When editors were gods

One editor's gutsy secret of success

“A cast-iron stomach, the digestion of a horse.” — Robert H. Davis, editor of Munsey’s magazine, when asked the secret of being a successful editor.

Posing the question was William C. Lengel, who wrote about Davis for a 1920 issue of the trade publication Advertising and Selling. Lengel himself went on to become a successful editor, at the Smart Set, Cosmopolitan, and other magazines.

For an example of what Davis’s stomach was able to tolerate, here is his recipe for Cream Sauce à la Worcestershire, which he is said to have invented.

Cosmo editor's secret passion revealed

The widely syndicated gossip columnist O.O. McIntyre informed his readers that Harry Payne Burton, then editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, "is a pushover for black bean soup" on this day (July 12) in 1937. McIntyre often ran personal tidbits about major magazine editors, who in those days were considered celebrities on a par with movie stars, aviators, and tennis champs. Here's a recent piece of mine about McIntyre from Smithsonian.com.

Eat like a famous dead magazine editor

The Stag Cook Book: Written by Men for Men (1922) featured recipes from a long list of male celebrities of the day, including Charlie Chaplin, Rube Goldberg, Warren G. Harding, John Philip Sousa, Houdini, and half a dozen then-famous editors. Here are the editors' favorite recipes:   

Charles Hanson Towne's recipe for corn pudding.

Ray Long's recipes for shad roe and a pineapple dessert.

Edward W. Bok's recipe for asparagus.

Robert H. Davis's recipe for cream sauce a la Worcestershire.

S. S. McClure's recipes for omelettes and pies.

Arthur T. Vance's recipes for Welsh rabbit (or rarebit), a tomato/cucumber/onion salad, and French dressing.

H. L. Mencken's advice to would-be magazine editors

"I note what you say about your aspiration to edit a magazine. I am sending you by this mail a six-chambered revolver. Load it and fire every one into your head. You will thank me after you get to Hell..." — H. L. Mencken in a letter to author William Saroyan, quoted in Terry Teachout's 2002 Mencken biography, "The Skeptic." 

(On the other hand, H. Allen Smith writes in "Low Man Rides Again" [1973] that Mencken once told him his magazine editing days were "probably the most interesting period of his life." Incidentally, and way off topic, I know, here's Smith's chili recipe.)

On this day...

... in 1979, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. announced that the organization was ending publication of The American Girl, its 72-year-old magazine. The magazine's legacy lives on in Girl Scout Cookies, for which it published a recipe in 1922.

On this day...

... in 1991, Eleanor Sullivan, editor in chief of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and, before that, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, died at age 62. (I knew her slightly when we were working for the same parent company, Davis Publications, and remember her as being very nice.)

Also on this day, in 1937, the widely syndicated gossip columnist O.O. McIntyre informed his readers that Harry Payne Burton, then editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, "is a pushover for black bean soup."

On this day...

... in 1979, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. announced that the organization was ceasing publication of The American Girl, its 72-year-old magazine. Though it has now been defunct for 30 years, the magazine's legacy lives on in Girl Scout Cookies, for which it published a recipe in 1922.