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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

but it was too late. They had made up their minds before he could plead his case.

Q:

Who took over finally?

Cerf:

We put a fellow named Pitkin in. Pitkin was the son of the professor who wrote Life Begins at Forty. He had been a professor of mine up in the Pulitzer School of Journalism. Young Mr. Pitkin only lasted a little while. Then we were lucky. We landed a knockout named Oscar Dystel who has built Bantam up to be a huge paperback house. I guess it's number one today.

Q:

Do you still have meetings together?

Cerf:

Well, everything went along beautifully for a long time. Then came a time when all the other paperback houses were doing originals. The Bantam boys wanted to follow suit. At this, young Charles Scribner, who had long since superseded his father, rebelled. He didn't like the profitable paperback business even though he was an owner of about one-twelfth of the Bantam stock. He didn't want to have any part of it. Young Charles Scribner is one of the finest men that I've ever met and most honorable--though I think he was very foolish in this instance. He said that he wanted to get out. All he wanted back was the money that his father had put into the business. We said to him, “Charlie, if





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