Voting Station

Bennett Cerf

Please vote to return to collections.

Publisher

The Resume

    (May 25, 1898-August 27, 1971)
    Born in Manhattan, New York
    Founded Random House (1925)
    Published William Faulkner, Eugene O'Neill, Ayn Rand, James Michener, Gertrude Stein, Truman Capote and Dr. Suess
    Panelist on 'What's My Line?' (1951-67)
    Compiled several joke books, including 'Try and Stop Me' (1944), 'Good for a Laugh' (1952), 'Bennett Cerf's Book of Laughs' (1959) and 'Laugh Day' (1965)
    Wrote the autobiography 'At Random' (published posthumously, 1977)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was married to actress Sylvia Sidney for six months.
    He bet Dr. Seuss $50 that he could not write a book using only 50 words; when Seuss succeeded with 'Green Eggs and Ham,' Cerf failed to pay up.
    He was big on puns, such as calling his weekly column 'The Cerf Board.'
    He was a founder of the Famous Writers School, which was exposed as a scam by Jessica Mitford.

Why he might not be annoying:

    After he told Ayn Rand that he found her philosophy 'absolutely horrifying,' she chose Random House as her publisher because she admired his honesty.
    He won a landmark censorship battle that allowed James Joyce's 'Ulysses' to be published in the US after a decade-long ban (1934).
    During a radio broadcast, he introduced Gertrude Stein by noting 'I'm very proud to be your publisher, but as I've always told you, I don't understand very much of what you're saying,' to which she replied, 'Well, I've always told you, Bennett, you're a nice boy but you're rather stupid.'
    David Sarnoff, the chairman of RCA when it owned both Random House and NBC, tried to get him to quit 'What's My Line' since it aired on rival network CBS; Cerf changed Sarnoff's mind and continued appearing on the program until its cancellation.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 91 Votes: 51.65% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 12.50% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 33 Votes: 39.39% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying