It is hard to imagine the chutzpah of McQuaid ordering a playwright of OCaseys esteem to make structural alterationsbut that was the Catholic Ireland of 1958. With Morris Ernst as counsel, Mr. Cerf won a notable victory over Government cen sorship that benefited the en tire publishing industry, and Mr. Cerf was much praised for the principled battle he waged for literary freedom. Even when I started writing books, and some people came to know my name, they didn't know what I looked like. How many people do you think look at the name on the spine of a book that has been published? Son of Gustave Cerf and Frederika Wise He was born on May 25, 1898 in New York City into a Jewish family of Alsatian and German descent. Published James Joyce's Ulysses in the US after winning landmark Supreme Court obscenity case. In 1944, Cerf published the first of his books of jokes and anecdotes, Try and Stop Me, with illustrations drawn by Carl Rose. This included a towns house on East 62d Street and his 42acre estate in Mount Kisco. Cerf died in Mount Kisco, New York, on August 27, 1971, at the age of 73. A second book, Shake Well Before Using, was published in 1949. It was then that Bennett Cerf, the man who got Ulysses into America, asked a pointed question. Reproved by his wife, who pointed out that he didn't need the money, Mr. Cerf replied: Everyone needs money. Hes made a lot of money out of it but so did we, and of course Joyce made a fortune too. After Bennett Cerf died, his wife married former Mayor Robert Wagner, who also lived in the . Bennett Cerf/Wife. The archbishop of Dublin refused to offer the votive Mass, wrote Deirdre Bair in her biography Samuel Beckett, which traditionally opened the Tstal if the OCasey and Joyce offerings were performed as submitted. one of the guests was Robert Briscoe, the erstwhile Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin. She's an express elevator, and doesn't stop on your floor.. / , Phyllis Fraserm. Bennett Cerf, eminent publisher and punster, was a founder and chairman of Random House Books, a writer and editor of many humor books, and a popular panelist on television's long-running game show, What's My Line? [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]. He published Atlas Shrugged, written by Ayn Rand, though he vehemently disagreed with her philosophy of Objectivism. ' ' , , , -15 " , ", -1982, , - [4]. 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. They made the series quite successful and, in 1927, commenced to publish general trade books they had selected "at random." Bennett Alfred Cerf, the only child of Gustave Cerf, an elocution teacher and lithographer, and Frederika Wise Cerf, was born on May 25, 1898, in New York City. Cerf was known as "Bennett Snerf" in a Sesame Street puppet parody of What's My Line?. "And so a great fight started when Joyce went over to the piano. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Everyone has a streak of pure unadulterated ham, admitted Cerf in a New Yorker profile. Bennett Cerf. Is it easy to get an internship at Microsoft? This Briscoe appearance happened just as a kerfuffle between Sean OCasey, Samuel Beckett and Dublin Archbishop John Charles McQuaid had taken place. Watering every day with just a teaspoon or two works well. He published Atlas Shrugged, written by Ayn Rand. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 720 [14]. Follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook. Enter Bennett Cerf. Bennett was 73 years old at the time of death. The cause of death was not immediately determined, but Mr. Cerf had recently been dis charged from Lenox Hill Hos pital following surgery. Bennett Cerf--ne of founders of Random House Publishing--I imagine Bennett got very rich. At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf by Bennett Cerf | Goodreads 1965 "RCA". His wife Nora was a typical Irish ladygarrulous and friendly. She died when Bennett was 15; shortly afterward, her brother Herbert moved into the Cerf household and became a strong literary and social influence on the teenager.[4]. However, when potting the seedlings into Promix, they need less water than before. In 1933, Cerf won United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, a landmark court case against government censorship and published James Joyce's unabridged Ulysses for the first time in the United States. Among his beneficiaries were such friends as Frank Sinatra, the singer; Claudette Colbert, the actress, and Kitty Carlisle, the actress and widow of Moss Hart. See the debate between Cerf and Briscoe here at the 11:40 mark: CERF: Mr. Briscoe, can I ask you a question? Humorist and publisher, one of the founding editors of Random House Inc. In 1944, Cerf published the first of his collection of joke books, Try and Stop Me, with illustrations by Carl Rose. The customs man said, Oh, for Gods