Except for a few excursions to his crowded Connecticut parties, I really did not know Arthur Carter well at all. I was much closer and friendlier with his brilliant editor, Peter Kaplan, who began working with me in 1987 and continued until his death after 15 years as one of the most powerful and impactful voices in American journalism. Kaplan was the longest-standing editor of The New York Observer. Carter was what you might technically label his “boss,” but he consulted Kaplan on every issue, large and small, and never made a move without him.
Carter admired Kaplan for his extraordinary kindness and brilliant intellect. “I’d never seen that combination before and have never seen it since,” Carter said. “He was a superb talent, a gentleman with a rare quality of just plain niceness.” Before joining their liaison, I had always been limited by working relationships with important but self-involved editors, who were more obsessed with personal achievements and political accomplishments than personal pride.
Carter cared more about writers than their editorial opinions. He was devoted to quality. He never rejected a single idea of mine and never failed to share enthusiasm for an article or review that particularly appealed to him. An expression of approval, no matter how small, is meaningful to a writer and is often overlooked. Carter was careful to make his approval every bit as valuable as his occasional criticism. As the only journalist known to have appeared in The New York Observer from its inception, I am proud to say that I have no memory of any negative reaction to any single review or feature I ever wrote. That, for any journalist with the remotest controversial reputation, is something uniquely unheard of.
On a personal level, he threw lavish Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners that included just about everyone you ever longed to meet on a professional level. My days of collaboration with Arthur Carter extended to such privileges as a personal recommendation from his ex-wife, Dixie Carter, beseeching him for a healthy raise for this reporter, which he countered with, “I appreciate your admiration, but I already thought of it first. A Rex Reed salary increase went into effect yesterday.” You hardly ever get a boss like that anymore, and if you do, you’d be a fool to look the other way.
