Lawrence E. Spivak
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Edmund Spivak was an American
publisher and journalist
who was best known as the co-founder, producer and host of the prestigious public affairs program Meet the Press
. He and journalist Martha Rountree
founded the program as promotion for Spivak's magazine, The American Mercury
, and it became the longest-running continuous network series in television history. During his 28 years as panelist and moderator of Meet the Press, Spivak was known for his pointed questioning of policy makers.
From 1930 to 1933 Spivak worked for Hunting and Fishing and National Sportsman magazines, as circulation director and assistant to the publisher.
, a literary magazine that critiqued the American scene, while it was edited by journalist H. L. Mencken
. Spivak purchased the magazine in 1939, and also served as its editor from 1944 to 1950.
In 1937 Spivak founded Mercury Publications
, Inc., a publishing company with imprints including American Mercury Books, Mercury Mysteries, Bestseller Mysteries and Jonathan Press Mysteries. Spivak published inexpensive digest-sized
paperback
editions, often abridged, of works by authors including Margery Allingham
, Agatha Christie
, Erle Stanley Gardner
, Dashiell Hammett
, Ellery Queen
, Georges Simenon
, Rex Stout
and Cornell Woolrich
. Mercury Publications also included such periodicals as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, The Book of Wit and Humor and Detective: The Magazine of True Crime Cases. Spivak sold The American Mercury magazine in 1950, and sold his interest in Mercury Publications in 1954.
created and co-produced the weekly public affairs program Meet the Press
as radio promotion for The American Mercury. A television edition began on NBC
in November 1947, and separate shows continued until the radio version ceased in 1950. Spivak purchased Rountree's interest in the program in 1953.
Spivak sold Meet the Press to NBC in 1955 but remained as moderator, producer and panelist. He retired November 9, 1975, after a special one-hour broadcast that featured President Gerald R. Ford and marked the 28th anniversary of Meet the Press on television. Spivak continued to be a consultant to NBC until 1989, and made his last Meet the Press appearance in 1983.
"All received equal treatment," Arthur Unger of The Christian Science Monitor
wrote of the presidents and world leaders who were questioned by the Meet the Press panelist. "They had to face up to Lawrence Spivak of the fierce visage, the challenging questions, the fearless independence, the utter fairness. And beneath it all, the scowling good nature of a man with an unrelenting mission: to evince accurate information from the very mouths of the individuals who make the news."
Spivak was distinguished by his rather dapper appearance, his wardrobe usually including a bowtie and heavy-rimmed glasses. He first appeared as the one permanent member of the program's panel of reporters, asking the first round of questions. As moderator, he asked the first question of the Meet the Press guest and then handed off to the other journalists on the panel, which usually totaled four during his 28 years as the host and moderator of the TV program.
television programs for the Southern Center for International Studies
.
Spivak's office was at the Sheraton
-Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., which was also his home. He was widowed in 1983. Spivak died of congestive heart failure at Washington's Sibley Memorial Hospital
on March 9, 1994, at the age of 93.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publisher and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who was best known as the co-founder, producer and host of the prestigious public affairs program Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
. He and journalist Martha Rountree
Martha Rountree
Martha Rountree was a pioneering broadcast journalist and an energetic entrepreneur. She was the creator and first moderator of a public-affairs program, first on radio as The American Mercury from June 24, 1945, and as Meet the Press on the NBC television network from November 6, 1947...
founded the program as promotion for Spivak's magazine, The American Mercury
The American Mercury
The American Mercury was an American magazine published from 1924 to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured writing by some of the most important writers in the United States through the 1920s and 1930s...
, and it became the longest-running continuous network series in television history. During his 28 years as panelist and moderator of Meet the Press, Spivak was known for his pointed questioning of policy makers.
Life and career
Lawrence E. Spivak was born June 11, 1900, in New York City. In 1921 he graduated cum laude from Harvard University and began his career in publishing as business manager for Antiques magazine. He married psychologist Charlotte Beir Ring in 1924, and together they had two children.From 1930 to 1933 Spivak worked for Hunting and Fishing and National Sportsman magazines, as circulation director and assistant to the publisher.
The American Mercury
In 1934 Spivak became business manager for The American MercuryThe American Mercury
The American Mercury was an American magazine published from 1924 to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured writing by some of the most important writers in the United States through the 1920s and 1930s...
, a literary magazine that critiqued the American scene, while it was edited by journalist H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
. Spivak purchased the magazine in 1939, and also served as its editor from 1944 to 1950.
