Hayes and Lois together. “Half the sentence would be said by one, and
then the other would interrupt and finish it,” recalled Antupit.
But Antupit did not sit on the sidelines. His first act was to
reformat Esquire. He standardized all the column widths and made room
for illustration. His goal was to let a reader open the magazine anywhere
and know that it was Esquire. The type was understated by today’s
standards, but playful. He consistently used many new illustrators
(including one student per issue) because, he said, “the same few old hands
were used to excess by most national magazines, thus creating a visual
sameness.” But there was a fine line between the Esquirelook and that of
other magazines. One of Antupit’s proudest accomplishments was a story
on the building of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (linking Brooklyn to
Staten Island) with dramatic photographs by Bruce Davidson. The photo
essay was so strong that Gay Talese was assigned to write an accompanying
text. Despite their power, Antupit said, “It started out being twelve pages,
but that was too much. To have all photography without text was no longer
Esquire. It was Lifeor Look.”
During the late 1960 s Esquirecovered the social and political
revolutions of the era. While many of its covers announced stories about
political folly and changing mores, its sardonic parodies, Dubious
Achievement Awards, campus supplements, and other features underscored
a commitment to a generation of “New Left” constituents. For a while,
under Harold Hayes,Esquireeven seemed to shed its male focus for a more
ecumenical stance. But contrary to appearances Hayes was no radical. As
Antupit said, “Harold would get a lot of his ideas from Timemagazine.
Here we’re all going to openings and talking with writers and getting cut
by the leading edge, and Harold’s reading Time....He was never a flaming
activist.” But he had an “absolute genius” for putting the wrong writer with
the right idea. “Sending Genet and Beckett to the Democratic Convention
was brilliant. I think Harold just wanted us to keep everybody off balance,”
said Antupit.
tuis.
(Tuis.)
#1