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charming and the book was charming, too, but nobody ever dreamed that it would be taken by the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Sally was always broke. I called up to tell her that it was a dual selection--it was a small book--and Sally let out a squeal and said, “How much does that mean for me?" I said, “I would say that you'll probably make an extra twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars out of this book.” Twenty minutes later the Buick automobile company called me up and said that a Miss Sally Benson was in there buying a new Buick and had given me as a reference. It didn't take her ten minutes to get on her hat and coat and go out and buy herself a Buick. I approved heartily, though I discovered later she had a lot of debts that she had conveniently forgotten all about.

Her next group of stories were about her own girlhood in St. Louis and was called 35 Kensington Street. I told you that I have renamed some Random House books. I persuaded Sally to rename this group of stories Meet Me in St. Louis, which was the name of an old fair song, “Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie,” and to add one story to justify the use of the title, which she did. This book was a runaway and was made into one of Judy Garland's most successful pictures. It had in it two songs that they're still singing. One was the trolley song. Remember, “Clang, clang, clang went the trolley...” The other one, “I just adore the boy next door...” Oh, they still do it on the late show. I watch it every time they do it--it's a heartwarming picture!