Enter Helen (49 page)

329
  
“I talked about the spirit that was animating women”: Ibid. 329 “When push came to shove about comparing us to
Cosmo
”: Ibid.

45: E
NTER
H
ELEN

330
  
“I'm a materialist”: Helen Gurley Brown, “Big Sister,”
Time
, February 9, 1968.

330
  
Working as a kindergarten teacher: Biographical details about Lou Honderich per Honderich, email exchange with the author, January 2014.

330
  
“Even back then, as a such a young woman”: Ibid.

331
  
Lou never stopped relying on Helen's advice, and in 1971: Ibid.

331
  
“Enter Helen,” Lou says: Ibid.

331
  
“The point is, Helen believed in me”: Ibid.

332
  
Someone saw her at an organizer's house: Susan Brownmiller shared this secondhand story in interview with the author, January 2014.

332
  
“She was indicating that women
have
to put up this front”: Ibid. 332 “‘This is reality, kiddos'”: Ibid.

46: T
HE
B
LUE
G
ODDESS

333
  
“You not only enjoy being a girl—you
thrive
on it!”: “How Feminine Are You?”
Cosmopolitan
, April 1971.

333
  
“I said a mighty yes”: Helen Gurley Brown, “Step Into My Parlour,”
Cosmopolitan
, September 1971.

334
  
the founders of
Ms.
were having a difficult time: Background on the beginnings of
Ms.
and securing financial backers is from “Personal Report from
Ms
.”
Ms.
, July 1972, SSC.

334
  
Then they had a couple of breakthroughs: Background from “Personal Report from
Ms.
”; Mary Thom,
Inside Ms.
(New York: Henry Holt, 1997), p. 15; and Clay Felker, “Editor's Letter: What Is Ms. and What Is It Doing in New York?”
New York
, December 20, 1971.

334
  
In a small, cramped workspace: Stephanie Harrington provided a great description of the
Ms
. headquarters in “Ms. Versus Cosmo: Two Faces of the Same Eve,”
New York Times
, August 11, 1974.

335
  
labeled “Spring” just in case: Abigail Pogrebin, “How Do You Spell Ms.,”
New York
, October 2011.

335
  
“A sexually liberated woman without a feminist consciousness”: Anselma Dell'Olio, “The Sexual Revolution Wasn't Our War,”
Ms.
, Spring 1972 preview issue.

335
  
“Those clicks are coming faster and faster”: Jane O'Reilly, “The Housewife's Moment of Truth,”
Ms.,
Spring 1972 preview issue.

336
  
The artist Miriam Wosk painted: “Remembering Miriam Wosk, First Ms. Cover Artist,”
Ms
. magazine blog, December 22, 2010; and Abigail Pogrebin, “How Do You Spell Ms.”

336
  
“Until now, the Women's Movement has lacked”: Clay Felker, “Editor's Letter: What Is Ms. and What Is It Doing in New York?”

336
  
they sold out in eight days: Abigail Pogrebin, “How Do You Spell Ms.”

337
  
Cosmopolitan
's art department was in crisis: Linda Cox, interview with the author, June 2015.

337
  
“Boom-boom-boom, one after the other”: Ibid.

337
  
“Marni called me and said, ‘Please come back'”: Ibid.

337
  
By the following year, his American disciples: Background on Guru Maharaj Ji from Ted Morgan, “Middle-Class
Premies
Find Oz in the Astrodome,”
New York Times
, December 9, 1973.

337
  
“She was so completely swept away”: Linda Cox, interview with the author, June 2015.

338
  
Not long after that, Helen promoted Linda: Ibid.

47:
C
OSMOPOLITAN
N
UDE
M
AN

339
  
“I thought it was a hoot”: Hugh Hefner, interview with the author, November 2013.

339
  
“Helen Gurley Brown of Cosmopolitan”: “Knees Up, Mother Brown,” “Eye,”
Women's Wear Daily
, January 29, 1970, access to article courtesy of ProQuest.

