Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156 of 1029

Would you make it even?

Everything was 50-50, absolutely 50-50. It would have killed either of us if there had been any difference. I think we started with the princely salary of about $100 a week. And after three years we had gone up to $10,000 a year. Now, mind you, this included interest on our investment. We weren't getting a penny back on our investment. We were building our business, and Random House--we pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Not one penny above that $200,000 was ever put into the firm that was sold ultimately to RCA for approximately $45 million.

This is something that I may be putting all wrong, but would you say you were the idea man and Klopfer might often say, “I don't think that's a good idea.” Was he the stabilizing influence?

He was a complete stabilizing influence. I would blow my top, and Donald always knew how to handle me. He would sit there chewing the end of his glasses listening to me very calmly. Then after seven or eight minutes when he saw that I had had my say, he would get up and say, “Oh, shut up,” and walk out of the office, leaving me absolutely enraged and finished--I mean drained. Then a few minutes later I'd burst out laughing. I've always been this way. My wife and two kids know me so well they let me blow off. They know that in ten