ABOUT YM

Pasting up the first issue of Yesterday’s Magazette in 1973

Forty Years Ago …

2013 marks the 40th year of the first printing of this publication. And, although the passage of time has eroded many memories for me, I can still recall putting together that first issue of Yesterday (later Yesterday’s Magazette) in 1973 and then racing to the printer with my flats. Snow still clung to the curbs and the streets were dirty and muddy but, for me, there was only sunshine. That day I felt like Gene Kelly dancing and singing in the rain.

I couldn’t believe it. I was actually going to give birth to my very own magazine!

Clutching the tabloid-size layout sheets of that first issue tightly to my side, I tried to saunter into the printing plant but found myself half-skipping and stumbling into the pressroom manager’s office. Munching on a cigar, he barely gave my “masterpiece” a second look before handing it off to Hank, a greasy character in an ink-spotted apron.

My God, be careful! I prayed silently as Hank began shooting my pages with what I thought to be careless disregard for such a cherished piece of immortality. Then, from a safe distance, I watched as he plucked out each negative and began to burn the plates. Then, after what seemed an eternity, he called over one of his inky friends to help attach the metal plates to the press cylinders. With parental concern, I stared as the huge press came to life and jerked forward, ever so slowly. Then after a series of shrill ear-shattering rings, the sluggish giant yawned and began to pick up speed.

Come on, baby! Faster! Faster! I begged the behemoth.

Like the characters in the James Stewart movie, The Flight of The Phoenix, where everyone begins to jump up and down with excitement when the propellers of their makeshift plane finally kick into overdrive, I, too, could hardly contain my emotion when that big web press finally awoke and roared along on all sixteen cylinders.

To those who have never been close to a huge daily newspaper press taking flight, I can only compare it with the same sensation one gets with hearing a huge jet taking off or an old steam train leaving the depot. It’s an unforgettable sound.

That day, however, it was not the sound but the sight of “My Baby” being delivered to me by that caring giant that I remember most fondly. Even Hank’s filthy, inky thumb imprint on its face could not mar the beauty of seeing my offspring for the very first time. What a beauty!

Now, in retrospect, I must admit that my initial creation was one ugly baby!

Not only were its contents bland, but its features were unattractive. In addition, it was printed on aged, yellow newsprint because that was the cheapest they had in stock and all I could afford at the time.

Back then, as a proud parent, I looked upon my creation as priceless.

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They said Yesterday’s Magazette would never last. They said a magazine devoted to the preservation of individual memories was a bad idea. They said a lot of things 39 years ago.

Founded in 1973 as “The Original Magazine of Memories,” YM pioneered the concept of sharing memories. First as a tabloid paper and then as a glossy magazine. Now YM is as an E-zine on the exciting world of the Internet as well as a glossy printed magazine. So return with us to yesterday, when time moved slowly and life seemed much simpler and safer than today. Perhaps it wasn’t. But our memories still cling to those days of long ago.

Thank you.

E. P. Ned Burke (YM editor/founder)