Pink-cheeked humanitarian Franklin, master of a sprawling publishing empire, is an American Institution above and beyond the pettiness of inter-magazine rivalry.

Portly, dynamic Ben Franklin this week capped his multi-faceted career with his surest-fire gimmick since the Franklin stove.

Latest entry from the B.F. stables: bi-focal glasses.

Printer, author, inventor, diplomat, some-time philosopher Franklin, claims he has revolutionized spectacles.