MYSTERY OF THE TEXAS TWOSTEP

CHAPTER SIX:

THE WIZARD OF OZ

Written by Rick Archer 

THE MAN WHO INVENTED NEW YORK

Clay Felker was the embodiment of Frank Sinatra's famous song.  If Felker could make it in New York, he could make it anywhere.  Coming from Missouri, Felker was an outsider who wanted to be an insider.  Due to his prodigious talent, he succeeded royally.  Thanks to his position as editor of the influential New York Magazine, Clay Felker became the ultimate New York City insider.    

Throughout his career, Clay Felker was known as a 'trend-spotter'.  In his 2008 obituary, Felker was quoted about his love for trend-spotting.  Felker said, "Journalism is very often about seeing the future." 

This was a fitting observation about a man who time and again practiced what he preached.  Felker tried to stay ahead of the curve.  As a magazine editor, Felker understood the importance of reporting on interesting developments well in advance of his competitors.  For that reason he honed a keen eye for stories that would capture the public's interest long before they became obvious to rivals of his magazine.

Sometimes Felker went one step further.  He would see something that was ready to happen, then authorize a story that fanned the flames enough to ensure it actually did happen.  

Intimately connected to the pulse of America as well as NYC, Clay Felker was one of the most influential journalists of his time.  Back in the Sixties and Seventies, Clay Felker was the legendary editor of New York Magazine.  Felker not only created New York, he also helped create The Village Voice.  In addition Felker helped his friend Gloria Steinem start Ms magazine. 

Due to his plum position in the media business, Clay Felker was said to have more contacts than believed humanly possible.  A celebrated man about town, Felker made it his job to know every important person in news, television, politics, theater, music, fashion, Wall Street, Hollywood, you name it.  As his writer friend Tom Wolfe put it, "Clay Felker was the man who invented New York".

As an example of New York magazine's influence, Felker's business partner Milton Glaser designed the iconic "I Love New York" logo as a way to boost tourism.  In years since, Glaser's logo has become a widely recognized symbol of New York City.

Two subjects near and dear to Felker's heart were 'Status' and 'Subcultures'.  Felker called it 'Keeping tabs on the Haves and Have Nots'.  Status came first.  Felker was fascinated by ambition and social climbing.  More than likely, Felker developed this preoccupation because he wanted to be just as famous as the people he associated with.  They say one is defined by the company they keep.  Surrounded daily by important celebrities, Clay Felker became a celebrity in his own right.  Through his magazine, Felker became the quintessential New York insider, thereby achieving his goal.

Felker had a sense of style.  He wore custom-made clothes and greeted people with a swashbuckling air of confidence.  With his stunning movie star wife Pamela Tiffin at his side, Felker had no trouble holding his own with the Beautiful People.  Thanks to his position at the magazine, Felker became just as interesting as they were... which was the idea all along. 

Felker was intensely curious about the rich.  Fascinated by the nuances of power and status in the city, he developed a unique way to obtain the inside information that his magazine was famous for.  Felker had a fabulous apartment at 322 East 57th overlooking the East River.  This is where he threw the most lavish parties in town.  Felker's events were the ideal place to rub shoulders with the rich, the elite and the talented.  Tom Wolfe joked that Felker's fireplace was such an inviting place to be noticed that 'at least fourteen status seekers would stand there all at the same time'.

Felker discovered if he could get enough important people from different power corridors in contact with each other, they would gossip and exchange a treasure trove of trade secrets.  Felker typically held court with a martini in one hand and a beautiful woman in the other.  If the stories became juicy, no doubt Felker would snap his fingers to ensure another martini would appear by magic.  Anything to keep them talking.  Felker smiled as his guests dropped one story after another in his lap.   Felker knew what he was doing... and so did his guests.  And so did his writers.  They participated in Felker's parties for the same explicit reason.

Clay Felker was not the only one to benefit.  Celebrities enjoyed meeting their counterparts.  Eager to cross-pollinate with famous guests from different walks of life, an invitation to a Felker party could lead to deals, insights, love affairs, and other intriguing possibilities.  This explains why no one dared turn down an invitation to these much-anticipated events.

Due to Felker's ability to shine a city-wide spotlight on an individual, there was serious competition among the city's elite to be placed on the cover of the magazine.  This is another reason why the parties at Felker's apartment were a popular destination for glamorous people vying for attention.  Others came in hopes of hearing a lucky tip.  Everyone knew a chance conversation with the right person could lead to a career break. 

On Monday morning, Felker would transform the various disclosures into his next set of stories.  Some tidbits were given intentionally, some were due to loose lips.  Felker would quote anonymous sources of course, but a cursory scan of his most recent guest list would typically suggest the identity.

