very revealing about the way that these hippies think. Peter is one of these far-out kids who ride around on motorcycles and defy convention. There was also a third piece about Jim Jones, the author of From Here to Eternity. I said, “These were three pieces that I found extremely interesting because they were written by very young people.” Mike Cowles said, “Yes, I know they're written by young people. I'm beginning to think that anybody over thirty doesn't belong in the magazine business anymore because you've got to communicate





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help