Harry Conover

Harry Conover (29 August 1911-21 July 1965) was an American model, businessman, and founder of New York-based modeling agency Conover Model Agency. He is credited for coining the term "Cover Girl," which had been shortened from his "Conover Cover Girls".

Harry Conover was born as Harry Sayles Conover on August 29, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois, to Claire Byrnes and Harry Conover, Jr., a washing machine salesman. 

His parents divorced shortly after his birth, and he spent his first nine years with his mother and maternal grandparents in Chicago, where his grandfather (John Byrnes) was a well-known lawyer. In 1920, his mother married her second husband Harold B. Griffen, the owner of the Griffen Tool and Die Company, and he moved with the family to Brooklyn, New York.

He attended Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill, New York, graduating in 1928. He then enrolled with University of Notre Dame, Indiana, however, he dropped out on the day he arrived in September 1928.

In his early career, Conover held department store jobs, performed in a radio soap opera, and also worked as a radio disc jockey. In 1935, he worked as a fashion model for John Robert Powers's modeling agency in New York. 

Although he was successful as a model, he soon developed an interest in the business and management side of the modeling world and decided to create his own modeling agency. The initial investment of $1,000 for his business venture came from the future 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford, who at the time was dating a Powers' model Phyllis Brown. (Later, in 1948, Ford married Betty Ford (née Bloomer) who was also a Powers' model). 

In 1939, Conover founded Conover Model Agency in New York. Powers' models Anita Colby and Phyllis Brown also left Powers to work for him at his new agency. His agency met with success quickly and became one of the country's most successful model agencies, grossing millions a year. He differentiated his agency from his competitors (which also included his former employer) by focusing on preppy and campus queens, whom he called Conover Coeds then Conover Cover Girls. He is quoted as saying in 1946:

Present fashions are pointed toward making women look like matchsticks, thus ruining their health and dispositions. I tell my models to eat as much as they like. Returning servicemen want a good well-rounded bundle, not a matchstick

Conover also developed a habit of renaming his models—including his future wife Candy Jones. Jones' real name was Jessica Wilcox and when she came to meet Conover to work for him in 1941, he gave her her new name "Candy Johnson," which she later shortened to Candy Jones. Conover Model Agency agency soon became known for his "cover girls" who frequently appeared on the covers of leading magazines, newspapers, signboards, and advertisements.

Over the years, his agency had represented numerous well-known female models including Jinx Falkenburg, Anita Colby, Eileen Ford, Shelley Winters, Nina Foch, Joan Caulfield, Suzy Parker, Phyllis Kirk, Julia Meade, and Dorian Leigh. 

In 1944, Conover served as the technical adviser on Charles Vidor's film Cover Girl, starring Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, and Lee Bowman. The film's success brought his agency more name and fame. 

After enjoying a successful decade in the 1940s, his modeling business went on a decline after the establishment of Ford Models in 1946. Troubles also started brewing inside his agency when other models began complaining that Conover showed favoritism to his wife with modeling assignments. 

In May 1959, Conover's agency was unable to pay child models, following which the children's parents demanded an investigation of the agency's books and records. As a result, his agency's license could not be renewed. By late 1959, he sold his company in full to pay off accruing debts from the years.

In the early 1960s, Conover worked at a hotel in New Jersey and it was reported that in 1964, dependent on the financial support of his mother, he was arrested for nonpayment of alimony and child support.

In 1948, Conover appeared as himself, the head of Conover Model Agency, in Gene Martel's short Appointment with Baby (narrated by Ward Wilson).

In April 1956, he appeared in the 34th episode of the third season of Edward R. Murrow's talk show Person to Person, alongside Candy Jones and Burl Ives.

Conover was married twice. His first marriage with Conover model Gloria Dalton ended in divorce on June 1, 1946. They had two children. 

A month after the divorce, on July 4, 1946, he married Candy Jones, also a Conover model. Jones was not only his employee and his wife but also his business partner, after their marriage. The couple divorced after 13 years of marriage, in 1959. They had three sons, one of whom died at age 16. 

In Donald Bain's 1976 book about Jones, titled The Control of Candy Jones, Jones stated that she didn't realize Conover was bisexual until 1958. She reported that he initiated sexual activities with her only a few times and that too only when he was intoxicated. After Jones found out that her husband was bisexual (or even homosexual), Conover disappeared, taking with him all the money from their joint bank accounts.

Conover died of a heart attack on July 21, 1965, in Queens, New York, at the age of 53. He was bankrupt at the time of his death.