Magazine Adds Art, Pop Culture

In the late seventies, Harvard students loved rock and roll. They loved discos, poetry, books and operas, too.

To capitalize on students' growing interest in arts and entertainment, The Crimson launched a weekly magazine called "What is to be Done." The publication has seen many incarnations, changing in length, design and even in name, to Fifteen Minutes in 1992.

But throughout its 22-year history, the Thursday morning magazine has faithfully tracked the off-beat interests of Harvard students and has kept them in touch with the trends of pop culture, ranging from Buddhism to Mr. T.

The Genesis

The first issue of the weekly magazine came off the presses in the early morning hours of Sept. 30, 1976. James Cramer '77, president of The Crimson's 103rd executive board, conceived the idea with Seth A. Kaplan '77, who became the first magazine editor.

Cramer recalls that during the late '70s the paper had been losing money, but there was potential for "a lot of money to be made" with a magazine.

Cramer and Steven A. Balmer '77, advertising manager, recognized that students did not use The Crimson's "The Third Page," a section of the Thursday paper with limited weekend listings of plays, concerts, lectures and musical performances. Instead, students consulted the Independent or bought The Phoenix and The Real Paper for goings-on in Cambridge and Boston.

Cramer thought of the name "What is To Be Done"--a reference to a tract by Vladimir Lenin of the same title.

"I had to read it four different times for my government concentration," he says.

The title spoofed The Crimson's liberal political reputation. "I loved the irony of it--to poke fun at ourselves," he says.

Taken more literally, the title referred to the magazine's listings and reviews for entertainment in and around Harvard.

By distributing the 12-page newsprint magazine to Harvard, MIT, Lesley and Tufts students, the weekly had a large circulation. What is to Be Done quickly attracted advertisers and proved to be a lucrative asset for The Crimson. Cramer says he loved the notion that The Crimson's magazine could compete in the marketplace with local publications.

Many students may have missed Cramer's reference to Lenin, but they still enjoyed writing about cultural events for the magazine. As its editor, Kaplan planned each issue around an "anchor piece," a feature article about a musician, playwright or somebody in the arts.

"The arts were the engine that drove the magazine," he says.

Kaplan recalls strolling down to the Eliot House common room to watch Yo-Yo Ma '76 perform, and great films like The Godfather and Taxi Driver showing in the Square.

The magazine, referred to informally as "the Weekly What" or "the What," provided an outlet for the creative and culture energy in the air. By the end of 1976, the magazine had even interviewed rock musician Frank Zappa.

What is to be Done continued to expand its listings and attract advertisers. By the end of the seventies, the magazine had published countless roller-disco promotions as well as interviews with Robert Altman, Eugene Ionesco and Orson Welles.

The Eighties

In the early '80s, What is To Be Done grew to 20 pages with the help of abundant advertising from local businesses. The magazine continued to spotlight culture with sections called film, theater, rock, art, gallery and books.

The magazine also began to feature more off-beat journalism, including a report on "Buddhism for the Upwardly Mobile" in 1986. The introduction of the "Endpaper" section gave a forum for Crimson writers to relate personal experiences. Occasionally, the magazine ran politically oriented pieces, such as "Jews at Harvard" in 1986.

By the end of the '80s, the magazine began to thin out with fewer ads and articles. The Crimson restricted distribution to Harvard students.

In 1989, Magazine Editor John P. Thompson '89 produced a short, unauthorized edition called "The What" with personal pictures, text and letters. The bizarre occurrence resulted in surprise, confusion and controversy at 14 Plympton St. The magazine ended the '80s looking for new leadership.

Starting Over

On Feb. 6, 1992, Magazine Editors Philip Rubin '93 and Eryn Brown '93 put to rest What is to be Done and launched "Fifteen Minutes," a magazine with renewed commitment to appealing to students' interest in popular culture.

Brown says she thought the old name was a "political relic."

The new staff debated hundreds of titles and settled on "Fifteen Minutes," recalling pop-culture icon Andy Warhol's famous saying, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes."

Rubin remembers that "the only thing we could agree on was something pop culturey."

"It was like fifteen minutes: you could read it on the can," he says. The 16-page magazine preserved many aspects of the old What, including the op-arts section for reviews, the Endpaper and the featured Scrutiny article.

Rubin remembers "an irreverent feeling about what we were doing."

"We were into Hunter Thompson," he says. "We did stuff in that spirit."

Brown recalls both she and Rubin wanted to run the magazine and "charged into the process" of reinventing the publication.

Rubin says Fifteen Minutes, or F.M., first caught the attention of the Harvard community with its cover story: "Naming Names: Harvard's Cultural Elite." Modeled after Newsweek's 100 cultural elite, the editors put together a collection of prominent Harvard students.

"We sort of made fun of them," he says. "Literally everyone on campus read it."

Brown says the magazine had very few writers and that 1992 was "transitional."

The magazine began to gain a foothold the following year. Students now referred to the magazine as "F.M." Molly B. Confer '94, magazine editor, characterizes Fifteen Minutes in 1993 as "something between The Crimson and the Lampoon." That April, the magazine interviewed Mr. T.

Aesthetically, the magazine took on a more appealing look with the help of computer design tools.

"Design was a huge aspect," Confer recalls. "It added a lot to the content of the magazine."

With renewed popularity, Fifteen Minutes started to gain strength and independence from the daily paper. By 1994, the magazine had its own board and its own comp.

Natasha H. Leland '95, a magazine editor in 1994, says she thought it was "important to keep the [daily and the magazine] connected and in good relations."

However, as the magazine's constituency grew, so did its independence.

Leland recalls expanding the magazine by four pages and working with the staff to refine its image to resemble a professional weekend magazine like the New York Times Magazine. Leland remembers that "nobody read the What" and worked to expand Fifteen Minutes' strong Harvard readership.

"People talked about professors trying to get their hands on [Fifteen Minutes]," she says.

Fifteen Minutes honed in on students interests in 1995 when editors Elissa L. Gootman '96 and Young-Ho Yoon '96, tantalized readers with Scrutiny articles such as "Cyber Sex" and "Girls on Top: Women Undergraduate Organizations at Harvard." One student profile piece in April interviewed "Condom Man."

Yoon refined the look of the magazine with his design, and students enjoyed reading about sex, food and music.

In the late nineties, the magazine has undergone further redesigning. F.M. has continued to feature a range of journalism, from an investigative report on the smells of Harvard, "What the Funk," to Communism at Harvard, "The Red and the Crimson."

Last fall, The Crimson took the op-arts section out of Fifteen Minutes. The magazine continues to run 24 pages of culturally relevant articles, reviews and listings for students seeking a quick fix of pop culture and guidance on what, exactly, is to be done.