Talking with Karen Mullarkey

Part 1

Update: You can now read Part 2 here.

Karen Mullarkey is one of the most influential and respected picture editors of all time. In my opinion she’s a national treasure. Dozens, if not hundreds of photographers owe much of their success to her (including me).

Karen cut her chops at Life Magazine and quickly moved on to be the Director of Photography at Rolling Stone, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. This is a part of her amazing story as she told it to me. If you care about photography, photographers, the editorial world or history, read on.

— Kenneth Jarecke

When Karen Started At Life In The 1960s America’s Men Wore Silver. (Ralph Morse/Life Magazine)

But they still preferred their women in gold. (Life Magazine, November 6, 1964)

Mad Men

In 1964, after I graduated from college and went out looking for a job, the first things they’d ask was how many words do you type, how fast is your dictation and do you make good coffee. Honey. I only had one of those skills and that’s that I make pretty good coffee.

In those days there were two secretarial schools in New York that took college graduates. One was called Mary Byers the other Katharine Gibbs. The dress code was pretty much the same. High heels, dress, girdles, stockings, bra, white…