Geoffrey T. Hellman - Mashpedia All-in-One Encyclopedia

This article is about the writer and editor. For the philosophy professor, see Geoffrey Hellman.

Geoffrey T. Hellman (February 13, 1907 – September 26, 1977) was the son of writer, George Hellman. Born in New York City, he attended Yale and contributed to the Yale News, Yale Record and the Yale Literary Magazine. Upon graduating in 1928, he wrote for the New York Herald Tribune's Sunday book supplement thanks to a recommendation by Thorton Wilder. By 1929, he secured a position at The New Yorker magazine as a reporter for the "Talk of the Town" section. Though he contributed to numerous publications in his career, he would be affiliated and most firmly identified with The New Yorker.

While with The New Yorker, Hellman wrote extensively about New York institutions such as the New York Zoological Society and the Bronx Zoo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera House, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Public Library, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the United Nations, and the New York Stock Exchange, to promote public awareness of these institutions and of interesting events they sponsored. He also wrote about prominent people such as author Louis Auchincloss; New York Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, who sent him story ideas; and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Because of his background and family connections, he was also The New Yorker's link to New York society and he reported on parties, local clubs and societies such as the Grolier Club, the Explorer's Club, the National Audubon Society, and the American Geographical Society, and exclusive restaurants, from which he collected an impressive number of menus.

His books include compilations of his pieces that appeared in The New Yorker ('How to Disappear for an Hour' and 'Mrs. De Peyster's Parties') and a book about the Smithsonian Institution ('Octopus on the Mall') and a history of the American Museum of Natural History ('Bankers, Bones and Beetles').

From 1936-1938, he was also the associate editor of Life Magazine. During World War II, Hellman was in Washington D.C. where he wrote for the Office of Inter-American affairs, the War Department and helped to write a top-secret history of the OSS.

In addition to his pursuits as a writer, Hellman was also an enthusiastic butterfly collector.^[1]