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Author Topic: New biography of Bennett Cerf, "Nothing Random"  (Read 991 times)

Robert Hutchinson

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New biography of Bennett Cerf, "Nothing Random"
« on: January 23, 2026, 07:06:17 PM »
I happened to see a mention of this earlier today while I was searching for something else. It just came out earlier this month.

The reviews I skimmed all seemed very positive. It looks like it's focused (as you'd expect) on his career with Random House, but that it also delves into his other activities, personal life, etc. And it's hefty--over a thousand pages. The author (Gayle Feldman) apparently started working on it over 20 years ago.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/48744/nothing-random-by-gayle-feldman/

trainman

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Re: New biography of Bennett Cerf, "Nothing Random"
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2026, 01:18:40 AM »
It would have been hilarious if she'd sold it to a different publisher.

Looks like it might be a good companion to his own memoir, "At Random," which I believe only mentions WML? briefly in passing.
trainman is a man of trains

carlisle96

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Matt Ottinger

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Re: New biography of Bennett Cerf, "Nothing Random"
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2026, 12:50:29 PM »
Here's a picture of Bennett Cerf on a prehistoric game show

Seen locally on WCBW (about to become WCBS) in New York, and virtually ignored by the newspaper media even though it ran for a good chunk of 1946.  Among the other guests was Lucille Ball, years before I Love Lucy made her a superstar.
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.

calliaume

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Re: New biography of Bennett Cerf, "Nothing Random"
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2026, 12:10:28 PM »
My library already has three holds on this book! (Now four.) I don't see how anyone is going to barrel through a thousand-page book in three weeks unless they've got a lot of spare time.

carlisle96

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Re: New biography of Bennett Cerf, "Nothing Random"
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2026, 12:29:57 PM »
My library already has three holds on this book! (Now four.) I don't see how anyone is going to barrel through a thousand-page book in three weeks unless they've got a lot of spare time.
I'm still the chump who goes to Barnes and Noble and shells out $35 for a copy, which I plan to do as soon as this ice / snowstorm lets me get out of the house.

carlisle96

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Re: New biography of Bennett Cerf, "Nothing Random"
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2026, 05:25:01 PM »
Here's a picture of Bennett Cerf on a prehistoric game show

Seen locally on WCBW (about to become WCBS) in New York, and virtually ignored by the newspaper media even though it ran for a good chunk of 1946.  Among the other guests was Lucille Ball, years before I Love Lucy made her a superstar.
Is that where Lucy made her TV debut? I thought it was a New York-based DuMont charades show or maybe the Ed Wynn show in Hollywood. But as you say, newspapers ignored lot of those local shows and experimental broadcasts.