In 1937 Spivak founded Mercury Publications
Mercury Publications
Mercury Publications was a magazine publishing company, owned and operated by Lawrence E. Spivak, which mainly published genre fiction in digest-sized formats. The focus of Spivak's line was on detective and mystery stories and novels, but it also included magazines about humor, fantasy, and true...
, Inc., a publishing company with imprints including American Mercury Books, Mercury Mysteries, Bestseller Mysteries and Jonathan Press Mysteries. Spivak published inexpensive digest-sized
Digest size
Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end...
paperback
Paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
editions, often abridged, of works by authors including Margery Allingham
Margery Allingham
Margery Louise Allingham was an English crime writer, best remembered for her detective stories featuring gentleman sleuth Albert Campion.- Childhood and schooling :...
, Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
, Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J...
, Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
, Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
, Georges Simenon
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
, Rex Stout
Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
and Cornell Woolrich
Cornell Woolrich
Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich was an American novelist and short story writer who sometimes wrote under the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley....
. Mercury Publications also included such periodicals as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is an American monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction...
, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
, The Book of Wit and Humor and Detective: The Magazine of True Crime Cases. Spivak sold The American Mercury magazine in 1950, and sold his interest in Mercury Publications in 1954.
Meet the Press
In 1945, Spivak and journalist Martha RountreeMartha Rountree
Martha Rountree was a pioneering broadcast journalist and an energetic entrepreneur. She was the creator and first moderator of a public-affairs program, first on radio as The American Mercury from June 24, 1945, and as Meet the Press on the NBC television network from November 6, 1947...
created and co-produced the weekly public affairs program Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
as radio promotion for The American Mercury. A television edition began on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in November 1947, and separate shows continued until the radio version ceased in 1950. Spivak purchased Rountree's interest in the program in 1953.
Spivak sold Meet the Press to NBC in 1955 but remained as moderator, producer and panelist. He retired November 9, 1975, after a special one-hour broadcast that featured President Gerald R. Ford and marked the 28th anniversary of Meet the Press on television. Spivak continued to be a consultant to NBC until 1989, and made his last Meet the Press appearance in 1983.
"All received equal treatment," Arthur Unger of The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
wrote of the presidents and world leaders who were questioned by the Meet the Press panelist. "They had to face up to Lawrence Spivak of the fierce visage, the challenging questions, the fearless independence, the utter fairness. And beneath it all, the scowling good nature of a man with an unrelenting mission: to evince accurate information from the very mouths of the individuals who make the news."
Spivak was distinguished by his rather dapper appearance, his wardrobe usually including a bowtie and heavy-rimmed glasses. He first appeared as the one permanent member of the program's panel of reporters, asking the first round of questions. As moderator, he asked the first question of the Meet the Press guest and then handed off to the other journalists on the panel, which usually totaled four during his 28 years as the host and moderator of the TV program.
Later years
From 1985 to 1994, Spivak co-produced PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television programs for the Southern Center for International Studies
Southern Center for International Studies
The Southern Center for International Studies , founded in 1962, is a non-profit, private organization dedicated to international study. Located in Atlanta, GA, it hosts several annual events, such as the Retired Secretaries of Defense Conference, and regularly hosts events for visiting dignitaries...
.
Spivak's office was at the Sheraton
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's largest and second oldest brand . Starwood's headquarters are in White Plains, New York.-Sheraton history:...
-Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., which was also his home. He was widowed in 1983. Spivak died of congestive heart failure at Washington's Sibley Memorial Hospital
Sibley Memorial Hospital
Sibley Memorial Hospital is a non-profit hospital located in NW Washington D.C.. It is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and is licensed by the District of Columbia Department of Health and Human Services. The hospital specializes in surgery,...
on March 9, 1994, at the age of 93.
External links
- Shahid, Sharon, "60 Years Ago in News History: America Meets the Press," NewseumNewseumThe Newseum is an interactive museum of news and journalism located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. The seven-level, museum features 15 theaters and 14 galleries. The Newseum's Berlin Wall Gallery includes the largest display of sections of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany...
Journalism News, November 14, 2007 - Severo, Richard, "Lawrence E. Spivak, 93, Is Dead; The Originator of 'Meet the Press'," The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, March 10, 1994 - Lawrence E. Spivak Papers at the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
- About Meet the Press, including archival photo gallery, at MSNBCMSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...