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Saturday Review. It was a big national campaign. The Heublein people saturated the magazines with it. Every time that another ad came out, I got hell again from Phyllis; and Kitty was scarcely talking to Moss. Phyllis said, “At least Moss is in the theater. You, a dignified publisher, standing there dueling--you fool.”

One of her best friends was Alicia Paterson of Newsday. Alicia was with us one night for dinner, and the two of them lit into me together. Alicia said, “No dignity. I've told you again and again that you've got to grow up.” I got angry and said, “You two are the only ones making any noise about this. Nobody else is going to pay the slightest attention.” Alicia said, “I'll bet that you'll get letters from all over the country saying, ‘How dare you, the head of Random House, making a fool of yourself that way--dueling in a vodka advertisement.'” I insisted, “You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.” Every night Phyllis would say, “I bet that you got some letters today.” I'd say, “Not one!”

Alicia was with us again about three weeks later and said, “Tell me the truth, Bennett, how many letters did you get on this thing?" I said, “Not a single one.” The two of them let our a roar of laughter. Alicia said, “You damned liar! We sent you about two hundred ourselves.” They had had letters written and mailed from all over the country to me. I was very worried about them. They were coming in from Omaha and Shreveport and Dallas. Alicia had sent them all to newspapers around the country and had said,