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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

this character in such a way that nobody can mistake who is meant and also throw in fictional filth. The reader will believe all of it because he will recognize the true segments. The person who is being attacked has no come-back. If he makes a noise, that's exactly what the publisher and the publicity department want. Also, the author can say, “What makes you think that that's you?" You see, the victim is admitting then to all the filth in the book.

We were getting more and more worried as Geis's books got sleazier and sleazier; and, to be honest, as we got bigger and bigger, our salesman had plenty to do without him selling our own books. Why were we distributing Bernie Geis? It had been a very profitable arrangement, and when he was simply doing books that were harmless and funny, it was all right; but now the association was becoming embarrassing. For about a year we had been warning Geis that we couldn't distribute his books much longer. Then he precipitated the final break when he brought over a manuscript he thought he had better let me read first.

Q:

Was this an unusual occurrence?

Cerf:

It was. I didn't have time to read Bernie Geis's trash, but Bernie was smart enough to realize this particular book was going to present a special problem. It was called The King and it was obviously modeled on the career of Frank Sinatra. Bernie knew that Frank Sinatra is a very, very dear





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