Purpose Without Passion

John H. Johnson, 33, is a Chicagoan who has become the leading Negro publisher in the U.S. with a simple formula--putting out "Negro magazines in a format that has been successful with white people." The formula has worked so well that Johnson's LIFE-like Ebony (estimated 520,000) and Quick-size Jet (estimated 210,000) have become two of the most widely read Negro magazines in the world (TIME, Oct. 1, 1945 et seq.). Two years ago when he put out Tan Confessions ("Is the Chaste Girl Chased?", "Love in the Choir Loft," "I Took My Mother's Man"), Johnson thought he had another winner in a magazine of "passion" with a purpose. Last week he admitted he was wrong.

Though circulation grew to 300,000, Tan Confessions failed in another way. Said Johnson: "Our magazines help the Negro to have a greater dignity and pride in his own accomplishments. I found I had to apologize for Tan Confessions. I had thought we could dignify even a confessions magazine." Last week he corrected the mistake. He shortened Tan Confessions' title to Tan, changed it from a true-confessions monthly to a service magazine for Negro women. In its first issue, Tan has everything from articles on "How Club Women Should Dress" and "Teach Your Child to Value Money" to fashions, health, home furnishings and recipes. By running fiction he expects to hold on to his old readers, add thousands of Negro housewives, who will now have a service magazine of their own.

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