100 New Yorkers of the 1970s Part 11

It is the most successful item he has ever published, but there is no doubt that he would risk losing it and going to jail, because Ginzburg has done so already. In a flamboyant career marked by much notoriety, he has emerged as one of the most important figures of his generation in expanding the freedom of the press.

Of the six magazines and newspapers that Ginzburg has founded, none has caused such a stir as his first one, _Eros_, which lasted from 1962 to 1963. "It was the first really cla.s.sy magazine on love and s.e.x in American history," he says. "I signed up 100,000 subscribers right away, at $50 a year. Many leading American artists contributed to it. The big difference is that it was sold entirely through the mails. Our promotion of subscriptions through the mail got a lot of complaints."

About 35,000 complaints, in fact -- more than the U.S. Post Office had ever received up to that time. Ralph Ginzburg was charged with sending obscene material through the mails, and _Eros_ was forced to suspend publication while the debate went on. Most Was.h.i.+ngton lawyers, after examining the magazine, concluded that it was not obscene. But the case became a political issue, and in 1972, 10 years after the so-called crime had taken place, Ginzburg was ordered to serve an eight-month term at the federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. His imprisonment led to a nationwide outcry by intellectuals and public officials.

Not long after the demise of _Eros_, Ginzburg started another magazine called _Fact_. It, too, ended over a lawsuit. This time the plaintiff was U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater. He sued the magazine for $2 million on the charge of libel, and was awarded $65,000 in damages. "It was a compromise, as jury decisions frequently are," remarks Ginzburg.

"Unfortunately I didn't have very much money back then, and it wiped us out."

Describing the case, he said: "In 1964, when Goldwater was running for president, he advocated the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam. I thought the guy was out of his mind and I wondered if anyone else had the same suspicion. ... We polled all the members of the American Medical a.s.sociation who were listed as psychiatrists and asked them if they thought Goldwater was fit to be president. We printed their replies and their long-distance diagnoses ... "

Both the _Eros_ case and the Goldwater case made the American public examine some far-reaching questions: What is obscene? What is libelous?

Ginzburg helped to establish new definitions for these terms, and in so doing, widened the power of the press.

_Avant-Garde_, his third publication, existed from 1967 to 1970. "It was born during the Vietnam uprising in this country," he explains. "It was a magazine of art and politics, and had no ad revenue."

In the same year that _Avant-Garde_ folded, he began a newsletter called _Moneysworth_. Soon it expanded into a full-sized newspaper. "It was launched," says Ginzburg, "because we felt that the only existing periodical in the area of consumer interest -- _Consumer Reports_ -- wasn't broad enough. Spending money is more than buying appliances."

While _Moneysworth_ does carry many valuable tips on personal finance, it also has a considerable amount of sensationalism that would seem at home in the _National Enquirer_. Even so, Ginzburg's managerial skills, his nonstop working habits, and his literary expertise -- he has written several books -- have made _Moneysworth_ a winner. Using the same staff of 40, along with many free-lance writers, he now publishes two other monthly newspapers as well, _American Business_ and Extra!

He has been a Westsider for 15 years, and his publis.h.i.+ng company, Avant-Garde Media, is located on West 57th Street.

If Ginzburg has a single goal right now, it's "to saved up enough money to enable me to put out a periodical exactly like _Avant-Garde_ was. It was pure pleasure for me: there was no commercial compromise. But even though this is a multimillion-dollar corporation here, I can't afford it at the moment. ... Money is important in publis.h.i.+ng. I have to spend 99 percent of my time and effort chasing the buck. I guess I'm lucky. Most people spend 100 percent of their time that way."

EASTSIDER LILLIAN GISH 78 years in show business

1-5-80

D.W. Griffith, the father of motion pictures, used to say there were only two people who outworked him -- Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish.

Pickford, who died last May, made her final film in 1933. But Lillian Gish never got around to retiring. At 83, she is perhaps the most active living legend in America.

