Rogers E. M. Whitaker
Editor of the New Yorker (1900-1981)
Rogers Ernest Malcolm Whitaker (January 15, 1900 – May 11, 1981) was an editor of The New Yorker magazine who was known to readers for his many contributions to Talk of the Town under the pen name of E. M. Frimbo, World's Greatest Railroad Buff.
Early life
Whitaker's father, Charles Harris Whitaker, was an editor of the Journal of the American Institute of Architects. He lectured frequently and transited the Atlantic over 50 times on steamships. When Rogers Whitaker was nine he took his first solo train ride. He developed a love for trains that lasted his entire life.
During Whitaker's sophomore year at Princeton, Whitaker's father declined to continue paying his tuition, and instead gave him $40 and a letter of introduction to use in seeking a job. Whitaker lived in a theatrical boarding house down the hall from Mae West and worked at the New York Times checking bridal announcements for hoaxes placed by jilted suitors while also selling advertising for a trade magazine.
Career at The New Yorker
In 1926, Whitaker was employed by The New Yorker magazine as head of the make-up department, responsible for laying out each issue. He went on to establish the fact-checking department and acted as chief proofreader at the copy desk. Eventually he rose to the level of editor, and took on many duties.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7359272. VIAF identifies the subject as 1258956. The Library of Congress control number is n50083269. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1900, 1981 and 1926.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rogers E. M. Whitaker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.