This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Bennett Cerf was an outrageous character with a passion for creating good books, finesse for dealing with authors (Ayn Rand, Gertrude Stein, Eugene O'Neill, among many others), and an unbeatable sense of humor that will make you laugh out loud. Many wont admit it. Mr. Cerf had liberal political sympathies. Ms. Francis died Thursday (May 31, 2001) at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco. [12] Cerf was the subject of Jessica Mitford's expos, published in the July 1970 issue of Atlantic Monthly, which denounced the business practices of the Famous Writers School, which Cerf had founded.[13]. Cerf continued to appear occasionally on the Viacom syndicated version with Arlene Francis until his death. The publisher and co-founder of Random House Bennette Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?. As a publisher nobody knew who I was. He was married to former Hollywood actress Phyllis Fraser, a cousin of Ginger Rogers, from September 17, 1940, until his death. His col lected jokes also were printed in more than 20 books that had total sales of more than five million copies. 2005 7 [9]. To commemorate this special occasion, KarenO, a registered nurse with 35 years of experience, has started The Nightingale Project. The last thing I heard from her as I got in the cab was, Someday Im going to write a book for you, Bennett, and Im going to call it My Twenty Years with a Genius-So-Called. . Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Bennett Cerf was born in 1898 in Manhattan and graduated from Columbia University with a degree in journalism. Finding aid to Bennett Cerf papers at Columbia University. Bennett Alfred Cerf was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bennett_Cerf&oldid=1149092708, American book publishing company founders, Television personalities from New York City, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 April 2023, at 04:27. My blog covering Hindi language science fiction,horror, fantasy, and mystery films from India - from the silents to current day:: Starting Seeds with Cactus Mix: Challenges and Tips for Optimal Results, Using cactus mix for seed starting is an interesting idea, but it has its own set of challenges. One thing that has changed is personal - there isn't anti-Semitism in the profession, Mr. Klopfer said. He published Atlas Shrugged, written by Ayn Rand, though he vehemently disagreed with her philosophy of Objectivism. His last day in the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News was on March 6, 1981; he was succeeded the following Monday by Dan Rather. Cerf died of natural causes in Mount Kisco, on August 27, 1971, aged 73. What kind of family did Bennett Cerf come from? To my mind, a bad editor is a frustrated writer himself. Cerf claimed that of all the awards he had received in his life, he was "genuinely proud of" those bestowed on him by humor magazines The Yale Record and The Harvard Lampoon. In the case of Joyce, it tisnt actually a Joyce play at all, its some kind of script which somebody has written from a Joyce play. In addition to his widow, Mr. Cerf leaves two sons by his second marriage, Christo pher Bennett and Jonathan Fraser. Vastly expanded from its original 109 titles, it now includes 400 books. 2000, , "AtRandom"[1], 2008 -8,000 [2]. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". They were stamping everything without opening it, saying, Get out; go on out. When our man arrived the customs inspector started to stamp his suitcase without even looking at it. Shields, who fought in the GPO in 1916, famously said that he did not want to have to say his prayers in Gaelic. So, there was some serious irritation among the players, but eventually the play went on and managed to cause the usual opening night riot at the Abbey. Cerf and Daly enjoyed a friendly feud from across the stage for the remainder of the history of the program. The cause of death was not immediately determined, but Mr. Cerf had recently been dis charged from Lenox Hill Hos pital following surgery. If we lose our case, you keep the fifteen hundred. Watering every day with just a teaspoon or two works well. But after you've been on a national television show for a little while, a popular one like "What's My Line?" one of the guests was Robert Briscoe, the erstwhile Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin. Have you heard about the sultan who left a call for seven in the morning? He looked like one of those characters in The Spirit of 76. I retreated a pace, and Miss Beach, a very lovely gray-haired lady, said, Oh, Mr. Cerf, dont think he always looks that way. Gertrude Stein, Bennett Cerf and the Culture of Celebrity". After seizure, the United States attorney and other TV shows. (September 17, 1940 - August 27, 1971) (his death, 2 children), (October 1, 1935 - April 9, 1936) (divorced), View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf by Bennett Cerf | Goodreads It always takes him some time to get down from the cross.". See the article