Life (magazine)
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Life - International Edition - January 19, 1948 |
Life has been the name of two notable
magazines published in the
United States. The second of them is still published, and is now owned by
Time Warner.
The first
"Life Magazine" was a weekly humor publication put out by the Life Publishing Company of
Manhattan,
New York City. It was known for its energetic
cartoons,
pin up girl art, humorous pieces, and reviews of
theater and
cinema. The magazine was a forerunner of
The New Yorker, with its use of cartoons, poetry, gags, similar cover artists, cultural listing roundups, and high-society élan .
In 1908
Robert Ripley published his first cartoon in Life, later becoming first publisher of
Charles Schulz of
Peanuts fame.
Norman Rockwell's first cover for
Life,
Tain't You, was published
May 10,
1917. Rockwell's paintings were featured on
Life's cover 28 times between
1917 and
1924.
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A cover of the earlier Life Magazine from 1911 |
In
1918 Charles Dana Gibson, the famous illustrator, became the magazine's president. The famed
Gibson girls originally appeared in the magazine. Gibson had sold his first professional pen-and-ink drawings years before, in 1886, to magazine founder John Ames Mitchell.
Among the contributors to this version of Life were:
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James Stetson Metcalfe, drama critic, who was the original editor of the theater pages
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Robert Benchley, who was drama editor
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Dorothy Parker, who kicked in poems and stories
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Franklin Pierce Adams who wrote verse
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Robert E. Sherwood, the first silent film critic on the magazine before he became a playwright.All except Metcalfe were members of the
Algonquin Round Table.
John Held, Jr. was one of the most popular cover artists of the era, known for his depictions of
jazz musicians and
flappers.
This edition of
Life fell victim to the
Great Depression, and ceased publication in the early 1930s. The name was then purchased by
Henry Luce for use on his Time, Inc. magazine.
Weekly (1936-1972)
In
1936, Luce reinvented
Life as a
photojournalism magazine. The publication was a mammoth success. The first issue was dated
November 23, with a cover depicting the
Fort Peck Dam in
Montana photographed by
Margaret Bourke-White. Luce pulled a
stringer for
TIME,
Edward K. Thompson, to become assistant picture editor in 1937. From 1949–1961 he was the managing editor and editor in chief, until his retirement in 1970. His influence was significant during the magazine's heyday - roughly from its launch until the early
1960s.
LIFE was the most influential and popular magazine in America, with tens of millions of subscribers and readers. Its impact on American public opinion, especially among the exploding suburban
middle class in the U.S, was almost incalculable.
Thompson was known for the free reign he gave his editors, particularly a "trio of formidable and colorful women:
Sally Kirkland, fashion editor;
Mary Letherbee, movie editor; and
Mary Hamman, modern living editor."
[Hamblin, Dora Jane: "That Was The LIFE", page 161. W.W. Norton & Company, 1977.]Lifes original mission was "to see Life; see the world." The magazine has published some of the most iconic images of events in the United States and the world. Scores of talented photographers were employed to take the most original and unique views on the world. Life also produced many excellent science serials such as "The World We Live In" and "The Epic of Man".
Life' was published weekly until dwindling circulations for magazines as a whole, coupled with rising advertising rates, caused the magazine to print its final weekly issue on December 29, 1972, (its annual "The Year in Pictures" edition).
Semi-annual (1973-1978)
Starting in 1973,
Life was published semiannually until October 1978.
Monthly (1978-2000)
With the October 1978 issue,
Life was restarted as a monthly magazine. A weekly
Life in Time of War was published for a month or two during the first
Gulf War. Monthly publication ceased in May 2000.
Weekly (2004- )
Starting in October
2004,
Life resumed weekly publication, this time as a
supplement to
U.S. newspapers. At its launch, it was distributed with over seventy newspapers with a combined circulation of over 12 million:
The magazine ranked its top ten events of the
millennium:# Printing by
movable type (
Johann Gutenberg, 1455)# Discovery of the
New World (
Christopher Columbus, 1492)#
A new major religion (
Martin Luther, 1527)#
Steam engine starts
industrial revolution (
James Watt, 1769)# Discovery that
Earth revolves around
sun (
Galileo Galilei, 1610)#
Germ theory of
disease (
Louis Pasteur, 1864;
Robert Koch, 1876)#
Gunpowder weapons (
China, 1100)#
Declaration of Independence (United States) (1776)#
Adolf Hitler comes to power (1933)#
Compass goes to sea (
China, 1117)
This list has been criticised for being overly focused on Western achievements. The Chinese, for example, had invented movable type four centuries before Gutenberg, but with thousands of
ideograms, found its use impractical.
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Animated sequence in the film Victory Through Air Power, of a women at a barber's shop, reading an issue of Life magazine. Life would later name animation company head Walt Disney as one of the most important people of the 2nd millennium. |
The magazine also published a list of the
"100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years":
This list, too, was criticized for focusing on the West. Also, Edison's number one ranking was challenged since there were others whose inventions (combustion engine, car, electricity-making machines, for example) which had greater impact than Edison's. The top 100 list was further criticised for mixing world-famous people, such as Newton and Einstein and Pasteur and da Vinci, with numerous Americans largely unknown outside of the United States (18 Americans compared to 13 Italians and French, 12 English).
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Margaret Bourke-White (photojournalist)
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Robert Capa (photojournalist)
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Alfred Eisenstaedt (photojournalist)
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Clay Felker (sportswriter, founder of ''
New York Magazine)
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Dirck Halstead (photojournalist)
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Mary Hamman (modern living editor)
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Sally Kirkland (fashion editor)
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Mary Leatherbee (movie editor)
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Lee Miller (photojournalist)
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Gordon Parks (photojournalist)
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Will Lang Jr. (Bureau Head / Chief Regional Bureau Director)
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George Silk (photojournalist)
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Edward K. Thompson (managing editor 1949–1961; editor in chief 1961–1970)
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Vintage Life magazine website*
Life magazine website*
Lifes Millennium list I*
Lifes Millennium list II*
Life to Return as Weekend Magazine