sake, everybody brings that in. , , 150 . Upon Fred Allens death in 1956, Random House book publisher co-founder and humorist Bennett Cerf became the anchor panelist who would usually, but not always, introduce Daly. Woolseys famous decision, which took him some time to write concluded that Ulysses is a sincere and serious attempt to devise a new literary method for the observation and description of mankind. He ruled that it was not obscene and could be admitted to the United States. Cerfs father Gustave Cerf was a lithographer; his mother Frederika Wise was heiress to a tobacco-distribution fortune. We almost lured Joyce to America once, he wrote, but he was afraid of boats. [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]. Joseph, Missouri, U.S.died July 17, 2009, New York, New York), American journalist and pioneer of television news programming who became known as "the most trusted man in America." He was the longtime anchor of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (1962-81), for which he reported on many of the most historic Mr. Cert's multiple activities, cultural and otherwise, brought him about $375,000 a year. It was 40 years ago on March 6 that news anchor Walter Cronkite signed off The CBS Evening News for the final time, stating his tag line, Thats the way it is. The phrase was more than just a signature ending of his nightly newscast. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University (1919) and his Litt.B. What are the physical state of oxygen at room temperature? He was unusually vituperative when he talked about the incident, wrote Bair in her Beckett biography, and he used it to illustrate his theory that the Catholic Church, toward which he had long been hostile, and the British government were responsible for the surprising number of great writers who had appeared in the short time since the nineteenth century. In one ad endorsing Heub lein's martinis, he was shown dueling with Moss Hart, the playwright. Within about six weeks, I was a national figure. In the case of the OCasey play Mr. OCasey refused to have certain technical changes made in his play, which made it impossible to put the play on within the limits of our theatre festival director. What do they care? Yet he was an extraordinari ly industrious and shrewd pub lisher, who actually read many of the books he issued and who was liked and respected by most of his authors. After seizure, the United States attorney Bennett Cerf - IMDb These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Dr. Seuss Wrote 'Green Eggs and Ham' on a Bet Cerf was known as "Bennett Snerf" in a Sesame Street puppet parody of What's My Line? So in March1932, I had lunch with Ernst and said, If I can get Joyce signed up to do an American edition of Ulysses, will you fight the case for us in court? I added, We havent got the money to pay your fancy priceshe was a very high-powered lawyerbut Id like to make you a proposition. With her warmth,. Did Bennett Cerf and John Daly get along? - Short-Fact 2000, , "AtRandom"[1], 2008 -8,000 [2]. Many of his evenings were given over to dinner par ties, either as a guest or as a host. He was 73 years old. 2005 7 [9]. Ulysses was banned by the United States government under the Comstock Act because it was considered obscene. The Modern Library series, one of the forerunners of the paperback, has since become a staple of Random House. [11], Cerf was interviewed in 1967 and 1968 by Robin Hawkins, a freelancer working for the Oral History Research Office at Columbia University. They had two sons, Christopher and Jonathan. He describes them, in a lively breezy fashion, warts and all. His col lected jokes also were printed in more than 20 books that had total sales of more than five million copies. The fact that the two had met worked in Mr. Cerf's favor. Beckettat that time the newest and most innovative Irish playwright because of his transformational Waiting for Godotwas incensed and withdrew Krapps Last Tape from the festival. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Unrivaled Mac notes apps for fuss-free note-taking, 6 Actionable Tips for Improving Your Websites SEO, Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes. Bennett Cerf/Age at death. Mr. Cerf, who was bored with brokerage, quit his job by telephone and went to see Hor ace Liveright, who offered him a vicepresidency at $50 a week in return for a $10,000 investment in the firm. much of which he spent on the full life. game show, a staple on the CBS Network every Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. for 20 years. Now it has nothing to do with the Church or with the censorship body forbidding these plays. Mr. Cerf had liberal political sympathies. [1][2][3] Cerf's father Gustave Cerf was a lithographer; his mother, Frederika Wise, was heiress to a tobacco-distribution fortune. 