SOURCE: "Urbanity, Inc.: How The New Yorker Wins Business Success Despite Air of Disdain," in The Wall Street Journal, June 30, 1958, pp. 1, 6.

In the following excerpt, Rutledge and Bart examine reasons for the financial success of the New Yorker.

A. J. Russell, The New Yorker Magazine's urbane, well-tailored advertising director, still looks sheepish when he recalls it. "It was awfully corny," he mumbles, shifting his position uneasily.

Until recently, it seems, it was the custom at The New Yorker for the advertising staff to toll a ship's bell whenever an important new account was landed. Upon hearing the signal, all hands would adjourn to the nearby Harvard Club to clink glasses and enjoy good fellowship.

But now the high-spirited ad men, aware that their frivolity is inimical to The New Yorker's urbane atmosphere, have retreated to their desks in quiet embarrassment. "At The New Yorker," as one staff member...