in its original context from. There is plenty of gossip and rather surprisingly, he goes on about not liking Dorothy Kilgallen. If you have a lot of seeds to spare in one variety batch, test germination on paper towels to get an idea of what percentage of smalls might germinate in the future. I had heard Morris Ernst, the great lawyer, say one night that the banning of Ulysses was a disgrace and that hed like to wage a fight to legalize it, wrote Cerf in At Random. They want to know what's in the book and who wrote it. (One chapter had been published in Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap's The Little Review, a Chicago-based literary magazine, which had led to its being found "a work of obscenity".) This leads me to my favorite conspiracy theory. 2019, 10 [13]. LOVED listening to that interview. In 1925, Cerf and Donald S. Klopfer formed a partnership to purchase the rights to the Modern Library from Boni & Liveright, and they went into business for themselves. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. This night he was not appearing as a politicianhe was still a TD in Dil ireannbut as a businessman, a purveyor of kosher meats. Cerf was known for his love of puns and good literature. Sylvia Sidneym. So everybody was very happyexcept the bluenoses, the self-appointed censors., Cerf makes one more keen observation about the superstitious Joyce. Two years later, on his 27th birth day, Mr. Cerf bought the Mod ern Library, a series of reprint ed classics that Mr. Liveright had set up in 1918. This is the location of the Random House Westminster Distribution Center and Offices, one of two Random House distribution facilities in the U.S., as well as the location of Bennett Cerf Park. There was a long bench in front of it, and Nora grabbed one end and Joyce the otherboth pulling in opposite directions. But what can we do to help? Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Back in his apartment after dinner, he decided he was going to sing me some Irish ballads, but Mrs. Joyce decided he was not going to sing me some Irish ballads. In 1944, Cerf published the first of his collection of joke books, Try and Stop Me, with illustrations by Carl Rose. Sean OCasey had submitted The Drums of Father Ned; or, A Mickrocosm of Ireland. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 19351936 He entered Columbia in 1915 and became both a columnist for The Daily Spectator, the student newspaper, and editor of The Jester, the college hu mor magazine. In it, he tells wonderful stories about his authors, ranging from Ayn Rand to John OHara, to Eugene ONeill and William Faulkner. Shields, who fought in the GPO in 1916, How you can learn Gaelic literature and culture online with a top Irish university, The story behind Ireland's favorite song, The Cranberries "Zombie", How the Irish (and Welsh) invented romantic love. What does the Venus of Willendorf statue represent? [1], Random House published his posthumous autobiography, At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf, in 1977, which Phyllis Cerf and a former Random House Editor Albert Erskine put together from his interviews for Columbia's oral history program along with his diaries and scrapbooks.[14]. , " " " '". https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/03/archives/cerf-left-estate-of-over-1million-some-small-bequests-made-to.html. TV BANTER . . . with Joanne Madden The trial, in which there was no jury, was over in two days, and though we had to wait quite a while for a ruling, the judges attitude made us feel confident that we had won. They were married in New York In 1940 with Mayor Fi orello H. La Guardia officiat ing. In the early 1950s, while maintaining a Manhattan residence, Cerf managed to acquire inexpensively an estate at Mount Kisco, New York, which became his country home for the rest of his life. [7], In 1933, Cerf won United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, a landmark court case against government censorship, and thereafter he was the first in the United States to publish James Joyce's unabridged Ulysses. His first wife was Sylvia Sid ney, the actress. Margaret Brennan of 18 Stuyvesant Oval, described as a friend and longtime nurse, was given $5,000 and onethird of her annual salary as an annuity, and Robert Mackenzie, the Cerfs' gardener at their Mount Kisco home, received $3,000 and one year's salary. j Bora ln IN Bom, May 25 1898 - Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, Aug 27 1971 - Mount Kisco, Westchester, New York, United States, Gustave Cerf, Fredericka Cerf (born Wise), Helen Brown Cerf (born Nichols), Sylvia Cerf (born Sidney), May 25 1898 - New York, (Manhattan), New York, USA, Aug 27 1977 - Mount Kisco, Westchester, New York, USA, Aug 27 1971 - Mount Kisco, Westchester County, New York, USA, Sophia "sylvia" Sidney (Adopted) (born Kosow), 1910 - Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York, USA, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, Mount Kisco, New York City, New York, United States, ANU Museum of the Jewish