SPY IN FROM THE COLD
THOSE crazy Spy guys are being reunited at Vanity Fair.
Kurt Andersen has just inked a one-year deal to write two big articles for Graydon Carter at Vanity Fair estimated to be valued in the mid-five figures.
The two were once inseparable pals when they collaborated on the magazine’s 1986 launch and then co-edited the trend-setting but ultimately money-losing Spy into the early 1990s. They met when both were young writers at Time.
Some said the duo became estranged when Carter in 1991 bolted to become the editor of the New York Observer, leaving Andersen behind to run Spy, which ultimately was sold to new owners after Andersen left in 1993.
But whatever differences they had were put to rest when Harvey Weinstein, then in charge of Miramax Books, doled out an estimated $1 million for Andersen, Carter and George Kalogerakis to collaborate on a hardcover history of “Spy: The Funny Years,” which was published a year ago.
Andersen’s and Carter’s careers took markedly different paths in the intervening years.
Carter has been Vanity Fair’s editor-in-chief for 15 years, while Andersen, after a short run at the helm of New York in the mid-1990s, left the editing world to return to writing, authoring “Turn of the Century” and “Heyday.”
He also became a columnist for New York, and hosts the syndicated radio show “Studio 360” on public radio.
“I was talking to Graydon last spring and told him I was starting on a new novel and wanted to cut back on journalism,” said Andersen.
“It gives us a chance to stay in touch and work together on a professional basis,” he said.
Andersen is going to continue writing “The Imperial City” column for New York on a monthly basis while he works on his next novel, which isn’t due out from Random House until 2010.
“With the possible exception of Walter Monheit, there’s nobody in journalism today that has been so consistently creative across all sorts of media as Kurt, and I look forward to having his voice in the magazine,” Carter said.
Of course, long-time readers of Spy will remember that Walter Monheit was not a real journalist, but was instead a bike messenger whose name was used as the author of cerebral book reviews in the magazine.
Fallback
We imagined Wendy Goodman was filled with more bitterness and sorrow than most on Monday when House & Garden got the word from Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend that the magazine was folding after its December issue.
After all, it was only in late February – less than nine months ago – that Goodman had left a comfortable job as the interior design editor of New York – where she had worked for 10 years – to join H&G Editor Dominique Browning at the ill-fated magazine.
But on Goodman’s last day on the payroll at Condé Nast – which is today – New York Editor-in-Chief Adam Moss has tossed her a life preserver, bringing her back to New York as the new design editor.
The new job will come with a pretty hefty workload and a nice salary estimated to be in the six figures.
Serena Torrey, a spokeswoman for New York, wouldn’t confirm the bucks, but she did confirm Goodman’s new gig.
Moore plans
Ann Moore, the embattled CEO of Time Inc., was in the audience yesterday for the annual gabfest about handicapping Time’s Person of the Year.
She was clearly ducking any questions about what Jeff Bewkes‘ ascension to the CEO post of parent Time Warner in January means for her own future running the magazine division.
Moore earlier had said that she has no intention of staying beyond the expiration of her contract, which is said to be in early 2010.
“I’m not talking about any of that,” she said.
But Bewkes, who will take over for Dick Parsons after he steps down as Time Warner CEO on Dec. 31, did visit the 34th floor of the Time & Life Building to chat with Moore.
A spokeswoman for Time Inc. said, “She loves Jeff. He’s a firm believer in great brands.”
Despite speculation that Time Inc. will be put under the microscope by Bewkes, Moore remained upbeat about the division’s most recent performance.
“We had a great quarter,” she said, “The transformation is really working.”
We assume that transformation refers to selling off more than a dozen magazines, jettisoning about 1,000 people and going digital.
Although the division’s third-quarter revenue of $1.2 billion was flat versus a year ago, its operating profit was up for the second quarter in a row. During the quarter, advertising revenues benefited mainly from higher digital revenue led by People.com and CNNMoney.com. However, that was offset by a decrease in print magazine revenue.
Although Time magazine, the ostensible flagship, has posted a 5.8 percent decline in ad pages so far this year to 1,549.2, Sports Illustrated has inched up by 2.4 percent to 1,507.84.
Moore yesterday had high praise for both Time Managing Editor Rick Stengel and Sports Illustrated Managing Editor Terry McDonnell.
“I think what Rick Stengel has done with Time is spectacular and Terry has Sports Illustrated really humming,” she said.
“Someone once said there is no such thing as a mature brand, only tired marketers,” said Moore. “Now we have to do the same thing for the women’s magazines.”
She dashed away without further comment.
Her comment, of course, has created speculation about just which women’s magazines she might have in mind. It’s been known inside that the company was hoping to “enliven” In Style, its big entrée into the fashion arena. But she could possibly have been referring to People, the world’s most profitable magazine, as well.
A spokeswoman was quick to splash cold water on that theory.
“Ann regards People as one of the newsweeklies along with Time and Sports Illustrated,” she said. “When she said women’s magazines, she meant mainly women’s service magazines, and getting it right online.”
Meanwhile, the process of selecting the Time Person of the Year is well under way.
The consensus seems to be that some flavor of an environmental theme would get the nod. But there seemed to be differing views on how to convey that.
Chris DeWolfe, the founder of MySpace, said the honor should go to Al Gore, an Oscar and Nobel Prize winner. NBC News’ Brian Williams, who last year accurately predicted the pronoun that won, this year went with someone he called “a woman with a history of abuse: Mother Nature.”
Whoopi Goldberg picked the color green.
“When you see it now, it’s not about little leprechauns in Ireland,” she said.
Former Virginia Sen. George Allen broke the green theme with his choice: Army Gen. David Petraeus, whom Allen called “the architect of the counter-insurgency in Iraq. He’s not just a scholar, he’s a warrior.”
Stengel’s only hint was that this year’s winner “won’t be another pronoun.”