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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

competitors have used that as an argument against me. One or two have dubbed me a playboy, interested only in my own career. Obviously this is not true, but it's a good argument for the competition. I probably would use it myself. But John sure knows what I'm doing. When I was on “What's My Line?" all of those years, he never missed it. He'd usually have some snide comment to make, kidding me. He'd call me up and say, “Boy, were you terrible last night”--but he was always watching. Two weeks ago when I was on the “Tonight Show,” I said, “John O'Hara's not only a great author but a wonderful man; and the fact that I know he's watching is not why I'm saying this.” I looked right at him. O'Hara called me the next morning, obviously pleased, and said, “You were looking right at me.” I said, “You're absolutely right.” That's the rapport which we have:

Q:

Do you think that he has many more books in him still?

Cerf:

He's still writing a book a year. I told you that he's so absolutely facile that he can stop in the middle of a sentence and go to bed, and the next day get up and just finish the sentence in the typewriter.

Q:

Do you know how he works? Is he a man who works eight hours a day?

Cerf:

Six hours a day, usually consecutive. He'll start in





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