A half-century: long enough to be distinctive, but short enough to fit within the span of retrievable human memory. In compiling this 50th-anniversary edition, we consulted with several past leaders of our publication. Each past editor left his or her impression on our pages, and we are grateful to them for carrying Memphis Magazine forward. Like most human endeavors that endure, this one has been a relay race, with each editor carrying the baton for a few miles, a few laps around the sun, before handing it over to the person waiting around the bend. Here, then, are reflections from a few of the relay-runners from years gone by — presented with our thanks to all those involved in creating and maintaining this enterprise. — Anna Traverse
Way back in 1988, before many of you were even born, I began working for Contemporary Media, Inc. I was the first editor of the Memphis Flyer and then editor of Memphis Magazine, roughly 10 years in the mix — or a decade of my life.
I spent four long years at the Flyer, hired for that position with practically no editorial experience, save what you might get from proofreading a publication called the Auto Exchange for the past few years. It was hard work, but our columnists regularly turned in their rough draft version with joints, which made me very happy.
JULY 1994
After a while, though, the powers-that-be thought I had been doing that job far too long. When the editor’s job opened at Memphis magazine, they gave me that job. It was, almost literally, a lateral move: I just moved from a cluttered desk on one side of the building to a larger desk on the other.
I remember my first issue — a photo shoot we staged to illustrate all the women who ran the high-fashion stores on Union Avenue — Helen of Memphis, LeClede’s, Trousseau, and others. I worked on that piece with Mary Ann Eagle, who would later write our dining column and other stories.
While I was editor, I remember writing on quite a variety of topics, from the allergy season, to the “Pie Lady,” to the first Baptist church in Memphis with a woman as the minister.
We had good writers — on staff and freelancers — but apparently I took it upon myself to write many of our cover stories.
They were memorable. In one, a photographer by the name of William Eggleston had a vintage Gatling gun aimed at his front door. While interviewing him, he was looking around for another loaded gun, at which point I said, “Oh, I’m sitting on it!”
For another cover story, I traveled alone in Holland with singer Wendy Moten, then in her twenties. In one of her first out-of-the-country trips, she ate potato chips on the train all the way between Rotterdam and Amsterdam, saying all the things she had done wrong with her life. She was planning an entire next day of things she would do right, including getting hair extensions and buying new shoes, purchased at a Rotterdam mall.
I also remember a story about the Junior League being the first place in Memphis to start an AIDS baby crisis center. For some reason, we photographed them in an English tufted sofa dragged into an alley covered with garbage.
In another cover story that year (1994), I interviewed Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett, who was working on his House of Blues chain. A 16-year-old Kerr Tigrett gave me a tour of the place. Just before leaving the grand opening a man spilled a drink on me; it was Geraldo Rivera.
That same issue included a fashion layout by Huger Foote (historian Shelby Foote’s son) and a restaurant review of Maxwell’s. A few months later, what was supposed to have been a short profile evolved into a cover story on the late O’Landa Draper. These were followed by a lengthy feature (and yes, another cover story) on opera diva Kallen Esperian, who was as nice to the Starbucks guy as she was to the interviewer.
I also remember a story about the Junior League being the first place in Memphis to start an AIDS baby crisis center. For some reason, we photographed them in an English tufted sofa dragged into an alley covered with garbage.
It was quite a career. After I left Contemporary Media, I worked for years with the Carpenter Sullivan advertising agency, and then with the Soulsville Foundation, which was very rewarding.
Now that I’m retired, I have forgotten how to spell-check, how to word-count, how to save a photograph, how to send someone an email, how to save anything, and how to convert a story from various files, formats, and versions.
And I don’t miss that part at all.
