Booster

Among the so-called "general monthly" magazines, which aim to please both men & women readers with formula fiction and features, McCall Corp.'s Redbook (circ.

1,969,000) is the weak sister. In circulation and advertising revenue, it is outdis tanced by its two competitors, Crowell-Collier's American magazine (circ. 2,602,873) and Hearst's Cosmopolitan (circ. 2,101,842).

One contributing cause of Redbook's lag was the cautious, nice-nelly journalism of veteran Editor Edwin Balmer, who ruled out illustrations of girls in two-piece bathing suits, printed no fiction in which those who flaunted "the code" came to an unregenerate or glorified end. (By contrast, the June Cosmopolitan features an illustration of a boudoir nude, and captions a sympathetic short story about adultery: "You'll Find It Difficult to Con demn Them as Human Beings.") When Redbook lost $400,000 last year, President Marvin Pierce of McCall Corp. (which also publishes McCall's) decided that it might pay to edit the magazine for a younger audience, and get a bustling young editor to do it.

After 22 years, 65-year-old Editor Balmer, a prolific fiction-writer himself, was moved upstairs last week to a job as "associate publisher." As his successor, Redbook hired a postgraduate of what is known in the trade as the "bust and thigh" school. The new editor: boyish, curly-haired Wade H. Nichols, 34, who has made Modern Screen the fastest-selling movie magazine on the newsstands.

"Nick" Nichols has been a hotshot ever since he went into the business. At 25, he was editor of Screen Guide; at 27, he ran Click up from a big circulation slump to the million mark. (Later, after Nichols joined the Army, Click went bust.) At Dell Publishing Co., Nichols has boosted Modern Screen to a peak circulation (1,164,476) and a peak revenue.

When he takes over Redbook next month, Editor Nichols plans to run more nonfiction aimed at "the young marrieds," hopes to "merchandise the magazine" with trickier layouts and captions. And if stories call for that kind of illustration, Redbook readers may get an occasional helping of cheesecake.

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