The "The 200th Anniversary Of 'The Saturday Evening Post' Magazine" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just put down my latest copy of "The Saturday Evening Post."  I read just about every page of the 106 page magazine; one of my favorites for years.  I have been a subscriber for years and find every section of the magazine to be entertaining and informative.  The latest edition happens to be the first in their 200th year of publication.  

It is labeled COLLECTOR'S EDITION on the cover with a big gold flag running across the top of the cover with "Celebrating 200 Years!" in black ink.  The editor, Steven Slon, talked about revisiting events from some of the past issues such as the Alamo, Lincoln's assassination and the Gold Rush.  It was on August 4, 1821 that "The Saturday Evening Post," then scheduled for delivery in the evening mail on Saturdays, as the title suggested, published its very first edition.  

My most recent edition of The Saturday Evening Post

The first edition was only a four-page broadsheet, more like a newspaper than a magazine, with all the different articles running into each other in five narrow columns.  Wasn't long before it went from a few hundred patrons to thousands and now to millions.  For this particular issue they are featuring American icons who have appeared as writers or subjects over the years of publication.  This issue also featured a story about a woman named Judy Fein who describes in detail a brain anomaly she has called prosopagnosia, known as face blindness, a condition that affects about 2% of the population.  She doesn't know you even if you have just spent an hour with her talking about life in general.  An hour later she won't know who you may be.  Wow!  How awful must that be.  The more I turned the pages in this issue, the more it brought back memories of just about every copy I have received over the years.  I have loved every issue from the amazing covers to the cartoons, limericks, puzzles and even finding Ben Franklin's hidden key in every issue.  Even a few of the advertisements are entertaining from time to time.  This particular issue featured a special section titled "200th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION" American Icons.  Over the past 200 years the Saturday Evening Post has chronicled a who's who of exceptional Americans.  Many have been featured one more time which was an awe-inspiring showcase of talent, ingenuity, creativity and vision.  Those featured once again were Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Edison, Duke Ellington, Bobby Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, Orville Wright, Elvis Presley, R.E. Olds, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Humphrey Bogart, Grace Kelly, Marlon Brando, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Babe Didrikson, Althea Gibson, Duke Ellington, Mahalia Jackson, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, Dolly. Parton and my favorite...Babe Ruth.  The full-page 1931 profile of the great slugger described growing up in an orphanage and his lucky early break.  He was quoted as saying "When I got my first job it seemed funny to me that anybody would pay me money to play ball."  The two page repeat of a story from years ago was interesting and entertaining.  I guess I enjoyed it so much, since it was first published as a four-part series November 28-December 19, 1931 and I had never read it before.  Many of the stories were much the same to me, but a few I had remembered from the first time they were published.  Close to the end of the magazine was an old Norman Rockwell painting taken from "The Rockwell Files."  Called Hurry up and nap!  He titled it "A Well-Earned Rest."  One of many, many paintings he did for the "Saturday Evening Post."  If you aren't a subscriber to the magazine, you may want to buy an issue at your local corner store and after reading it you may want to subscribe, just as I did years ago.  I never was disappointed!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.