Part XIII: When Rupert Murdoch Took Over New York Magazine

The Byron Blog consists of writings, photographs and anecdotes related to my father, Byron Dobell (1927-2017)  

In January 1977, Rupert Murdoch, known for publishing tabloid journalism, bought New York magazine, where Clay Felker was editor-in-chief and my father, Byron Dobell, was editorial director (managing editor). It was one of the first of Murdoch’s many US acquisitions.

Prior to Murdoch’s takeover, artist and prolific caricaturist David Levine was commissioned by New York to illustrate Jon Bradshaw and Richard Neville’s article about Murdoch’s career and his inroads into US journalism. He depicted Murdoch as a killer bee taking over Manhattan (“Killer Bees Head North” was a headline in one of Murdoch’s US publications). The caricature and article never ran in New York, but was published in February 1977 in More magazine. My father had Levine’s original drawing above his desk for many years. 

David Levine’s Rupert Murdoch as Killer Bee, 1977

 

 

Following are some Dobell family memories and mementos of the Murdoch takeover.

For detailed accounts of Murdoch’s takeover (and there are plenty of details), see:

https://time.com/archive/6852364/the-battle-of-new-york/ (Time, January 17, 1977)

http://www.thestacksreader.com/a-fistful-of-dollars/ (Gail Sheehy, Rolling Stone, July 14, 1977)

https://presscriticism.com/2011/08/05/the-profile-of-rupert-murdoch-that-rupert-murdoch-killed/ (Kevin Lerner 2011)

 

From my stepmother*’s letter to her family in Memphis, Tennessee, early 1977:

 

* Elizabeth Rodgers Dobell (1936-1992) became my stepmother in 1969, when my father married her following my mother’s death in 1967. Elizabeth was a writer and editor.

 

Well, the New York Magazine war is over – and we lost. Although Byron now has a terrific job [editor-in-chief of Esquire], and things here, finally, are beginning to simmer down a little . . .

 

[After Christmas, we learned] that the board of directors of NYM corporation was going to sell the company [to Murdoch, dooming efforts by Felker to buy the magazine himself] . . . [On New Year’s Eve, we] ended up at Walter and Bina Bernard’s (he’s the Art Director at New York) as did Clay [Felker], Milton [Glaser] and a lot of other people. A lot of gallows humor, but ending up about two o’clock in the morning with a firm determination on the part of everyone to fight. Sunday night, about one o’clock, Byron came up with the idea of a walkout – we rolled out of bed and began making calls, trying to find out how to form a union immediately. Impossible. On Monday, though, the staff did threaten a walkout, there was a big press conference, and Byron and Richard Reeves . . . were on television a lot that night.

 

Clay’s lawyers kept saying a walkout would hurt Clay’s case [to stop the sale] – Byron kept saying: “They’re not telling us the right thing,” and finally, on Thursday, the staff did walk (and ended up hiding out in our apartment, at least a number of key people who would have had to be fired on the spot if “found” by either Clay or Murdoch at that point). Then, Thursday night, the lawyers realized the walkout actually was helping Clay, and told the staff to stay out on Friday – that turned out to be Clay’s only real bargaining power . . . The staff at least got Clay released from a three-year contract that would have forced him either to work for Murdoch, or not be able to work in publishing at all for three years. (The entire staff walked, which astounded Byron, who all week kept trying to protect people he felt might not be able to get other jobs).

 

[On Friday, January 7^th, Clay settled.] There was a very emotional meeting that night of the staff and Contributing Editors (and me) at a restaurant called Chicago . . . I was sitting in the balcony looking down; John Bryson (the photographer) was standing right behind me. Just a few people shown [in Bryson’s photos], but about a hundred were there. Lots of crying. Afterwards, about 15 or 16 people showed up at our house, . . . later we all moved down to Clay’s apartment.

 

From John Bryson’s photos of New York staff meeting at Chicago, January 1977; Byron (center) and from left, in circle around Byron, Sheldon Zalaznick, Clay Felker, Milton Glaser, Lou Ann Walker, Walter Bernard, Dorothy Seiberling, and others.

Anyway, it was wild and the phone literally rang here day and night** . . . Byron resigned the next day, Jan. 8 [even though under the terms of the agreement, he was given a two-year contract making him editor-in-chief] . . . Byron said he just wouldn’t have the heart [to stay]. It was Clay’s magazine . . . Byron resigned out of personal loyalty to Clay, and a sense of his own personal integrity. Half of all the Contributing Editors quit immediately also (certainly most of the “star” writers) and others would have, but they had no place else to go – and Byron kept telling everyone, over and over, that they shouldn’t resign until they had other jobs . . . Byron just felt his position was different . . . Byron did agree to stay for two weeks for the sake of the remaining staff’s morale, and to help with the transition . . .

** I was 15 years old at the time and what I remember most is answering a call from a reporter and saying, at my father’s direction, “No comment.”

 

Anyway, Byron got a lot of job offers . . . He finally decided to accept the offer from Esquire – and started as Editor-in-Chief there yesterday . . . Esquire was both the most prestigious and the most challenging job Byron was offered, and I guess he couldn’t turn it down, even though it will mean he can’t paint for a while.

[Editor’s note: Less than a year after Byron was named editor-in-chief of Esquire, Clay bought Esquire and became both publisher and editor-in-chief. Clay asked Byron to remain as editor under him, but Byron resigned soon thereafter and went on to edit other magazines, including American Heritage, where he was the editor-in-chief from 1982 until 1990.]

 

And finally, a parting gift from New York staff: