JOURNALIST-PUBLISHER HENRY R. LUCE, LAST OF A NOTABLE SUCCESSION

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31316, 11 March 1967, Page 12

JOURNALIST-PUBLISHER HENRY R. LUCE, LAST OF A NOTABLE SUCCESSION

(Ba

JOHN LORD.

’■ New York correspondent of the "Financial Times")

(Reprinted from the “Financial Times” by arrangement) The era of great personalities in American journalism ended with the death, on February 28, of Henry R. Luce.

In the traditions of men like William Randolph Hearst and Roy Howard, Luce had published journals that not only printed news but exploded it and then wrapped the wreckage in daring, irreverent, imaginative and often fearlessly subjective writing.

Since Luce resigned as Editor-in-Chief of Time Incorporated in April, 1964, his organisation has continued as a money-minting machine, though “Time” magazine, its oldest publication and frequently in the past a mirror for his beliefs, has sometimes seemed deficient in its former glitter. Luce died after a brief illness at his winter home in Phoenix (Arizona) just four days before the 44th anniversary of “Time” magazine. He had established “Time” with Briton Hadden, a former school-mate and fellow-student at Yale, and a loan, arduously raised, of $86,000. The first edition had "Time's" familiar cover sketch the one of “Uncle Joe” Cannon, Speaker of the House and offered in a handily sized package a resume of the week’s news, categorised under such headings as National Affairs, Aeronautics, Religion and Imaginary Interviews. It also avoided any pretensions to impartiality, promising only that “Time” “gives both sides, but clearly indicates which side it believes to have the stronger position.” Art And Religion After Hadden's death in 1931, “Time’s” opinions had to bear increasingly the stamp of Luce’s personality, his preoccupation with sharp intellectual debate and his keen interest in art and religion. But they might also reflect his political learnings ardent Republican, defender of big business, critic of big labour, and staunch adversary of Communism and, while often praised for illuminating Americans, it was also attacked for deluding them with its glib comments. In a message to Luce on "Time’s” 40th anniversary, President Kennedy noted that the magazine had “instructed, entertained, confused and infuriated its readers for nearly half a century.” Luce was born on April 3, 1898, in the Shantung Province of China, the son of a Presbyterian missionary. He came to the United States at the age of 15, was educated at Hotchkiss School (Conn.) and Yale, and worked as a journal-

Ist with the Chicago “Daily News” and the Baltimore “News” before setting up Time Incorporated. But the influences of his childhood stayed with him through life, as he showed in his unwavering support of Chiang Kai-shek, and his religious fervour in printing in one of his leading publications a series on the great religions of the world. Perhaps most of all, they reflected the missionary zeal of his parents in building up his publications empire. “Fortune” Magazine

One of the most influential and controversial figures in 20th-century American journalism, Luce progressed quickly from “Time” to launch “Fortune” magazine as a businessman’s monthly in 1930. By 1931, "The March of Time” was being broadcast on radio (it hit the movie screen four years later), and by 1932 his company had moved into trade publishing by purchasing “Architectural Forum.” Then, in what was probably Luce’s most ambitious venture, “Life” magazine, which was to become an instant success—in terms of circulation if not, at first, of profit—when published in 1936. Revolutionising the whole concept of the weekly picture magazine, “Life ” demanded public attention with its glaring snapshots of soldiers dying, babies being bom and even models photographed in the nude. When Luce resigned in 1964 as Time Incorporated’s Editor-in-Chief, he passed to his successor, Hedley Donovan, the former managing director of "Fortune,” the world’s largest magazine publishing business, with revenues of $357m. a year. “Life” could count the largest circulation and advertising revenues of any American weekly, while “Time’s” advertising earnings were more than twice those of its closest rival, “Newsweek.” At the same time Luce had taken his company into operating radio and TV stations, and scored a remarkable triumph with a recently established book-publishing division. Set up in 1961, the division had raised its sales from 3.4 m. books in 1961 to Bm. in 1963, and inside three

years had won a place among the ten largest United States book publishers. Even after relinquishing day-to-day management of Time Inc.’s operations, Luce remained closely involved in the company's business and at his death held the post of editorial chairman. He also owned nearly 1.06 m., or about 15 per cent, of the company’s outstanding shares and his holdings have a current market value of more than sloom. What will happen now to this massive stockholding has still to be decided.

Bounding Revenues It has also to be seen how Time Inc. will fare without the parental influence of its founder, though the recent trend of the company’s profits suggests that Luce chose well when he named his successor. Time Inc.’s profits rose 11 per cent last year to $37.3m. on revenues of sso3m. “Life” could still boast that its circulation and advertising revenues were nearly twice as large ,as those of any other weekly. “Time” was holding its own in competition with “Newsweek” while the company’s book division reported sales of 16m. books last year. In addition, “Time” has recently been bidding strongly to establish itself in the expanding Pay-TV business, while last year it formed a joint company with General Electric to exploit a potentially explosive market for educational materials, systems and services. “Time,” and indeed the flavour of its publications, will change, but the business heritage left by Luce remains a highly impressive one.