“I hope it introduces younger readers to who she was because she was such a dynamic, fascinating person,” says ‘Single Girls’ author John Searles
Decades before Sex and the City, there was Sex and the Single Girl.
Written by the late Helen Gurley Brown in 1962, the book was revolutionary for the time, with advice encouraging young women to prioritize their careers and experiment with sex before getting married. Fueled by its success (it was on the bestseller list for over a year and published in 28 countries), Brown became the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan in 1965 when the publication was still a literary magazine.
A self-described “mouseburger” (the term she used to refer to women who were not naturally the most beautiful in the room), Brown was tasked with transforming Cosmopolitan into a modern magazine for women.
She assembled a team of women as smart, determined and progressive as she was, and together, they delivered way more than a magazine. With articles on birth control, sex and career advice, they launched a global movement.
Brown ran Cosmo until 1997, and along the way she became known for spotting talent she knew would carry her vision forward.
In 1995, she hired an aspiring writer named John Searles to work in the magazine’s books department, which was the start of his 23-year career there and an unlikely friendship with Brown. That bond, along with his fascination with Brown’s early years at Cosmo, inspired Searles’s new novel, Single Girls, a fictionalized account of that time that focuses on Brown and the team of women she assembled to revolutionize the publication.
As a former Cosmo girl myself — I worked at the magazine from 2001 to 2010, for part of that time under Searles — I couldn’t wait to read the book and talk to him about it. Here’s what he told me about his memories of Brown, doing research for the book, and what it was like writing one of the most hilarious headlines in Cosmo’s history.
Credit: William Morrow Large Print
In the author’s note, you share that when you were hired by Brown in 1995, you didn’t think you’d have anything in common with her, let alone become friends. Why do you think she felt a connection with you?
From the start, she would ask me questions about my life and was fascinated that I wanted to become a writer and that no one in my family had gone to college, because she said no one in her family had gone to college. Helen started college but then couldn’t afford to stay, and I paid my own way through school, waiting tables. We both came from pretty humble beginnings and had a fair amount of tragedy. Her father dying, my sister dying. So in a weird way, it kind of bonded us.
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There’s such a fascination with all things ‘90s. What was the vibe of the Cosmo offices when you worked there during that time?
Helen used to have her celebrity friends come to the office all the time. Candace Bergen came, Woody Allen, Liz Smith; it was just a parade of celebrities who would come talk to the staff, which was really fun. And there were a few times where I filled in for the deputy editor whose office was right next to hers. And when Helen would come back from lunch, she would go into her office, close the door and blast classical music and I could hear her grunting. I was like, “What’s going on in there?” It turned out she was doing Jazzercise, then she’d come out to check her messages and she would be in her pink leotard with a little headband.
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Was she like the Miranda Priestly of her time?
People had a great deal of respect for her and her celebrity. She was quite famous then. There was a formality around her. When she came around, you would say, “Mrs. Brown.” It took a long time before I started calling her Helen. And when she came, it was like you’re in elementary school and the principal walks in. She would note your posture. “Oh, you have really good posture.” And then it would make you sit up straighter. She was obsessed with posture.
I remember seeing her a few times in the elevator, and even though she was well into her 80s, she was always in fishnets, a tight dress, heels and a full face of makeup. Why do you think it was so important to look her best at all times?
Because her mother — and I write about this in the novel — used to always say to her, “You’re not pretty. You and your sister aren’t pretty. If you were prettier, you could get someone, you could get farther in life, but you’re not pretty, so you’re going to have to find something, some way to make a life for yourself.” And so she was all about self-improvement in every area of life, and she just wanted to look as good as she could. She would wear hairpieces and false eyelashes. She had a facelift in her 40s, and she had her breasts done in her 70s. I think she was always fighting off the voice of her mother in her mind.
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Even though she was such an icon, it doesn’t feel like young women today know much about her. Do you think your book will change that?
I hope it reintroduces her to generations of women who know who she was but might not know her story or the stories of the other editors, but also I hope it introduces a younger reader to who she was because she was such a dynamic, fascinating person and her life is so fascinating.
You put a Cosmo quiz in the middle of the book!
How can you write a book about Cosmo without having a quiz? I thought it was my fun way to engage the reader, because what novel do you ever read that has a quiz? But also it was my sly way of showing, look at all these really interesting stories that Cosmo did in the ‘60s about gay women and interracial marriage and a full map of the female anatomy so women could understand their bodies and the birth control pill and women talking about abortion. And that was so unheard of back then.
Speaking of unheard of, Brown got married at 37. What did you learn about her relationship with her husband David while writing the book?
That was such a fun thing to write about because it was so nice to write about a husband who just adores his wife and supports her and there’s no jealousy. They were just an incredible team who complemented each other, but she really did rely on him because he was a hugely successful film producer, and he just had a really great creative mind. And their romance was really fun too. She would say, “I still kiss him goodbye in the taxi every morning.” She made sure that she flirted with him and kept him interested, but then sometimes, I remember my friend was on the phone with her once, and she said, “I need to go. I have to make David his egg.” That was hilarious. So sweet. And some nights she’d say, “Oh, David and I are just going to stay home with Lean Cuisines tonight.” They loved to go to the Rainbow Room, but then they also had this very sweet domestic life with each other.
How do you think she’d react to your book?
Helen would be so thrilled. She loved her fame. I used to say, “Maybe someone should write a play or a musical about you.” And she would say, “Oh, Pussycat. Well, I find that idea delicious. I don’t think anyone wants to see a show about a pippy-poo mouseburger like me.” Well, it turned out she had been working with another editor on a musical about her life. And I wrote it in such a way to honor her so it stuck closely to the Helen I knew, to the way she talked, to her preoccupations, her quirkiness, her humor. So I think she would be really thrilled with the book and I think she would be really happy to know that a new generation of people will have a way to discover all that she did and the kind of life she lived.
She is the reason Cosmo became known for its over-the-top articles on sex and when I was there, you were the master at writing headlines for them. What’s the one that still makes you laugh?
It was for our “Red Hot Read” section, and it was an excerpt from a racy romantic thriller where the couple had a romp in the bedroom, the bathtub,and on the staircase. I called it “Bed, Bath and Beyond Her Wildest Dreams.” They made me call the legal department to make sure that we could publish it.
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Single Girls is available now, wherever books are sold.
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