Magazine Icon Turns 70

Newswise — Esquire magazine began 70 years ago as a pamphlet on men's tailoring. It later grew to become one of the nation's most influential consumer magazines, credited for revolutionizing the magazine industry with its highbrow literature, witty cartoons and articles on men's fashions. "The magazine was first aimed at men who were just moving to the city and who didn't know how urban life operated," said UAB journalism instructor Hugh Merrill, Ph.D., author of the 1995 book "Esky: The Early Years at Esquire." "Up until that time, few men really cared about fashion. "¦ Esquire changed that." To attract male readers, the magazine featured literature by writers like Earnest Hemingway, Erskine Caldwell and Langston Hughes. "Most magazines had formula writing. Esquire gave writers complete freedom."