Cheetah (magazine)

Cheetah was an American rock music and counterculture magazine launched in October 1967.^[3][4] Although influential, its run was short-lived,^[5] closing in May 1968.^[4] The magazine's name was the result of a licensing deal with the popular Cheetah chain of nightclubs, which in 1967 had outlets in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Montreal.^[2]

Cheetah

Debut issue cover
Editor	Lawrence Dietz[1]
Former editors	Jules Siegel
Staff writers	Robert Christgau, Ellen Willis
Categories	Lifestyle
Frequency	Monthly
Format	Magazine
Publisher	Matty Simmons
Total circulation (1968)	250,000[2]
Founded	October 1967 (1967-10)
Final issue	May 1968 (1968-05)
Company	Twenty First Century Communications, Inc.
Country	U.S.
Based in	New York City
Language	English

Cheetah aimed to fill "a vital gap that exist[ed] between teen- and teeny-bopper publications and such magazines as Playboy and Esquire."^[6] Published by Matty Simmons,^[2] a founder of Diners Club,^[1] and his partner Leonard Mogel, Cheetah was the first project of their Twenty First Century Communications, Inc. (later known as the publisher of National Lampoon).^[7]

Acting as Cheetah's first editor was novelist-journalist Jules Siegel (briefly an associate of Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson),^[8] although he was soon replaced by Lawrence Dietz, assisted by Ellen Willis.^[9] At the time, a girlfriend of fellow Cheetah writer and music critic Robert Christgau, Willis went on to become the first rock critic for The New Yorker^[10] and later wrote for Rolling Stone, Village Voice, and other papers.^[11]

See also

• "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!" — notable article in Cheetah about Brian Wilson written by Julus Siegel.

References

1. "Magazines: Grownups in Hippieland". Time. TIME USA, LLC. Jan 5, 1968. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
2. Calta, Louis (January 18, 1968). "New Magazine Aims to Help the Overweight; Weight Watchers, a Journal for Obese, on Newstands". The New York Times.
3. "CHEETAH MAGAZINE GOES ON SALE TODAY". The New York Times. September 27, 1967. p. 42. Cheetah, a new magazine named after the nightclub organization to which it will pay royalties, goes on sale for the first time today with a press run of 300,000 copies.
4. "Cheetah articles, interviews and reviews". Rock's Backpages. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
5. Bennett, Andy; Waksman, Steve (2015). The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music. SAGE Publications. p. 444. ISBN 978-1-4739-1099-7.
6. Dougherty, Philip H. (November 24, 1969). "National Laughs for Lampoon". Advertising. The New York Times. p. 75.
7. Nashawaty, Chris. "Building Animal House". Entertainment Weekly. Dotdash Meredith. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
8. Siegel, Jules. "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!". Atavist. Automattic. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
9. Christgau, Robert. "Fining A Hole (Or Wikipedia)". And It Don't Stop. Substack. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
10. Willis, Ellen (1 May 2011). Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-8166-7283-7. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
11. Lindberg, Ulf (2005). Rock Criticism from the Beginning: Amusers, Bruisers, and Cool-headed Cruisers. Peter Lang. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-8204-7490-8.