Walter Scott's Personality Parade

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"Walter Scott's Personality Parade" is a column in Parade magazine featuring celebrity gossip. As of 2001 Edward Klein is the author of the column, which is in the inside cover of the magazine. [1]

<i>Parade</i> (magazine) American Sunday newspaper magazine

Parade is an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States. It was founded in 1941 and is owned by Athlon Media Group, which purchased it from Advance Publications. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., Parade has a circulation of 32 million and a readership of 54.1 million. As of 2015, its editor is Anne Krueger.

Edward J. Klein is an American author, tabloid writer and gossip columnist who is a former foreign editor of Newsweek, and former editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine (1977–1987). He has written about the Kennedys, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Donald Trump.

For a 33 year period beginning with the column's establishment in 1958, [1] it was written by Lloyd Shearer while he used the name Walter Scott. In this column he discussed rumors about celebrities using a question and answer style. Joyce Wadler of The New York Times stated that the column's readership was 50 million "in its heyday". [2] Elaine Woo of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "It may have been the most widely read column in the country" under Shearer and that under Klein it continued to be the "most popular feature" in the magazine. [1]

Lloyd "Skip" Shearer was a celebrity gossip columnist. From 1958 to 1991, he wrote "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" in Parade magazine. In this column he used the name Walter Scott, and discussed rumors about celebrities using a question-and-answer style. Shearer also wrote profiles of famous people under his real name.

<i>The New York Times</i> Daily broadsheet newspaper based in New York City

The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won 127 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. The Times is ranked 17th in the world by circulation and 2nd in the U.S.

<i>Los Angeles Times</i> Daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper which has been published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It has the fourth-largest circulation among United States newspapers, and is the largest U.S. newspaper not headquartered on the East Coast. The paper is known for its coverage of issues particularly salient to the U.S. West Coast, such as immigration trends and natural disasters. It has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of these and other issues. As of June 18, 2018, ownership of the paper is controlled by Patrick Soon-Shiong, and the executive editor is Norman Pearlstine.

Lloyd Shearer's assistants sorted through reader mail to separate what Woo described as "those that were confusing or from crackpots, who were as legion as his legitimate and well-placed sources." [3] Under Shearer the column received around 4,000 to 7,000 reader letters. One given topic may be the subject of up to 100 of those letters at a time. Shearer's children often assisted Shearer with his publication. [3]

His son Derek Shearer, [2] along with Lloyd Shearer's editor and other family members, stated that the questions printed in the column were composites of those submitted by readers and that Lloyd Shearer himself did not make any of the questions. [3] Wadler stated "it was known that Mr. Shearer wrote many of the questions". [2] Woo wrote that "Some journalists suggested that he made up many questions to suit his own agenda." [3]

Derek Shearer is the former United States Ambassador to Finland. He is currently employed by Occidental College, directing the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs and serving as a Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs.

During the time he wrote the column Shearer had copyrighted its name. [2] During Shearer's rule, popular publications and political magazines analyzed "Personality Parade." [3] A compilation of several columns, Parade: The Best of Walter Scott's Personality Parade From the Fifties through the Nineties, was published in 1995. [1]

History

Shearer began the column in March 1958. [1] Wadler wrote that questions from readers had prompted Shearer to start the column. [2] In the foreword of the 1995 compilation Shearer wrote that in 1957 he gave Jess Gorkin, the editor of Parade, a suggestion arguing that the magazine should start a column that verified questions about public figures after he had received questions from readers in response to his profiles of celebrities. [1]

As of 1976, the weekly readership was around 50 million persons because Parade was distributed to 111 U.S. newspapers. In 1976 Shearer stated that the focus of the column was originally film stars but shifted to publishers and politicians; Shearer stated that as the medium of television gained popularity the film stars became less and less prominent to the public, but that the television actors were "not particularly colorful, not particularly maverick" because "the stars of television are very circumspect, because the people who sponsor them won't put up with any nonsense." [4]

In 1991 Shearer stopped writing the column and sold it and its rights to Parade. [2] Shearer stopped due to Parkinson's disease. [1] The magazine declined to state what the price of the column was. [2]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Woo, Elaine. "Lloyd Shearer; Leader of the 'Personality Parade'" (Obituaries). Los Angeles Times . May 26, 2001. p. 1. Retrieved on August 5, 2014. Also printed in: "Lloyd Shearer, Wrote `Personality Parade'" In: Sun Sentinel . May 28, 2001.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wadler, Joyce. "Lloyd Shearer, Longtime Celebrity Columnist, Dies at 84." The New York Times . May 27, 2001. Retrieved on August 5, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Woo, Elaine. "Lloyd Shearer; Leader of the 'Personality Parade'" (Obituaries). Los Angeles Times . May 26, 2001. p. 2. Retrieved on August 5, 2014. Also printed in: "Lloyd Shearer, Wrote `Personality Parade'" In: Sun Sentinel . May 28, 2001.
  4. ↑ Cockburn, Alexander. "Why People Are Talking About Gossip." New York magazine. May 3, 1976. p. 2. Retrieved on October 5, 2014.
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