Helen Valentine | |
---|---|
Born | Helen Rose Lachman 1893 |
Died | 1986 (aged 92–93) |
Occupation(s) | Magazine editor Copy writer |
Employers | |
Known for | Founder of Seventeen |
Title | President of " The Fashion Group International" (1948-1949) |
Spouse | Herbert Valentine |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Bertha Kahn Lachman Gustave Lachman |
Family | Sam Kass (great-grandson) |
Helen Valentine (1893–1986) was the founder and editor in chief of Seventeen and Charm magazines. [1]
Born Helen Rose Lachman in Manhattan, [2] she was the only child of German Jewish immigrants. [3] [4] Her father Gustave was an accountant and her mother Bertha (née Kahn) was a homemaker. [3] Although she attended temple with her mother and went to Jewish Sunday school, her family also celebrated Christmas. [3] She graduated from the Ethical Culture School and Barnard College. [2]
After school, she worked in the magazine industry. [5] Beginning as a part-time copy writer for Lord & Thomas, Valentine was among the first fired from the advertising firm when the Great Depression began. [6]
In 1944, while serving as promotion director for Mademoiselle magazine at Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, she was asked by Annenberg to help revive a movie magazine. [2] Although the concept of " teenager" as a distinct demographic segment of the population was a relatively new idea at that time, [5] Valentine proposed a magazine for teen-age girls. [2] Noticing the wide popularity of a King Features Syndicate comic strip by cartoonist Hilda Terry that focused on the trials and tribulations of a typical teenager's life entitled Teena which began running in July 1944, Valentine convinced Annenberg that teenage girls needed a magazine of their own. [5] Valentine believed that teenage girls were an underserved demographic and had the potential to become an important and lucrative new consumer market segment. [5] She stated that "it was time to treat children as adults." [2] The magazine was launched in September 1944 [5] and within eighteen months, Seventeen had a circulation of a million. [2] Seventeen is credited with creating a teen market for clothing manufacturers and other industries. [2]
From 1948-1949, Valentine served as president of Fashion Group International, an organization created in the 1930s by a group of business women working in fashion. [7]
In 1950, she accepted a job with Street & Smith to revamp a fading women's magazine called Charm which she re-configured into the country's first fashion magazine for working women. [2] Valentine focused on another demographic she believed was not represented by current magazines: married women who work. Charm was eventually merged into Glamour magazine after being bought by Conde Nast Publications. [2]
One of Valentine's talks, "How to Keep More of the Money You Earn" was published in the second session of the 83rd Congress (1954). because of Henry M. Jackson, a senator from Washington State. This talk contributed to legislation that would grant tax relief to married women who work. [6] [8]
In 1958, Valentine was hired by Good Housekeeping magazine to write a column, Young Wife's World, where she remained until she retired in 1963. [2]
Valentine was married to banker Herbert Valentine (died 1978). [2] [9] She had two children: Barbara Valentine Hertz and Barry Valentine. [2] [10] Her granddaughter, Valentine Hertz Kass [3] was one of the first women producer/directors at KQED in San Francisco, the first director of the Navy Pier IMAX Theater, and the founding director of the American Children's Television Festival. [11] [12] Her great-grandson, Sam Kass, served as Barack Obama's Senior Policy Advisor For Nutrition Policy. [13] Valentine died in 1986 in Miami at her daughter's home. [1]