This Day in History, TIME begins…

March 3, 1923 the first weekly magazine was published in the US. TIME magazine publishers, Briton Haden and Henry Luce envisioned and created a fast read magazine that didn’t take itself too seriously. The first edition’s 32 pages highlighted international news as well as book, theater and movie reviews. It cost 15 cents..

Joseph G. Cannon graced the first cover. Retiring as Speaker of the House after serving 23 terms in the House of Representatives, the editors wrote, “Uncle Joe is something more than a politician…He is the embodiment of a tradition, a political theory, a technique of party government and discipline that is fast perishing…He represents the Old Guard when a little group of willful men did more than make gestures of government; they actually ruled Congress, shrewdly, impregnably and without too much rhetoric.”

In other news from the first edition:

• Dr. Bothezaat broke the world’s helicopter record by remaining in the air 2 mins and 45 seconds at 15 feet.

• Marshall Field, Franklin D. Roosevelt and others formed a corporation to build “a rigid dirigible” which would be filled with Helium and carry 50 passengers from NYC to Chicago in approximately 24 hours.

• A doctor grafted a portion of a pig’s eye on a blind boy. The boy was able to see slightly and has a contract to appear with the pig in Vaudeville.

You can read the first edition for yourself here.