Young Hearst Jr: He wants the much-talked-about Salvador Dali to do the illustrations!

Young Bill had a zany idea!

Young Bill Hearst Jr, publisher of the New York American, showed the proposed copy, layout and art to “Pop” and the next thing I knew was “Pop” wanted to see me at the Ritz Tower where he was staying.

Mr William Hearst said he liked the idea. He said he liked the copy. But the art and the layouts, he said, weren’t modern enough for a modern campaign for a modern newspaper.

“I think we should get Salvador Dali to do the illustrations,” he said in his thin, high-pitched voice.

I nearly lost my teeth!

I had always prided myself on coming up with promotional ideas … but I considered (this one) to be dangerous and (highly) “radical”.

Those were the early days of Dali’s fame as a Surrealist. Those were the days when he showed alarm clocks inside people’s stomachs and snakes coming out of people’s heads. Everybody was talking about his art.

A lot of people were infuriated by it and found it repulsive. A lot of people thought it wasn’t art at all. A year or so earlier, he had shocked New York with his window displays for Bonwit Teller. 

Dali illustrations would do the job. This is what promotion is all about, said Hearst Jr. But, after much consideration, dropped the idea - reluctantly.
 

Many respectable citizens poked fun at them. But people went to see them.

I didn’t believe newspaper ads with Dali’s Surrealist art would do The American any good. “But this is a modern newspaper for modern people,” said Hearst. “That’s what you’re promoting, isn’t it Then the ads should be modern in appearance and content, shouldn’t they?”

“Yes, sir.”

I still thought that his art would be too advanced and too unpleasant for these promotional ads. Many people don’t like to look at it, and many people will be persuaded to read The American.

Hearst mused for a moment or two and then said, “Well I’d like to try it.”

In desperation, I pointed out that Dali charged $1000 for a painting. On this basis, the art alone for the ten ads would cost $10,000. That was a lot on money for promotion art in 1936.

“That’s all right,” said Hearst. “I think the campaign is worth it.”

One of Dali’s abstracts.
 

In further desperation, I pointed out that Dali lived in Paris and made only infrequent trips to the US. He couldn’t execute the art unless he saw the copy and layout and had the idea explained to him.

“That’s all right, too. You can take the material to him in Paris. Or, if you wish, I will ask Carmel Snow the editor of Harper’s Bazaar when she leaves next week.” I made one more plea: I suggested … two other opinions before deciding.

Alexey Brodovitch, the highly regarded art director of Harper’s Bazaar was known as an avant-garde himself. While we waited, Hearst talked to me about promotion and how much he valued it, and what he expected of it. It was a stimulating and exciting and unforgettable experience.

When Brodovitch arrived … Hearst explained that “Mr Benneyan and I are having a dispute” he said. He added: “I think the art should be done by Salvador Dali. He doesn’t.”

The American Magazine – “no” to Dali illustrations.
 

I held my breath. Brodovitch’s answer might cost me my job.

“I think, Mr Hearst,” said Brodovitch, very slowly, after studying the material, “that the American public is not ready for Dali’s Surrealist art in newspaper ads.”

And that, coming from a man whose opinion on art was worth a lot more than mine. He persuaded Hearst to drop his idea. But he dropped it reluctantly.

Since then, I have kicked myself many, many times for opposing the idea. Think of the impact the ads would have made. Think of the publicity and conversation they would have provoked.

It was a good promotion idea. It came from a good promotion man, and American’s biggest publisher. In promotion, as in other things, he was ahead of his time. << Adapted by Frank Morris from Hearst jr and Salvador Dali by George Benneyan; Media/Scope, 1960.

While he introduced “yellow journalism” in all his newspapers, that totalled several million in circulation, the American readers didn’t care.
 

America will miss the Hearts 

American newspaperman, William R Hearst, was born in 1861. After the press lord’s “unquiet career”, death puts a quiet end to Hearst in 1951. 

The San Francisco Examiner was Hearst’s first paper in 1887. He was 23. Hearst fed readers on a “rich diet” of sensationalism. He was likened to a character from the first comic strip, the Yellow Kid, which gave yellow journalism its name. 

In the 1940s, Orson Wells made a movie about Hearst called Citizen Kane. Wells was blacklisted by Hearst for years. All sons of Hearst eventually earned the respect of their dad and a newspaper title to go with it.

TOP: Young Bill Hearst: His word was law!