339
  
“You really are so naughty”: “Letter to Eye,” “Eye,”
Women's Wear Daily
, February 9, 1970, access to article courtesy of ProQuest.

339
  
“The Further Adventures of Mother Brown and the Great Male Nude Foldout Caper”; “relatively coy pose”; “collecting pornography”: “Phone Call to Eye,” “Eye,”
Women's Wear Daily
, February 12, 1970, access to article courtesy of ProQuest.

340
  
Men liked to look at women's bodies, and women: Irin Carmon, “Helen Gurley Brown, Objectifier of Men,”
Salon
, August 13, 2012.

340
  
Inspired by the Italian painter Caravaggio: Photographer Guy Webster told the story of shooting James Coburn for
Cosmo
in a video online: “Jim Whitney Documentary on Guy Webster,” YouTube.com, September 12, 2014.

340
  
“Apparently he is in his mystical phase”: Helen Gurley Brown to Richard Deems, “COSMOPOLITAN NUDE MAN,” December 4, 1968.

341
  
The rejections piled up: Helen Gurley Brown, “Step Into My Parlour,”
Cosmopolitan
, January 1971.

341
  
“Mr. Average household face”; “You may or may
not
ever see a male nude”: Ibid.

341
  
“Like fire and gasoline”: Burt Reynolds,
My Life
(New York: Hyperion, 1994), p. 173. The bulk of what follows—dialogue, descriptions, scenes—is per Reynolds's version of the story in chapter 33 of his book.

341
  
“Are you a sexist?”; “I bet in ten years”: Ibid.

342
  
“Why?” he finally asked; “Because,” she cooed, “You're the only one”: Ibid. 342 “On the back of the foldout”: Ibid., p. 174.

342
  
using masking tape, Vaseline, bobby socks, baseballs: Booth Moore, “Cosmo's Eyes,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 9, 2004.

342
  
The day of the shoot: Burt Reynolds,
My Life
, p. 174.

343
  
“Fabulous! Fabulous like that!”: Per photographer Harry King, this is what Scavullo regularly exclaimed during shoots; interview with the author, September 2014.

343
  
“I always know . . . I've caught the butterfly”: Burt Reynolds,
My Life
, p. 174.

343
  
he pretended to hump the bearskin rug: Ibid., p. 175.

344
  
“
Cosmo
's Famous Extra Bonus Takeoff!”
and following
:
Cosmopolitan
cover, April 1972, SSC.

344
  
“just
lusty
and honest in their appetite for an appreciation of attractive men”; “As for you (that COSMOPOLITAN girl)”: Barbara Creaturo, “Cosmo's Playmate of the Year!—Why?”
Cosmopolitan
, April 1972.

345
  
He had liked a shot where he was laughing: Burt Reynolds wrote about visiting
Cosmo
and seeing the images in
My Life
, 174.

345
  
“The original slide was lost”: Mallen De Santis, interview with the author, October 2012.

345
  
“Apparently the people at
Cosmo
took this thing more seriously than I did”: Mary Alice Kellogg, Newsweek Feature Service, “Redskin to Bearskin: Burt Reynolds Soars,”
Boca Raton News
, April 13, 1972.

345
  
“Hey, I didn't recognize you with your clothes on”: Burt Reynolds,
My Life
, 175.

345
  
“And a major factor in his ascendancy”; “Face it, these women wouldn't be going crazy”: Mary Alice Kellogg, “Redskin to Bearskin: Burt Reynolds Soars.”

346
  
and in Huntsville, Alabama, members of the English Department: This detail and others collected from readers' letters, “Dear Cosmopolitan,”
Cosmopolitan
, July 1972.

346
  
After the issue came out: Burt Reynolds described the frenzy that followed his
Cosmo
appearance in
My Life
, pp. 174–76.

346
  
Back in the States, the Catholic Church issued a critical statement: Ibid., p. 175.

346
  
letters poured in: “Dear Cosmopolitan,”
Cosmopolitan
, July 1972.

347
  
“While leafing through
COSMO
, what did I behold”: Ibid., poem by Donna Visione, reprinted with permission.

