Look (American magazine)

''Look'' was a biweekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa, from 1937 to 1971, with editorial offices in New York City. It had an emphasis on photographs and photojournalism in addition to human interest and lifestyle articles. A large-sized magazine of , it was a direct competitor to market leader ''Life''. ''Look'' ceased publication in 1971.

Origin

Gardner "Mike" Cowles Jr. (1903–1985), the magazine's co-founder (with his brother John) and first editor, was executive editor of '' The Des Moines Register'' and '' The Des Moines Tribune''. When the first issue went on sale in early 1937, it sold 705,000 copies.

Although planned to begin with the January 1937 issue, the actual first issue of ''Look'' to be distributed was the February 1937 issue, numbered as Volume 1, Number 2. It was published monthly for five issues (February–May 1937), then switched to biweekly starting with the May 11, 1937 issue. Page numbering on early issues counted the front cover as page one. Early issues, subtitled ''Monthly Picture Magazine'', carried no advertising.

The unusual format of the early issues featured layouts of photos with long captions or very short articles. The magazine's backers described it as "an experiment based on the tremendous unfilled demand for extraordinary news and feature pictures". It was aimed at a broader readership than ''Life'', promising trade papers that ''Look'' would have "reader interest for yourself, for your wife, for your private secretary, for your office boy".

Highlights

From 1946 to 1970, ''Look'' published the Football Writers Association of America College All America Football Team and brought players and selected writers to New York City for a celebration. During that 25-year period, the FWAA team was introduced on national television shows by Bob Hope, Steve Allen, Perry Como, and others.

Its January 24, 1956, article "The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi", included murder confessions from J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, who had been acquitted in 1955 of killing 14-year-old boy Emmett Till.

Circulation peak

Within weeks of its debut, more than a million copies were bought of each issue, and it became a biweekly. By 1948, it sold 2.9 million copies per issue. Circulation reached 3.7 million in 1954, and peaked at 7.75 million in 1969. Its advertising revenue reached its highest point in 1966 at $80 million
(equivalent to $ million in ). Of the leading general-interest, large-format magazines, ''Look'' had a circulation second only to ''Life'' and ahead of '' The Saturday Evening Post'', which closed in 1969, and '' Collier's'', which folded in 1956.

''Look'' was published under various company names: Look, Inc. (1937–45), Cowles Magazines (1946–65), and Cowles Communications, Inc. (1965–71). Its New York editorial offices were opened in the architecturally distinctive new 488 Madison Avenue in 1950, dubbed the "Look Building", on the National Register of Historic Places since 2005.

''Look'' ceased publication with its issue of October 19, 1971, the victim of a $5 million loss (equivalent to $ million in )
in revenues in 1970 (with television cutting deeply into its advertising revenues), a slack economy, and rising postal rates. Circulation was at 6.5 million when it closed.

After 1971

French publisher Hachette brought back ''Look, the Picture Newsmagazine'' in February 1979 as a biweekly in a slightly smaller size. It lasted only a year. Subscribers received copies of '' Esquire'' to fulfill their terms.

The ''Look'' Magazine Photograph Collection was donated to the Library of Congress and contains about five million items.

After the closure, six ''Look'' employees created a fulfillment house using the computer system newly developed by the magazine's circulation department. The company, CDS Global, became an international provider of customer relationship services.

Notable staff photographers and illustrators

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was a staff photographer for ''Look'' before starting his career in feature films. Of the more than 300 assignments Kubrick did for ''Look'' from 1946 to 1951, more than 100 are in the Library of Congress collection. All ''Look'' jobs with which he was associated have been cataloged with descriptions focusing on the images that were printed. Other related Kubrick material is located at the Museum of the City of New York.

Frank Bauman

Frank Bauman was a staff photographer for ''Look'' following his career as war correspondent in World War II. Bauman worked alongside Margaret Bourke-White to document life in Cuba and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Bauman was known for his experimental styles, and collaborated Doc Edgerton to develop the Stroboscopic effect, which proved the curveball curves and settled a longstanding dispute.

William Bradford Huie

Alabama journalist William Bradford Huie was commissioned by ''Look'' and other periodicals to write articles about the Civil Rights Movement in the South. In January 1956 he published an interview in ''Look'' in which two of the six white men who killed Emmett Till admitted their guilt and described their crime. They had been acquitted at trial several months previously by an all-white jury. His work for ''Look'' was criticized at the time as " checkbook journalism", because he was known to pay interviewees to speak with them.

James Karales

James Karales was a photographer for ''Look'' from 1960 to 1971. Covering the Civil Rights Movement throughout its duration, he took many memorable photographs, including the iconic photograph of the Selma to Montgomery march showing people proudly marching along the highway under a cloudy, turbulent sky.James Karales, Photographer of Social Upheaval, Dies at 71
/ref>

Norman Rockwell

Beginning in 1963, Norman Rockwell, after closing his career with the ''Saturday Evening Post'', began making illustrations for ''Look''.

See also

* List of defunct American periodicals
* Marjorie S. Deane

References

Further reading

* Cowles, Gardner. ''Mike Looks Back: The Memoirs of Gardner Cowles, Founder of Look Magazine''. New York: G. Cowles, 1985.
*

External links

''Look'' magazine collection
at the Library of Congress

Selected bibliography
at Library of Congress

{{Authority control

1937 establishments in Iowa
1971 disestablishments in Iowa
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1937
Magazines published in Iowa
Magazines disestablished in 1971
Mass media in Des Moines, Iowa
News magazines published in the United States
Photojournalistic magazines
Weekly magazines published in the United States