From The Vault Of Art Shay: The Golden Age Of The Chicago Sun-Times
By Art Shay in News on Aug 22, 2013 4:30PM
Owner Marshall Field, at the site of the paper's building soon Trumped by a glossy tower of an uncertain future. Our present. (Shooting for <em>Holiday</em> Magazine, I once photographed Marshall's father—the previous owner—and lended him a nickel to buy a Sun-Times as a prop from the lobby newsstand.)
![Owner Marshall Field, at the site of the paper's building soon Trumped by a glossy tower of an uncertain future. Our present. (Shooting for <em>Holiday</em> Magazine, I once photographed Marshall's father—the previous owner—and lended him a nickel to buy a Sun-Times as a prop from the lobby newsstand.)]()
Editor in chief Jim Hoge, left, hears from each of his section heads and evaluates the space he must accord each story in the upcoming day's issue. (That machine on the left was called a typewriter. It preceded the computer as a word processor.)
![Editor in chief Jim Hoge, left, hears from each of his section heads and evaluates the space he must accord each story in the upcoming day's issue. (That machine on the left was called a typewriter. It preceded the computer as a word processor.)]()
Chicago's best newspaperman ever, Herman Kogan, for whose department I wrote more than 100 book reviews. He referred to me in intros as "a play-wrote" and was always lobbying for me to put the Leica aside and write my own "Catch 22" about WWII. He also wrote "Give the Lady What She Wants," "Lords of the Levee" and fathered Rick Kogan. He was my best friend, a health nut and pal of Studs and Algren. He died at 71 while walking for his health on a country road in Three Rivers, Mich.
![Chicago's best newspaperman ever, Herman Kogan, for whose department I wrote more than 100 book reviews. He referred to me in intros as "a play-wrote" and was always lobbying for me to put the Leica aside and write my own "Catch 22" about WWII. He also wrote "Give the Lady What She Wants," "Lords of the Levee" and fathered Rick Kogan. He was my best friend, a health nut and pal of Studs and Algren. He died at 71 while walking for his health on a country road in Three Rivers, Mich.]()
Eppie "Ann Landers" Lederer confided that Lyndon Johnson once, would I believe, made the moves on her, then in her 50s. Yes, I would believe. "Did they work?" I asked. "Deponent sayeth not," she responded slyly.
![Eppie "Ann Landers" Lederer confided that Lyndon Johnson once, would I believe, made the moves on her, then in her 50s. Yes, I would believe. "Did they work?" I asked. "Deponent sayeth not," she responded slyly.]()
My friend Irv Kupcinet, who plugged the weird antics of thousands of celebrities in his syndicated columns. Only one of them, a used-to-be Western star, then almost completely dimmed, showed up at his funeral.
![My friend Irv Kupcinet, who plugged the weird antics of thousands of celebrities in his syndicated columns. Only one of them, a used-to-be Western star, then almost completely dimmed, showed up at his funeral.]()
The immortal Roger Ebert, a friend and a genius whose syndicated Sun-Times movie reviews shook and guided the entire film industry. He's posing for Time-Life in front of one of his 4-star marquees at a Hefner-owned Playboy movie house. Roger loved some of my pictures and blurbed: "Art Shay's photography shakes you up, sets you down gently, and then kicks you in the ass."
![The immortal Roger Ebert, a friend and a genius whose syndicated Sun-Times movie reviews shook and guided the entire film industry. He's posing for Time-Life in front of one of his 4-star marquees at a Hefner-owned Playboy movie house. Roger loved some of my pictures and blurbed: "Art Shay's photography shakes you up, sets you down gently, and then kicks you in the ass."]()
Glenna Syse was Richard Christianson's assistant drama critic and, as eventual chief theater critic, gave my first produced play a fine review. Her successor, the redoubtable Hedy Weiss, gave my second play a good review, too, pointing out my WWII play ("Where Have You Gone, Jimmy Stewart?") would have been better had I not stuck to my own adventures as an aviator under actor Stewart's command.
![Glenna Syse was Richard Christianson's assistant drama critic and, as eventual chief theater critic, gave my first produced play a fine review. Her successor, the redoubtable Hedy Weiss, gave my second play a good review, too, pointing out my WWII play ("Where Have You Gone, Jimmy Stewart?") would have been better had I not stuck to my own adventures as an aviator under actor Stewart's command.]()
An issue of the Sun-Times comes to life.
![An issue of the Sun-Times comes to life.]()
All the ancillary crafts of newspaper making took a hit when the computer took over.
![All the ancillary crafts of newspaper making took a hit when the computer took over.]()
The huge noisy presses, now in the Valhalla of obsolescence or scrap, thump out the last noisy tidings of the dying day.
![The huge noisy presses, now in the Valhalla of obsolescence or scrap, thump out the last noisy tidings of the dying day.]()
The sacred composing room where, over the years, I often sneaked an advance peek at the newspaper version of many a <em>Time</em> or <em>Life</em> story I had worked on.
![The sacred composing room where, over the years, I often sneaked an advance peek at the newspaper version of many a <em>Time</em> or <em>Life</em> story I had worked on.]()
Every old newsman remembers the drama of the latest edition flying from the presses.
![Every old newsman remembers the drama of the latest edition flying from the presses.]()
And everyone of an age remembers the long-gone news boys and antiquated delivery trucks. Who could have predicted the flight of news dissemination to the cellphone, and that the Sun-Times, which had one of the best photo staffs in the country, would casually fire the entire staff and hand each reporter a phone capable of making pictures? And leave me wondering whatever happened to my lapsed but paid up Sun-Times subscription? And why I haven't even made a fuss?
![And everyone of an age remembers the long-gone news boys and antiquated delivery trucks. Who could have predicted the flight of news dissemination to the cellphone, and that the Sun-Times, which had one of the best photo staffs in the country, would casually fire the entire staff and hand each reporter a phone capable of making pictures? And leave me wondering whatever happened to my lapsed but paid up Sun-Times subscription? And why I haven't even made a fuss?]()
(Legendary Chicago-based photographer Art Shay has taken photos of kings, queens, celebrities and the common man in a 60-year career. This week, Art looks back at the glory days of the Chicago Sun-Times.)
All of a sudden the Chicago Sun-Times, which used to be a great newspaper, stopped delivering to me every morning.
I hadn't cancelled, I'd paid all bills and the paper's slow tumble down the financial and aesthetic hill has not generated enough friction for me to call and complain. The last letter of mine they printed complained that they used a picture of a murdered child on the front page and barely mentioned the gathering of 4,000 anti-war military veterans in the back pages.
"If it bleeds it leads" goes the sick aphorism that's a hallmark of the new print and TV journalism. Television's assembly-line blonde commentatrisses keep thrusting the bosoms that helped them get hired into our unprepared-for-sex morning faces.
As a witness to recent history I share a few 1972 snapshots from a book I did on the Sun-Times: "What Happens at a Newspaper." It got excellent reviews, especially from editor Jim Hoge and owner Marshall Field. Both men thanked me for giving them something they could hand to their kids and say, "This is what I do all day."
Published with permission.
If you can't wait until this time every Wednesday to get your Art Shay fix, please check out the photographer's blog, which is updated regularly. Art Shay's book, Chicago's Nelson Algren, is also available at Amazon.
