COSMO MARKS END OF AN ERA : GURLEY BROWN'S EXIT PAVES WAY FOR FRESH LOOK.Byline: Tim Whitmire Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. It's a classic piece of advice from Cosmopolitan, No. 4 on a list of 10 things to do when you wake up on a ``bad beauty morning'': ``Stick face into a bowl of ice cubes and water - breathe through a snorkel snorkel, tube through which a submarine or diver can draw air while underwater. When in use, the top of the snorkel tube extends above the water surface into the air. ; try to stay under for 10 minutes, though you can pop up and down. (Helen Gurley Brown Helen Gurley Brown (b. February 18, 1922 in Green Forest, Arkansas), is an author, publisher, and businesswoman. She was editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years. Brown's father died in an accident when she was young, and her sister was a polio victim. invented this trick.)'' The pointer - aimed at tightening pores - is vintage Helen Gurley Brown, the 74-year-old primped-and-preened, oh-so-thin figure who for 32 years has personified the ``Cosmo girl'' for whom her magazine is written. Now she's stepping down, saying farewell with a special issue that hit newsstands Tuesday. Brown, who has said only that her departure was by ``mutual agreement with management'' at the Hearst Corp., sounded reluctant to be leaving. ``Now I don't have something,'' she said. ``I don't have the product, and I don't have the power. Don't kid yourself about that.'' Brown, who will still oversee Cosmo's 29 international editions, is succeeded by Bonnie Fuller Bonnie Fuller was the editor of Flare magazine, YM magazine, the first American edition of Marie Claire magazine, Cosmopolitan magazine, Glamour magazine (beginning in 1998), and Us Weekly. , a 40-year-old Canadian who successfully launched the American edition of the fashion and beauty magazine Marie Claire Marie Claire is a monthly woman’s magazine conceived in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women . The new editor's task will be to freshen fresh·en v. fresh·ened, fresh·en·ing, fresh·ens v.intr. 1. To become fresh, as in vigor or appearance: freshened up after the day's work. 2. a magazine whose relevance has waned in the two decades since the end of the Sexual Revolution. But, declaring deep respect for the franchise built by Brown, Fuller promises no radical changes. ``I think that the typical Cosmo reader is going to be opening that magazine and finding everything she's always been familiar with,'' she said. One Brown tradition already is out the window: ``No centerfolds,'' Fuller said firmly when asked the fate of Brown's male pinups. Brown's final issue features two, for a total of six since Burt Reynolds Burt Reynolds (born February 11, 1936) is an Oscar-nominated Emmy Award-winning American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Paul Crewe in the original version of The Longest Yard, Bo 'Bandit' Darville in posed in 1972. Asked whether the cover would continue to show a model with a plunging neckline neckline The line that connects the two lowest points on the intermediate declines of a head-and-shoulders chart pattern. In an inverted head-and-shoulders formation, the neckline connects the two intermediate tops. and lots of cleavage, Fuller said only that the covers will continue to project an image of ``confidence and empowered sexuality.'' Under Brown, Cosmopolitan became the best-selling women's magazine in the world. Circulation reached 3 million in 1985 and remains about 2.5 million today, despite a flood of new women's magazines this is a list of women's magazines, magazines that have been published primarily for a readership of women. Currently published
Critics have argued that Cosmo's take on what its cover headlines call ``the man-woman thing'' is dated. ``Stock the fridge with his favorite things. . . . Don't touch anything on his desk. . . . Try not to nag. . . . Don't ever criticize him in public,'' a feature in the February issue advises. Brown argues that today's feminists spend too much time blaming men for women's problems. ``I've said, `You're the problem - get out there and do something.' They have accused me rightly of having women be sex objects. That's right - you're a sex object if somebody wants to go to bed with you,'' she said. ``I think a true feminist is someone who wants equality for both genders.'' Thirty-five years ago, Brown was in the vanguard of the women's movement women's movement: see feminism; woman suffrage. women's movement Diverse social movement, largely based in the U.S., seeking equal rights and opportunities for women in their economic activities, personal lives, and politics. with her 1962 best seller, ``Sex and the Single Girl.'' The book, written when she was a copywriter for a Los Angeles ad agency, instructed the unattached woman on how to conduct her romantic affairs. She was hired in 1965 to remake Cosmopolitan, then a 79-year-old general-interest magazine with languishing lan·guish intr.v. lan·guished, lan·guish·ing, lan·guish·es 1. To be or become weak or feeble; lose strength or vigor. 2. circulation. Brown turned the magazine into a monthly instruction book for the modern, have-it-all Cosmo girl. A primary ingredient from the start has been sex, sex and more sex, with titillating tit·il·late v. tit·il·lat·ed, tit·il·lat·ing, tit·il·lates v.tr. 1. To stimulate by touching lightly; tickle. 2. To excite (another) pleasurably, superficially or erotically. cover lines written by Brown's husband, former editor David Brown: ``The startling star·tle v. star·tled, star·tling, star·tles v.tr. 1. To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start. 2. To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten. truth about sex addicts''; ``How to be very good in bed''; ``The terrible danger of a perfect sex partner.'' ``I've never known for sure why sex always worked for me,'' Brown said. ``I grew up in a very repressed re·pressed adj. Being subjected to or characterized by repression. era. But I, Helen Brown, feel, think, know that it's one of life's great pleasures, so you should be having it.'' Brown is a self-described ``mouseburger'' from Arkansas who never went to college and held 17 secretarial jobs between the ages of 18 and 38. ``A mouseburger is somebody who's got it inside and needs to get it out. She's a tigress inside and a little unprepossessing outside,'' Brown said. ``I still look at myself that way now - I never quit being that 19-year-old with her nose pressed up against the glass.'' Helen Gurley Brown's ``life rules'' Eight ``life rules'' offered by Helen Gurley Brown in her final issue as editor of Cosmopolitan: MEN ARE NOT THE ENEMY: ``A good man, worthy of your love, is out there . . . we'll find him.'' SEX IS ONE OF THE THREE BEST THINGS THERE IS: ``I'm not sure what are the other two! . . . Bless the man or men who bring you this incredible pleasure.'' SUCCESS: ``There is something you can do better than anybody else. . . . Find it.'' SELF-DISCIPLINE: ``Do the rotten stuff first every day.'' POPULARITY: ``Empathy is the most important social asset you can have.'' ALL CALORIES COUNT: ``There is no free calorie even in lettuce.'' EXERCISE IS YOURS: ``No dues to pay, permission to ask. . . . Do it every day and it will change your life.'' BEAUTY: ``Of course you're preoccupied with your looks. . . . So is everybody who looks at you.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box Photo: (1) ``I loved having a . . . reflection of my thoughts, my outlook, my credo,'' says Helen Gurley Brown of her 32 years as Cosmopolitan's editor. (2) Cosmopolitan's new editor Bonnie Fuller promises to bring a new edge to the magazine's articles. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Box: Helen Gurley Brown's ``life rules'' (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion