Cold Open

It’s a winter day in New York City in 1930.

Inside her apartment, professional photographer Margaret Bourke White awakes to her alarm clock.

Immediately, she gets out of the bed and does her morning routine, plotting out the day’s photo shoot as she brushes her teeth. Working for Fortune magazine, one of the country’s most popular business publications, she is often commissioned for challenging assignments, and today is no different.

Dressed and ready to go with her photography equipment in hand, Margaret leaves her apartment and heads out onto the street.

After walking for a few blocks, she reaches the lobby of the unfinished Chrysler building – the subject of her latest assignment. When complete, this building will tower over 1,000 feet high, surpassing the Bank of Manhattan as the tallest building in New York City.

Margaret nods at the construction workers in greeting, before taking the elevator up to the 61st floor.

The doors open and she walks down the hall to an opening in the wall. With a blustery winter breeze blowing, she carefully begins to climb out onto one of the tower’s stainless steel gargoyles, jetting out from the building 800 feet above Lexington Avenue.

As she moves across the sleek neck of a sculpted eagle, Margaret takes great care not to drop any of her equipment, or worse, lose her balance and fall the 61 stories down to the sidewalk below.

She opens the shutter of her camera and begins to snap photos of the gargoyle with an impressive view of the city as a backdrop. Throughout it all, Margaret stays calm, focused only on the quality of her shots, barely acknowledging the dizzying altitude. Because for Margaret, this daring feat is nothing more than another day at the office.

As a photographer for Fortune magazine, Margaret will be so dedicated to her work that she’ll even apply for a job as the Chrysler Building’s janitor, allowing her unfettered access to her newest subject. Her skills as a photographer and her extreme dedication to her craft will continue to impress Margaret’s boss at Fortune, publisher Harry Luce. And as Harry prepares to completely reimagine one of his publications, Margaret will become the obvious choice to shoot its first cover image, making her Life magazine's first female photographer after the rebranded publication hits newsstands on November 23rd, 1936.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is November 23rd, 1936: The First Issue of “Life” Magazine Is Published.

Act One

It’s 1921, in Baltimore, Maryland, 15 years before the launch of a reimagined version of Life Magazine.

23-year-old Henry “Harry” Luce returns to the apartment he rents with his co-worker and college friend, Briton Hadden. The two men have just finished a shift at The Baltimore News, where they are paid $40 a week to work as junior reporters.

Yet, upon entering their apartment, relaxation is far from their minds. Instead, a sense of purpose energizes them. The day's work is really just beginning because, in the privacy of their apartment, Harry and Briton have been secretly hatching a plan to quit their jobs and launch their own publishing enterprise.

Harry first met Briton his future business partner when they were classmates at Yale. Both gifted writers, they developed a competitive friendship, often one-upping each other while reporting for the campus’s prestigious newspaper, the Yale Daily News. Their personalities also complimented each other – both were fiercely ambitious, and each fed off the other’s drive to succeed.

After graduating college, they moved together to Baltimore to launch their careers at The Baltimore News. But now, Harry and Briton are ready to forge their own path in the world of publishing and make what Harry calls “the gamble of their lives”: launching a weekly periodical they intend to call “Facts.”

The goal of “Facts” will be to present human interest articles on a variety of subjects including politics, books, and science. Their target audience would be men of all socio-economic backgrounds, and they plan to keep each article to 200 words or less, just enough to prepare the reader at least once a week for a dinner table conversation.

But many of their friends think they're crazy. Between the two of them, Harry and Briton have less than two years of professional journalism experience and not much money. Not to mention, the nation is at the tail end of a severe recession. If they stayed at The Baltimore News, they would have a safe, stable future with the promise of rapid advancement. But while their new enterprise may be foolhardy, it’s also irresistible.

