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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

Cerf:

They were very informal.

Q:

Would Liveright just go around and say, “I'm going to have a meeting”?

Cerf:

There'd be a call: “Come down to Horace's office.” Now, we never knew whether it was to have an editorial meeting or hear him boast to us about his latest conquest. He loved to boast about his conquests. There would be Komroff, and Lillian Hellman, and Ted Weeks, and Beatrice Kaufman, and Tommy Smith. At that time another promising lad came to work for us named Louis Kronenberger. He became the drama critic of Time magazine, and he's a very important fellow today, too. There also was a young girl working there who later became my secretary till she died. Her name was Pauline Kreiswirth.

Q:

Was this your secretary at Boni and Liveright?

Cerf:

No. She was working in another department. She was a kid, a little rosy-cheeked girl and the darlingest, darlingest girl. I nicknamed her Jezebel. She would never allow anyone else to call her that, but to me she was Jezebel. And when we started, she came with me and stayed with me until she died.

Q:

Again, can you describe to me what the meetings were like?

Cerf:

Yes. Horace taught me something at those haphazard meetings. If an editor was crazy enough about a book, Horace





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