Harold T. Bers
{{Short description|Inventor of the themed crossword puzzle, advertising executive (1913–1961)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Harold T. Bers
| image = Harold_T._Bers,_1933_New_York_University_yearbook.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Bers as an NYU student, 1933
| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|12|20}}
| birth_place = New York City, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|1961|10|13|1913|12|20}}
| death_place = Armonk, New York, US
| education = New York University
| occupation = Crossword constructor
Advertising executive
| known_for = Inventor of the themed crossword puzzle
}}
Harold Theodore Bers (December 20, 1913 – October 13, 1961) was an American advertising executive, poet, and crossword puzzle constructor. He is credited with inventing the themed crossword puzzle while making puzzles for The New York Times.
Early life and advertising career
Harold Bers was born and raised in New York City, the son of a Latvian immigrant.{{cite web |title=Harold Theodore Bers Military • New York, New York City, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WWNC-S8MM |publisher=FamilySearch}} He attended New York University, graduating in 1933.{{cite news |title=HAROLD T. BERS, Advertising Executive |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-reporter-dispatch/153322138/ |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The Reporter Dispatch |date=16 October 1961 |pages=17}} During World War II, he served with the Office of War Information as an editor, stationed in Europe.
He spent his adult life in the advertising business, holding positions ranging from copywriter to executive at BBDO, William Esty Co., Young & Rubicam, McCann-Erickson, Bachenheimer, Dundes & Frank, Warwick & Legler, and Lennen & Newell.{{cite news |title=DEATHS |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1961/1961-10-23-BC.pdf |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Broadcasting |date=October 23, 1961 |page=81}}{{cite news |title=Among Advertising Folk |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_editor-publisher_1937-10-23_70_43/page/41/mode/1up?q=%22harold+t.+bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Editor and Publisher |publisher=Duncan McIntosh |date=October 23, 1937 |language=English}}{{cite news |title=People |url=https://archive.org/details/broadcastingtele45unse/page/n364/mode/1up?q=%22harold+t.+bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Broadcasting Telecasting |publisher=Washington, D.C. : Broadcasting Publications Inc. |date=July 20, 1953}} Among the clients he wrote ad copy for were the cigarette companies Lorrilard and R.J. Reynolds' Camel brand.{{cite book |title=Harold Bers, 47, Agency Veteran, Crossword Ace, Dies |date=1961 |publisher=Advertising Age |pages=20 |edition=October 23, 1961 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LR_QoOBmaO0C&q=%22Harold+t.+Bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}}
Crossword constructing
Bers is known to have begun constructing crosswords puzzles as early as 1939, when a puzzle of his appears in the Montreal Gazette.{{cite news |last1=Bers |first1=Harold T. |title=DAILY CROSS-WORD PUZZLE |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-gazette/153326490/ |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The Montreal Gazette |date=4 October 1939 |pages=17}} His early puzzles also appeared in The Atlanta Constitution, The Washington Post, and the New York Herald-Tribune, among others.{{cite news |last1=Bers |first1=Harold T. |title=Today's Crossword Puzzle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution/153326522/ |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |date=12 November 1946 |pages=24}}{{cite news |last1=Bers |first1=Harold T. |title=Today's Cross Word Puzzle |url=https://archive.org/details/per_washington-post_1943-05-25_24449/page/n5/mode/1up?q=%22harold+t.+bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=25 May 1943 |language=English}}
His first puzzle in The New York Times appeared on January 26, 1947.{{cite web |title=Sunday, January 26, 1947 NYT crossword by Harold T. Bers |url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/26/1947 |website=www.xwordinfo.com |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}} Bers is credited with 138 New York Times crossword puzzles published between 1947 and 1961, including 71 Sunday puzzles.{{cite web |title=Harold T. Bers |url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?author=Harold+T.+Bers |website=www.xwordinfo.com |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}} At the time of death in 1961, he was the fourth-most frequent creator of Times puzzles, trailing only Eugene T. Maleska, Jack Luzzatto, and Thomas Meekin.{{cite web |title=Most prolific constructors |url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/Cards?select=topcons |website=www.xwordinfo.com |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}}
Maleska, editor of The New York Times crossword puzzle from 1977 to 1993, credited Bers as a leader of the "creative young constructors" who led a "minor revolution" in crosswords by adding humor and wordplay to clues.{{cite book |last1=Maleska |first1=Eugene T. |title=Across and Down: The Crossword Puzzle World |date=1984 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-671-50472-4 |page=63 |url=https://archive.org/details/acrossdowncrossw0000male/page/63/mode/1up?q=%22Harold+Bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024}}
File:Harold_T._Bers'_January_19,_1958_New_York_Times_crossword_puzzle.jpgBers is credited with the invention of the themed crossword puzzle — a puzzle in which an overarching connection between multiple answers is revealed during its completion.{{cite news |last1=Worley |first1=Sam |title=The Puzzler and the Puzzled |url=https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-puzzler-and-the-puzzled/ |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Chicago Reader |date=28 March 2012}}{{cite news |last1=Flexner |first1=Stuart Berg |title=FUN (2 WORDS) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/08/books/fun-2-words.html |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=8 July 1984}}{{cite news |title=HAROLD BERS, 47, AD WRITER, DEAD; AIDE OF BATTEN, BARTON WAS CROSSWORD PUZZLE EXPERT |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/10/15/archives/harold-bers-47-ad-writer-dead-aide-of-batten-barton-was-crossword.html |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=15 October 1961}}{{cite book |last1=Arnot |first1=Michelle |title=What's Gnu? A History of the Crossword Puzzle |date=1981 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-394-74408-7 |page=114 |url=https://archive.org/details/whatsgnuhistoryo0000arno/page/114/mode/1up?q=%22harold+t.+bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024}} At the time, it was often called an "inner-clue puzzle."{{cite book |last1=Maleska |first1=Eugene T. |title=Across and Down: The Crossword Puzzle World |date=1984 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-671-50472-4 |pages=19 |url=https://archive.org/details/acrossdowncrossw0000male/page/19/mode/1up?q=bers |access-date=16 August 2024}} The effect, as one crossword historian put it, was to open "up many new possibilities, as definitions were replaced with more whimsical clues. Solvers were forced to think in a new way."
