This year TIME is celebrating the achievements and careers of two of its most durable and valued employees, Makeup Chief Charles P. Jackson and Picture Editor Arnold Drapkin. If their years of service are added together, Jackson and Drapkin have been around 19 years longer than the magazine itself, which turned 62 last March. Their rise from office boys to positions of honor and responsibility adds a gratifying chapter to Horatio Alger lore.
Hired in 1939, after graduating from Columbia University, Jackson, 69, has completed his 46th year at TIME, counting half a decade spent in the field artillery during World War II. His work as an office boy eventually led to a chief copy clerk's position in what was then the TIME picture and production department, where he subsequently rose to layout artist, color editor and, in the 1960s, chief of production. Since 1972 he has been in charge of the magazine's makeup, painstakingly piecing together each week's 100-plus pages of editorial and advertising matter.
Jackson is cherished by colleagues for his talents as a raconteur and his invariable appearance in braces (never suspenders). His eye-catching collection includes pairs with fox-hunting scenes and depictions of disporting nudes. "I wore braces even in combat," says Jackson cheerily. "Once a fop, always a fop."
Drapkin, 53, joined TIME as a copy boy in 1950. Six months later he became the first layout artist in the newly formed color department. Says he of those early days: "Charlie Jackson was a mentor, to me and many others, before the term or the role was fashionable. When I was brand-new, he saw me looking confused, took pity, sat down and taught me how to crop pictures with a proportional slide rule."
After Army service in the early 1950s, Drapkin returned to TIME to become involved in all of the magazine's graphic areas, from photo assignments to cover design. He was named picture editor in 1978. Since then his photographers have won scores of major awards, including the coveted Overseas Press Club Robert Capa Gold Medal seven times. As he looks back on his 35 years with TIME, Drapkin marvels at the strides photojournalism has made. "Our color deadline has gone from five weeks to mere hours. Technology has allowed us to meet more challenges and be better journalists than ever before." Our warmest congratulations to Jackson and Drapkin for helping TIME meet those challenges over the years.