Funny that, for I find most biographies last two-thirds to three-quarters worth of pages generally dull and uninspired. I like the beginnings, the acorn before the mighty oak, not the great deeds of famous people once they are famous, for we know this list, or should. In any case, most all panelists on What's My LIne were scintillating, charming, and smart. Each possessed that wonderful mix of high-middle-low brow intellects, interests, and enthusiasms. Find me a show or group of supposed celebs today who can match them. I'd tune in. Just one old guy's take.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Famous Writers School grift. It was especially unconscionable how Cerf exploited the dreams of writers who would never be published. One of these victims was an elderly woman who gave her savings to the school and got nothing. I hope Feldman doesn’t give this episode short shrift in her biography.
"There will always be people who vote the wrong way and there will always be people who find New Yorker cartoons funny." Drew a greater undignified snort from me than any I can recall from the maligned. Well done.
So one correction: JFK never read THE DEER PARK. He claimed he did, to Norman Mailer when Mailer was interviewing him for his famous profile "Superman Comes to the Supermarket," but he was told to say that by his speechwriter Ted Sorenson. Sorenson's idea was that everybody else would have said THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, but it would impress Mailer no end if JFK said he'd read his much-loved but failed novel. It worked, as you can see if you read the profile. Camelot courtier Schlesinger went to every length to flatter JFK -- he could easily serve in Trump's cabinet in that respect -- so he would of course repeat the flattering version of the story.
Cerf was a bore and a spotlight hog and something of a sex pest, but yeah, he built a mighty cultural institution on smarts and taste and business savvy, and thus American culture, the genuine article, was created and flourished for a good long time. On the downside he did publish Ayn Rand and Whittaker Chambers, but so what? Sigh.
I enjoyed the book. It notes throughout that many underestimated Cerf upon first meeting him and grew to understand that there was greater depth to him than was revealed on the surface. Complex, yes. Egotistical and vain, unquestionably. “Inane”? I don’t think so.
That's Henry Morgan in the photo.
It's been fixed! Getty miscaptioned it, and led to the error.
Funny that, for I find most biographies last two-thirds to three-quarters worth of pages generally dull and uninspired. I like the beginnings, the acorn before the mighty oak, not the great deeds of famous people once they are famous, for we know this list, or should. In any case, most all panelists on What's My LIne were scintillating, charming, and smart. Each possessed that wonderful mix of high-middle-low brow intellects, interests, and enthusiasms. Find me a show or group of supposed celebs today who can match them. I'd tune in. Just one old guy's take.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Famous Writers School grift. It was especially unconscionable how Cerf exploited the dreams of writers who would never be published. One of these victims was an elderly woman who gave her savings to the school and got nothing. I hope Feldman doesn’t give this episode short shrift in her biography.
She does not at all! I didnt have space!
Understood. Also wanted to say that the Finnegans Wake anecdote, while it may have already been known, was new to me. Absolutely delightful.
"There will always be people who vote the wrong way and there will always be people who find New Yorker cartoons funny." Drew a greater undignified snort from me than any I can recall from the maligned. Well done.
Thank you
So one correction: JFK never read THE DEER PARK. He claimed he did, to Norman Mailer when Mailer was interviewing him for his famous profile "Superman Comes to the Supermarket," but he was told to say that by his speechwriter Ted Sorenson. Sorenson's idea was that everybody else would have said THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, but it would impress Mailer no end if JFK said he'd read his much-loved but failed novel. It worked, as you can see if you read the profile. Camelot courtier Schlesinger went to every length to flatter JFK -- he could easily serve in Trump's cabinet in that respect -- so he would of course repeat the flattering version of the story.
Cerf was a bore and a spotlight hog and something of a sex pest, but yeah, he built a mighty cultural institution on smarts and taste and business savvy, and thus American culture, the genuine article, was created and flourished for a good long time. On the downside he did publish Ayn Rand and Whittaker Chambers, but so what? Sigh.
aha—I don’t believe Feldman makes the distinction between what JFK said and what the reality was! thanks for that.
I enjoyed the book. It notes throughout that many underestimated Cerf upon first meeting him and grew to understand that there was greater depth to him than was revealed on the surface. Complex, yes. Egotistical and vain, unquestionably. “Inane”? I don’t think so.
And yes, that’s Henry Morgan.
Let’s fucking Go
Letsss
That’s not Bennett Cerf in the picture.