NOTABLE ARKANSANS

NOTABLE ARKANSANS

She was born in Green Forest. The family moved to Little Rock when her father was elected to the state Legislature. In 1932, her father, who was planning to run for secretary of state, was killed in an elevator accident at the state Capitol. She, along with her mother and sister, moved to Los Angeles.

After college she began working for advertising agencies in the secretarial pool. Due to her clever writing skills, she became one of the highest paid copywriters in the country in the 1950s.

In 1962, at age 40, she wrote the controversial book Sex and the Single Girl. Its enormous success soon led her to be named editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, which she transformed into a handbook for the unmarried woman. She became an outspoken advocate of women's liberation and sexual freedom, telling women they could have it all -- love, sex and money. Cosmo soon became the world's most successful women's magazine.

She was named to the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame in 1996 and was inducted into the Arkansas Walk of Fame in 2001. In 2008, Slate magazine named her the 13th most powerful American over age 80. When she died at age 90, she was editor-in-chief of all 58 international editions of Cosmopolitan.

Notable Arkansans is written by Steve Stephens and produced by Clyde Snider

Who was this "Cosmo Girl" from Green Forest?

Answer on Page 6E

Style on 08/19/2018