Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Kurt Anderson and Spy

I was reading a book review in the New York Times this morning. It caught my eye because it was about a book called Hey Day by Kurt Anderson and I had to check to see if this was the same Kurt Anderson whomI had h eard of (and whom I am fond of). I have been listening to Studio 360 (on Nation Public Radio and now via Podcast) for about 8 years now. It is a great show most of the time. They take one subject and attempt to show all sides of that subject. At least that used to be their format, they don't always stick to it. Their recent American Icons series was great where they took great American icons (like The Wizard of Oz or and The Great Gatsby) and really delved into them for the whole hour.

I did not know Anderson was an author, apparently a good one. But he is also the founder of the now defunct Spy Magazine. Spy was a spoof magazine, not quite as spoofy as The Onion and took on the entertainment industry. They took the name of the magazine from the fictitious magazine that employed Jimmy Stewart's character in The Philadelphia Store, one of my favorite classic Hollywood films. Spy was sometimes scandalous and was sued quite often. They also published a full frontal nude photo of the current governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and also published a picture of his father's Nazi Party membership card.

1 comment:

Joanne said...

A few corrections: (1) The book is called Heyday (1 word); (2) Kurt Andersen is spelled with two e's; and (3) as you'll learn if you read the November 2006 release Spy: The Funny Years (a lavishly illustrated coffee table book, half insider history of the magazine and half anthology), Spy magazine was not exactly "often sued"--in fact, during the "Funny Years" it was NEVER sued.