Sipping tea at her Eastside apartment, which is decorated like a Victorian drawing room, Gish appears to have defeated time. Her clear blue eyes, porcelain-smooth complexion, and slender, girlish figure have not changed all that much since she rose to international stardom in Griffith's controversial 1915 cla.s.sic, _The Birth of a Nation_. She also starred in his 1916 film _Intolerance_, a box office failure when released, but later recognized as a masterpiece.

An animated speaker who makes sweeping gestures, she still has the crystalline voice and flawless enunciation that enabled her to make the transition from silent films to talkies and Broadway shows in the early 1930s. The 1978 Robert Altman film _A Wedding_ marked her 100th screen appearance.

"I've never worked harder in my life than I have in the last three or four years," says Miss Gish, who, during that period has made her singing and dancing debut in Was.h.i.+ngton's Kennedy Center, hosted a 13-week series for public television, _The Silent Years_, appeared in an ABC-TV movie of the week, and toured the world three times to present a one-woman show that combines film clips with narration. Her autobiography, _The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me_, has been translated into 13 languages.

"I dedicated the book to my mother, who gave me love; to my sister, who taught me to laugh; to my father, who gave me insecurity; and to Mr.

Griffith, who taught me that it was more fun to work than to play," she recalls with merriment, describing how her mother wound up in the theatre around 1901 due to financial need. Five-year-old Lillian and her 4-year-old sister Dorothy soon followed in the business. "We didn't use our real names because we didn't want to disgrace the family. ... They used to have signs on hotels: 'No actors or dogs allowed.'"

She never got a chance to attend school. "I loved the book _Black Beauty_, and everybody would read it to me on the train or waiting for the train. Well, I finally had it read to me so much, I knew it by heart.

And that's how I learned to read. When we were travelling around, mother would always take her history book. When we were in historical places, she'd take us to where history happened."

At the height of her silent film career, Lillian received 15,000 fan letters a week, many from overseas. "Silent films are the universal language that the Bible predicted would bring about the millennium. ... When Mr.

Griffith made his first talking picture in 1921, he said, 'This is committing suicide. My pictures play to the world. Five percent of them speak English. Why should I lose 95 percent of my audience?'

"One of the things I'm trying to do now is to bring back silent films and beautiful music. I'm doing it with my film _La Boheme_, which was made in 1926. I've done it in the opera house in Chicago with an organist, and at Town Hall here. Harold Schonberg of the _New York Times_ gave it the most ecstatic review."

Her credits include an honorary Oscar award, dozens of major stage roles, and a movie that she co-wrote and directed. But Miss Gish, with characteristic modesty, prefers to talk about her friends and family.

Bitterness and complaint are alien to her nature, although life has not always been easy. She never married, and her mother, to whom she was highly devoted, spent the last 25 years of her life as an invalid. "But she was never unhappy," testifies Lillian. "She was always the first to laugh, and the gayest."

Following her mother's death in 1948, the apartment was given to Dokey, her nurse, who died the following year. Then Lillian and Dorothy Gish shared the apartment until Dorothy's death in 1968. Although Lillian now lives alone, she has no opportunity to be lonely. Besides work, travel, and reading -- her favorite activities -- she has 13 G.o.dchildren.

One thing that helps keep her young, says Miss Gish, is her intense curiosity. "I was born with it, thank heavens. I feel sorry for people who say they're bored. How in the world can anyone be bored in the world today? How can fiction complete with what's going on?"

A few of her films, have been lost forever, since no original prints exist in good condition. Most, however, are still shown around the globe, which explains why her autobiography is available in such languages as Burmese and East Malaysian. The Museum of Modern Art on West 53rd Street has one of the country's finest collections of vintage Gish films.

One of her upcoming projects is a movie based on a story by the Danish writer Isak Dinesen, scheduled to begin shooting in Europe this winter.

Another is a television pilot to be shot in California for Julius Evans.