So every day, Harry and Briton pour hours of their downtime into their project. They clip articles from the day’s edition of the New York Times and rewrite and reorganize them into their own format. They type out sample stories, and lean on the writing talent of their fellow Baltimore News staffer and roommate, Walter Millis, to produce countless articles in various styles and tones. They experiment with business plans, making tweaks as they go, but sticking with the general idea of a weekly periodical targeting men.

For Harry, he knows it’s a long shot, but also a calculated risk. Periodicals, or magazines as they will come to be known, have been a fixture of American society since 1741 when the first two magazines, including one produced by Benjamin Franklin, began publication. Though neither of these magazines lasted more than 6 months, they solidified a format that has only grown in popularity.

And by the 1830s, a decline in the cost of printing allowed for the production of less-expensive magazines, and publishers began to take advantage of the growing postal service to increase distribution. At the same time, the format of magazines shifted away from intellectualism and elitism to a more accessible format for a wider range of audiences. Soon after for the first time, magazines aimed at families, children and women began to appear, strengthening demand for the format among the American public.

Now, the weekly circulation of popular magazines is in the millions. Harry has looked on as publications like The Saturday Evening Post have started featuring cover art by some of the nation's most famous artists and publishing the works of the country’s preeminent writers. It’s clear to Henry that the market is flourishing, and he wants in.

And by February 1922, Harry and his partners will be ready to take “the great leap into the unknown.” Short on resources, Harry will negotiate a seven-week leave from the Baltimore News and relocate to New York to launch his new publication. But getting started won’t be easy. First, he’ll have to raise the necessary funds to finance the venture. And if he can’t, he’ll be forced to return to Baltimore as a failed businessman, a fate he’ll do everything in his power to avoid.

Act Two

It’s July 1922, in New York City, thirteen years before the first issue of a rebranded Life magazine will be published.

Harry Luce arrives at a meeting of the Yale Club, a social group for graduates of Yale University – though today, Harry is all business.

A few months ago, Harry and his two partners, both former Yale classmates, left their jobs in Baltimore and relocated to New York City to follow their dreams in the Big Apple. They hope to launch a weekly magazine that will offer bite-sized articles about news, politics, sports, and a variety of other topics. But they need money. So far they have raised $38,000, a modest sum, but not enough to launch their publication.

So today, Harry has turned to his network of Yale connections. He enters the meeting with his fellow alumni, hoping to secure at least a $5000 investment to continue building his business.

But things go much better than he expected. After making his pitch at the meeting, Harry receives a pledge of $20,000 from the mother of a recent Yale graduate, whose son also offers an additional Five. Other members of the family agree to contribute another $20,000, bringing the total amount raised to $100,000, well enough for Harry to move forward with his plans to launch the magazine.

Using the money they’ve raised, Harry and his business partners decide to upgrade their working space and rent a large office at Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street in the heart of the city. Then they begin to hire staff, mostly graduates of Ivy League colleges, and set about creating the first issue of their new magazine. But as they’re making progress, they discover they have a problem – choosing the right name for the publication. Its working title is “Facts.” But this is always felt like just a placeholder. The founders want something catchier and more compelling for what they are determined will be the world’s greatest magazine.

One evening, while still in the process of finalizing a name, the answer finally comes to Harry. While taking the subway home, his eyes land on the advertising cards above the train car windows. One word in the announcements catches his attention: “time.” Harry brings the idea to his business partners and they agree that this one word is the perfect title for their publication.

Harry and his team will spend the rest of 1922 and early into 1923 working on the first issue of their new magazine. While Briton Hadden, Harry’s former colleague from Yale and one of Time’s founders, focuses his attention on the editorial side, Harry works to ensure that Time will function successfully as a business. He builds a plan to support the magazine with advertisements and begins making connections with agencies and brands. He hopes that he can convince enough of them to run ads to help support the cost of publication and turn a profit for the business.

