Saturday Night

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA·FOUNDED 1887·CEASED 2005

Saturday Night was a Canadian general-interest magazine published in Toronto from 1887 until 2005, and was Canada's oldest general-interest magazine at the time of its closure.

NOTE: This publication is defunct. All fields below reflect its historical operation and final ownership prior to its 2005 suspension.

Overview

Saturday Night was a Canadian general-interest magazine published in Toronto from 1887 to 2005. It covered public affairs, politics, the arts, literature and Canadian culture, and was, at the time of its final closure, Canada's oldest general-interest magazine. The publication is currently inactive.

History

Saturday Night was founded in Toronto in 1887 as Toronto Saturday Night, a weekly broadsheet newspaper about public affairs and the arts, under editor E.E. Sheppard, who also owned and published it. Sheppard had been barred from editing a daily newspaper following an earlier libel matter, and Toronto's Sunday-publication restrictions confined the paper to a Saturday release, giving rise to its name. Initially aimed at Toronto's high society, the publication broadened over time toward more general, opinionated coverage of Canadian life. Under editor B.K. Sandwell (1932–1951), Saturday Night became a genuine critical success, building the third-largest advertising lineage in North America by the late 1930s. The magazine changed hands and formats repeatedly afterward: publisher Jack Kent Cooke took control in 1952 and pushed it toward a Time-style newsmagazine format, a shift associated with a decline in the title's cultural standing; oil and mining entrepreneur Percy Bishop bought it in 1961 and briefly merged it with his own publication, The Canadian, prompting editor Arnold Edinborough and six board members to resign in protest. Edinborough revived Saturday Night independently in 1963 with $100,000 of his own money and additional funding from novelist Robertson Davies' family, growing circulation to roughly 90,000.

Robert Fulford served as editor from 1968 to 1987, a period during which the magazine expanded its arts and literary coverage and became an important venue for long-form Canadian political journalism, much of it by Christina McCall. Financial strain persisted: Edinborough sold the magazine for $1 to a nonprofit foundation in 1971, and it briefly ceased publication again in 1974 before a group led by developer Murray Frum and a $100,000 grant from Imperial Oil restored it. The Webster family, owners of The Globe and Mail, purchased Saturday Night in 1979, providing its first secure financial backing since the early 1950s; the magazine marked its centenary in 1987 as Canada's longest-surviving general-interest magazine. That same year, financier Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. acquired the title, and it lost money throughout Black's ownership; it later became a weekend supplement to Black's National Post. After Hollinger sold to CanWest Global Communications in 2000, CanWest dropped the 116-year-old title in September 2001. MultiVision Publishing purchased the rights in 2002 and relaunched it as a standalone newsstand magazine; the title was subsequently acquired by St. Joseph Media, publisher of Toronto Life and Fashion. On October 20, 2005, St. Joseph Media president Donna Clark announced the magazine was being placed on indefinite hiatus following its November 2005 issue, citing insufficient advertiser support. A brief attempt to relaunch Saturday Night as a blog in December 2008 was abandoned after its first day of posts, and the title has not resumed publication.

Notable works

• 1932–1951 Under editor B.K. Sandwell, Saturday Night built a reputation for civil-libertarian commentary and profiles of Canadian political and cultural leaders, alongside photographic portraiture; by the late 1930s this had helped the magazine achieve the third-largest advertising lineage of any publication in North America.

• January 10, 1942 Saturday Night's January 10, 1942 cover published photographer Yousuf Karsh's portrait of Winston Churchill, later known as "The Roaring Lion," its first publication anywhere and one of the most reproduced portrait photographs of the 20th century.

• 1968–1987 Under editor Robert Fulford, the magazine became a significant venue for long-form Canadian political reportage, much of it written by Christina McCall, and published early work by novelist Margaret Atwood and poet Dennis Lee, giving both their first national exposure. Fulford also wrote the magazine's film criticism under the pseudonym Marshall Delaney.

Key personnel

• Founding Editor, Owner & Publisher (1887–1906) Edmund E. Sheppard

• Editor (2004–2005, final editor) Gary Stephen Ross

• President, St. Joseph Media (at closure) Donna Clark

Audience

Saturday Night had an initial circulation of about 10,000 at its 1887 founding, rising to 30,858 copies sold in 1925. Under Arnold Edinborough's ownership in the 1960s, circulation grew to approximately 90,000. In its final incarnation, the magazine was distributed on newsstands and as an inserted supplement in subscription copies of the National Post.

Location and contact info

Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Status Defunct — publication suspended October 2005; final print issue November 2005

Last Publisher St. Joseph Media (now St. Joseph Communications)