Harry Conover
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Harry Conover
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Born |
Harry Sayles Conover
( 1911-08-29 ) August 29, 1911 |
Died | July 21, 1965 (1965-07-21) (aged 53) |
Spouse(s) |
Gloria Dalton
(
m.
1940
)
|
Children | 5 |
Modeling information | |
Agency | John Robert Powers Modeling Agency |
Harry Sayles Conover , better known as Harry Conover (August 29, 1911 – July 21, 1965), was an American radio performer, model and business executive. He was known for creating the term, "Cover Girl". [1] [2]
Information
He was from Chicago and was of Irish descent. His father, Harry S. Conover, was a bigamist who later left the family shortly after he was born. [3] Conover's mother, Mary Byrnes Conover, wanted him to become a priest. Conover said he was not only poor, but also uneducated. [4] Conover went to school at Peekskill Military Academy and later worked a variety of jobs including being a dough mixer, being a disc jockey and a tie salesman. [5] He later became a radio soap opera performer. [1] He accompanied a female friend to an interview at the John Robert Powers modelling agency for a modeling job. His friend got nervous and Conover did the talking for both of them, landing both of them jobs as models. [6] [5] While Powers had a near monopoly on models at the time, Conover eventually worked his way into becoming a competitor and a personal friend. [7]
In 1939, Conover invested $500 into a one-room office which served as the headquarters of the "Conover Model Agency". A decade later, he had 12 suites in the same building and was making over $2,000,000 a year. [1]
Conover had unique ideas about modelling, saying that models needed "deglamorized" and preferred his models to have a "natural outdoors" look over a "sophisticated" look. [1] Conover also looked for what he called, "that inner glow". [8]
Conover was credited with inventing and copyrighting the term, "Cover Girl". [1] [5] Conover was also credited with launching the careers of Joan Caulfield , Shelley Winters , Nina Fech, Anita Colby , Jinx Falkenburg and Constance Ford . [9] He had also hired models like Joan Bennett Kennedy , Sandra Dee and C. Z. Guest . [3] His models were said to have a knack for reaching stardom and Conover created names for models which helped attract attention. [3] He employed over 200 models in 1945, earning $150,000 in commissions. [5]
Conover's modeling agency collapsed in 1959. He was being sued for withholding money from models and his agency lost its license. [10] Conover then began working for charm schools . Conover later went bankrupt. [9] [1]
Personal life
He married Gloria Dalton in 1940. [11] [2] Dalton had modeled for Conover prior to their marriage. [2] Dalton was said to be one of the most glamorous models of the 1940s. [9] The couple later divorced with Dalton accusing him of "extreme mental cruelty". [5] He married Candy Jones in 1946 and the couple had three children together. The couple divorced in 1959 [12] [6] At the time of his death, Conover had five children and a grandson. [1]
Conover was said to be best friends with Gerald Ford . Ford lent him $1,500 to start his modelling agency. [3]
Conover died on July 21, 1965, at Elmhurst City Hospital due to a heart attack. He was 53 years old. [1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Harry Conover, 'Cover Girl' King , The San Francisco Examiner, 1965 , retrieved 13 March 2023
- 1 2 3 Miss Gloria Dalton, Model, To Be Wed To Harry Conover , The Sunday News, 1949 , retrieved 13 March 2023
- 1 2 3 4 Christy, Marian (1978), At 37, Carole Conover's heart still belongs to daddy , The Boston Globe , retrieved 13 March 2023
- ↑ Varney, Carl (1944), Glamor Isn't Everything , The Edwardsville Intelligencer , retrieved 13 March 2023
- 1 2 3 4 5 Harry Conover's Hectic Summer , The Atlanta Constitution, 1946 , retrieved 13 March 2023
- 1 2 Harry Sayles Conover , The Daily Item, 1949 , retrieved 13 March 2023
- ↑ Models Forget Business Rivalry , The Des Moines Register, 1940 , retrieved 13 March 2023
- ↑ Sibley, Celestine (1944), Harry Conover, Atlanta Visitor, Says You Need 'An Inner Glow' , The Atlanta Constitution , retrieved 13 March 2023
- 1 2 3 Baker, Lois (1979), There's a Cover Girl in her past , The Ridgewood News , retrieved 13 March 2023
- ↑ Trouble Seems to Be in Bunches , The Kansas City Star, 1959 , retrieved 13 March 2023
- ↑ Gloria Dalton Wed To Harry Conover In Fredericksburg , The Record, 1940 , retrieved 13 March 2023
- ↑ Case History: Candy Jones , Secret, Don't Tell, 2023 , retrieved 13 March 2023