Holiday (magazine)

{{Short description|American travel magazine}} {{redirect|Holiday magazine|magazines about travel|List of travel magazines}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox magazine | title = Holiday | logo = | logo_size =  | image_file = Holiday cover 1953-04.png | image_size =  | image_alt = | image_caption = | editor =  | editor_title =  | previous_editor = | staff_writer = | photographer = | category = Travel magazine | frequency = bi-annual | format = | circulation = | publisher = | paid_circulation = | unpaid_circulation = | circulation_year = | total_circulation = | founder = | founded = | firstdate = {{Start date and age|1946}} | finaldate = {{End date and age|1977}} | finalnumber = | company = | country = United States | based = Philadelphia | language = English | website = {{URL|http://www.holiday-magazine.com}} | issn = 0018-3520 | oclc = }}

'''''Holiday''''' was an American travel magazine published from 1946 to 1977, whose circulation grew to more than one million subscribers at its height. The magazine employed writers such as [[Alfred Bester]], [[Truman Capote]], [[Joan Didion]], [[Lawrence Durrell|Lawrence Durell]], [[James A. Michener|James Michener]], and [[E. B. White]].

In 2014, the magazine was relaunched as a bi-annual magazine based in Paris, but written in English.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Powers |first1=Rebecca |title=Holiday magazine: The rise and fall of the glamorous mid-century travel publication |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/holiday-magazine-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-glamorous-mid-century-travel-publication/2020/04/09/643b4c62-7807-11ea-b6ff-597f170df8f8_story.html |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=9 April 2020}}</ref>

==History== Launched by the [[Curtis Publishing Company]], the first issue of ''Holiday'' appeared in March 1946. The magazine was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the Curtis Center near [[Independence Hall]]. After a lackluster start, with the fifth issue [[Ted Patrick (editor)|Ted Patrick]] became editor, a position he held until his sudden death in 1964.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/12/ted-patrick-dies.html|title=Ted Patrick Dies|date=1964-03-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-05-30|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By the end of the first year the circulation topped 425,000.<ref name=":0" />

The magazine was known as a cosmopolitan travel wishbook with photo essays in full-color oversize 11 X 13.5 package along with articles by famous authors.<ref name=":0" /> John Lewis Stage, a photographer for Holiday described how Patrick enlisted name authors: "The concept was basically to get famous authors who had maybe one or two weeks in between their books or projects to go and travel and write glorious pieces. So you’d have [[James A. Michener|James Michener]] sent off to the South Pacific, for example. It was an intriguing way to put together a magazine. It was an oddball publication that used photographs to tell stories".<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/05/holiday-magazine-history|title=The Visual and Writerly Genius of Holiday Magazine|last=Callahan|first=Michael|date=May 2013|magazine=Vanity Fair|access-date=2018-05-30|language=en}}</ref>

Paul Theroux writing about Paul Bowles said of the magazine, "The frivolous name masked a serious literary mission. The English fiction writers, [[V. S. Pritchett]] and [[Lawrence Durrell]] also traveled for this magazine, so did [[John Steinbeck]] after he won his Nobel Prize for literature, when he crisscrossed the United States with his dog....Bowles wrote a piece for ''Holiday'' about hashish, another of his enthusiasms, since he was a life-long stoner.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Travels : collected writings, 1950-93|author=Bowles, Paul|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|others=Theroux, Paul.|year=2010|isbn=978-0062067630|edition= 1st United States |location=New York, NY|oclc=747428794}}</ref>

The magazine came of age in the [[Jet Age]], when Americans were beginning to travel for leisure and joining the [[jet set]] was a glamorous aspiration.<ref name=":0" /> A Vanity Fair article in 2013 stated that "what Vogue did for fashion, Holiday did for destinations.<ref name=":0" /> Many remember the atmosphere of the editorial department as resembling [[Mad Men|Mad-Men]]. The son of executive editor Carl Biemiller described the atmosphere "there was one hell of a [[Cocktail party|cocktail-party]] circuit..."<ref name=":0" />

E. B. White wrote his 7500-word essay on the city of New York, "''Here is New York''", for the magazine in 1949. White's stepson, [[Roger Angell]], worked at the magazine in 1948.The essay was published as a gift book by [[Harper (publisher)|Harper]] and it was also released as a [[Book of the Month Club|Book-of-the-Month Club]] edition. Vanity Fair has since said of the essay, "It would become not only one of the most famous essays ever composed about the island of Manhattan but perhaps the finest. Over the years its plaintive language has been categorized as both poem and hymn." After 9/11, Vanity Fair also published the essay in book form in 2002 as a tribute.<ref name=":0" />

By 1961 the magazine was making almost $10 million a year in revenue, and by the next year circulation had grown to just under a million.<ref name=":0" />

