New York Journal American
Encyclopedia
The New York Journal American was a newspaper
published from 1937 to 1966. The Journal American was the product of a merger between two New York newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst
: The New York American (originally the New York Journal, renamed American in 1901), a morning paper, and the New York Evening Journal, an afternoon paper. Both were published by Hearst from 1895 to 1937. The Journal American was an afternoon publication.
, the newspaper run by his former mentor Joseph Pulitzer
and from whom he stole both George McManus
and Richard F. Outcault
. On January 31, 1912, Hearst introduced the nation's first full daily comics page
in the Evening Journal. In 1913, McManus created his Bringing Up Father
comic strip
, and Outcault brought The Yellow Kid
strip to the New York Journal. This was one of the first comic strips to be printed in color and gave rise to the phrase yellow journalism
, used to describe the sensationalist and often dishonest articles, which helped, along with a one-cent price tag, to greatly increase circulation of the newspaper. Many believed that as part of this, aside from any nationalistic sentiment, Hearst may have helped to initiate the Spanish-American War
of 1898 to increase sales.
The Evening Journal was home to famed investigative reporter Nellie Bly
, who began writing for the paper in 1914 as a war correspondent from the battlefields of World War I. Bly eventually returned to the United States and was given her own column that she wrote right up until her death in 1922.
Rube Goldberg
was a later cartoonist with the Journal American. Popular columnists were O. O. McIntyre
, Dorothy Kilgallen
and Jimmy Cannon
, one of the highest paid sports columnists in the country. Beginning in 1938, Max Kase (1898-1974) was the sports editor for 28 years, and the fashion editor was Robin Chandler Duke.
The newspaper was famous for its many photographs that carried the "Journal-American Photo" credit line. With one of the highest circulations in New York in the 1950s, it nevertheless had difficulties attracting advertising. The newspaper devoted space to the Beatles, enlisting Dr. Joyce Brothers to write front-page articles in 1964 that analyzed their fast rise to superstardom. While the Beatles worked on the production of Help!
on the island of New Providence
in the Bahamas
the following year, the syndicated columnist Phyllis Battelle interviewed them for articles that ran on the Journal-American front page and in other Hearst papers, including the Los Angeles Herald Examiner for four consecutive days, from April 25 to 28, 1965.
Besides trouble with advertisers, another major factor that led to the paper's demise was a power struggle between a Hearst executive named Richard Berlin and two of William Randolph Hearst's sons, who had trouble carrying on the father's legacy after his 1951 death. The son known as Bill Hearst claimed in 1991 that Berlin, who died in 1971, had suffered from Alzheimer's disease
starting in the mid 1960s and that this caused him to shut down several Hearst newspapers without just cause.
The Journal American ceased publishing in April 1966, officially the victim of a general decline in the revenue of afternoon newspapers in the face of increasing competition from Walter Cronkite
and other television newscasters who went on the air live in the evening.
While participating in a lock-out in 1965 after the New York Times and New York Daily News
had been struck by a union, the Journal American agreed it would merge (the following year) with its evening rival, the New York World-Telegram and Sun, and the morning New York Herald-Tribune. According to its publisher, publication of the combined New York World Journal Tribune
was delayed for several months after the April 1966 expiration of its three components because of difficulty reaching an agreement with manual laborers who were needed to operate the press. The World Journal Tribune commenced publication on September 12, 1966, but folded eight months later.
Other evening newspapers that expired following the rise of network news in the 1960s donated their clipping files and many darkroom prints of published photographs to libraries. The Hearst Corporation
, however, decided to donate only the "basic back-copy morgue" of the Journal American plus darkroom prints and negative
s to the University of Texas at Austin
. Office memorandums and letters from politicians and other notables were shredded in 1966. The paper is preserved on microfilm in New York, Washington, DC and Austin, Texas. One must know the date of an article to locate it. The Journal Americian morgue of clippings, with about nine million items, is at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the photo morgue, with about two million prints and one million negatives, is housed in The Harry Ransom Center, both at The University of Texas at Austin
.
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
published from 1937 to 1966. The Journal American was the product of a merger between two New York newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
: The New York American (originally the New York Journal, renamed American in 1901), a morning paper, and the New York Evening Journal, an afternoon paper. Both were published by Hearst from 1895 to 1937. The Journal American was an afternoon publication.
History
Having purchased the newspaper, Hearst entered into a circulation war with the New York WorldNew York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
, the newspaper run by his former mentor Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911), born Politzer József, was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Pulitzer introduced the techniques of "new journalism" to the newspapers he acquired in the 1880s and became a leading...
and from whom he stole both George McManus
George McManus
George McManus was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the central characters in his syndicated comic strip, Bringing Up Father....
and Richard F. Outcault
Richard F. Outcault
Richard Felton Outcault was an American comic strip writer-artist. He was the creator of the series The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown, and he is considered the inventor of the modern comic strip.-Early life:...
