Frank W. Taylor, Jr. (1887(8)-1961)
Born DePere, Wisconsin 1887 or 8
1906 reporter, Green Bay Gazette
1908-9 special feature writer, The Milwaukee Journal
Drama editor, The St. Louis Star (later Star-Times)
1911-1914 City editor, The St. Louis Star (later Star-Times)
1914-1941 Managing Editor, The St. Louis Star (later Star-Times)
1935 interviewed Premier Benito Mussolini
(Vacation to Europe: Sailed with Mrs. Frank Taylor and Miss Virginia Taylor, June 29, 1935 on the Italian Line’s S. S. Conte di Savoia to Naples. Visited Rome and other Italian cities, Paris, Brussels and London. Returned July 24 on the S.S. Normandie, sch. to arrive July 29)
1936 received medal for distinguished service in journalism from the University of Missouri
1938 Radio address re Mussolini and the war, Columbia Network from New York City
May 8, 1941 resigned from the St. Louis Star-Times at age 53
Many news articles on resignation appeared in local papers
The St. Louis Star-Times published a ‘vanity’ issue - ‘Frank Taylor Special Edition’
May 23, 1941 featuring articles about F.W.T and regular new stories (intentionally filled with typos – see below)
Selected quotes from the editorial by Reed Hynes
His resignation brings to a close as gamy and provocative as any in American journalism.
Stiffly erect, his shoulders back and his chin out, he carried himself fully conscious of his power and the dignity demanded by his position. Under stress, however, he forgot the lordly style. Usually his mental excitement was translated immediately into physical action. His wastebasket stood up under some mighty kicking in the old days.
He was sometimes unreasonable. Often, though, his unreasonableness had such bloom to it that it was something to be savored.
He never scolded anyone. He lacerated his victim, calling into play an apparently inexhaustible supply of words of denigration and abuse..
A “typo” was comparable only to the theft of the Holy Grail….
One went to work for F.W.T. as one would the priesthood, consecrated to the service of the Star-Times, forswearing all selfish designs toward frivolous personal pleasure.
He was a masterful ironist. As he paraded a cruel indifference to the limitations of one of his usually small staff, there was always the overtone that if the fellow did not catch the nuances in this human comedy, so much the worse for him. Taylor demanded a certain largeness of understanding.
Many did not measure up to this desideratum.
Occasionally F.W.T indulged his irony in making fun of himself, his eyes meanwhile diabolically surveying the reactions of his listener. It took about ten years careful study to see the minute flicker of the eyelid that betrayed him.
Outwardly brash and severe, impolite and intent only on his job, he hid from the public view a sensitiveness of heart such as few men have. Those with the courage to tell him of some personal difficulty found him unbelievably eager to help them. Few of his staff have not experienced this sudden, gleaming kindness..
Some loved him. Others hared him. To all, working under F.W.T. was one of life’s major experiences.
Post-1961
Executive Assistant to the Publisher, The Chicago Sun
Vice-President of Field Enterprises, Inc.
Died Jan 17, 1961 of a stroke at age 73