Asked to name some of the things she is most curious about today, Miss Gish quickly replies, "Naturally what's happening in Cambodia -- how they're going to solve that problem. Those poor children. It breaks my heart. ... And who's going to be our next president. We've come to the point where we should have two presidents, I think -- someone to look after the world and somebody to look after us."

died of natural causes 2-27-93.

born 10-14-1893

WESTSIDER MILTON GLASER Design director of the new _Esquire_

2-11-78

Two decades before _Playboy_ first hit the newsstands, there was only one men's magazine in America. A generation of schoolchildren grew up speaking its name in hushed whispers, though anyone reexamining those early issues today could hardly understand why. The magazine was _Esquire_.

Its popularity has dipped somewhat in recent years, but _Esquire_ still sells one million copies per month. And it still has the reputation of being the most tasteful, literary, and sophisticated publication for the American male. If some people have complained that it has not kept up with the times, they won't be able to say that any longer -- not since _Esquire_ became the property of Clay Felker and Milton Glaser, the publis.h.i.+ng team who made _New York_ magazine into one of the best-selling weeklies in the city.

With Felker as editor and Glaser as design director, _Esquire_ will have a totally new look starting with the February 14 issue. It will have a different size, binding, shape, length, and contents. It will also change its name to _Esquire Fortnightly_ and appear 26 times a year instead of 12.

"The new _Esquire_ will be ungimmicky, easy to understand," says Milton Glaser, taking a half-hour break from his numerous artistic projects. He is as animated as his enlarged signature, which glows from a custom-made neon lamp on the wall beside a Renaissance Madonna and a framed Islamic drawing.

The first thing you notice about Glaser is the colored handkerchief adorning his jacket pocket. Then you notice how relaxed he is, and how easily he smiles.

"The name of the game is to get an audience that identifies with the magazine and feels it's on their side. People buy a magazine because it's of considerable interest to them, not because they get a deal on the subscription. ... What you want to do is to find the right-size audience, made up of people who believe in the values that the magazine reflects."

The original _Esquire_, Glaser points out, helped to glamorize the rich, privileged man of the world -- the man who had arrived, who knew his place in the world, and whose greatest desire was to surround himself with the symbols of wealth, such as fancy cars and beautiful women.

Today, says Glaser, the American male no longer measures success by symbols alone. Rather, he aims for self-development, for the richness of life itself -- professional, personal, physical, intellectual and spiritual.

Clay Felker writes, in a yet-unreleased editorial in _Esquire_: "We will explore how a man can develop a more rewarding life with the women and children in his life. ... I see _Esquire_ magazine as a cheery, book filled, comfortable den, a place of wit and sparkling conversation, of goodwill and genial intelligence, where thoughtful discussions take place and wise conclusions are reached."

Milton Glaser is probably the best-qualified artist in America to redesign _Esquire_. Besides his success with _New York_ magazine, which began as a Sunday supplement to the old _New York Herald Tribune_, Glaser has designed _The Village Voice_, _Circus_ magazine, _New West_ and two of France's leading publications, _L'Express_ and _Paris-Match_.

Glaser's posters have sold in the millions. He has put on one-man exhibitions in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. (He believes, in fact, that his work is more appreciated abroad than at home). He has designed everything from stores to toys to new typefaces.

He is a faculty member at both Cooper Union and the School of Visual Arts. He is responsible for all the graphic design and decorative programs at the World Trade Center. Two volumes of his works have been published -- _Milton Glaser: Graphic Arts_ and _The Milton Glaser Poster Book_.

In addition, he is a noted food critic. For the past 10 years he has co auth.o.r.ed and constantly updated the best-selling Manhattan restaurant guide, _The Underground Gourmet_.

A native New Yorker, Milton Glaser has fond memories of his boyhood in the Bronx. He especially likes recalling an event that took place in 1933 -- the year that _Esquire_ was founded.

"When I was 4 years old, a cousin of mine said, 'Would you like to see a pigeon?' He had a paper bag with him and I thought he meant there was a pigeon in it. But then he took out a pencil and drew a picture of a bird.