One early example was his January 19, 1958 puzzle, titled "Catalogue," which featured more than 20 cat-related clues and answers (such as CATACOMBS, THECATSMEOW, CATNAPPED, WILDCATTERS, and KRAZYKAT).{{cite web |title=Sunday, January 19, 1958 NYT crossword by Harold T. Bers |url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/19/1958 |website=www.xwordinfo.com |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}} A 1959 puzzle headlined "Full of Flavor" included NUTMEGSTATE, BASILOCONNOR, VINEGARJOE, ROSEMARYLANE, MUSTARDSEED, and MAKINGAMINT.{{cite web |title=Sunday, May 31, 1959 NYT crossword by Harold T. Bers |url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=5/31/1959 |website=www.xwordinfo.com |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}} A 1960 puzzle titled "A Few Footnotes" was stuffed with footwear-related answers (including WATERMOCCASIN, BOOTHILL, IRISHBROGUE, OXFORDSHIRE, and BICYCLEPUMP).{{cite web |title=Sunday, October 16, 1960 NYT crossword by Harold T. Bers |url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=10/16/1960 |website=www.xwordinfo.com |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}}
Margaret Farrar, the Times crossword puzzle's first editor from 1942 to 1968, embraced Bers' idea, calling it an "opportunity to add some puzzlement to the crossword by the use of puns or phrasing." One historian described her promotion of Bers' themed puzzles as "arguably Farrar's most consequential contribution to crossword culture."{{cite book |last1=Amende |first1=Coral |title=The Crossword Obsession: The History and Lore of the World's Most Popular Pastime |date=2001 |publisher=Berkeley Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-425-18157-7 |page=28 |url=https://archive.org/details/crosswordobsessi00amen/page/n28/mode/1up?q=%22harold+t.+bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024}}
Bers is considered one of the formative figures in the crossword puzzle's development. In 1989, a group of crossword figures gathered to pick members of the inaugural class of a new Crossword Puzzle Hall of Fame.{{cite news |last1=Rothenberg |first1=Randall |title=Puzzle Makers Exchange Cross Words |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/10/arts/puzzle-makers-exchange-cross-words.html |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=10 August 1988}}{{cite news |last1=Rothenberg |first1=Randall |title=Money Is the Word to Cruciverbalists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/17/nyregion/money-is-the-word-to-cruciverbalists.html |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=17 September 1990}} Bers was selected as a member, alongside Arthur Wynne, Margaret Farrar, F. Gregory Hartswick, Prosper Buranelli, Anne Fox, Jack Luzzatto, and Jules Arensberg.{{cite news |title=WHEN I DIE, BURY ME 3 ACROSS AND 6 DOWN |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/09/03/when-i-die-bury-me-3-across-and-6-down/ |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=3 September 1989}} (The hall of fame never opened due to the death of its chief sponsor.){{cite web |last1=Steinberg |first1=David |title=Mark Diehl's American Crossword Puzzle Academy Treasures—Plus Blast! Change and Another Proofreading Log |url=http://www.preshortzianpuzzleproject.com/2014/12/mark-diehl-american-crossword-puzzle-academy-treasures.html |website=The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Steinberg |first1=David |title=American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame |url=http://www.preshortzianpuzzleproject.com/2014/11/american-crossword-puzzle-academy.html |website=The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project |access-date=16 August 2024 |language=en}}
Personal life
Along with his crosswords, Bers wrote light verse and comedic pieces for the popular press.{{cite news |last1=Bers |first1=Harold T. |title=ME AND MABEL... An advertising writer tells about humor in advertising |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times-upfront_may-4-9-1942_40_13/page/21/mode/1up?q=%22harold+t.+bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Scholastic |publisher=Scholastic Inc. |date=4 May 1942 |language=English}} Beginning in 1946, he contributed a regular poem to Holiday magazine as its "topical bard."{{cite news |last1=Bers |first1=Harold T. |title=Tipping Is So Noble |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_holiday_1946-12_1_10/page/n4/mode/1up?q=%22harold+t.+bers%22 |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Holiday |publisher=Saturday Evening Post Society |date=December 1946 |language=English}} He also contributed poems to The New Yorker.
He was also involved in community theater and Democratic Party politics, serving as a member of the city committee of North Castle, New York.{{cite news |title=Players Set Kaufman, Hart Play |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=pt19610406-01.1.20&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------- |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=The Patent Trader |date=April 6, 1961 |location=Mt. Kisco, New York |page=20}}
Bers died at age 47 of a heart attack at his Armonk, New York home on October 13, 1961, leaving a wife and two children.
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?author=Harold+T.+Bers Archive of Bers' 138 New York Times puzzles]
{{crosswords}}
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Category:American advertising executives
Category:New York University alumni