The Press: For Fans Only

One of the nation’s lesser known press moguls, cagey, crag-faced O. J. Elder, 63, has peddled vicarious thrills for 43 years. For 38 of those years, he served Bernarr (“Body Love”) Macfadden. Since 1941, when he led a successful minority-stockholder revolt against his old boss, O.J. (as his employes respectfully call him) has been president of the Macfadden-less Macfadden Publications, content to hide anonymously behind the circulation-catching Macfadden name. Last week Elder launched a slick addition to his string of eight magazines (True Story, Photoplay, etc.). He had designed it for the most determinedly vicarious thrill-sharers of all: American sport fans.

The idea for his new 25¢ monthly magazine Sport had looked like a natural to Elder for the past four years: Americans bought 30,000,000 tickets to sports events every month. There were magazines for participants, or fans in special fields (Field and Stream, The Ring, Yachting, etc.), but none which covered all sports for the spectator.

As editor, Elder signed on another old Macfadden hand, ex-Liberty Editor Ernest V. Heyn. To write his first number Heyn lined up such big leaguers as Bill Tilden and Bill Stern, brought in Grantland Rice as consulting editor. The first issue, out this week, featured big picture spreads on such top-notchers as Joe Di Maggio, Ben Hogan, Ted Williams, Joe Louis. Readers would get no exposes of sports. O.J. assumes that all his readers are hero worshipers, will give his subjects the same kind of glorifying treatment that his movie magazines give screen stars.