Bennett Cerf
Bennett Cerf · Arts & Literature
Co-founded Random House in 1927 and fought the ban on Ulysses to a win in 1933; for sixteen years also a panellist on What's My Line?
25 May 1898, New York City, USA — 27 August 1971, Mount Kisco, New York, USA
New York, USA
Bennett Cerf is recognized among Jewish contributors to Arts & Literature — Co-founded Random House in 1927 and fought the ban on Ulysses to a win in 1933; for sixteen years also a panellist on What's My Line?
Bennett Alfred Cerf was born Benoît Cerf in New York, to an Alsatian Jewish father and a German Jewish mother; the Wikipedia article on his partner records that 'Cerf and Klopfer were both prominent Jewish businessmen'. In 1925 the two bought the Modern Library, and in 1927 they founded Random House — so named because they meant to publish a few books 'at random' on the side. Cerf then took the United States government to court over Ulysses and won: the 1933 decision that the book was not obscene opened American publishing.
For sixteen years he was also a fixture of Saturday-night television on What's My Line?, which made a book publisher into a household face.
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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Cerf
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Co-founded Random House in 1927 and fought the ban on Ulysses to a win in 1933; for sixteen years also a panellist on What's My Line?
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Cerf