The Washington Journalism Review said Jim Bellows is
“the editor with the longest resume in journalism.”

The Last Editor is a compelling documentary film about legendary newspaper editor Jim Bellows. The film features many of today's top writers and artists who worked with Jim -- a Who's Who of contemporary journalism -- including Jimmy Breslin, Tom Wolfe, Art Buchwald, Bob Novak, Ben Stein, Gail Sheehy, Paul Conrad, Jack Germond, Barbara Howar, Leonard Maltin, David Halberstam, Pat Oliphant, Dick Schaap, Caroline Graham, Diana McLellan, Diane K. Shah, Richard Wald, Marcia Bullard, Mary Anne Dolan, David Burgin and Walter Anderson.

Jim Bellows was the runt growing up. He was shy and insecure. Sometimes those experiences crush kids. Jim's story is about how those experiences strengthened and motivated him and prepared him for the things to come. During his career, he was a maverick. A fighter. But he knew which battles to choose.

He almost got kicked out the Navy…twice. He is a notorious mumbler who relies on body language and gestures to help people decipher what he's saying. Jim brought passion to the newspapers he led. He brought innovation and boldness to the look and words. He encouraged colorful writing, breaking the mold of traditional reporting and layouts with new ideas that are the norm of many newspapers today. He was also an early advocate for women reporters and promoted many to positions of authority in his newsrooms.

The film exposes the battles Jim Bellows faced as editor of the "second paper" in town and the controversies he was often involved in. The film also covers the decline of the American newspaper, as seen through the prism of Jim's extraordinary experiences in the media business throughout the second half of the 20th Century. We recount some of Bellows' legendary adventures since, unlike his cautious journalistic adversaries, he was devoted to bringing passion and fun to journalism. The film will bring to life:

• the famous flare-up between the New York Herald Tribune and The New Yorker, with Tom Wolfe recalling how his articles created an explosion in the literary community;

• the time Jim Bellows, as a cub reporter, was drugged by the KKK, and the national attention that the controversy received;

• Louise Lague and Diana McLellan telling how Bellows inaugurated "The Ear," a wildly popular gossip column in The Washington Star that needled the "O.P." (other paper) and Washington's power elite;

• how the L.A. Herald Examiner focused on the outrage after two cops emptied their guns into a woman over the issue of an unpaid $22.09 gas bill...And how Jim brought fun to the press with his coverage of Bubbles, the escaped hippo who roamed the hills in a quest for freedom;

• the Trib ad campaign, "Who Says a Good Newspaper has to be Dull?" developed by Paul Keye and others at Papert Koenig & Lois, that needled the stately New York Times;

• Jimmy Breslin talking about how his work covering the underside of New York City in the Herald Tribune prompted The New York Times to beef up its local coverage;

• the collision between Jim and Star publisher Joe Allbritton over Joe wanting to run a front page endorsement of President Ford after dinner at the White House;

• various editors discussing the subservience of newspaper editors to publishers as the focus is on declining profits and readership rather than the declining quality of journalism.

Despite all his passion, creativity and great writers, the three newspapers Jim edited folded; victims of labor union strife, the reluctance of owners to dig deep and the rise of TV news and the Internet as rival sources of information. Bellows then joined "the enemy" in both television and the Internet. He didn't just switch jobs. He switched industries and technologies. Why?

The decline of the newspaper is an important story. The newspaper is a fundamental American institution. It is a source of freedom…it is the way our values are passed from one generation to the next…it is part of the growing-up experience of every mature citizen. Most cities in America are reduced to a single voice, one newspaper, which denies the public a mixture of voices necessary to an understanding of public issues.

Just as a light bulb has a final burst of brilliance before it goes out, Bellows created a special incandescence with his papers before they died. He brought a quality of writing and design that lengthened their final days. As Jim said, "If I don't cure 'em, I certainly brighten up their declining years."

Jim influenced the look of newspapers, TV and Internet news. In the film, he discusses today's media environment and gives his own view of the future of the newspaper industry. Witness the adventures, fun and excitement Jim Bellows brought to and found in his work and life.

This is his story.