CUE FOUNDER

CUE Magazine, founded November 5, 1932. 

The world’s first city/regional magazine and entertainment guide, CUE signaled an entirely new publishing category, one that has since been duplicated nationally and internationally.  CUE emerged at the height of the Great Depression, and rode out three wars and various recessions before merging into NEW YORK Magazine in 1980. A firm believer in making one’s career an extension and expression of one’s interests, CUE formed the perfect vehicle for Mort Glankoff’s lifelong dedication to and support of the arts.

NEW YORK MAGAZINE SALUTES 
CUE AT FIFTY - 1982

a salute to mort glankoff

In 1932, the first city magazine was born. Today, every major city, every business center, every magnet for tourists has its own guide. And the idea, the format, the execution is all based on New York City's CUE.

Millions of people from all over the United States and the entire world have depended upon CUE, learned from CUE, and been delighted with the way in which it has served their needs. And literally hundreds of imitators have copied its listings, features, capsule reviews, advertising concepts, layout, and article selection.

Carmen Miranda, Bela Lugosi, and Marlene Dietrich selling Rheingold Beer, Billie Holliday and Count Basie on the Strand Theatre stage accompanying the screen presentation of "Key Largo" starring Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson.  The latest hats for women to wear to job interviews.  A map of the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadow Park.  Praise for boy genius Orson Welles.  A first-hand report by the first paying passenger on a transatlantic flight. Forty ways to keep cool in new York heat waves (before air-conditioning).  Tallulah Bankhead in "The Little Foxes" for 55c a seat.  A debate on  whether corsets are here to stay. A concert season enriched by European composers, conductors, and musicians fleeing the coming Holocaust. A penthouse apartment on Park Avenue for $2000 a year. Two baby lamb chops, fresh baby string beans, and allumette potatoes at Longchamps for 85c. The introduction of theatre-in-the-round. The arrival of "Guernica" at the Museum of Modern Art. Martha Graham's first appearance on a magazine cover. Predictions that Philco Playhouse will usher in a  new television age.

In the pages of CUE, the Weekly Magazine of New York Life, fifty years of show business, dining, fashion, culture fads, sports, and leisure activities are chronicled.  The “family “Bible” which guided New York metropolitan area residents and tourists to “stepping out” over five decades is now merged with New York Magazine, and still fulfilling its early goals and promises.  In more than fifteen hundred issues is the catalogue of entertainment, the treasure chest of nostalgia, the naïve and sophisticated commentary on everything from the decay of 42nd Street to the folly of watching television to the danger of entering a Second World War.

CUE is recognized by New Yorkers as this city’s longest-running and most complete guide ever.  And every tourist, businessman and suburban visitor as well has relied on CUE to help them discover the treasures of New York’s arts and entertainment, its artists and entertainers.

CUE is fifty. On its golden anniversary, we pay tribute to its ingenuity, its years of service, and its longevity.  We salute it’s innovation and its endurance.

We salute Mort Glankoff, CUE founder, whose idea evolved into the standard for city magazines around the country, around the world.