Enter Helen (42 page)

112
  
“When these slick woman's magazines”: Service of
Chicago Daily News
, “Equality for Women May Be Biggest Problem Raised for Employer by Rights Act,”
Kansas City Times
, October 2, 1964, HGB Papers, SSC.

112
  
“Despite the thoroughness of your course program”: Letty Cottin Pogrebin to Mrs. Marjorie Brick, Berkeley School of Secretarial Training, August 7, 1964, press release for
Sex and the Office
, HGB Papers, SSC.

113
  
“A publisher asked me to write a ‘me-too' book”: Gloria Steinem, interview with the author, December 2013.

113
  
“Both have suffered allegations”; “knowledge by nature”; “an ingenious combination”; “
Sex and the Office
doesn't quite fit into George Orwell's category of
‘good-bad-books'”: Gloria Steinem, “Very Basic Training,” a double review of
Sex and the Office
by Helen Gurley Brown, and
Nine to Five and After: The Feminine Art of Living and Working in the Big City
by Irene Silverman,
New York Herald Tribune
, October 18, 1964, HGB Papers, SSC.

15: I
N THE
M
AIL

115
  
“What is it like to be the little princess”: Joan Didion, “Bosses Make Lousy Lovers,”
Saturday Evening Post
, January 30, 1965, HGB Papers, SSC.

115
  
On TV, she wore a wig: Helen Gurley Brown,
Sex and the Office
(Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2004), p. 37.

115
  
“I'm kind of outspoken”: Helen Gurley Brown and Joe Pyne in conversation on
The Joe Pyne Show
, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGl-yrGYs98.

115
  
“terrible woman”: Ibid.

115
  
“Well, Joe, it's just that I think”: Ibid.

116
  
One day, she climbed into a white, two-door Volkswagen Beetle: Accounts of this tour are from Joan Didion, “Bosses Make Lousy Lovers”; and Skip Ferderber, “Sex and the Single Back Seat Observer,” Crosscut.com, August 14, 2012, in which Ferderber recalled driving Helen and Joan around in the White Angel.

117
  
“a very tired woman indeed”: Joan Didion, “Bosses Make Lousy Lovers.”

117
  
“a twilight world”: Ibid.

118
  
“over exposure signals on HGB”: Letty Cottin and Carol Hill to Helen and David Brown, November 17, 1964, HGB Papers, SSC.

118
  
Among their ideas that never made it to screen: The food-themed quiz show was called
Cook's on the Fire
, and the invention show was called
Invention, Please
, early 1960s, collected television scripts, HGB Papers, SSC.

118
  
“EXPLAIN PLEASE!”; “how to change a tire”; “How it started with the Jews and the Arabs”: Helen and David Brown,
Frankly Female
, early 1960s, collected television scripts, HGB Papers, SSC.

119
  
Nor did they have success with a comedy-drama series:
Sandra (The Single Girl)
, early 1960s, collected television scripts, HGB Papers, SSC.

119
  
“It is a series built around a female lead”: American Broadcasting Company (letter writer's name not provided on copy), Mrs. Lucy Kroll, November 23, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.

119
  
“The only possible harm”: Helen and David Brown,
The Unwind Up
, early 1960s, collected television scripts, HGB Papers, SSC.

120
  
“in the mail”: David wrote about this theory in his memoir,
Let Me Entertain You
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), p. 132.

16: F
EMME

121
  
“Here's a proposal for you”: Bernard Geis to Richard Deems, December 23, 1964, HGB Papers, SSC. Reproduced with the permission of Bernard Geis Associates.

121
  
Helen's epic tour finally slowed to a halt: Details taken from various correspondence between Helen Gurley Brown and Bernard Geis Associates, as well as from collected book tour itineraries and miscellany, 1962–69, HGB Papers, SSC.

122
  
“It's not the worst picture ever made”: A. H. Weiler, “Movie Review: Sex and the Single Girl (1964),”
New York Times
, December 26, 1964.

122
  
“It was ridiculous, a horrible movie”: Rex Reed, interview with the author, 2014.

123
  
“You know, Helen, you really ought to have a magazine for these girls”: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, tape no. 10, “HGB Interview,” 1970–71, HGB Papers, SSC. Helen also described the process in David Brown's memoir,
Let Me Entertain You
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), p. 106.

123
  
At a certain point, Charlotte Kelly: David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 111.

123
  
Among their ideas for monthly departmental features: Headlines and short quotes are from the Browns'
Femme
prospectus, 1964, HGB Papers, SSC.

123
  
Among their suggested headlines for major articles: Ibid.

124
  
“The bathing-suit girl”: Helen Gurley Brown, undated introductory note, presumably for archive visitors, to the
Femme
prospectus.

125
  
“For the woman on her own”; “U.S. Presidents Who Liked Girls”; “Where the Men Are”:
Femme
prospectus.

125
  
“as a first class citizen”; “independent attitude”: Ibid.

126
  
“This woman's magazine will
never
deal with the problems of school lunches”: This quote, and following excerpt, ibid.

127
  
What if the Browns told you: Ibid.

128
  
“Spec said that he and Hefner would be glad to look at the prospectus”: Bernard Geis to David Brown, November 11, 1964, HGB Papers, SSC. Reproduced with the permission of Bernard Geis Associates. Geis wrote other notes to the Browns that fall about his attempts to shop the prospectus around to magazines including
Esquire
.

129
  
“It looks as though they may fold it”: David Brown gave a detailed account of shopping around the
Femme
prospectus in
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 111–13.

