08/28/2024
As promised, here's the text of my second Hearst-related post today, a repeat of a column I wrote in 2005 on Will Hearst's symposium about his grandfather, W.R Hearst.
None of us at The Trib could find this online, so I'm making it accessible to y'all this way. Enjoy!
Will Hearst’s 2005 Symposium
about his grandfather, W.R. Hearst
Edited version of 10-20-05 “Slice of Life” column
in The Cambrian and The Tribune,
Imagine learning from strangers that showgirls taught your grandfather to shimmy while he was supposedly at a business meeting.
One of William Randolph “W.R.” Hearst’s grandsons discovered that juicy tale and many more during a nine-hour symposium he hosted because he wanted to know more about his legendary ancestor.
There are plenty of books, articles and research materials about the renowned media magnate, but William R. “Will” Hearst III wants to go beyond the obvious and learn more, especially about his grandfather’s business philosophies and techniques for running a newspaper.
The symposium
Symposium co-producer Taylor Coffman prodded Will Hearst into launching the Oct. 8 (2005) symposium at Cuesta College.
Coffman, a former Cambria resident who is now an author and Hearst scholar, and Cuesta historian Dennis Judd, also a former guide, choreographed the event.
Invitees included Hearst scholars from all over the country.
The symposium intentionally soft-pedaled tour-book-type chatter about W.R.’s life, such as his massive art collection and Hearst Castle.
Instead, symposium speakers examined the consummate media businessman who adored the entertainment industry, respected women and their abilities, revolutionized the news and newsreel businesses and is widely said to have pioneered the syndication of comic strips.
According to symposium panelists, W.R. innately understood what people wanted in newspapers, including such innovations as color comics, crossword puzzles, temperature listings on the front page, obituaries, contests and news that readers could use in their daily lives.
Among the most memorable tidbits and opinions
Keynote speaker Kevin Starr, famed author of a series of books on the California dream, said W.R. also gave a generation of immigrants’ good reasons to learn to read English: They wanted to know what ran in his publications.
With Hearst’s newspapers, Starr said, “reading was fun, relevant to their lives.”
Hearst biographer Ben Procter called W.R. a workaholic, a near-genius with a fabulous memory who revolutionized journalism, “not always for the better. But he had the pulse of the American people.”
W.R. “wanted ’gee whiz journalism,’” Procter said, with readers “so excited they’d look at page one and say, ‘Gee whiz,’ at page two and say ‘Holy Moses!’ and page three and say ‘God almighty!’
“For W.R., “getting the scoop was ‘pandemonium made perfect,” Procter said, eliciting one of Will Hearst’s heartiest laughs of the day.
Symposium takeaways
Later, Will said personal legends can become “smokescreens,” adding that “when people become legendary, they tend to get locked in a box” of oft-repeated tales.
New information can be hard to come by, he said, adding he’d especially “enjoyed hearing ... conflicting points of view” at the symposium.
The event included necessary elements of comedy and controversy, he said, and participants had “added ideas and originality” to his idea of who his grandfather really was.
Until the symposium, Will said, “I didn’t know how deeply involved in the motion-picture business he was,” and “I was proud to learn the degree to which women were involved with his movie and newspaper companies.”
The gracious host congratulated panelists for focusing on such topics as W.R.’s passion for anything with a visual orientation, such as photographs, movies and newsreels.
“You’ve really hit on something,” Will told them. “There was a more of a visual theme in his work and his world than I’ve ever connected before.”
The shimmy
And the shimmy? According to Beauchamp, in 1919, W.R. had just hired Frances Marion, who went on to become one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century.
Marion thought she was going to a business meeting with her new boss. Instead, when she knocked, his paramour Marion Davies opened the door and said of W.R. and six Ziegfield Follies showgirls, “Come on in. We’re just teaching W.R. how to shimmy.”
