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Peter Bart: The New Yorker’s Opening Was A Flop, But Magazine’s Centenary Is A Study In Survival
Despite a downturn in the magazine industry, The New Yorker with its 1.23 million subscribers is a study in survival, Peter Bart writes.
Articles like “In Cold Blood” or “Brokeback Mountain” became the basis for movie hits, and classic pieces like “Hiroshima” by John Hersey or “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson or “Nuremberg” by Rebecca West radically impacted society’s perspectives. But early efforts at comedy spurred writer rebellions in difficult times, with one John O’Hara piece tirelessly repeating “I want more money.” Its famously grumpy founding editor Harold Ross, who lived on “a diet of overwork and nicotine” (Remnick’s words) nonetheless rejected ads for deodorants, alcohol or other products deemed unseemly. Some 15.4 million copies reach subscribers each month, its pages tracking topics from cruises to fish sticks, articles probing advances in virtual reality gaming, reviews spanning Wimpy Kid books to 18th century midwives ( Frozen River).
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