Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
OK. OK. Throw in People, US, Entertainment Weekly. Better toss in Premiere and Movieline, too.
That's my monthly magazine list, and if yours is anything like it, then you're gonna love George.
For those of you who haven't been blitzed by the hype, George is a new magazine. (I found mine at Kroger.)
Cindy Crawford is on the cover. Inside you'll find Madonna, Gerald Ford and O.J. Simpson - together - Bob Dole, Julia Roberts and glossy ads from Armani, Calvin Klein, Tiffany & Co., Reebok and Ray-Ban, to name just five of the products represented in 175 advertising pages - said to be a record for a new magazine.
Oh, did I forget to mention that John F. Kennedy Jr. - we know him, we love him, we all want to marry him - is George's co-founder and editor-in-chief?
The inaugural issue, which hit the stands last week, has been panned by just about anyone with an opinion in the political arena.
Actually, New York magazine didn't pan George. Instead, it picked on Kennedy's gorgeous head of hair by polling hairdressers about the need for an image update, now that he's in the ever-so-hip world of New York publishing.
George might not be the thing for those who favor The National Review, or even The Nation. It's nonpartisan. It jabs, but never really punctures, either party. Kennedy has described his publication as ``the Rolling Stone of politics.''
``It's about the intersection of pop culture and politics,'' he told a caller - yes, a gushing female one - on ``Larry King Live.''
That is exactly what George delivers. It's what would happen if you took the boys on the bus, added any politician you could grab, and crammed them together into one of those glitzy Planet Hollywood openings.
Credit Matt Berman, George's creative director, for why this mag looks like no slouch on the newsstand. Berman's career began at Esquire, which he left for Elle before he was stolen from Metropolitan Home for this gig. If George has a very familiar look - and read - to it, it's because it has borrowed the best creative elements from cream-of-the-crop magazines.
George has party pages, called ``We the People.'' Here you'll find Andrew Shue of ``Melrose Place'' schmoozing with - go figure - Itzhak Rabin. Senator Bono and wife with Tony Curtis and wife. Bill, Hill and Phoebe Snow. LL Cool J, Vanessa Williams, and New York City mayor Rudolph Guiliani.
There is no explanation, mind you, of how in the world these folks wound up together or why. But that's part of the fun.
Other highlights include:
Washington's Biggest Leakers, which names the names that leak the leaks.
Exit Poll, where George grills Lamar Alexander about the really pressing issues: Window or aisle? Favorite Beatle? Oprah or Uma? Leno or Letterman? Whom would you like to portray you in a movie?
(Sound familiar? The Roanoke Times conducted a similar poll of Oliver North, Chuck Robb and Marshall Coleman. North and Coleman chose Mel Gibson. Alexander chooses Chevy Chase.)
The Players, a very Spy-ish look at those in the race for the Republican nomination.
Photo Ops, which features shot-by-shot footage of Pete Wilson removing the Bob Dole button from a little girl's T-shirt during a recent trek to New Hampshire.
The Scoop, which takes a jab at George Stephanopolous. As his political career seems to be waning, it suggests, perhaps it's time to start his memoirs.
The final page - a regular column called ``If I were President'' - is given to Madonna (Hey, didn't she used to date John?).
Her platforms include schoolteachers being paid more than movie stars or basketball players; sentencing Rush Limbaugh, Bob Dole and Jesse Helms to a hard-labor work camp for the rest their lives; throwing Howard Stern out of the country: letting Roman Polanski back in; and, finally, letting the entire armed forces out of the closet.
Longer features about Newt's lesbian sister Candace, motorcycling Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, and George Wallace - this one weakly penned by Kennedy himself - range from fair to good, depending not on the interest level of the subject but on the talent of the writer. I did enjoy the story about Teresa Heinz, wife of the late senator from Pennsylvania, and how she's using his $675 million to change the world. And I liked comedy writer Al Franken's proposal for cutting the budget. It's excerpted from his forthcoming book, ``Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.''
George is hip and it's slick. It's got big bucks behind it and big names running the show. Herb Ritts does some of the photography and Garry Trudeau of ``Doonesbury'' fame illustrates it.
How can it fail? That depends on who is the real creative force. For now, that's not apparent beyond the design.
In promoting this venture, Kennedy has been articulate, engaging and funny. Not unlike his father. Only this John Kennedy isn't just using the media. He is the media. A position into which he - and George - fit with command and comfort.
If you're William F. Buckley or even Hunter S. Thompson, you won't like George. If you have no sense of humor about politics and can't occasionally get a kick out of Julia Roberts or Madonna, you probably won't like George.
If you don't care about the four minutes it takes to get through Pete Wilson's voice mail in California, you won't like George.
But I did. I've got to give it a thumbs-up.
Make that a yea. You know, as opposed to a nay.
by CNB