Harry Conover

Harry Conover
Born	Harry Sayles Conover (1911-08-29)August 29, 1911
Died	July 21, 1965(1965-07-21) (aged 53)
Occupations	American radio performer, model and business executive
Modeling information
Agency	John Robert Powers Modeling Agency

Harry Sayles 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]

He was from Chicago, Illinois, and was of Irish descent. His father, Harry S. Conover, was a bigamist who left the family shortly after he was born.[3] Conover's mother, Mary Byrnes Conover, wanted him to become a Roman Catholic priest. Conover said he was not only poor, but also relatively uneducated.[4] Conover went to school at Peekskill Military Academy, further north of New York City, in the lower Hudson River Valley of upstate New York, in Peekskill, New York.

He worked a variety of jobs including being a dough mixer in a bakery, being a disc jockey and a necktie salesman.[5] He later became an old time radio soap opera programs performer.[1]

He accompanied a female friend to an interview at the prominent John Robert Powers' modeling agency of New York City 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 the Powers agency had a near monopoly on models at that time, Conover eventually worked his way into becoming a competitor, but also a personal friend.[7]

In 1939, Conover went out on his own and invested $500 into a one-room office which served as the headquarters of his new "Conover Model Agency". A decade later, he had 12 office suites in the same building and was making over $2,000,000 a year.[1]

Conover had unique ideas about modeling, saying that models needed to be "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 actresses Joan Caulfield, Shelley Winters, Nina Fech, Anita Colby, Jinx Falkenburg, Patricia Blair, and Constance Ford.[9] He had also hired models like Joan Bennett Kennedy (future first wife of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts), along with 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] By 1945, he employed over 200 models, earning $150,000 in commissions.[5]

Conover's modeling agency collapsed two decades later 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]

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 again to Candy Jones in 1946 and the couple had then three children together, but they divorced 13 years later in 1959[12][6] At the time of his death, Conover had a total of five children and a grandson.[1]

Conover was said to be best friends with future political leader Gerald R. Ford, who later became the 38th US President. Ford had lent him $1,500 to start his modelling agency back in 1939.[3]

Conover died on July 21, 1965, at Elmhurst City Hospital due to a heart attack. He was 53 years old.[1]