129
  
“You're to telephone Deems”: Ibid.

129
  
Hearst didn't want to replace
Cosmopolitan
: Ibid.

129
  
“How many copies does ‘Our Unadoptable Children' sell”: Helen Gurley Brown,
Cosmopolitan
proposal, 1965, HGB Papers, SSC.

130
  
“One of the first things Helen said to me”: Ruth Manton, interview with the author, March 2013.

131
  
“I think Helen was cowering in a corner somewhere”: David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 112.

17: F
OR THE
G
IRL WITH A
J
OB

132
  
“Helen Gurley got browner, browner, and browner”: From “Helen Gurley Wins a Holiday in Hawaii,”
Glamour
, May 1953, HGB Papers, SSC.

132
  
Growing up, Helen inhaled magazines: Despite David's comment that he'd never seen her read a magazine, Helen often wrote about loving movies and movie stars whose pictures she saw in magazines.

132
  
ten women with modest incomes who still managed to show impeccable taste: Jennifer Scanlon referenced the
Glamour
contest qualifications in
Bad Girls Go Everywhere
(New York: Penguin Books, 2009), p. 29.

132
  
Helen entered for the first time in 1951: Helen Gurley Brown, early notes on entering
Glamour
's contest, and the application process, HGB Papers, SSC.

133
  
Helen gave it her all: Ibid.

133
  
“starts with that most basic commodity—one's own self”: “Helen Gurley Wins a Holiday in Hawaii.”

134
  
It also made her true ambitions known: Jennifer Scanlon,
Bad Girls Go Everywhere
, p. 29.

134
  
it was her first time in a magazine office: Helen Gurley Brown's account in David Brown's memoir,
Let Me Entertain You
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), p. 107.

18: T
HE
M
OST
E
XCITING
W
OMAN IN THE
W
ORLD

135
  
“She has no intention”: “Sex & the Editor,”
Time
, March 26, 1965.

135
  
“FIRST DAY AT HEARST”: Helen Gurley Brown, entry in red diary, HGB Papers, SSC.

135
  
David's old mentor Herb Mayes was the first to call: David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), p. 30.

135
  
David negotiated for a total annual compensation package of $35,000: In a letter to Richard Deems dated February 11, 1965, David Brown negotiated for Helen to be allotted $35,000 annually. James Landers confirmed this number in
The Improbable First Century of “Cosmopolitan” Magazine
(Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2010), p. 224.

135
  
“a spokeswoman for single women and girls with jobs”: Hearst press release, 1965, HGB Papers, SSC.

135
  
“A lot of people will think we hired her”: “Sex & the Editor,”
Newsweek
, March 29, 1965, HGB Papers, SSC.

136
  
“I don't want to be a magazine editor!”: Helen Gurley Brown,
I'm Wild Again: Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), p. 171.

136
  
Just in case, her contract included a stipulation: David Brown referenced this agreement in a letter to Richard Deems, February 11, 1965.

136
  
become an astronaut or a brain surgeon: Helen Gurley Brown's account in David Brown's memoir,
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 107.

136
  
“Ask the managing editor to have lunch with you”: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, tape no. 10, “HGB Interview,” 1970–72, HGB Papers, SSC.

136
  
she still went to bed feeling like she would be starting a prison term: From Helen's account in David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 107.

136
  
In 1965, what is known today as the Hearst Tower: Background on Hearst Magazine Building from Landmarks Preservation Commission, February 16, 1988, Designation List 200, LP-1625; background on collaboration between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Urban from Anthony Ramirez, “An Urban Landmark in Manhattan Grows by 46 Stories,”
New York Times
, September 18, 2005.

138
  
a simple light-blue jersey dress: Helen recalled her outfit in David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 108.

138
  
a rumor pinballed around the offices: Account and dialogue from former
Cosmopolitan
secretary Vene Spencer, interview with the author, September 2014.

139
  
“It came as a complete shock”: Ibid.

139
  
she started by inviting her new employees into her office: Account of meeting Helen Gurley Brown for the first time, and what he office looked like, ibid.

139
  
She did her homework: Ibid.

140
  
Betty promptly turned her down: Helen spoke about her early challenges with the staff at
Cosmopolitan
in Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, audio recording file no. 2553b, tape no. 9 (side B), 1970–71, HGB Papers, SSC.

140
  
“The magazine is bubbling with enthusiasm”: “Sex & the Editor,”
Time
.

140
  
Almost instantly, there was mutiny: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, audio recording file no. 2553b, tape no. 9 (side B).

141
  
When she asked to see what was scheduled for future issues: Helen Gurley Brown's account in David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 108.

142
  
“You don't need literary people”: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, audio recording file no. 2553b, tape no. 9 (side B).

142
  
“I went to sleep but it didn't take”: Helen Gurley Brown's account in David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
, p. 108.

143
  
“That wasn't her”; “When it seems to you as though she's being a storyteller”: Walter Meade, interview with the author.

19: T
HE
J
ULY
I
SSUE

144
  
“I hope to have a magazine that reflects life”: “Sex & the Editor,”
Newsweek
, March 29, 1965, HGB Papers, SSC.

144
  
Apparently mailroom runs were beneath her: Helen spoke about her early challenges with the staff at
Cosmopolitan
in Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, audio recording file no. 2553b, tape no. 9 (side B), 1970–71, HGB Papers, SSC.

144
  
“Mrs. Brown,” Robin said: Ibid.

145
  
At some point every day, Helen picked up the phone and called David: Helen detailed her struggles and reliance on David early on at
Cosmopolitan
in David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), p. 109.