Many years ago, as a kid living in Italy, I remember seeing copies of Holiday magazine on my parent’s coffee table. The colorful covers enticed me to enjoy the photos and dream. It was those magazines, the evocation of exotic places to visit, that started this never satisfied yearning and desire to travel; to feel air under the wings of aircraft, the rumble of pavement meeting tire, the steady vibration of sleek ships, their long iridescent wakes reminders of where we had been, of tantalizing us to ports yet unseen.
A quiet and reportedly unassuming man, Frank Zachary, is credited with bringing a unique vision to post war Americans who were finding that they had time and budget to travel in a peace time world. He served as picture editor, art director and managing editor of Holiday from 1951 to 1964.
I am constantly astounded at the clear graphic design of 1950’s/1960’s Holiday magazines. They are repositories of visions evoking a bygone time, of ‘seeing’ the places of travel through new eyes.
What stunning and unique pared down design of what we only glance, yet know immediately location and significance. It was not only graphic design in which Holiday excelled; photography took on rising significance after Mr. Zachary began working with photographers like Arnold Newman, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Slim Aarons and Robert Capa.
Some memorable work by these photographers.
Temple of Zeus, Suonion, Greece, 1951, Aarons
Such photographs as these, combined with exceptional graphic design and articles written by the likes of E.B. White, Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Alistair Cooke, Jack Kerouac and Joan Didion, captured the spirit and adventure of travel like few ever could or ever have.
The magazine folded in 1977. In 2014, a reinvented Holiday magazine appeared, published by Parisian art director Franck Durand.
I, however, long for the days of the original Holiday, of elegant travel, steamships, great trains, leather luggage and the memories of a time gone by.
Some other covers of Holiday Magazine to enjoy
Travels Across Italy is written by author, tour operator and inveterate traveler Mark Gordon Smith. He is the author of three books about traveling and living in Italy. His company, Private Italy Tours Ltd, offers small group explorations across various regions of Italy. www.private-italy.com.