George Horace Lorimer
George Horace Lorimer | |
---|---|
![]() Lorimer in 1922 | |
Born | Louisville, Kentucky, United States | October 6, 1867
Died | October 22, 1937 | (aged 70)
Occupation | Journalist, author, editor |
Known for | The Saturday Evening Post Curtis Publishing Company |
George Horace Lorimer (October 6, 1867 – October 22, 1937[1]) was an American journalist, author and publisher. He is best known as the editor of The Saturday Evening Post, which he led from 1899 to 1936. During his editorial reign, the Post rose from a circulation of several thousand to more than one million. He is also credited with promoting or discovering a large number of American writers, such as Jack London, whose stories were published in the Post.[2] In addition, Lorimer served as vice president, president, and chairman of the Curtis Publishing Company, which published several magazines and numerous books.
Life
Lorimer was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Rev. George C. Lorimer and Belle (née Burford) Lorimer. He attended Moseley High School in Chicago, Colby College, and Yale University.[3]
After working as a journalist, in 1899 he became editor-in-chief of The Saturday Evening Post, published in Philadelphia.[4] He remained in charge until the last day of 1936, about a year before his death from throat cancer.[1] He served also as vice president, president, and chairman of Curtis Publishing Company, which publishes the Post.
He died on October 22, 1937, in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Books
In the early 1900s, Lorimer also wrote several fictional collections of letters, including
- Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son: Being the Letters written by John Graham, Head of the House of Graham & Company, Pork-Packers in Chicago, familiarly known on 'Change as "Old Gorgon Graham," to his Son, Pierrepont, facetiously known to his intimates as "Piggy." (1903)
- Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son (1904)
- and a novel, The False Gods (1906)
Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son was quite well known in the early 20th century,[citation needed] and was the basis for the 1922 film A Self-made Man starring William Russell.[5] In her novel, Whose Body? (1923), Dorothy Sayers notes that a copy of the book, in a Morocco binding, is kept at the bedside of a self-made British financier.
Estate
Lorimer had a large estate in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. Most of it is now used as the campus of Ancillae Assumpta Academy.
Most of Lorimer Park, a 230-acre (0.93 km2) public park located in Abington Township, Pennsylvania, was a bequest from the Lorimer family to the citizens of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
References
- ^ a b Friedrich, Otto. Decline and Fall. Harper and Row, 1970, p. 10
- ^ Tebbel, John. George Horace Lorimer and the Saturday Evening Post. Doubleday, 1948.
- ^ Catherine Hanley, George Horace Lorimer Archived January 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. 2006.
- ^ SaturdayEveningPost.com Archived February 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "A Self-made Man (1922)". IMDb. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
External links
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- Works by George Horace Lorimer at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about George Horace Lorimer at Internet Archive
- Works by George Horace Lorimer at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- "Press: End of Lorimer". Time. November 1, 1937.
- "George Horace Lorimer Quotations". Quotation Collection.
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- 1867 births
- 1937 deaths
- American magazine editors
- American philanthropists
- American publishers (people)
- Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)
- Writers from Louisville, Kentucky
- Yale University alumni
- Colby College alumni
- American male journalists
- People from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania