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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

little woman. Another one was with another star--Joe Cotton. Both shows were very popular daytime serials.

Q:

Was she writing?

Cerf:

She was working on the script book and doing extremely well.

The first date we had, I think, was at the New York World's Fair in 1938. I remember eating with her there at the French Pavilion, which was the great hit of the fair. That was the beginning of Restaurateur Henri Soule. That was also the beginning of Phyllis and Bennett. We often revisited Mons. Soule.

Then I began introducing her to my friends. I was a little sheepish about it because she looked like a child and I got quite a lot of kidding about Phyllis because she didn't look twenty-one. She looked about eighteen at the most. She was small and quiet and darling. All of my friends fell in love with her at sight, which was not the case with several other girls I had. She made a special hit with Alicia Paterson, who was just starting Newsday with her husband Harry Guggenheim. Phyllis and Alicia became close friends at once.

Alicia had a great influence on me because she had this beautiful home down at Sands Point. I used to bring down girls for the weekend and Alicia would cut them up. She destroyed many romances, and usually she'd say, “Get that dame out of this house. Don't you ever bring her around again.” But Phyllis was in at sight!...





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