New York magazine was Felker's baby.  He understood that the movers and shakers of New York were obsessed with Status and were dying to be Noticed as often as possible.  So Felker paid his dues and parlayed his unique position to gain access to the most interesting people he could find.  In the process, Felker made his magazine a must-read for the movers and shakers of America's premier city. 

Everyone knew those smart Upper East Side dinner parties were an extension of the magazine.  Felker's parties and his magazine were practically synonymous... each in turn supported the other.  Through peppery talk on a wide variety of topics such as politics, real estate, business, plus scandals about prominent people, Felker was able to keep a close finger on the pulse of the town.  Everyone knew that each issue would contain something sharp, well-informed, witty and 'trendy'.  As a result, New York magazine became a target for every aspiring author, every ambitious politician, shrewd businessman, hip artist and wealthy socialite hoping to advance their careers and causes.  Wielding the power to decide who to favor and who to ignore, Felker became what is known as a 'kingmaker'. 

In addition to currying favor with the city's cognoscenti, Felker found time to champion the underdogs as well.  Felker loved to discover hidden nuggets.  Felker understood that 'under the radar' sub-cultures were not going to come to him, so he was on the lookout for odd stories wherever he went.  Clay Felker always had a stable of creative writers to choose from.  As the ultimate 'trend spotter', Felker made it his business to notice something interesting, then try to entice one of his gifted writers to poke his or her nose into it.

New York magazine loved to get its hand's dirty.   As opposed the bland style of the 'offend no one' New York Times, Felker took special delight in stories where the Ins and the Outs interfaced awkwardly.  Felker did not bother to conceal his contempt.  Using terms such as 'limousine liberals', many of the stories he published dripped with barely concealed mockery.  Although his articles outraged both liberals and conservatives alike, Felker could care less as long as his issues sold out.  Felker's in-your-face style came to be known as 'The New Journalism'. 

Gail Sheehy, an early feminist, was one of many writers who got her start courtesy of Clay Felker.  Her 1976 book Passages was named by the Library of Congress as one of the ten most influential books of the era.  Felker became such an admirer of his star reporter, he married her in 1984. 

It is easy to see why Sheehy achieved stardom.  She enjoyed writing popular Cosmo-style articles for women on to negotiate a 'Man's World' during the Sixties.  Sheehy had a gift for the clever phrase.  As an example, Sheehy described women who frequented singles bars during the Sixties in this manner.

"Booted, pant-suited, birth-controlled and pleasure-goaled."

Gail Sheehy's vivid 1971 report on prostitution in New York was the result of a Felker suggestion.  He asked to Sheehy to investigate the story from an unusual angle.  He told her to put away her notepad and nice outfits, then don a disguise.  Undaunted, Sheehy took to the streets wearing hot pants, white vinyl boots and a revealing top.  Behind puffed up hair and too much makeup, the disguise worked to perfection.  Gail Sheehy was able to mingle with the 'working girls' and get some straight talk.  This enabled Sheehy to write an astonishing eyewitness account of the sex trade. 

Gail Sheehy's ability to create scandal was a good example of Felker's fondness for stepping on people's toes.  For example, her expose of the sex trade caused a firestorm of controversy.  It seems that many of the city's richest, most powerful families and corporations benefited directly and indirectly from the illegal sex business. 

Understandably, the outrage of the people named was considerable.  In this way Sheehy's sex trade story and others like it created sensation and controversy.  Someone was always mad at Clay Felker for something one of his writers had written about them.  This was what the man lived for.  He basked in the glory of knowing his magazine was on the tip of everyone's tongue because he had pissed off someone important.  Who would be 'Felkerized' next? 

Felker changed the face of magazines.  For example, Clay Felker added a Lifestyle section as a way to draw attention to everyday places and people.  His innovation was soon copied by every American newspaper.  Be it counterculture, feminism, obsession with status, Clay Felker encouraged the citizens to take a close look at themselves.  It has been said that Felker's New York helped the Big Apple discover its own identity. 

According to Ken Auletta, a member of Felker's staff, "New York was the magazine that helped create the notion of the writer as the star."

Tom Wolfe was another of Felker's first superstars.  He turned a Felker suggestion into The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, a fascinating book on the counter-culture.  Wolfe went on to become a best-selling author with books like Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff.

Tom Wolfe never forgot who his mentor was.  In a 1993 interview with the Washington Post, Tom Wolfe called Clay Felker "the greatest idea man that ever existed." 

MEET THE WIZARD