Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 560561562563564565566567568569570571572573574575576577578579580581582583584585586587588589590591592593594595596597598599600601602603604605606607608609610611612613613a613b613c613d613e of 1029

But the second group that we sent out was hilarious because it included that great author Kathleen Winsor, who had just published Forever Amber. It was a whale of a bestseller, published by, of all people, MacMillan, who had no idea what they were publishing. In the party was MacKinlay Kantor, Carl Van Doren, Miss Winsor and myself. Well, we started out. Mac Kantor and Carl Van Doren are both very convivial and gay gentlemen. We loved each other. Miss Winsor, this very handsome girl, was just out of college. She had written her book while she was at the University of California. She was the big drawing card. Everybody came to see Kathleen Winsor because Forever Amber was the book of the day. She didn't have very much to say. Everybody would go to her first, but they would bounce right off on us because they found her very uncommunicative. We would do thirty or forty appearances a day. We'd go to schools and factories. In the evening would be the great rally where there'd be a couple of thousand people who had bought bonds. This raised a lot of money. Kathleen Winsor was such an amateur at that time that her little speech, which a child of eight could have learned in ten minutes, she never learned by heart. She would come out on the stage and fish in her bag, which had in it everything but a live seal, and she'd try to come up with this little speech, which she carefully unfolded. She'd then read it in a colorless monotone. After about three days, of course this became a subject to Kantor and Doren and Cerf of wild hilarity. We began to kid her. You couldn't help