©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

58-year career for Smart Mt. Airy journalist
by AUDREY LEVINE

Smart wrote Historic Philadelphia, An Illustrated History, which is chock-full of little known facts about the city’s history.

He has had a career spanning several decades, and he owes it all to a shy friend and a school try-out.

James Smart, journalist and author, never knew he wanted to be a writer until he had the opportunity to try.

In 1945, when Smart was a freshman, his best friend at Northeast High School was interested in journalism and wanted to try out for a position on the school newspaper. He dragged Smart with him to the audition, and after earning a spot on the school newspaper, Smart had found a future career.

“I found that I liked to write,” Smart said. “I didn’t know until I tried it.”

Three years later, he became serious about his writing, selling two articles to two different magazines, including one that featured different puzzles in each publication.

“It had a short story in each issue,” he said. “My story was a mystery and had a puzzle to solve at the end.”

Despite later rejections from other magazines, Smart continued preparing for a writing career.

In 1948, after he graduated from high school, he began working at the Philadelphia Bulletin. He started as a copy boy, did some editing and finally became a reporter and rewrite-man. As a rewrite-man, he would take phone calls from reporters who would tell him the information as he wrote it in the office.

In 1959, he began writing a Bulletin column “In Our Town.” He was the third writer to work on the column, which he wound up doing for 14 years, writing about the history of Philadelphia and interesting facts about the city.

“I think that many places have fascinating histories,” he said. “Philadelphia was founded differently. A nation was founded here. So many things were done here first.” He cites Benjamin Franklin as one such historic figure who made a significant difference in the city.

Smart was writing six “In Our Town” columns a week, every day except Saturday, but soon his editor began to reduce it to make the work a bit easier. Smart said he received complaints that he was not writing more often.

“I think I was the only one to have my boss write a letter that I was working too hard,” he said.

When he left the Bulletin in 1973, he continued to do some freelancing with the newspaper for two years. Following his time at the newspaper, he held other jobs, including working as an editor at business publications and with media relations companies. In 1990, he began writing a column that appeared in several newspapers, including the Mt. Airy Gazette.

“I write general topics, light in tone, humorous,” Smart said. “(The topic) has to be universal because it appears in five different counties in two different states.”

Smart said he wrote one article about the consumer price index and the fact that the dollar is not worth what it was 30 years ago. He said he is also looking to write a piece about Alexander Cummings, who founded the long-gone New York Bulletin and was the third governor of the Territory of Colorado.

“He was also somewhat of a scoundrel and stayed out of battle,” Smart said, citing these facts as some of the main reasons he finds Cummings interesting.

While continuing to write his column, Smart tackled a new genre, publishing a book in 2001, called Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History. The book, a publication of Historic Philadelphia, Inc., contains such topics as the city’s bicentennial, its origins and its Quaker roots.

“I love history and love to do research,” he said. “The history of Philadelphia is somewhat eccentric. There are facts (in this book) you might not find anywhere else.”

Smart has also had several of his columns from the early 1990s published in a collection that was released in 1995. In addition to enjoying the history of the city, Smart has remained in the city as a lifelong resident. Originally from Harrowgate, where his mother’s family lived since the 1840s, he has been in Mt. Airy for 20 years after previously living in Center City.

“It is very pleasant,” he said. “(I sit) on my patio and watch the birds.”

Now, as a retired writer, Smart said he is happy with the path his life has taken and the work he has done.

“There was a time that the best part was getting paid for doing what I love,” he said. “I’m retired. Now it’s just fun.”