How the New York Times Gained World Wide Influence -- And Tries to Keep It

Arthur Gelb will discuss his five decades at the New York Times where he began as a night copy boy in 1944 and retired 45 years later as managing editor. His memoir, "City Room" (2003) traces the revolutionary changes that took place at the Times during that time and offers unique insight into the world of modern journalism.

When: 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Where: Room TCC 1.110

Background: A New Yorker through and through, Gelb spent his early years at the New York Times covering the police and courts, City Hall and the United Nations. In the 1950s, when Broadway was in its heyday and Off Broadway was burgeoning, he became a theater critic, and was later promoted to culture editor. He was the first critic to review stand-up comic Woody Allen and the first daily newspaper critic to praise Barbra Streisand. Gelb was metropolitan editor of the Times during cataclysmic social changes in the city, from 1967 to 1976, a period in which he was also in charge of the paper's arts and entertainment coverage. In 1976, he became assistant managing editor in charge of creating the paper's new daily sections, including Sports Monday, Science Times, Living and Weekend. He became managing editor in 1986 and retired in 1990. Gelb continues to work as an adviser to the New York Times College Scholarship Program, which provides four years of free tuition and mentoring for the brightest and neediest students of New York City. He also serves on various boards, including NYU's Ireland House; the J. Anthony Lukas Book Awards, sponsored by Columbia and Harvard Universities; O'Neill at Yale, the theater group sponsored by Yale's Beinecke Library; and NYU?s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism (http://journalism.utexas.edu/) sponsors this event.