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Jesup, Georgia 31545

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

75

From obscurity to the top of the newspaper world in 445 words

My Opinion
MMM
Careers get launched in a myriad of ways. For Neil Armstrong, in 1969, it was a rocket that carried him to the moon. For Jack Tarver, in 1939, it was 445 words in the Toombs County Democrat. How did the destined-to-be-bankrupt editor-publisher of the second newspaper in Lyons, a one-dentist town, skyrocket to become one of the most powerful newspaper men in America? The stars and the moon lined DINK up perfectly for the 22-year-old NeSMITH Mercer graduate when he wrote a Chairman witty review of Gone with the Wind. While his upstart newspaper failed, Tarver was just getting started. The Macon News picked up the column, as did 40 other newspapers across the nation. The promise of a guaranteed paycheck lured him to Macon, first as a humor columnist and then editor. In 1943, Ralph McGill of The Atlanta Constitution recruited the young journalist. In his first column for the big-city paper, Tarver wrote: I am, by way of background, a Georgian by birth, a Methodist by sprinkling, and a Roosevelt man out of obstinacy. That spoke of his stubborn persistence, and hed soon be McGills boss. In 1999, when Tarver died, former AJC executive editor Jim Minter said, He [Tarver] was the one who propped up Ralph McGills soapbox. McGills front-page, civil-rights editorials won a Pulitzer Prize. The obstinacy of Jack Tarver gave McGill the support to be courageous in commentaries that were often offensive to the conservative establishment. When Richs threatened to pull its advertising in protest over McGills opinion pieces, Tarver retorted that Davisons, the citys other bigger retailer, would be pleased to take up the slack. The tongue-in-cheek jab at the Academy Award-winning film based on Margaret Mitchells Pulitzer Prize-winning novel got Tarver noticed. But it was his business savvy that moved him into the vice chairmans role at the newspapers parent company, Cox Enterprises. Eventually, hed become chairman of the Associated Press, arguablyat the timethe most noted news source in the world. And he didnt stop there. For the young editor who struggled to pay his South Georgia light bill, he also became chairman of the Atlanta branch of the Federal Reserve. Tarver could write and count. Heres how it all started, in 1939: There was a land of cotton fields and cavaliers called The Old South. A Land of Lords and Their Ladies, of Master and Slave. Look not for them hereabouts for they are no longer found. Male and Female, Black and White,

The 1939 launching pad for Jack Tarvers meteoric career was his witty review of Gone With The Wind. Youth and Aged, they are all down to the picture show seeing Gone With The Wind. Katherine Scarlett OHara was our shero. A winsome wench with a figger like a marble statue and a head as hard. Gerald OHara was her Pa. By nature, he was most animal like. Proud as a peacock, he roared like a lion and rode like a dog and pony show. Anyhow, Scarlett was in love with Ashley Wilkes, who was in love with his cousin Melanie who was in love with Ashley, and so they were married. (Ashley and Melanie, in case youre getting confused.) This irritated Scarlett no end and so, in quick succession she married for spite and cash, respectively, a couple of fellers whose names we didnt get. But then, neither did Scarlett for long. The other major character was Rhett Butler Rhett, who was somehow strangely reminiscent of Clark Gable, was a cross between Jesse James and Little Boy Blue. If Rhett had joined the Lost Cause in the second reel instead of after the intermission, the Confederates would have won the war. As we know, 150 years later, that didnt happen. However, Jack Tarvers 445 words did launch his meteoric rise. Theres more to his critique, but I leave you with this: Melanies baby arrived about the same time Sherman did. Both were equally welcome to Scarlett. It was so far as our painstaking research has revealed, the first baby born in Technicolor. Anyway, the South lost the war again in the picture. (What could you expect with a lot of Yankee producers?) And Scarlett married Rhett to get even with him. dnesmith@cninewspapers.com