The Press: Colossal

Last week Amon Carter’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram (circ. 219,000) published a Sunday edition weighing 7 Ibs. and containing 480 pages, including 61,811 inches of ads. Thus did Amon Carter prove that at 69 he is still the hustlingest man in Texas and the hottest city booster in the U.S. He himself personally sold more than 200 full-page ads.

The gigantic edition was only an incident in celebrating the 100th birthday of Amon Carter’s city. Other incidents included the rebuilding of his newspaper plant “with the fastest presses in Texas” and the erection of a spectacular $2,000,000 building on the outskirts of Fort Worth, exclusively for television. Also, of course, Amon Carter had to score a beat over Dallas, whose News (circ. 155,000) had recently published an edition with only 442 pages.

Next to his newspaper (“I am only a newspaperman”), Amon Carter’s greatest current pride is the B-36 plant he wangled for Fort Worth. Miles of colossal B-36s are abuilding in the plant across the lake from his famed Shady Oak farms, where this week 300 managing editors assembled during their annual conference.