EDITOR’S PAGE

In most quarters, the turn of the calendar calls for new pages in the Filofax and new pledges of self-improvement. Around here, we celebrate January with our annual, totallv subjective and unscientific survey of the “Best & | Worst” of the past year.

Since its debut in 1977, D’s irreverent celebration of the actual and the absurd has spawned both favor and fury. Bests regularly take their plaudits and blow them up on billboards. Worsts regularly take their business elsewhere. These are perilous grounds we tread, and I won’t mince words: Best & Worst usually gets us in a heap of trouble.

I propose to soften the blow somewhat by offering a totally subjective and unscientific survey of the best and worst events of the past year at D. Read, and remember. You may need to get back at us someday.



THE BEST story idea we almost blew: When a new and relatively inexperienced editor was approached by a freelance writer who had spent two weeks in France with DMA arts patron Wendy Reves, the editor told him that we wouldn’t be interested in a profile of Reves because she wasn’t local.

The worst story ideas that we passed up: Unsolicited bundles of creativity arrive regularly in our mail bag, and some deserve special mention. In the hobby category, one writer suggested a piece on ’The Fine Art of Buckle Collecting.” In the area of articles that urge social change, we received a proposal seeking to explore “The Chemicals That Are On Our Lettuce.” In the How-To vein, there were these: “How To Use Garlic,” “How To Know If Your Elderly Parent is Abusing Alcohol;” “How To Stalk Wild Oil in Beeville” and among prospective personal accounts: “Why I Love Barry Manilow and His Magic” and “Scientists Were Stunned As I Evolved Into a Giant Fern.”

The best reason cited by a reader for cancelling his subscription: “It used to take me a month to read D, and now that you’re thicker and better, I can never finish it.”

The worst reason cited by a reader for cancelling her subscription: “I don’t want to take D anymore because you don’t run recipes.”

The best reason cited by a reader for not reading our restaurant reviews: “’We’re getting old and don’t eat out anymore. That’s what happens to you.”

The worst comment by a subscriber in answer to the question “What do you like most about D magazine?”: “’The illustrations and the layout arc generally superb. But overall it’s an ugly magazine.” Hmmmm.

The best mistake we made this year in print: To the horror of gourmets every where, we transposed the captions identifying two exotic salad greens: watercress and radicchio. One man called claiming that he leaped from the bathtub where he was reading the magazine, shouting “I found a mistake! I found a mistake!”

The second-best mistake we made this year in print: An item in our Classified Section inadvertently listed the wrong phone number for a local masseuse. Surprisingly, the woman whose phone number was listed was not upset, and on a dare from her roommate, actually went to The Adolphus and administered a massage! The last we heard, the non-masseuse and the out-of-towner had made further plans to meet.

The worst illustration we actually paid for: In the last-minute scurry of deadline, we ordered artwork to illustrate our story on the local media coverage of the Delta plane crash. The illustration that came in was about as appropriate to the gravity of the story as playing the theme from Ghost-busters at a wake. Picture a cartoonish pastoral scene with little fire trucks and little smiling firemen scurrying about some rather innocuous-looking debris. If your October issue was late, now you know why.

The best-selling cover of the year: Usually. January’s Best & Worst takes the top slot. But this year, our May cover story on The Greenville Strip outsold them all.

The worst-selling cover of the year; April’s Spring Fashion cover heralding the season’s “Hot Shades and Bold New Waves.” It was the first time D had ever put a fashion preview on its cover, It’s probably the last.

The worst reaction to a cover: An elderly woman wrote us after receiving her October issue, which featured an illustration of a psychic on the cover, to say that she had to turn the magazine face-down on the coffee table because the picture was clearly satanic.

The strangest hate mail we received: Following an expose of former Grand Prix guru Don Walker in July’s “Inside Dallas/ Fort Worth.” a Walker fan said we should change our name to S Magazine. As in Salem. You know, the witch hunters?

The strangest love mail we received: A gentleman in Lancaster requested an autographed photograph of an editor (female) in a “skin-tight swimsuit.”

The best phone call we received questioning a freelancer’s association with D: A theater organization in Boston called to question the veracity of a woman who claimed to cover society news-in Boston- for D. Our alleged writer wanted better theater seats. We’d never heard of her and have now closed our Boston bureau.

The worst phone message ever taken by our receptionist: When the mayor of Dallas phoned to return a reporter’s call, one of our switchboard operators replied, “Thank you for calling, Mayor Evans.”

The most unusual reaction to a story in D: When our June feature on summer pleasures failed to mention that a local car dealer. Bavarian Motor Sports, leases exotic cars (we listed a competitor), the dealer offered free mileage to any customer who would call us and complain. Or so we were told by the 37th caller. We’re not offering free subscriptions to people who retaliate, but thanks anyway.

The worst reaction to a story in D: We’re no strangers to the legal process, but this has to be a precedent-setting rationale for a lawsuit: When our May feature on the best private investigators in town failed to profile a local gumshoe, he wanted to sue us-for not being included.

The best reasons we had for celebrating this year: In October, Associate Editor Rich ard West won the prize bestowed annually by the Dallas Bar Association for Excellence in Journalism. In November, D swept the magazine division of the Dallas Press Club’s annual Katie Awards, taking the top honor in five of the categories. For the third year in a row. D was named Best General Interest Magazine. Contributing Editor Dennis Holder won Best News Story for “Some thing’s Rotten in 4 Country,” and Contrib uting Editor Mark Donald won Best Feature, for “The Unspeakable Sin.” D’ art staff was lauded for Best Makeup, and illustrator Ellis Chappell was awarded the prize for Best Il lustration for his artwork accompanying the story ‧”Who Runs Fort Worth?”