Happy 90th B'Day, Helen Gurley Brown!

By Sondra Forsyth

As a former "Cosmo Girl" – an editor at the magazine, not a cover model! – I'm honored to have the opportunity to create this birthday salute to Helen Gurley Brown who turns 90 on February 18th 2012. Here is a retrospective of HGB's life and career from her childhood in Arkansas to her meteoric rise to fame as she helped launch what has come to be called "the sexual revolution."

Sex and the Single Girl, 50th Anniversary Edition Helen was 10 years old when her father died in a freak elevator accident leaving a desperate widow and two little girls. After they moved to California, Helen's sister, Mary, came down with polio. Eventually, Helen got a job as a secretary at an advertising agency and helped support her mother and Mary, who was confined to a wheelchair. Because Helen is a born writer, her memos caught the attention of higher-ups and she was promoted. Then in 1962, when she was 40 and newly married to film producer David Brown, "Sex and the Single Girl" hit the bookstores. The title was shocking at the time but the slim volume soon became a national best seller. In a memorable quote Helen said: “When I wrote 'Sex and the Single Girl,' which was the precursor to Cosmopolitan, if you didn't have a husband, you might as well go to the Grand Canyon and throw yourself in. And if you were having sex with a man you were not married to? Well, your reputation was just shot.”

Cosmopolitan, 1964 On the heels of the success of her book, Helen – with David's encouragement – created a magazine proposal that encompassed her mission and messages. In an article on Cosmo's web site about her vision back then, she says, "I knew that women were having sex and loving it. I wanted my magazine to be their best friend, a platform from which I could tell them what I'd learned and talk about all the things that hadn't been discussed before. I wanted to tell the truth: that sex is one of the three best things out there, and I don't even know what the other two are."

The July 1965 issue of Cosmopolitan, the first one that Helen edited, had a now-legendary cover line: "The new pill that makes women more responsive." As Helen put it, "To me, the most important thing about it was that if you weren't worried about getting pregnant, you could enjoy yourself more in bed. They knew exactly what Cosmo was talking about and snatched the issue off newsstands in droves."

Cosmo and "Women's Lib" The magazine wasn't only about sex, however. Every issue had a mix of very substantial articles on topics ranging from serious to thought-provoking to radical. Also, as I can attest from personal experience, Helen was a gifted and dedicated editor who coaxed the very best writing and editing out of her contributors and staff. She got plenty of flack, though, both from men who were threatened by her fearless flock of freshly independent females and from feminists who insisted that Cosmo's come hither photos and advice about pleasing men were at odds with the burgeoning movement that stressed sisterhood and independence for women. But Helen stood her ground. "Cosmo is feminist in that we believe women are just as smart and capable as men are and can achieve anything men can," she is quoted as saying on the Cosmo web site. "But it also acknowledges that while work is important, men are too. The Cosmo girl absolutely loves men!"

HGB with Husband David Brown The late David Brown – think "Jaws," "Driving Miss Daisy," and "Angela's Ashes," among other films – was Helen's husband for 50 years and her biggest booster. He died in 2010, but during the heyday of Cosmo he was always involved with the magazine. In fact, he wrote almost every cover line from the time Helen took the helm until she left 32 years later. One that he didn't write was mine. I remember being terrified when I got a note from Helen's secretary saying "Helen asked if you could look through this manuscript and try a cover blurb for Christopher Reeve." I came up with four possibilities and one of them was chosen: "Christopher (Superman) Reeve – Sexy, Sensitive and Surprisingly Smart." Not exactly deathless prose, but Helen sent a personal note back saying: "Sondra, David used one of your blurbs for Christopher Reeve and he is very hard to please. H" I lived on that for quite a while!

The Books She Has Written Helen is, as I mentioned, a talented if quirky writer and an absolute stickler for quality. I had already been an editor at the Bride's Magazine and written a book and plenty of articles when I arrived at Cosmo, but I learned a great deal from her. That's why I was delighted when her 1998 book about writing was published. If you have any interest in plying this trade, or if you simply want an entertaining look at her rules and recommendations, I highly recommend it. Helen's other books after "Sex and the Single Girl" are good reads as well, including "Having It All: Love, Success, Sex, Money (Even If You're Starting With Nothing) and "The Late Show: A Semi-Wild But Practical Survival Plan for Women Over 50."

Cosmo International Helen left Cosmo in 1997 at the age of 75 and became the editor-in-chief of the 59 editions of Cosmo International, where she still reigns in her pink and pretty office. This photo reminds me of the Tuesday meetings we used to have every week at 4 p.m. sharp when I would join the rest of the senior staff to sit facing her in a semi-circle. We were charged with bringing seven new article ideas each, all typed on blue paper. (Helen's responses were on pink paper.) One by one, we read our ideas aloud. No one praised and no one criticized. Then the managing editor collected the blue papers and we were dismissed promptly at 5 p.m. Out of each batch, Helen picked the ones she wanted us to assign to freelance writers. Her secretary put them in loose leaf notebooks labeled by topic: "Major Emotional," "First Person," and so on. A brilliant system indeed!

A Living Landmark The N.Y. Landmarks Conservancy has named Helen Gurley Brown a "Living Landmark." Here, she's pictured attending a gala for the conservancy at Cipriani on 42nd Street in 2007. Since that time, in addition to her work at Cosmo International, Helen has become a philanthropist with the goal of helping a new generation of journalists in this digital age. She gave $30 Million to establish the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation at the Columbia Journalism School and the Stanford School of Engineering. I wrote a ThirdAge story about that generous gift. You can read it here: http://www.thirdage.com/celebrities/helen-gurley-browns-30-million-gift-to-stanford-and-columbia

And so, as Helen enters the ranks of nonagenarians, the rest of the ThirdAge staff and I wish her a joyous celebration and thank her for all of her contributions to the lives of women and the careers of journalists. Happy birthday, Helen!