48: P
ROBLEMS

348
  
“Helen saw a shrink all the time I knew her”: Walter Meade, interview with the author.

348
  
“Relax chin, stay at 105 pounds . . . torture!”: Helen Gurley Brown, “Step Into My Parlour,”
Cosmopolitan
, January 1973.

348
  
British
Cosmo
was an instant, red-hot success: Linda Grant,
Sexing the Millennium: Women and the Sexual Revolution
(New York: Grove Press, 1994), p. 124.

348
  
“Like Coca-Cola, Helen Gurley Brown and her message”: James Brady, “La Fille Cosmopolitaine,” “New York Intelligencer,”
New York
, February 12, 1973.

348
  
He and Richard Zanuck finally had started their own production outfit: David Brown,
Let Me Entertain You
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), pp. 143–44.

349
  
George Walsh declined: Still furious, Helen detailed her version of the story in
a miscellaneous note to herself, “PROBLEMS,” November 1973, HGB Papers, SSC.

349
  
“
screw
that . . . public relations are where it's
at
”: Ibid.

349
  
“George Walsh has some kind of personality defect”: Ibid.

349
  
Cosmo
Girls could read all about the man who “runs the office”: Helen Gurley Brown, “Step Into My Parlour,”
Cosmopolitan
, August 1970.

350
  
“one doesn't want to get personal”: Helen Gurley Brown, “PROBLEMS,” November 1973.

350
  
Helen couldn't remember him once complimenting her, or even saying “well done”: Ibid.

350
  
Instead, he played the resigned man: Ibid.

350
  
“Keep George”: Ibid.

49: T
WO
F
ACES OF THE
S
AME
E
VE

351
  
“
Cosmopolitan
is talking to women one by one”: Suzanne Levine in Stephanie Harrington, “Ms. Versus Cosmo: Two Faces of the Same Eve,”
New York Times
, August 11, 1974.

351
  
“I think a certain girl who just married”:
Cosmopolitan
ad in
New York Times
, April 18, 1974.

351
  
“Why, if she's so smart”: Stephanie Harrington, “Ms. Versus Cosmo: Two Faces of the Same Eve.”

352
  
After making her way up to the fourth floor: Ibid.

352
  
“Have we done anxiety lately?”; “That is like asking if you've eaten in the last week”; “We have depression in the works”; “This one is totally ridiculous—‘Are Lesbians Ecological?'”: Ibid.

353
  
Harrington went to an editorial meeting at
Ms
.: Ibid.

353
  
“What is romance?”; “Women's obsession with romance”: Ibid.

354
  
“I am a survivor”: Ibid.

354
  
The letter was signed “Emma Bovary, Yonville Parish”: Ibid.

354
  
Helen regularly critiqued foreign editions: Per Linda Cox, interview with the author, June 2015.

355
  
“as riveting as the telephone directory”; its “coverpersons”: Stephanie Harrington, “Ms. Versus Cosmo: Two Faces of the Same Eve.”

355
  
“More than twice as many
Ms.
readers as
Cosmopolitan
readers”: Ibid.

355
  
“Before the press conference we went to the ladies' room”: Helen Gurley Brown, “Step Into My Parlour,”
Cosmopolitan
, July 1974.

355
  
“She was the most unconfident, ingratiating person”: Gloria Steinem, interview with the author, December 2013.

356
  
“Helen really created a little money-printing press for Hearst”: Pat Carbine, interview with the author, January 2014.

356
  
“reassure us that you and the other leaders”: Helen Gurley Brown to Gloria Steinem, April 11, 1974, HGB Papers, SSC.

356
  
“She would say, ‘Now, your movement says this'”: Pat Carbine, interview with the author, January 2014.

356
  
a former
Esquire
secretary, Julie Roy: Julie Roy and Lucy Freeman later wrote a book about Roy's relationship with Renatus Hartogs,
Betrayal
(New York:
Stein and Day, 1976); reviewed by Susan Braudy, “Betrayal,”
New York Times Book Review
, August 8, 1976.