CLAY FELKER, ESQ.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100500006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: September 5, 1977
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-0131
NEWSWEEK
5 SEPTP4BER 1977
NEWS MEDIA
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The call came last January, only mo-
ments after clay S. Felker had lost
control over the two magazines he
founded-New York and New West to
Australian publisher Rupert Murdoch.
Felker had returned to his apartment
after saying goodbye to his staff and the
phone was ringing. "It was Vere Harms-
worth," he recalls, "and he said, `Let's
go'." Harmsworth, head of Associated
Newspapers Group, Ltd., one of Brit-
ain's largest newspaper chains, wanted
Felker to start searching for a Thew
magazine to buy. Last week,
the two men announced
they had purchased Esquire,
the ailing 44-year-old
monthly where Felker once
worked as features editor.
The cost, including a sub-
stantial new investment in
the publication, will exceed
$5 million.
Buying Esquire represents
an impressive comeback for
the 51-year-old Felker, still
bitter that New York maga-
zine was "sold out from un-
der me by money-grubbing
little men." This time, Felk-
er said, he will retain full
business and editorial con-
trol, although Harmswoi-th,
the majority stockholder,
added that should Esquire
run into trouble, "the person
who puts up the money has to
call the shots." Esquire has
fallen on hard times in the
last two years. Its reputation
as a magazine of distin-
guished writing and caustic
wit has eroded, and it has
suffered severe advertising
declines in the process.
Felker said he will target Es-
quire at a predominantly
male, executive-level audi-
ence, and his first gesture
will be to resurrect its motto
STAT
regain such an-audience and whether
Felker can create a national publication
as compelling to read as the trendy city
magazines he sired. Felker's commercial
instinct is well established and hehas an
appreciation for the kind of good writing
for which. Esquire has long been noted.
Even his critics concede that Felker's
purchase of Esquire is the most hopeful
sign for the magazine in many years.
-TONY SCKWJ'.TZ_
icr Playboy. Esquire captured the irrev-
erent spirit of the '60s when it turned
more cynical and biting, but it has never
found the right tone for the '70s. Conse-
quently, much ofEsquire'syoungeraudi-
ence moved on to more hip magazines.
Following a controversial readership
survey by W.R. Simmons & Associates in
1974, advertising revenues declined 42
per cent in two years. In 1976, the maga-
zine cut its circulation back'to I million to
offset postal and production costs.
If anyone can restore Esquire's.luster,
Tony Bulb--Newsweek
Felker with his magazine: Back in the ball game
"'The Magazine for Men," which had
..;been dropped in 1975. He also intends to
give the magazine a more topical flavor
by making it a biweekly next March.
Risque: Felker is taking over a maga-
zine that holds a cherished place in
American publishing. Founded by Ar-
nold Gingrich in 1933 as a fashion maga-
zine for men, its firstissue carried articles
by EmestHemingway, RingLardnerand
it may be Clay Felker. At New York
magazine, he achieved success by mix-
ing service pieces, slick writing and
splashy graphics with an uncanny sense
ofpromotion. In his new venture, he will
continue to work with Milton Glaser, a
master designer who is a partner in the
purchase, and with present editor Byron .
Dobell, who also worked at New York.
Felker, who took the title of president
and chief execun~A office,. inte
d
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