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MEMO from the publisher

When the purple and white of Northwestern upsets the crimson and cream of Oklahoma; when Eddie Arcaro, wearing Brookmeade Stable's royal-blue and white, rides Sword Dancer to the Jockey Club Gold Cup victory; when the orange and white of Tennessee stops the purple and gold of LSU—sport is making some of its most colorful history. It has made this history, and more, on separate Saturdays this fall.

And with it SPORTS ILLUSTRATED has been making some colorful history of its own: the color photographs you have seen of these and like events in each issue since September 28 have gone to press in Chicago less than 36 hours after a camera clicked in Dallas, Boston or Atlanta.

For the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED photographer, and the team of editors, technicians, engravers and printers behind him, these are hours in many ways as tense with action as the instant finally recorded in our pages.

First, the photographer must get his film to Chicago by the swiftest means that Picture Editor Gerald Astor can work out for him.

Once in Chicago, the film continues its accelerated trip—through the Anro Color Service lab, which has set new records in developing color transparencies.

Next, in consultation with the photographer, an editor flown in from New York must quickly judge perhaps 400 pictures and select the one. Minutes later he has laid it out as it will appear in the magazine, abbreviating, with a procedure devised by Art Director Jerome Snyder, an operation which can consume hours.

By midnight Printer R. R. Donnelley's engravers take over, work steadily and intricately through the night to produce the four different plates which color printing demands. For this job the engravers have reduced to an all-but-phenomenal 10½ hours a process that usually takes days.

When finally the COLOR OF THE WEEK (for this week's, see page 14) "goes to bed" some time late on Sunday, it has plenty of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED company falling in right behind it—quicker than you can say "fastest color closings in magazine publishing history."

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September 28

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October 5

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October 12

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October 19

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October 26

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November 2

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November 9

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November 16

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November 23

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November 30