After Ted Patrick's sudden death in 1964<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/12/archives/ted-patrick-dies-magazine-editor-man-of-many-interests-built-up.html|title=TED PATRICK DIES; MAGAZINE EDITOR; Man of Many Interests Built Up Holiday's Circulation|date=1964-03-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-06-09|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> there were internal issues between the current staff and Curtis Publishing Company over the direction of the magazine. Don A. Schanche of ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' succeeded Patrick as editor.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/20/holiday-magazine-gets-new-editor.html|title=Holiday Magazine Gets New Editor|date=1964-03-20|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-06-06|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In response four of the editors, Harry Sions (editorial director), Frank Zachary (managing editor), Albert H. Farnsworth (executive editor), and Louis F. V. Mercier (pictures editor) resigned.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/03/28/79384798.html?pageNumber=42|title=HARRY SIONS DIES; A BOOK EDITOR, 68; Held Little, Brown Senior Position ,Since 1965 Was War Correspondent|work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-06-04|language=en}}</ref> Several of the magazine's writers, artists and photographers put out a large ad in the New York Times to "salute" the four as "good editors."<ref name=":1" />

In 1977, Curtis sold ''Holiday'' to the publisher of ''Travel'', a competing magazine, who merged the titles as a new publication, ''[[Travel Holiday]]''.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LnosAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vPoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4279,2716127&dq=holiday+magazine+sold&hl=en/ "Holiday magazine sold to Travel" ''The Ledger'' (Lakeland, Florida), July 10, 1977, p. 6B.]</ref>

== 21st century relaunch == ''Holiday'' relaunched in April 2014 by the Atelier Franck Durand, a Paris-based art direction studio, with Marc Beaugé as editor-in-chief and Franck Durand as creative director.<ref>[http://holiday-magazine.com/ ''Holiday'' relaunch announcement ''Holiday-magazine.com'']</ref><ref>[http://ashadedviewonfashion.com/blog/franck-durand-french-art-director-re-launches-famous-40s-50s-60s-cult-travel-lifestyle-magazine/ "Franck Durand re-launches famous lifestyle magazine Holiday" ''A Shaded View of Fashion By Diane Pernet'']</ref> The magazine is a bi-annual, conceived in Paris and written in English. Its official website mentions an upcoming café<ref>[http://www.holiday-magazine.com/cafe.php/ "Holiday Café" ''Holiday-magazine.com'']</ref> and clothing line. Durand described the new magazine, "It is not like the old Holiday when they had millions and they'd travel for weeks and week. But the concept is the same."<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/fashion/holiday-a-travel-magazine-is-reborn.html|title=Of Sojourns Past and Future|last=Schneier|first=Matthew|date=2014-03-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-06-06|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The issue n°373 of ''Holiday Magazine'', first issue since the relaunch, was dedicated to the year 1969 and Ibiza.<ref>[http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/holiday-magazine-resurrects-with-a-fashion-vibe-7632223/ "''Holiday Magazine'' resurrects with a fashion vibe" ''Women's Wear Daily.com'']</ref>

The issue n°373 includes contributions from photographers Josh Olins,<ref>[http://www.style.com/stylefile/2014/04/holiday/ "''Holiday Magazine'' Is Here Again" ''Style.com'']</ref> Karim Sadli and Mark Peckmezian, a short novel about Ibiza by novelist Arthur Dreyfus, a story on [[Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin]]'s New York loft, and the cover features a chosen fragment of Remed's painting "Leonogone". The first issue featured an essay about the history of the original ''Holiday Magazine''.<ref name=":2" />

== Notable editors ==

* Carl Biemiller (also children's book author)<ref name=":0" /> * [[John Knowles]], American novelist<ref name=":0" /> * Ted Patrick, editor in 1948 until his death in 1964<ref name=":0" /> * Harry Sions, former war correspondent<ref name=":0" /> *Alfred Bester, literary editor (also novelist, screenwriter, and renowned science fiction writer of ''[[The Demolished Man]]'' and ''[[The Stars My Destination]]'')<ref name=":0" />

