[custom_adv] Life was an American magazine published weekly until 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. [custom_adv] Originally, Life was a humor magazine with limited circulation. Founded in 1883, it was developed as being in a similar vein to the British magazine, Punch. [custom_adv] During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, Life was a wide-ranging weekly general interest magazine known for the quality of its photography. [custom_adv] This form of the magazine lasted until November 1936. Henry Luce, the owner of Time, bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name, and launched a major weekly news magazine with a strong emphasis on photojournalism. [custom_adv] Luce purchased the rights to the name from the publishers of the first Life but sold its subscription list and features to another magazine; there was no editorial continuity between the two publications. [custom_adv] Life was published for 53 years as a general-interest light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes and social commentary. [custom_adv] It featured some of the greatest writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists of its time, including Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell and Jacob Hartman Jr. Gibson became the editor and owner of the magazine after John Ames Mitchell died in 1918. [custom_adv] During its later years, the magazine offered brief capsule reviews (similar to those in The New Yorker) of plays and movies currently running in New York City, but with the innovative touch of a colored typographic bullet resembling a traffic light, appended to each review: green for a positive review, red for a negative one, and amber for mixed notices. [custom_adv] Life, weekly picture magazine (1936–72) published in New York City. Life was a pioneer in photojournalism and one of the major forces in that field’s development. [custom_adv] It was long one of the most popular and widely imitated of American magazines. It was founded by Henry Luce, publisher of Time, and quickly became a cornerstone of his Time-Life Publications. [custom_adv] From its start, Life emphasized photography, with gripping, superbly chosen news photographs, amplified by photo features and photo-essays on an international range of topics. [custom_adv] Its photographers were the elite of their craft and enjoyed worldwide esteem. Life’s war coverage of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and numerous regional wars was consistently vivid, authentic, and moving. [custom_adv] Gradually, the magazine began to admit more writing to its pages, carefully choosing its writers and text editors. Life ceased publication largely because the costs of preparing, printing, and mailing each issue outstripped its revenues from advertising. [custom_adv] It reappeared in several special issues after 1972 and then, in 1978, on a reduced scale and on a regular basis as a monthly. [custom_adv] In March 2000, Life’s parent company, Time Inc., announced that it was abandoning its monthly publication and would use Life’s name for special features and books.
