Steve Hannagan, the Newsboy Steve Hannagan first ventured into the news business in high school as a newspaper delivery boy. However, when the sun set on his first day, he dropped his papers, and ran home. Before long he returned to selling newspapers for the Lafayette Journal & Courier, but he wanted to be a […]
Boy Editor Charms Society Editor Dorothy (Dot) Rice, the Society Editor at the Journal & Courier, worked the night shift with Steve. Dot joined the newspaper’s night gang on their Monday excursions to the Vaudeville Theater, where Steve usually sat next to her. Dot was a year older and more mature than Steve. She liked […]
Steve Hannagan’s Birth Steve Hannagan’s family and his Irish-American neighborhood played a significant role in preparing Steve to become a master publicist. Steve Hannagan was born on April 4, 1899, on Green Street, one block off the infamous Bloody Plank Road that ran next to the muddy Wabash River in the Irish district of Lafayette, […]
Steve’s Father and Mother An earlier issue described the neighborhood, where Steve Hannagan was reared. Now, we turn to Hannagan’s parents and the influence they had on his life. Johanna Hannagan, Aunt Jo to her friends, nieces and nephews, was the anchor of Steve Hannagan’s life. She protected him from Bloody Plank Road’s meanness, enveloped […]
Carl Fisher’s Montauk Resort In 1925, Carl Fisher bought Montauk Peninsula on Long Island, New York. He believed that the 10,000 acre peninsula was the perfect location for a northern tourist haven like Miami Beach. Fisher’s wildcatting on Montauk appeared to be a brilliant strategy – by luck he was leaving Miami Beach before […]
The Stork Club at 3 East 53rd Street, just east of Fifth Avenue, was the haute café of entertainers, chief executives, gossip columnists, sports figures, and respected publicists like Steve Hannagan. If you were unknown and lucky, you might get in to snatch a free matchbook as a souvenir of your bravery. For those welcomed as regulars […]
Description of Steve Hannagan Hannagan’s face was distinctively Irish – ruddy glow, moon shaped, and deeply tanned during the winter season in Miami Beach and by regular application of a sun lamp. His hair was parted on the left side of his head and his hair, and his eyebrows were as “black as a raven’s […]
Steve Hannagan Promotes Puerto Rico Boxing Match As part of Steve Hannagan’s publicity campaign for Puerto Rico, he promoted a bantam weight prize fight between Sixto Escobar, a local fighter, and Harry Jefra of Baltimore. The fight was held on February 20, 1938, at El Escambrón Baseball Park in Puerta de Tierra. The fight was a rematch […]
Puerto Rico Calls Steve Hannagan In 1937, Steve was vacationing on the banks of the Wabash, when his New York office called saying that General Blanton Winship, the Governor of Puerto Rico, wanted to meet with him immediately.i Winship was the Territorial Governor of the Island and saw the job as a retirement posting.ii Unfortunately […]
Steve Hannagan’s View of Politics Steve Hannagan’s take on politics were based on his broad experience as a press agent and his displeasure with the Presidential campaigns of Wendell Willkie and Thomas Dewey. Hannagan worked with both candidates during their presidential campaigns. Losers on Parade Wendell Willkie Presidential Candidate in 1940 (top)i Tom Dewey Presidential […]