Finally, by late February 1923, the first issue is ready for print. It’s 28 pages long and features 15 ads, mostly from banks and book publishers, and it proves to be a success. Time goes into regular weekly publication, and by 1929, the magazine is profitable, with widespread distribution across the country and a loyal following of middle-class readership across much of the nation.

But while Harry continues to operate the business, his partner, Briton, grows increasingly ill at the start of 1929. As both his mood and health decline, Briton is hospitalized for a strep infection. Then in February, he succumbs to his sickness, passing away almost exactly six years after the publication of Time’s first issue.

Following Briton’s death, Harry buys out most of the stock left to his co-founder’s family, taking full control of the company. And even without his old business partner by his side, Harry’s ambitions continue to grow. The following year, he launches an innovative new business magazine, which he calls Fortune, and hires an up and coming photographer, Margaret Bourke-White. But even with two publications under his belt now, Harry isn’t satisfied. He still wants to expand his burgeoning media empire, and soon, he identifies his next project.

By 1936, publisher Clair Maxwell is struggling to hold onto his own magazine entitled Life. Founded in 1883, the publication is a humor and general interest magazine, far more lighthearted than Time or Fortune. Over the twelve years he’s been running it, Clair has grown it seen in popularity, reaching 250,000 readers.

But with the onset of the Great Depression and changing tastes among readership, the magazine has begun to lose subscribers and money. Between steady competition with new and established magazines, and multiple failed attempts to revamp its editorial style, Clair’s efforts to reboot the magazine have come up short.

So with his Life Magazine floundering, Clair Maxwell will find himself out of options. But while he begins to mourn his publication’s inevitable death, an unexpected business proposition will promise to breathe new life into the magazine.

Sensing an opportunity, Harry Luce will swoop in and make Clair an offer he can’t refuse –  $92,000 for the rights to Life. Clair will eagerly accept, and Harry will get to work adding yet another iconic magazine to his publishing empire. But to make Life successful, Harry will have to completely reinvent it. And for that, he’ll need a little help from an old colleague.

Act Three

It’s 1936, a few months before the first issue of the revamped Life Magazine will be published.

Publishing tycoon Harry Luce sits behind his desk in his lavish office in New York City. He's just successfully acquired the rights to Life Magazine, and with pen in hand, he begins to draw up plans to exploit the assets of his newly acquired property.

Harry has no intention to keep Life going in its current form. His real goal in purchasing the magazine was simply to acquire the name. Far from a humor magazine, he envisions Life being a pioneering publication grounded in photojournalism. Harry is confident that photographs will soon become as important as words in telling a story. He wants his articles to feature compelling images, showing readers people and places all over the world – things many of them could never dream of seeing firsthand.

Confident in this new direction, Harry commissions Margaret Bourke-White, an associate editor and staff photographer from Fortune magazine, to capture the Fort Peck Dam in Montana – a federal project commissioned as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Margaret eagerly takes on the project, and on November 23rd, 1936, the first issue of a revamped Life magazine hits newsstands with one of Margaret’s photos gracing its cover. The striking image of the enormous chain of dams, along with the magazine’s fifty pages of photographs and engaging captions, draws 380,000 readers.

Life magazine is an immediate success. And within just a few years, it will be one of the most widely read publications in America, challenging the Saturday Evening Post for status as the country’s most popular magazine.

And all throughout the mid-twentieth century, Life will continue to flourish, acquiring over 8 million subscribers at its peak. It will be notable for its coverage of major world events including World War II, the Kennedy era, and the Vietnam War. But by 1978, declining sales will make the magazine move from a weekly to a monthly format. And in 2000, citing financial troubles and a changing publishing landscape, Time Incorporated will publish the final print issue of Life — shutting down the publication over sixty years after it began its second life as the nation’s biggest photographic news magazine on November 23rd, 1936.

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 24th, 1947. US Congress votes to uphold a group of producers, directors, and screenwriters in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the government’s probe of alleged communist influence in Hollywood.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mischa Stanton.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Weiss.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.