Name Game

As unopposed morning paper in rich, populous St. Louis, the Globe-Democrat has grown too rich and stodgy for its own good. Last week, this eminently respectable old newsorgan was haled to court to show why it should not be suspended as a penalty for having conducted a common lottery against the peace & dignity of the State of Missouri.

This surprising state of affairs had its beginning last spring when the staid Globe-Democrat decided to have a fling at big-time circulation promotion. Scheme adopted was one invented and successfully used by the rowdy New York Post and sold for $26,167 through its Publishers' Service Co. to the provincial paper. Known as the "Famous Names" cartoon contest, the circulation-catcher presented 84 drawings, one each day, by Cartoonist Peter Arno and a daily list from which readers were to guess the correct picture title. Like most such schemes, "Famous Names" was easy at first, soon grew harder & harder. Ten cents was required of contestants for each week's entries, $16,000 in prizes promised to those whose lists of titles most nearly approximated, the syndicate's answers.

Dazzled by such headlines as "YOUR QUICK WAY TO FORTUNE," "A CHILD OF 12 MIGHT BE AWARDED FIRST PRIZE!" and "YOU DESERVE SOME EASY MONEY," some 45,200 St. Louisans stuck through the contest at $1.20 each, racked their brains for a dozen weeks over the Globe-Democrat's "Famous Names." First trouble came when a Roman Catholic priest denounced the saucy drawings of Artist Arno. Soon the rival Star-Times, which once had an option on the contest itself, and Post-Dispatch began to hint that the contest was unfair. Finally two St. Louisans tied for first prize, won $6,000 each. Then Missouri's Attorney General cracked down, brought suit against the fat, frightened Globe-Democrat on the ground that "Famous Names" was no contest of skill but simply a public gambling device.

At the trial, a saddened circulation manager testified that the imported contest had made the Globe-Democrat no money. In fact, if contest advertising were figured as an expense, the Globe-Democrat was $38,296 out of pocket. If the Globe-Democrat loses its case, it could be exiled from Missouri. Actually, the Attorney General, if he wins, may do no more than warn its publisher to conduct no more name games.

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