Dozens of men's mags have come and gone over the years as fashion, relationship and even political fads have faded, but Esquire has enjoyed relative stability for 75 years.

David Granger, the magazine's executive editor for the past 10 years, took a few minutes recently to talk about how Esquire and men's magazines in general have evolved over the years.

Q:Take me back to the beginning. For those folks without access to microfilm, what was that first issue of Esquire like?

A: In its first issue, the editor wrote about the gynocological tyranny of women's mags. Esquire was a bit of a pioneer.

Q:I was a geek. I started reading Esquire in my senior year of high school. You started in college. Do you remember your first impression or that first story you read?

A: I got out of it that this is what a man should read and should be thinking about. I imagined that there was this sort of cosmopolitan world that Esquire was tapping into and giving me their version of it. I was living in the great state of Tennessee. I remember reading Richard Ben Cramer's story on Ted Williams. It was great.

Q:With the advent of technology and ''liberated'' men, has the magazine's mission changed much since '33?

A: There are three core elements that have been constant when the magazine has been at its best: It dispenses useful advice that helps men live their lives better. Second, when it does that it earns the right to tell good stories. Third, and probably just as important, it entertains.

Q:Talk a little more about the entertainment aspect. What's so funny about Esquire?

A: Go back to the 1960s, even, and the development of Dubious Achievements. It was --is -- smart. It provided an irreverant look at all those things we'd held in high esteem before then -- presidents, governments, Hollywood, professional atheletes.

Q:Well something must have changed over the years about Esquire.

A: At various times it's sort of swayed from one extreme to another. When I first picked it up when I was a younger man, Phillip Moffitt was the editor, and he was sort of a new age guy, into Yoga and Budhism and inner peace. And he brought those influences with him. I'll tell you what changes with us and virtually every successful magazine: the reflections of its time. The magazine changes to keep up with the world around it.

Q:Examples?

A: Every cover during World War II, for example, had a war theme. During the 1950s the magazine reacted to Hugh Hefner's Playboy. In the '60s it became funnier and more about current events.

Q:Tell me about your tenure with Esquire. How have things changed since you've been there?

A: I came in '97, and by '98 we were trying to create some sort of Web presence. I look back at our early efforts, repackaging things for bigger online venues, partnering with Microsoft networks. We're still working on that sort of stuff today, because there are entire segments of men out there who aren't familiar with Esquire content, men we can reach online.

Q:Speaking of Esquire content, give me some highlights on your watch.

A: The last two years we generally put someone on the cover who's very well known, most often an actor or otherwise famous person. There was an Iraq war veteran on one cover. But that's our trademark, in-your-face covers, with overwhelming text, really aggressive type and so on, to draw people inside. And once inside, what we're trying to say is ``yeah, we hope you're attracted to this person, but also by these words.''

Q:What have been the most and least popular issues of your tenure?

A: The most popular in terms of newsstand sales was our January issue this past year, where we had Johnny Depp on the cover. It came very close to being the best seller of my entire time here. The worst issue was the Dubious Achievements issue 1998 with Jerry Springer. That issue offended a lot of people, and it was the ugliest cover ever.

Q:Finally, what are you guys doing to observe your 75th anniversary?

DG: Our October issue is our anniversary issue. Leading up to that we've been doing a few things. Our current cover is a remake of a classic cover: We remade one in February that's this photo from 1967 with Angie Dickinson and Britney Spears in 2003 and again in February. Plus every month this year, page 75 features something about our history.

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