Beloved Esquire Franchise, 'Dubious Achievements,' Becomes One
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“It would be like instead of re-imagining Eustace Tilley, David Remnick decided to behead him,” David Hirshey said. He was talking about Esquire’s decision to discontinue Dubious Achievements, the beloved, mischievous year-end roundup of folly that has been running in the magazine since 1962. Like a blooper reel but real, Dubious was an annual assessment of all the awful things that had happened in the world during the preceding 12 months. It was pronounced dead in this month’s issue of Esquire; according to a note from editor David Granger, the franchise has run its course because its descendents and imitators—available on the internet and TV “on a daily—if not instantaneous—basis” have rendered it redundant.
Mr. Hirshey, who presided over Dubious from 1985 until he left Esquire in 1997 for a career in book publishing, compared Mr. Granger’s decision to “Sports Illustrated killing its swimsuit issue because you can find better tits online.”
And yet, Mr. Granger is right to observe that the field has become crowded: in the 47 years since the feature debuted under Harold Hayes—the editor who made Esquire the greatest magazine of the ’60s—its tone (snotty, prankish) and its format (a frisky pinch of a headline followed by a succinct summary of a regrettable news item) have been copied so much that they have become not just conventional but nearly universal.
“We’ve asked ourselves every year whether we should continue to do it,” Mr. Granger said in an e-mail. “Dubious was an important part of Esquire. It was a great idea when it started and at some points of the magazine’s life, it was one of the best things in the magazine. For more than the last ten years, it’s seemed less and less necessary each year. There was more and more snark in the world and the Dubious format seemed increasingly less special. So, late last year, over lunch a bunch of us talked it over and I decided that this would be the last one.”
THAT DOESN’T MEAN it’s not sad seeing the original get put to bed three years shy of its 50th birthday. And while most of the guys who contributed to Dubious contacted for this story said they did not want to second guess Mr. Granger’s reasoning, everyone agreed there was plenty to grieve.
Michael Solomon, who edited Dubious with Mr. Hirshey during the 90’s, said one of the first items he wrote was about a Boy Scouts handbook advocating abstinence that had come out that year. The headline? “But you can still eat a Brownie now and then.” Easy, funny. This is what all the best ones sounded like.
“Putting it in Esquire at that particular time, it was an extraordinary smart move,” said Robert Benton, the filmmaker who, as Esquire’s art director, invented Dubious Achievements with David Newman. “Nothing comes from a vacuum, and there was a kind of cynicism and irony that showed up somewhere in the early 60’s. I’m not really gifted enough to tell you when it came in and why.” Next Page >
I'm sorry to see the Dubious Achievements end. I'd been a regular reader of Esquire until a few years ago (age having booted me out of its target demographic), but I'd keep an eye peeled on the newsstands as soon as Christmas was over so I wouldn't miss the annual Dubious Achievements issue.
SPOILER ALERT!
Yesterday, I saw the familiar slash above the masthead, grabbed a copy and paid for it, then eagerly started to read. The first few items seemed so pedestrian, as if the writers were going through the motions -- and when it all came to a screeching halt at the end of that one page, I felt a profound sense of disappointment.
Yes, other publications have copied the format. Even the newspaper for which I work has an end-of-year wrap-up that bears more than a passing resemblance to Dubious. But nothing beats the original and the most entertaining.
Regards,
Neil L.
Montreal
Here is hoping that the "end" of Dubious Achivements is only a marketing ploy and Dubious will be back in Janaury 09. Others may have aped the format, but none were better.
Each year there is endless material from politicians, celebs and sports that needs to be skewered and Esquire did it best.
If they really do kill Dubious Achivements, there will be no good reason to continue to subscribe.
I worked at Esquire on the Dubious Achievements for Feb., 1974, and had the distinction of "saving" the planned cover when I managed to make contact with a Brazilian surgeon who had given Jackie Kennedy and other celebs a fanny tuck. he confirmed it by telegram at the very last minute, but I think it cost him most of his business. I managed to contribute an item I also promoted to the Only IN LA column Steve Harvey does for the LA Times, about the priest Fr. Bob Fabiani, who came to the rectory door at my church during the height of the 1992 Riots and found a guilty-looking guy there with a handful of bras - including Jayne Mansfield's - he'd just lifted from the Frederick's of Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. and wanted to return. The Esquire job was tough to get - had to beat out 50 other applicants - and taught me an awful olot. I got a lot of props for my suiggestions for articles and features, including one, Reckless Advice, that became a regular and was published as a collection by Lee Eisenberg, one of our associate editors. The job at Esquire provided entree into every realm of New York life, from the Scull Collection auction at Parke-Bernet to underlife of Lower Manhattan, then a forlorn place.
To give up on D.A. is to suggest that there is no more Dubiosity in the world. Remember, Esquire suspended D.A. for 2001 because it was thought that in the Serious Post-9/11 World We Would Not Appreciate Irony any more. How wrong we were - so D.A. came back with a vengeance. And now we are on the cusp of a new government with all the potential dubiosity that implies...and Esquire leaves us up the proverbial creek?
This is the biggest publishing "shark jump" since Spy magazine stopped publication, 10 years ago this month, just as Monicagate was getting into full swing.
A VERY dubious idea indeed...