Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Session:         Page of 1029

Incidentally, when we first went down there, there was a gentleman often in the background named Adlai Stevenson. That's when I first met Adlai Stevenson, who had been a lifelong beau of Alicia. This was before he ran for Governor of Illinois. As a matter of fact, when he ran for Governor of Illinois, nobody thought that he had a prayer. He was a dark horse. I read that he was having trouble getting funds; and, as a joke, I sent him a check for ten dollars, saying, “This is just a token to show you that somebody in New York is rooting for you.” I got a cute note back from him, that this, of course, would finance everything but he appreciated that it was just a gesture. I had cause to rue this years later when the great outcry came to find out where all the funds were coming from. This started when they began accusing Nixon. Do you remember? They began making lists.

Q:

Yes.

Cerf:

So Stevenson, when he was running for President, dug up all the contributions he had gotten when he was running for Governor. Suddenly it appeared: Marshall Field, etc., $10,000 each; Bennett Cerf, $10. It was so humiliating! I began getting letters saying: “Are you sure you could afford this?”

At any rate, Phyllis and I began seeing each other more and more. I was fighting this thing because I had had this abbreviated and unsettling marriage with Sylvia and a replay was not part of my dream at that particular time. But, once





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help