Word: shearn
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Since Manhattan Lawyer Clarence John Shearn took over the rehabilitation of the Hearst publishing empire, he has done much to restore its financial stability (TIME, March 13). But as William Randolph Hearst's voting trustee and personal representative, Judge Shearn has long felt that a non-Hearst businessman at the head of the Hearst empire would do even more to restore its standing and stability. Last week Judge Shearn found his businessman. John St. Clair Brookes Jr., though almost unknown to the U. S. at large, has already become a power in three top-flight corporations...
After liquidating much that was unprofitable, Judge Shearn tried to squeeze more profit out of paying properties, to turn a profit with those that were doubtful. But the troubles that beset all publishers in 1938 nearly ruined Hearst. Newsprint went from $42.50 to $50 a ton, upping the Hearstpapers' bill by $5,000,000. Advertising revenue dropped 25%, a staggering $10,000,000 a year. Circulation fell off. In June 1938 Hearst Consolidated passed its dividend. In July the first Hearst subregency fell...
Down went the stars of Executives White and Bitner, up went the star of Joe Connolly. Tom White kept his title but lost his authority, Harry Bitner lost both. Cherubic Joe Connolly became general manager of all Hearst newspapers, responsible directly to Judge Shearn. Photographed looking up at tall Joe Connolly at a Gridiron Club dinner (see cut, p. 49) stubby Clarence Shearn cracked: "That's just the way it is. I'm looking up and saying: 'Save us, Joe, save...
...Judge Shearn may have to sell something else. He would undoubtedly like to sell a few more papers (though he denies it). But with total daily circulation of the Hearstpapers down from 5,153,676 in 1936 to 4,368,086 last year (Sunday circulation was up slightly to 6,714,430), the retrenchment of Hearst is almost over and Trustee Shearn's main task for a good many years will be to pay bills, reduce bonded indebtedness and get Hearst's real estate out of hock. Whether he can do that depends on readers, advertisers and creditors...
...nearly two years he has just sat there, no longer absolute boss even of his papers' policies. He still owns fabulous Wyntoon and San Simeon (subject to Mr. Chandler's mortgage), still dines celebrities from silver plate in medieval splendor (on his allowance from Judge Shearn); but at 75 the bad boy of U. S. journalism is just a hired editorial writer who has taken a salary...