People (formerly Beit Hatfutsot) Exhibit Project, Jewish Publishers, Printers, and Book Dealers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Cerf. Published many giants of 20th century American literature, including William Faulkner, James Michener, and Ayn Rand. Until his death, Cerf continued to appear regularly on the CBS Films (now Viacom) syndicated version of What's My Line?, along with Arlene Francis. Tomato seed size can vary greatly and the smallest ones may not even germinate. When Beckett learned the story, wrote Bair, he withdrew permission for his plays. This was followed six years later by the purchase of the Random House complex by the Radio Corporation of America for about $40million. Late in life, he suffered the embarrassment of an expos, written by Jessica Mitford and published in the June 1970 Atlantic Monthly, denouncing the business practices of the Famous Writers School, which Cerf had founded. : (: Random House) . When they came around to [Howard] Dietz, she tried the same tactics with him. [Howard] Dietz was a friend whom I grew up with and he's one of the funniest men I know. With a flair for commerce and advertising promotion, Mr. Cerf was something of a blithe spirit in the book worlda man quite different from the staid, tweedy gentlemenpub lishers who dominated Ameri can book houses prior to the nineteentwenties. With Modern Library doing well, Mr. Cerf and Mr. Klopfer established a subsidiary to pub lish limited editions. Cronkite refused to allow his personal beliefs to affect his job of reporting accurate news. Mr. Cerf assembled a corps of editors that included, in ad dition to Mr. Commins, Albert Erskine Jr. and Jason Epstein. September 25, 1977. Cerf had caught Briscoe in outright lies and half-truths. Many of the Catholic actors at the Abbey were apprehensive about appearing in it. Bennett Cerf - Wikipedia Rare Book & Manuscript Library. He was so enraged that as a further protest he refused to allow his plays to be performed anywhere in the Republic of Ireland.. A Mount Kisco street named Cerf Lane runs from Croton Avenue and is named after him. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Johnnie Ray was 63 at the time of his passing. Dietz countered, "But you have to remember, Mr. Mayer, I get in very late in the mornings.". It was his integrity and commitment to fair reporting which established him as the most trusted man in America. Person to Person--Phyllis and Bennett Cerf - YouTube The will, dated Aug. 15, 1968, was filed for probate by the law firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges. Thus it was that he published Plato and Franz Kafka and Eu gene O'Neill along with many writers who catered to more transient public whims. Humorist and publisher, one of the founding editors of Random House Inc. At that point, before Cerf can reply, moderator John Charles Daly says, Here, here! and the television controversy is over. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The fame accruing to Mr. Cerf from his uncultural roles gave him yet another occupa tionthat as a lectureplat form personality. Notable New Yorkers - Columbia University Copyright 2023 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. Bennett's mater nal grandfather was a wholesale tobacco distributor who be queathed him a trust fund of $100,000, which came to him when he was 16 and an honors graduate of Townsend Harris High School, the public high school. It was in this contentious atmosphere that Briscoe, a staid, dont-rock-the-boat de Valera man if there ever was one, appeared on Whats My Line? At the 1958 Dublin Theatre Festival, several plays were scheduled until the Archbishop pulled the plug. be given full credit for any course they signed up for, he immediately Bennett Cerf--ne of founders of Random House Publishing--I imagine Bennett got very rich. He was chair juror of the Peabody Jurors Board from 1954 to the end of his first term in 1967, and published a weekly column, "The Cerf Board", in the Sunday supplement magazine This Week. Half of the estate was bequeathed to Mr. Cerf's widow, Phyllis, who also received the Cerf houses at 132 East 62d Street and on Orchard Road, Mount Kisco, in Westchester County. [6], Cerf's talent in building and maintaining relationships brought contracts with such writers as William Faulkner, John O'Hara, Eugene O'Neill, James Michener, Truman Capote, Theodor Seuss Geisel, and others. delegates are considering this week as a replacement for Nixon. In 1925 he acquired the Modern Library with Donald Klopfer, providing the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. Well pay all the court expenses, and if you win the case, youll get a royalty on Ulysses for the rest of your life. , Cerf traveled to Paris and set up an appointment with Joyce through Joyces French publisher, Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare & Company. Bennett Cerf | Dorothy Kilgallen Mr. Cerf was president, a post he held until 1965, when he became chairman of the board.
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