Harold Ross' Vision for The New Yorker

THE NEW YORKER will be a reflection in word and picture of metropolitan life. It will be human. Its general tenor will be one of gaiety, wit and satire, but it will be more than a jester. It will be not what is commonly called sophisticated, in that it will assume a reasonable degree of enlightemenment on the part of its readers. It will hate bunk.

As compared to the newspaper, THE NEW YORKER will be interpretive rather than stenographic. It will print facts that it will have to go behind the scenes to get, but it will not deal in scandal for the sake of scandal nor sensation for the sake of sensation. Its integrity will be above suspicion. It hopes to be so entertaining and informative as to be a necessity for the person who knows his way about or wants to.

THE NEW YORKER will devote several pages a week to a covering of contemporary events and people of interest. This will be done by writers capable of appreciating the elements of a situation and, in setting them down, of indicating their importance and significance. THE NEW YORKER will present the truth and the whole truth without fear and without favor, but will not be iconoclastic.

Amusements and the arts will be thoroughly covered by departments which will present, in addition to criticism, the personality, the anecdote, the color and chat of the various subdivisions of this sphere. THE NEW YORKER's conscientious guide will list each week all current amusement offerings worth-while--theaters, motion pictures, musical events, art exhibitions, sport and miscellaneous entertainment--providing an ever-ready answer to the prevalent query, "What shall we do this evening?" Through THE NEW YORKER's Mr. Bibber III, readers will be kept apprised of what is going on in the public and semi-public smart gathering places--the clubs, hotels, cafes, supper clubs, cabarets and other resorts.

Judgment will be passed on new books of consequence, and THE NEW YORKER will carry a list of the season's books which it considers worth reading.

There will be a page of editorial paragraphs, commenting on the week's events in a manner not too serious.

There will be a personal mention column--a jotting down in the small-town newspaper style of the comings, goings and doings in the village of New York. This will contain some josh and some news value.

THE NEW YORKER will carry each week several pages of prose and verse, short and long, humorous, satirical and miscellaneous.

THE NEW YORKER expects to be distinguished for its illustrations, which will include caricatures, sketches, cartoons and humorous and satirical drawings in keeping with its purpose.

THE NEW YORKER will be the magazine which is not edited for the old lady in Dubuque. It will not be concerned in what she is thinking about. This is not meant in disrespect, but THE NEW YORKER is a magazine avowedly published for a metropolitan audience and thereby will escape an influence which hampers most national publications. It expects a considerable national circulation, but this will come from persons who have a metropolitan interest.

-H. W. Ross, Editor

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