The Saturday Evening Post

:Note: There have been other minor publications also called the Saturday Evening Post; several were/are local British newspapers.

Description and History

Its contents consisted primarily of articles on current events and pieces of well-written popular fiction in mainstream genres, at least one of which was usually run in serial format over several issues. These were supplemented by single-panel cartoons, small human-interest, humorous or poetic filler pieces (often reader-contributed), editorials, a letter column, and quality interior illustrations of both stories and advertising plus illustrated covers. Artist Norman Rockwell did covers and illustrations for the magazine from 1916 through 1963, and gained his public fame by these works; several of these are among his critically best-acclaimed works. Fiction authors included the likes of John Steinbeck, William Saroyan, John P. Marquand, Paul Gallico, C. S. Forester, Hammond Innes, Sax Rohmer, Louis L'Amour, Rex Stout, and Ray Bradbury.

Related Topics:
Cartoon - Illustration - Norman Rockwell - 1916 - 1963 - John Steinbeck - William Saroyan - John P. Marquand - Paul Gallico - C. S. Forester - Hammond Innes - Sax Rohmer - Louis L'Amour - Rex Stout - Ray Bradbury

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Aside from the decline of most general-interest magazines in the late 1950s and 1960s, which is generally attributed to the rise of television, the Post's increased turning to cheaper photographic covers and advertisements, the loss of interest in its style of fiction during the advent of American counterculture, not to mention the rise of more libertine publications such as Playboy as high-status and high-paying venues for "name" authors, and its conservative editorial bent, all contributed to the demise of the original Post, which was finalized by its being ordered to pay $460,000, then a quite-considerable sum, in damages for libel after being sued for a March 1963 article implying that football coaches Paul "Bear" Bryant and Wally Butts had conspired to "fix" a game between the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia.

Related Topics:
1950s - 1960s - Television - Playboy - Libel - 1963 - Football - Coaches - Paul "Bear" Bryant - Wally Butts - University of Alabama - University of Georgia

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In the 1980s, it was revived as a monthly (or even less frequent) publication specializing in nostalgia. The magazine is currently published six times a year by an organization called the "Benjamin Franklin Literary and Medical Society", and concentrates on articles involving health issues, especially in the elderly.

Related Topics:
1980s - Nostalgia

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