What happened to Cleveland Town Topics?!

 

If you don't know what Cleveland Town Topics was, here is an article posted in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:

 

CLEVELAND TOWN TOPICS was the "Bible" of Cleveland's social and cultural sets for over 40 years. Billed as "A Weekly Review of Society, Art, and Literature," it was founded on 17 Dec. 1887 by Felix Rosenberg, who served as editor, and Thomas J. Rose, who became business manager. Its magazine format organized coverage into regular departments in lieu of feature articles. A lively lead column of gossip and commentary appeared under the heading "Talk of the Town," later renamed "The Lounger." Following the departures of Rose and then Rosenberg, Norman C. McLoud and C. H. Wright appeared as short-lived editors, the former also as proprietor. The publication's address moved from the Arcade and Vincent St. to the Garfield Bldg., before finally settling in the CAXTON BUILDING There it came under the proprietorship of CHAS. S. BRITTON†, who published it for the next quarter-century. Although not overly political, Town Topics served its elite readership with a moderate dose of Republicanism. It was an early automobile enthusiast, giving the horseless carriage regular coverage as early as 1901. During the next few years, automobile ads pumped its annual Automobile Show issues to more than 50 pages. Circulation, however, was never more than a few thousand. On 7 Dec. 1929, Britton announced its merger into the BYSTANDER, a newer rival that thereafter would be printed in his plant. Apparently the marriage did not succeed, because a year later former staffers announced the "return of a conservative family journal" under the name Cleveland Town Tidings. Appearing on 28 Mar. 1931, the weekly later formed an affiliation with the FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS OF GREATER CLEVELAND in an effort to acquire a circulation base. After a 6-week suspension in the summer of 1932, Town Tidings returned in a newspaper format on 17 Sept. and apparently expired after 19 Nov. 1932.

http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CTT

 

So, it was apparently merged with the Bystander, and here is the article on the Bystander:

 

The BYSTANDER began publication as the Country Club News, probably ca. Jan. 1921. Strictly social in orientation, the monthly magazine seems to have been run largely by the efforts of female volunteers, among them GRACE GOULDER-IZANT†. It became the Town & Country Club News in Dec. 1926, with Chas. T. Henderson as editor. Shortly thereafter it was incorporated as the Town Publishing Co. by Warren C. Platt and moved to the Penton Bldg. on W. 3rd St. Conversion into a weekly on 21 Apr. 1928 put Town & Country Club News in a position to rival the cultural coverage of the older CLEVELAND TOWN TOPICS. Renamed the Bystander in Aug. 1928, it began running feature articles on subjects ranging from the Goodyear Blimp to PETER WITT†. It absorbed its rival on 14 Dec. 1929, when it appeared as the Bystander Combined with Cleveland Town Topics, appropriating even the volume numbers of the older publication. Despite the benefits of the merger, the ensuing Depression eventually ate into the Bystander's gains. "Cleveland's Pictorial News Magazine," as it billed itself in 1933, was less than half its pre-Depression size, and its price had been cut correspondingly from $.15 to $.10. Published on a biweekly schedule during the summer of 1933, it reverted to a monthly the following February and made its final appearance in Apr. 1934.

http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=B27

 

I first heard about this paper in the exhibit on Euclid Avenue at the Western Reserve Historical Socity. Based on what I remember and the articles in the Encyclopedia it seems a lot like The New Yorker.

 

As long as the spirit no longer involves the umm... sentiments of the artwork directly behind the sculpture! :-o

Yeah...

I was too distracted by the sculpture to notice what was behind it! Talk about metaphorical. That era was often presented publicy as a classy time, but only because the social injustices were kept in the background.