Helen Valentine

Helen Valentine (1893-1986) was the founder and editor in chief of Seventeen and Charm magazines.^[1]

Biography

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] 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 instead 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,^[5] Valentine convinced Annenberg that teenage girls needed a magazine of their own and that the then unserved demographic had the potential to become an important and lucrative new consumer market segment^[5] stating that "It was time to treat children as adults."^[2] The magazine was launched in September 1944^[5] and within a year, Seventeen had a circulation of a million.^[2] Seventeen is credited with creating a teen market for clothing manufacturers and other industries.^[2] In 1950, she accepted a job with Street & Smith to revamp a fading fashion magazine called Charm which she re-configured into the country's first magazine for working women^[2] (Charm was eventually merged into Glamour magazine after being bought by Conde Nast Publications).^[2] In 1958, she was hired by Good Housekeeping magazine to write a column, Young Wife's World where she remained until she retired in 1963.^[2]

Personal life

Valentine was married to banker Herbert Valentine (died 1978).^[2][6] She had two children: Barbara Valentine Hertz and Barry Valentine.^[2][7] 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.^[8][9] Her great-grandson, Sam Kass, served as Barack Obama's Senior Policy Advisor For Nutrition Policy.^[10]

References