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Andrew HeiskellAndrew Heiskell
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Session:         Page of 824

Heiskell:

On top of the Chrysler building. It was very fancy--you know, I'd never seen a thing like that before, never been in any place like that before. I was very awed. Not so awed to prevent me from answering any question that was put to me.

Q:

What, from your “lowly” position and age--what was the attitude toward Henry Luce in the publication at that point? I mean, were people in awe of him, or did they--

Heiskell:

Harry in those days--I think people were less in awe of him in those days than they were later on. He also had a bad stuttering problem. He'd have quite a time getting sentences out. There was one other person who really stuttered to the point of being incomprehensible, and that was P.I. Prentice, who I think in '38 was publisher of Time--yes, I think so. And if you had to sit and listen to P.I. Prentice and Harry Luce talking to each other, it was sheer agony, because it just took forever for anything to come out. And you got slightly embarrassed, because if you said something, a stream of sentences uninterrupted, you felt there was something wrong with you [laughter].

Q:

What was the ambiance at the magazine in the late 30s? How would you describe it?

Heiskell:

Oh, it was a ball! It was great fun. And of course, for me it was absolutely incredible, because here I moved in six months from being the lowliest reporter on the Herald Tribune--making $25 a





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