Asked my twenty-something daughters if they know the name Helen Gurley Brown.
Nope.
As expected…but if you’re a generation older you know who she is….or…was.
She died yesterday at NINETY. Although as the NYT obituary put it, “parts of her were considerably younger.”
Helen Gurley Brown the long-time editor, creator really, of Cosmopolitan, once as firmly connected in public imagination with Cosmo as Hugh Hefner with Playboy or, today, as Anna Wintour is with Vogue.
HGB, as she was known, first became famous in the early sixties as author of “Sex and the Single Girl,” which sold millions of copies…presenting the revolutionary idea of sex as an enjoyable and sought after activity, even…perhaps, especially…absent a wedding ring. Shortly thereafter she took over the editorial helm of Cosmopolitan, then a moribund general-interest magazine and pumped it up with silicone and hormones, sequins and sparkle…and sex of course, always sex…and upped the circulation from 800,000 to a peak of 3 million.
Who among us did not do the magazine’s quizzes…”What kind of lover are you?” Or didn’t titter at the magazine’s cover lines… “13 secrets to a better orgasm”.
HGB was an iconic figure, dressing in mini-skirts and with cleavage well into her eighties.
What I always found intriguing about her…and her magazine…were the gaping contradictions.
Those risqué cover lines?….She bragged that every single one was written by her husband, movie producer (Jaws) David Brown. She called herself a feminist, but swore that even unwanted sexual attention was…actually wanted.
She promoted female freedom in every way…and yet, when I was freelancing for magazines, there was no more tightly controlled editorial process than at Cosmopolitan. All ideas were generated in-house and fortunate free-lancers were invited to come peruse the “idea books” for assignments.
An eighty-year old sexpot? Another contradiction…and one to smile at.