== Notable writers and articles ==

* [[Roger Angell]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/sports/roger-angell-dead.html | title=Roger Angell, Who Wrote About Baseball with Passion, Dies at 101 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=20 May 2022 | last1=Garner | first1=Dwight }}</ref> * [[Paul Bowles]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOMu22usjh4C&q=paul+bowles+holiday+magazine&pg=PA309|title=An Invisible Spectator: A Biography of Paul Bowles|last=Sawyer-Lauçanno|first=Christopher|date=1999|publisher=Grove Press|isbn=9780802136008|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/seeing-north-africa-through-the-writings-of-paul-bowles/|title=Seeing North Africa through the writings of Paul Bowles|date=2011-12-10|work=The Seattle Times|access-date=2018-06-03|language=en-US}}</ref> – numerous articles beginning in 1953 for ''Holiday'' on [[Paris]] and [[North Africa]]<ref name=":4" /> * [[Ludwig Bemelmans]] – ''Bemelman’s Italian Holiday'', 1961, a collection of essays that first appeared in Holiday * [[Gwendolyn Brooks]] – ''They Call it Bronzeville'' in October 1951.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Life of Gwendolyn Brooks.|year=1990|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofgwendolynb00kent|url-access=registration|last=Kent|isbn=9780813116594 }}</ref> * [[Shirley Ann Grau]] (on Galatoire’s in [[New Orleans]]) * [[Morley Callaghan]] – on the University of Toronto<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBrF-gzYzxgC&q=morley+callaghan+%22holiday+magazine%22&pg=PA136|title=Remembering Northrop Frye: Recollections by His Students and Others in the 1940s and 1950s|last=Denham|first=Robert D.|date=2010-12-22|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786480166|pages=136|language=en}}</ref> * [[Truman Capote]] * [[John Cheever]] *[[Arthur C. Clarke]] – Clarke wrote "A Journey to Mars", an article about interplanetary space travel published in March 1953.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://holidaymag.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/a-journey-to-mars-by-arthur-c-clarke-march-1953/#more-215|title="A JOURNEY TO MARS" by Arthur C. Clarke – March 1953|date=2012-03-06|work=HOLIDAY|access-date=2018-06-10|language=en-US}}</ref> * [[Colette]] (on love in Paris) * [[Alistair Cooke]] * [[Joan Didion]] – Didion's essays "Notes from a Native Daughter" and "On Keeping A Notebook", initially published in ''Holiday'' in 1965 and 1966 respectively, were included in her 1968 book ''[[Slouching Towards Bethlehem]]''. * [[Lawrence Durrell]] * [[Clifton Fadiman]] * [[William Faulkner]] (on Mississippi) * [[Robert Graves]] * [[Ian Fleming]] (on eating in London) * [[Ernest Hemingway]] * [[Alfred Kazin]] * [[Jack Kerouac]] * [[William Manchester]] * [[Mary McCarthy (author)|Mary McCarthy]] (''"The Vassar Girl"'') * [[John McNulty (journalist)|John McNulty]] (on playing piano in a silent-movie theater) * [[James A. Michener|James Michener]] * [[Arthur Miller]] — Miller wrote a December 1953 article on his alma mater, the [[University of Michigan]] and a March 1955 article about his childhood, "A Boy Grew in Brooklyn".<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://holidaymag.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/a-boy-grew-in-brooklyn-by-arthur-miller-march-1955/#more-682|title="A Boy Grew In Brooklyn" by Arthur Miller — March 1955 issue|last=Miller|first=Arthur|date=2014-02-19|work=HOLIDAY|access-date=2018-06-10|language=en-US}}</ref> Miller's first article was about his fears of [[McCarthyism]] on the [[University of Michigan]] campus. Miller learned years after editor [[Ted Patrick (editor)|Ted Patrick's]] death that he asked him to write the second article after General Motors threatened to stop advertising if the magazine ever published Miller again.<ref name=":3" /> * [[Ogden Nash]] * [[Ann Petry]] (on New York) * [[V. S. Pritchett]] * [[William Saroyan]] (on Fresno) * [[Carl Sandburg]] (on Chicago) * [[Budd Schulberg]] * [[Irwin Shaw]] * [[John Steinbeck]] – Steinbeck wrote the article "'Jalopies I Cursed and Loved" for the July 1954 issue. Along with several articles on France, Steinbeck also published portions of his book ''[[Travels with Charley]]'' in the July 1961, December 1961, and February 1962 issues. * [[James Thurber]] * [[Kenneth Tynan]] (on [[Ingrid Bergman]]) * [[Robert Penn Warren]] (on the Alamo) * [[E. B. White]] ("Here Is New York") Flannery O'Connor

== Notable artists, illustrators, and photographers ==

* [[Slim Aarons]] * [[Ludwig Bemelmans]] * [[Henri Cartier-Bresson]] * [[George Gustines|George Giusti]] * [[Edward Gorey]] * [[Al Hirschfeld]] * Tom Hollyman * [[John Cullen Murphy]] * [[Arnold Newman]] * John Rombola * [[Arnold Roth]] * [[Richard Saunders (photographer)|Richard Saunders]] * Fred Siebel * John Lewis Stage * Frank Zachary, art director for the magazine

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[[iarchive:pub_holiday|Holiday, 1946-1977]], [[Internet Archive]] (a collection from black & white microfilm) *[http://holiday-magazine.com/ Website of the new ''Holiday'' magazine (2014)] *[http://holidaymag.wordpress.com/ The Astounding World of ''Holiday''] (an archive of selected articles and artwork) *[http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/11/30/on-%E2%80%98holiday%E2%80%99/ Josh Lieberman, “On ''Holiday''”. The ''Paris Review Daily'', November 30, 2011]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holiday (Magazine)}} [[Category:Defunct visual arts magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Magazines established in 1946]] [[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1977]] [[Category:Defunct tourism magazines]] [[Category:Defunct magazines published in Philadelphia]] [[Category:Jet Age]]