My thoughts went to Helen Gurley Brown and what she meant to my young understanding of what freedom is. Upon hearing of her death yesterday at the age of 90, I recalled yearning for a certain freedom of expression as a girl in Seattle. Gurley Brown was the quintessential symbol of my desire to outgrow my town.
This girl from jump-back Arkansas made her way to New York city and made a place for herself at a time when women’s work was devalued. She was not a pretty woman in the conventional sense. I say this because, to tell the truth, this was an era when blondes reportedly had more fun. But oh yeah, Helen defied his nonsense! Better that she was smart and she possessed enough wisdom to take the lessons in her life to keep her light shining.
This is what I wanted when I left my hometown. I had my eye on the kind of success that Helen Gurley Brown created. I had two older sisters whose dreams of adulthood meant marriage and a white picket fence. That life matched everything that was on early black and white television. We’d come from a single-family home. For them, having a husband meant you could say, “My husband this,” and “My husband that…” But that was not for me.
By the time I graduated from high school the “Cosmopolitan” girl existed and Cosmopolitan magazine was my bible. For many years, my girlfriends and I quoted and discussed the columns faithfully and regularly. We couldn’t talk about it with our mothers.
Gurley Brown has been called the Queen of self reinvention. This idea of reinvention carries forward among midlifers and boomers whose lives she touched. RIP Helen Gurley Brown.
What did you learn reading Cosmopolitan Magazine that your friends and family never talked about?
Dina Eisenberg says
Patricia, it’s so sad to hear of her passing. But its comforting to know she lived to see her powerful impact. What a blessing!
As a teenager from a very modest background, Helen was my model for modern girl sophistication and style. She helped me imagine a bigger future for myself and my work life. I’d like to think she’d be tickled that I teach women to take the ass out of being assertive. http://SpeakupPowerfully.com
So glad to find you and your blog. Meeting talented folks is a fun perk for being a Click Millionaire!
boomrwiz says
Hi Dina
Thank up for your comment and visiting. I love your domain name http://www.SpeakupPowerfully.com.
And now I must learn more about how you take the ass out of being assertive. Love it. Helen will be missed. The huge platfore she had and the message she shared is a lasting one. To continued support for each other as CM.
roycrosse says
Before we learned that Men are from Mars and women are from Venus,the best way a young man could get an insider view of the mysterious Venus-ite was to get under the covers of Cosmo.
While Playboy Mag was focused on the curves and desires of the wanna be starlet (all of whom sounded the same),a curious young man was ahead of the curve if kept one eye on Cosmopolitan.
boomrwiz says
What a great point Roy. I never thought about this. Men who read Cosmopolitan magazine back in the day were well ahead of the relationship game in terms of understanding where we might have been coming from. Most men were too timid to discuss or share this fact. But I can tell you, we liked guys who did. Your point however that you would have had to read it under the cover is telling. Men were criticized for being too soft and for not being able to cope with a modern woman. You make me thing from a totally different perspective Roy
Pat Durkin Wignall says
I agree with how important Cosmopolitan was growing up to me (I’m 58). More than Vogue, Cosmo made you feel “in the know” in so many ways. I was raised in NJ, went to NYC after college graduation and continued to read Cosmo religiously as I enjoyed all the fun NYC offered in the 1970s to gals in their early 20s. I left on a Europe escapade at age 25 and when I returned to NYC 4 months later and had to find a job, I got on the #10 Bus and who got on 2 stops later? Helen Gurley Brown! I moved to a seat next to her and introduced myself and told her I was looking for a job. She asked me if I wrote after I told her about my 4 month journey and gave me her Executive Editor’s contact information. By the time we got to her bus stop, she smiled, gave me more confidence and while I submitted the story, it needed more punch and I got involved in advertising and other areas and didn’t continue the submissions. Woulda, shoulda, coulda, I guess. I also heard about Helen’s passing and felt a sadness but what an incredible 90 years she had so let’s toast her for all she did for herself and others. Also….I did see her another time walking in NYC with her husband David Brown and she was so loving and all over him while they looked like they were in at least their 60s. A true Cosmopolitan woman!
boomrwiz says
Pat
HGB and the phrase original mouseburger. I am not sure whether she coined that phrase or someone else did. But a mouseburger could have fun too and no one did it better than Helen Gurley Brown. HGB and Barbra Streisand. At one point I thought it really was only blonds and Liz Taylor. After all, by the 70s who had married more than Liz?
I would have loved to meet her. But like you said, she was a great confidence booster and someone to aspire to.