. On January 31, 1912, Hearst introduced the nation's first full daily comics page
Daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays....
in the Evening Journal. In 1913, McManus created his Bringing Up Father
Bringing up Father
Bringing Up Father was an influential American comic strip created by cartoonist George McManus . Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it ran for 87 years, from January 12, 1913 to May 28, 2000....
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, and Outcault brought The Yellow Kid
The Yellow Kid
The Yellow Kid emerged as the lead character in Hogan's Alley, drawn by Richard F. Outcault, which became one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in an American newspaper, although its graphical layout had already been thoroughly established in political and other, purely-for-entertainment...
strip to the New York Journal. This was one of the first comic strips to be printed in color and gave rise to the phrase yellow journalism
Yellow journalism
Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism...
, used to describe the sensationalist and often dishonest articles, which helped, along with a one-cent price tag, to greatly increase circulation of the newspaper. Many believed that as part of this, aside from any nationalistic sentiment, Hearst may have helped to initiate the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
of 1898 to increase sales.
The Evening Journal was home to famed investigative reporter Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly was the pen name of American pioneer female journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She remains notable for two feats: a record-breaking trip around the world in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from...
, who began writing for the paper in 1914 as a war correspondent from the battlefields of World War I. Bly eventually returned to the United States and was given her own column that she wrote right up until her death in 1922.
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...
was a later cartoonist with the Journal American. Popular columnists were O. O. McIntyre
O. O. McIntyre
Oscar Odd McIntyre was a famed New York newspaper columnist of the 1920s and 1930s who cleverly combined a small town point of view with urban sophistication...
, Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...
and Jimmy Cannon
Jimmy Cannon
Jimmy Cannon was a sports journalist inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his coverage of the sport.-Early career:...
, one of the highest paid sports columnists in the country. Beginning in 1938, Max Kase (1898-1974) was the sports editor for 28 years, and the fashion editor was Robin Chandler Duke.
The newspaper was famous for its many photographs that carried the "Journal-American Photo" credit line. With one of the highest circulations in New York in the 1950s, it nevertheless had difficulties attracting advertising. The newspaper devoted space to the Beatles, enlisting Dr. Joyce Brothers to write front-page articles in 1964 that analyzed their fast rise to superstardom. While the Beatles worked on the production of Help!
Help! (film)
Help! is a 1965 film directed by Richard Lester, starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. Help! was the second feature film made by the Beatles and is a...
on the island of New Providence
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It also houses the national capital city, Nassau.The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed...
in the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
the following year, the syndicated columnist Phyllis Battelle interviewed them for articles that ran on the Journal-American front page and in other Hearst papers, including the Los Angeles Herald Examiner for four consecutive days, from April 25 to 28, 1965.
Besides trouble with advertisers, another major factor that led to the paper's demise was a power struggle between a Hearst executive named Richard Berlin and two of William Randolph Hearst's sons, who had trouble carrying on the father's legacy after his 1951 death. The son known as Bill Hearst claimed in 1991 that Berlin, who died in 1971, had suffered from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
starting in the mid 1960s and that this caused him to shut down several Hearst newspapers without just cause.
The Journal American ceased publishing in April 1966, officially the victim of a general decline in the revenue of afternoon newspapers in the face of increasing competition from Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
and other television newscasters who went on the air live in the evening.
While participating in a lock-out in 1965 after the New York Times and New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
had been struck by a union, the Journal American agreed it would merge (the following year) with its evening rival, the New York World-Telegram and Sun, and the morning New York Herald-Tribune. According to its publisher, publication of the combined New York World Journal Tribune
New York World Journal Tribune
The New York World Journal Tribune, also known as the World-Journal-Tribune, was a newspaper published in New York City from September 1966 until May 1967...
was delayed for several months after the April 1966 expiration of its three components because of difficulty reaching an agreement with manual laborers who were needed to operate the press. The World Journal Tribune commenced publication on September 12, 1966, but folded eight months later.
Other evening newspapers that expired following the rise of network news in the 1960s donated their clipping files and many darkroom prints of published photographs to libraries. The Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
, however, decided to donate only the "basic back-copy morgue" of the Journal American plus darkroom prints and negative
Negative (photography)
In photography, a negative may refer to three different things, although they are all related.-A negative:Film for 35 mm cameras comes in long narrow strips of chemical-coated plastic or cellulose acetate. As each image is captured by the camera onto the film strip, the film strip advances so that...
s to the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. Office memorandums and letters from politicians and other notables were shredded in 1966. The paper is preserved on microfilm in New York, Washington, DC and Austin, Texas. One must know the date of an article to locate it. The Journal Americian morgue of clippings, with about nine million items, is at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the photo morgue, with about two million prints and one million negatives, is housed in The Harry Ransom Center, both at The University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
.
External links
- Mr. Hearst's Flagship Sank Like the Maine by Stan FischlerStan FischlerStan Fischler is a hockey and New York City Subway historian, broadcaster, author and professor.For his hockey knowledge, Fischler promotes himself as “The Hockey Maven” in both local and national circles...
for the Village Voice April 28, 1966 - Database for the photographic morgue at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
- Information on the clippings morgue at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History