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Finally, Shepley approached the Post two months ago and proposed that the two papers combine printing operations while maintaining separate editorial staffs.* After five discussions, the idea was abandoned. Says Shepley: "They had projections of profit margins and benefits to their paper that they wanted to ensure. We weren't able to work out a way to meet their requirements and at the same time to sustain the Star."
The Star's 1,427 employees were shocked by the prospective death of the paper they had struggled so valiantly to save. Those arriving at work early last Thursday were given the grim news by their supervisors; others heard it on their car radios or read it in a black-bordered announcement on the Star's front page. Said Sports Columnist Morris Siegel, 61, whose 19th anniversary with the paper coincides with its closing: "For once we beat the Post on the big story—damn it to hell." Editor Murray Gart (who had observed earlier: "I'm as intensely proud of the staff of the Star as any editor can be") presided over a wake. Staffers sipped champagne while checking the cluttered newsroom bulletin board for job openings at other papers. Late in the afternoon, a message from Katharine Graham, board chairman of the Washington Post Co., was tacked up: "Dear Murray," she wrote, "my heart is broken for you." On seeing the note, some staffers jeered.
Morale was low in recent months, partly from the strain of being on an apparently sinking ship. At the end, some Star hands expressed anger. Pulitzer Prizewinning Syndicated Columnist Mary McGrory, a Star veteran of 34 years, wrote in her column: "We're sad, but we're mad too. Now the life support system has been pulled." Her main gripe was that Time Inc. had made a commitment to spend $60 million over five years but decided to fold the paper after only 3½ Time Inc. executives point out that the $60 million unfortunately ran out well ahead of schedule, and feel the company more than met its commitment. Said Munro: "We came down here with our head held high and we're leaving with our head held high. We did a hell of a job. It didn't work.''
—By Janice Castro. Reported by David S. Jackson, with other U.S. bureaus
* "The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 allows such arrangements when a paper in a competitive market is in danger of failing.