| Show Winchell T Batting for Editor note Dote Lieutenant Comman Commander u uVall VV Vall waster 1 l Is I. on a tour of doty duty outside the V. V 8 S. 50 Hit ne aU t columnist today tod y eJ li is Bennett tf Cerf f New Tork put pea haber Not more than 25 publishing houses control 90 per cent of the entire book business In America and of ot these 25 aU an but four are located In New York The general public at large knows little about the different houses and car cases cares s less The bIggest biggest biggest big bIg- gest selling book in the country today Is See Here Private Hargrove Hargrove Hargrove Har Har- grove but at a dinner In a newspaper editors editor's home 10 days ago only three of the 22 guests present knew who had published published published pub pub- it Some years ago one of our swankiest houses ran a full- full page advertisement that showed a society matron with a book clutched to her bosom and a caption that read Mrs Such and Such Reads Spitzenberg Books This proved to be the greatest waste of money since my own firm sent a salesman to canvass Wall Street brokers on The Public Papers of President President President dent Roosevelt The public at large never heard of ot motion picture picture picture pic pic- ture prod producers cers either despite the miles of credits that precede every feature When Random House published Alva Johnston's Johnstons Johnstons Johnston's Johnstons Johnston's John John- ston's The Great Goldwyn dozens of ot dealers in the middle west and south wrote to ask us who Goldwyn was GOdwyn thought we were kidding him when we reported to that effect The public clamor for books about the war and the resultant frenzied efforts by publishers to sign up leading correspondents and news commentators has destroyed destroyed destroyed de de- de- de the final vestiges of the publishing profession of ot yester yester- year Ivory towers towerS are now equipped with 14 telephones a news ticker and direct wires to Moscow Honolulu and Louis B. B Mayer The publishers them themselves selves elves have changed as much as automobiles model 1912 Fords are propped up In museums with railings around them 1912 publishers publishers publishers pub pub- lishers should be accorded the same treatment Yes there still sun are a few of ot them about adding their quivering falsettos to the Song of Reaction Book publishers publish publish- ers of 1942 follow the front pages of the news services as avidly as the managing editor of ot the Associated Press Some Idea of ot the speed with which publishers must work today today today to to- day may be Indicated by the story of Guadalcanal Diary This hIs diary was set down by Richard crack re re- reporter reporter porter for I INS N S who landed with the first boatload of marines marines ma ma- rines mines at G Guadalcanal and stayed there for two solid months montils When he left Guadalcanal he started preparing his manuscript aboard a Flying Fortress He finished It in 10 days The script was submitted to Random House on November 11 accepted for publication the next day and chosen as a part of a dual selection selection selection tion by the the of club four days later Before another another another an an- other week had gone by Life magazine had contracted for a condensation of the book the picture rights had been sold and anda a bookstore in Honolulu had cabled an order for copies Long before the war the publishing publishing pub pub- I lishing business In America had broken away fJ from om established traditions Alfred Knopf played virtually a lone hand in revolutionizing revolutionizing revolutionizing revo revo- the physical appearance appearance appear appear- ance nce of the printed book In America It was he who introduced introduced introduced intro intro- stained tops to books two-colored two title pages and improvements improvements improvements im im- im- im In typography that are taken for granted by the book buyers of ot today A few years later H Horace o r a ace c e Liveright turned the advertising of books upside down L i 1 v e r rig i g h t was three p par parts a r t s mountebank one part genius His publishing enterprise enterprise enterprise en en- was conducted in a story four brownstone house on St now St. now part of Rockefeller Rockefeller Rocke Rocke- feller fener Center His stuff Includes Beatrice K Kaufman a auf u f m man a n Manuel Komroff Dick J 6 FI I m In o 0 on n Sax Sass Commins Louis Ted Weeks now now editor of the Atlantic Monthly and a half- half dozen other youngsters who were to find fame tame In later years In 1923 LIveright competing with well long es publishers who first resented his advertising pyrotechnics pyrotechnics pyrotechnics pyro pyro- and then slavishly Imitated imitated Imi imi- th them m had on one seasons season's list three of the six best sellers of the entire year Black oxen Oxen Oxen Ox ox- en Flaming Youth and The Story of Mankind One day a young Englishman English English- man brought in a collection of short pieces called Imaginary Portraits Liveright liked his personality and bought the book after glancing at the first story The young man asked if it ithe he could have a one-hundred one advance to carry him over until the book was published Hi His Hi name was Noel Coward When he got the money he promptly walked across town and took a room at the Ritz Nobody lobody came to work at Liveright's much before eleven Kronen Kronen- berger was breakfasting at the corner drugstore at about this time on his fourth morning moaning on the job new additions to the staff caught on to the strange customs of the tribe with amazIng amazing amazing ing speed when Liveright entered entered entered en en- saw and pulled out his watch Here comes the sack groaned Kro Kro- to himself but what Liveright said was this a hell of a time for the boss to tobe tobe tobe be coming to work Remember Remember Remember Re Re- member that during this time Liveright was breaking down old taboos and introducing to the public daring and startling different writers who stand to today today today to- to day at the very top of ot their pro pro- Hemingway ONeill O'Neill Faulkner Van Loon Lewisohn Hecht and Dreiser are just a afew afew afew few of ot them |
