Replying in Spades

A dozen years ago, a green but confident Cleveland reporter assigned to cover the city's criminal court was scooped on a major grand jury report his very first day on the beat. Thomas Van Husen Vail did not have to worry about losing his job--his family owned the paper--but he has never forgotten the experience. "I resolved then and there," he recalls, "that not only would that never happen again, but that I would reply in kind." Now that he is editor-publisher of Cleveland's 121-year-old Plain Dealer (circ. 336,210) --a job he was named to earlier this month--Tom Vai1,36, hopes to reply to his competition not only in kind but in spades. His goal: to supplant the afternoon Press (376,630) as the biggest paper in Cleveland and all of Ohio.

It is a tall order, mostly because of the scrappy little man who runs the Press from a modern, four-year-old building overlooking Lake Erie. Under Editor Louis Seltzer, 66. the Press overtook the morning Plain Dealer back in 1938 and has clung to its lead. By 1960 the Plain Dealer had cut the lead to a bare 962 copies, but then the Press picked up 80,000 new readers by purchasing the struggling afternoon News. Now the Plain Dealer is gaining once again, and the circulation margin has narrowed from 80,000 to 40,000.

Unmitigated Hell. As editor-publisher, the first man to hold both titles, Vail shares command with his father, Attorney Herman Vail, who was named president earlier this year. But he has complete control over the editorial operation, which some staffers complain has been neglected in recent years. Once known as the lively showcase for Charles Farrar Brown's humorous "Artemus Ward" columns, the Plain Dealer lately has grown stodgy enough to be described as "grandmotherly." Vail aims to shuck that adjective.

As soon as Cleveland's record 129-day newspaper blackout ended last month--after carving an estimated 8% hole in the circulation of both papers--Vail got to work. He redesigned his grey editorial page, insisted on shorter editorials, and advised writers to make their point "at the front, to tell the public right off what the Plain Dealer thinks." He demanded tighter copy, claims that "as a result we have 20% more stories in the paper" Says Managing Editor Philip Porter: "The grandmother has been rejuvenated."

Whether granny can catch up to the Press is something else again. "We're going to give all competition unmitigated hell," says Seltzer. "This newspaper is going to remain the newspaper in this region, period." Under Seltzer's guidance since 1928, the Press has become a real community force in Cleveland. It mother hens its citizens from birth to dotage with a Toddler's Club, free dances for teenagers, 50th wedding anniversary parties. Democratic Senator Frank Lausche admits that the Press helped make him mayor of Cleveland and Governor of the state, and Seltzer can also claim much of the credit for Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Anthony Celebrezze's successful run for mayor as an insurgent in 1953. For all that. "Mr. Cleveland." as Seltzer is fond of being called, is not sitting back. The poststrike Press sported a clutch of new columnists, a redesigned woman's page and more sports coverage.

Both papers generally support local Democratic candidates in heavily Democratic Cleveland, but both count themselves independent on national issues. The Press, with few readers outside metropolitan Cleveland, is strong on local coverage, even features a "nationalities editor" who regularly visits Europe to interview relatives of Cleveland's 40-odd minority groups. Though the Plain Dealer draws on suburban and farm regions for much of its circulation, it is putting heavy emphasis on local news to keep pace with the Press.

Competition & Collision. The backgrounds of Cleveland's newspaper antagonists could hardly be more dissimilar. Seltzer was born in a cottage back of a Cleveland firehouse, quit school in the seventh grade to work as a $3-a-week copy boy. At 20, he was city editor of the Press, the oldest paper in the Scripps-Howard chain (founded in 1878). Thirty years Vail's senior, he still works like a dray horse, turning up at 6 every morning and averaging five hours of sleep a night. "We have a lot of young people on this paper,'' he says. "They keep their hot breath against my neck and the soles of their shoes against my back. But I'm one of those characters who gets his strength from work."

He might need it now that Vail's soles are beginning to dig in too. The Plain Dealer's previous editor, courtly Wright Bryan, 58, who came to Cleveland ten years ago from the editorship of the Atlanta Journal, lacked the authority that Vail can wield simply by virtue of his heritage. The great-grandson of Mining Mogul Liberty E. Holden, who founded the paper, Vail was born in Cleveland and schooled at Princeton, where he won honors in political science. He went to work for the News in 1949 as a police reporter, after eight years switched to the Plain Dealer for grooming.

In some ways, though. Seltzer and Vail are very much alike. Each is a natty dresser. Each is concerned primarily with his paper's editorial content rather than its business operation. Each is an avid Cleveland booster. And each has a healthy respect for the other. "I happen to believe Louis Seltzer has a lot on the ball." says Vail. Seltzer returns the compliment, though somewhat more subtly. "My catalyst is competition and collision." says he. "When I'm pushed hardest, that's when I feel best. I sure as hell feel real good right now."

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