Series I.B.3. 1973 to 1978 Business and Publishing: Associate Director Stephen LaRue Files, 1976-1978, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
Stephen LaRue's files document the publishing decisions of the first Magazine Development Group regarding new ideas submitted and the women's magazine.
Arrangement
Organized into two subseries:
Subseries I.B.3.a. New Ideas
Subseries I.B.3.b. Women's Magazine
Subseries are based on the original groupings of files.
Biographical Note
Stephen LaRue joined the Magazine Development Group in mid-1976 after leaving his position as President of Time Canada. After the closure of the MDG, he was assigned as Assistant Publisher of Time.
Subseries I.B.3.a. New Ideas, 1976-1978, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
New Ideas contains correspondence and memoranda regarding proposals for new magazine ideas from people and companies outside of Time Inc. A note in the "Prime Time" folder indicates most of the material was forwarded to Garry Valk and Deane Raley. The remaining materials discuss a television oriented publication to be "an upscale competitor to TV Guide." Perhaps this idea was a precursor to TV-Cable Week.
Arrangement
Organized alphabetically by the name of the correspondent or proposed magazine based on the original folder title.
General, 1977-1978, inclusive
Allan Grant Productions, 1977, inclusive
"The American Road" / Roger Vaughan, 1976-1977, inclusive
Brown, Bob / Allen, Frank, 1977, inclusive
"Enjoy" / The Catalyst Corporation, 1977, inclusive
Finch, Rufus C., Jr. / Metaphysical magazine, 1977, inclusive
Kucharsky, David / Religion magazine, 1977, inclusive
"Movie Guide Magazine" / Crossover Communications, 1977, inclusive
"New York World Times" / S. Stillman, 1977, inclusive
Pillow Talk, 1977, inclusive
Popcorn, Inc., 1977, inclusive
"Prime Time", 1977, inclusive
Subseries I.B.3.b. Women's Magazine, 1976-1978, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
LaRue, along with Paul Hale and Mary Davis, has the majority of records on the women's magazine including extensive files on the creation and testing of the two dummy issues and a collection of other magazines intended for women as research. A September 1976 memorandum from Philip Kunhardt to LaRue states that the magazine must be "put together by women." According to materials in Philip Kunhardt's files, a dummy was created in mid-1977 and circulated to select women at Time Inc. for comment.
While Woman is the working title the Magazine Development Group wanted to use, records also refer to the project as the woman's magazine, the women's magazine, Project "X" or "W". The business side did a lot of work starting mid-1976 in order to begin creating dummies, trademark research, costs, and possible revenues. The "General" file includes a prospectus on "Magazine X" and the "Printed Dummy" files list stores used for market testing.
Arrangement
Organized alphabetically.