Shiny Mirror

When the Los Angeles Times launched its new afternoon tabloid, the Mirror, last October, it hit the newsstands with a dull thud. Readers were baffled by its sideways front page, annoyed by its murky newsprint and cloudy color pages, and bored by its stories. By Thanksgiving Day, circulation had slumped to 71,447--well below the 100,000 guarantee to advertisers. From his thriving morning Times, Owner Norman Chandler rushed over City Editor Hugh ("Bud") Lewis to give Mirror Publisher Virgil Pinkley some help.

The Mirror turned its front page right-side-up, dropped most of its color, shortened and sharpened its stories, and started screaming like a tabloid. Obedient to Publisher Pinkley's order to "local 'em to death," it began to play up circulation-catching sex, crime and crusading stories with a Los Angeles angle. The Mirror offered $100,000 in rewards to readers who helped solve 20 local murders, exposed a baby-adoption racket, and pursued Rita & Aly from continent to continent with the determined zest of a private eye on a fat expense account. But the tabloid's biggest circulation-puller was a lively column of double-meaning "Strictly Personal" want ads, which sniggering newsmen on other Los Angeles papers suspected Mirror staffers of writing themselves. Sample: "Man with lavender shirt that's a dilly would like to meet lady with blue dress that's a dilly. Object lavender blue dilly dilly. Box K-47. Mirror"

By last week, the once-clouded Mirror had a new, shinier look and Publisher Pinkley proudly reported: instead of 100,000, the Mirror now guaranteed a circulation of 140,000. The Mirror had not yet turned the corner financially, but it was a member in good standing of Greater Los Angeles' vast (22 dailies, 71 weeklies, 165 giveaways) newspaper community.

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