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. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Featuring 22 questions on a wide range of Bennett Cerf topics, it's not for the casual fan. In the nineteen fifties Mr. Cerf branched out into young people's books, publishing works on American and world history, nature and science. He married Hollywood actress Phyllis Fraser, a cousin of Ginger Rogers, on September 17, 1940. Cerf died from natural causes in Mount Kisco, on August 27, 1971, aged 73. Your IP: On February 24, 1990, he died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles of liver failure. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Did Bennett Cerf and John Daly get along? The temperature on that dock must have been a hundred and twenty degrees, and the customs people wanted only one thing: to get returning passengers off and get the hell out themselves. Might I ask you a question? LOVED listening to that interview. 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. The show, in which pan elists attempted to guess the occupations of various guests, made Mr. Cerf a national celeb rity. But our agent had his way. Dietz countered, "But you have to remember, Mr. Mayer, I get in very late in the mornings.". A funeral service will be held Tuesday at 11:30 A.M. at Frank E. Campbell's, Madison Avenue and 81st Street. Bennett Cerf on the Mystery Guest Who Wasn't BENNETT CERF, the late cofounder and for many years head of Random House, was my friend, but that was no particular distinction because he had thousands of them. The two went out for drinks one night and . After Bennett Cerf died in 1971, Phyllis Cerf assumed the ownership of the townhouse and continued to live there after she remarried former Mayor Robert F. Wagner in 1975. As I have been addicted to watching WHAT'S MY LINE on Youtube lately, I'll be sure to check out the Bennett Cerf interview. (One can only imagine what McQuaid thought of that title!) Bennett Cerf, in full Bennett Alfred Cerf, (born May 25, 1898, New York, New York, U.S.died August 27, 1971, Mount Kisco, New York), American publisher and editor. Edited compilations of humor and joke books. Bennett Cerf Drive, just outside the City of Westminster in Carroll County, Maryland, is named after him. -30% [7]. 19401971 73years (18981971) Last December he underwent a ma jor abdominal operation at the hospital. The House That Cerf Built - The Washington Post The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Cerf, the co-founder of the publisher Random House, wasn't new to the desert. OCasey was told that his play could only be performed only if certain structural alterations were made. He was unpretentious and, as viewers saw, was having a helluva time hamming it up, all the time. A second book, Shake Well Before Using, was published in 1949. , " " " '". He admired her "sincerity" and "brillian[ce]", and the two became lifelong friends. Cerf began appearing weekly on What's My Line? Editor's note:On Sunday, June 16, Ireland and the world celebrates the genius of Irish novelist James Joyce and his most famous work, Ulysses. CERF:[interrupting] That leaves lots of room. Looking for Irish book recommendations or to meet with others who share your love for Irish literature? everybody recognizes you. Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. 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. This project aims to create a new white tomato variety that hono, This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our, Bennett Cerf on the Mystery Guest Who Wasn't. Bennett Alfred Cerf (1898 - 1971) - Genealogy Highlights of Edward R. Murrow's visit with publisher Bennett Cerf and his wife, columnist Phyllis Cerf (cousin of Ginger Rogers) in this 1958 edition of "Pe. They want to know what's in the book and who wrote it. Mr. Cerf, in his turn, became a count with a fiefdom. Books by Bennett Cerf (Author of At Random) - Goodreads He was portrayed in the film Infamous (2006) by Peter Bogdanovich. Cerf married actress Sylvia Sidney on October 1, 1935; but the couple divorced on April 9, 1936. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. His father, Gustave Cerf, was a lithographer; and his mother, Frederika Wise, was an heiress to a tobacco-distribution fortune. I could tell you stories about him by the hour.. Published many giants of 20th century American literature, including William Faulkner, James Michener, and Ayn Rand. The cause of death was not immediately determined, but Mr. Cerf had recently been dis charged from Lenox Hill Hos pital following surgery. You can keep up-to-date on all our Bloomsday coverage and other literary news atIrishCentral's special books page here. There is a extensive interview on you tube with Bennett Cerf discussing the old TV game show What's My Line and other panelists. After the book was seized and more legal wrangling, the trial was on. Appeared regularly on "What's My Line?" Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/08/29/archives/bennett-cerf-dies-publisher-writer-bennett-cerf-publisher-and.html. He then was named a vice-president of the publishing firm Boni & Liveright. Who was CBS news anchor before Walter Cronkite? Ex-husband of Sylvia Sidney The company is vulgar to a degree. Bennett Cerf was born on May 25, 1898 and died on August 27, 1971. Member. The office then sued under the Tariff Act of 1930, which allowed a district attorney to bring an action against obscene literature. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Does Optimus Prime die in Transformers 3? We have to watch every editor on that. Green globe.svg . It turns out that pure sand can also be used for seed starting. Many won't admit it. It is my favorite because I have never heard it from any other source, so it is unique to me. This was followed six years later by the purchase of the Random House complex by the Radio Corporation of America for about $40million. And the agent said Aha! as he produced our copy of Ulysses. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. He was 73 years old. Since it was illegal to bring Ulysses into the U.S. Cerf was shocked at the efforts they had to go through to get U.S. Customs to seize this important edition of Ulysses. Bennett Cerf Expert Quiz: 22 Questions to test your expertise Bennett runs Random House as a conservative branch of show business, Mr. Epstein conceded a few years ago. One of the most interestingand funnychapters deals with his efforts to acquire the rights to Ulysses and getting it published. 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. (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. He was, after all, Bennett Cerf, and he made very few pretenses about his love of pleasure and fun. And youre not going to get the fifteen hundred back. . Edited compilations of humor and joke books. Cerf was known for his love of puns and good literature. Connect to the World Family Tree to find out, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2766686, week as a replacement for Nixon. To commemorate this special occasion, KarenO, a registered nurse with 35 years of experience, has started The Nightingale Project. Bennett Cerf | Encyclopedia.com Ron Pataky, now 78 years old, left his job at the Columbus Citizen-Journal in 1980. Mr. Cerf sealed the O'Neill deal by flying to Sea Island, Ga., where the playwright was staying. He was married to former Hollywood actress Phyllis Fraser, a cousin of Ginger Rogers, from September 17, 1940, until his death. She's convinced she's an elevator. An elevator? echoed the surprised analyst. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and its effects can be seen all around us. A third generation New Yorker, Cerf was born in 1898, growing up with friends such as Broadway composer Richard Rodgers and Donald Klopfer, Cerf's future business partner. He was survived by his wife and sons. The first step is to understand the causes of climate change and how we can reduce our impact on the environment. Person to Person--Phyllis and Bennett Cerf - YouTube Bennett Cerf, one of the coun try's foremost book publishers, died late Friday night at his estate in Mount Kisco, N. Y. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And since its titles would be chosen at random, they called it Random House. In it, he tells wonderful stories about his authors, ranging from Ayn Rand to John. This groundbreaking compilation of jokes, gags, stories, puns, and wit became recognized, in time, as the essence of Bennett Cerf and his humor. As the founder of Random House, Mr. Cerf was a leader in American publishing. Morris Ernst has been getting royalties on Ulysses ever since, but he richly deserved them. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Questioned a few years ago by Geoffrey Hellmann of The New Yorker about his desire for celebrity, Mr. Cerf ex plained: Everyone has a streak of pure unadulterated ham. Manhattan Townhouse That Was Longtime Home of Phyllis Cerf Wagner Some European wag - maybe French? in 1951 and continued until the show's CBS network end in 1967. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. His first wife was Sylvia Sid ney, the actress. 1940 . 1971 . 2007 [5]. Cerf, who died in 1971, left behind a wonderful memoir of his years running Random House called At Random. [1], Cerf was born on May 25, 1898, in Manhattan, New York, to a Jewish family of Alsatian and German origin. 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, the publisher and television personality who died last Friday at the age of 73, left an estate valued at more than $1million, according to his will, which was offered for. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
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