My copy of Bennett Cerf's, "Famous Ghost Stories," is old and yellowed and I would not part with it. I purchased it as a new hardback Modern Library Book in about 1959 and still take it off of the shelf to explore it's delightful scares every halloween. To me this book has come to symbolize ghost stories and dark fall evenings.
Within Cerf's anthology there are some standard such as W.W. Jacob's, "The Monkey's Paw' and Saki's "The Open Window." The reader will also find some rarer treats in August Derleth's, "The Return of Andrew Bentley' and Ambrose Bierce's, "The Damned Thing." Cerf had fantastic taste in ghost stories and assembled 15 that range from pleasent to down-right horrifying. Modern Library has allowed this wonderful classic to go out of print which denies modern readers access to the best ghost story anthology every published and makes it virtually impossible for me to replace my old yellowed copy...
Though I may be telling the reader to go find Shangra-la, find a copy if you can. I beg modern library to re-introduce this great anthology to the public. Hwlloween is always coming you know.

this collection is indeed yet another example of a should-have-been bona fide classic all but languishing in bibliophile limbo; i naively lent my own first copy--the 1944 pb edition--out to a 'good friend' only to later discover that its $.25 thrift store price belied its actual rarity in light of its disappearance. behind cerf's editorial modesty is the brilliance reflected in his selections which represent the best of the genre with stories and authors both well-known and unfamiliar; though sourced from differing places, time periods and publications, all succeed as both literature and ghost stories--unsettling the reader with well-written, intelligent, and ultimately satisfying tales for neophyte and scholar alike.

This is far and away the finest collection of ghost stories I have ever read. This is not a book for those who dote on slasher stories or sex. Nothing here but bone-chilling tales of fear and horror in a classic mode.

Our 3 year old daughter loves this book and enjoys telling the riddles to our friends, although she usually starts giggling before she finishes the riddle. The riddles are short and simple and therefore easy to remember.

Bennett Cerf has had many careers over his lifetime - publisher, lecturer, newspaper columnist as well as television personality (the host on "What's My Line", seen on the cable channel Game Show Network). But one of the things Mr Cerf was most famous for was making people laugh.

In "The Sounds of Laughter", Mr Cerf serves up some help for those who like a good joke or a bad pun, but especially those who have to do public speaking. The book is divided into various catagories - politics, history, wildlife (among others) and of course, puns. And all of the jokes are suitable to tell any audience of any age. There are history lessons (including an interesting quote from Adolph Hitler) as well as famous folks'
anecdotes such as Dorothy Parker and Gertrude Stein.

This book is definitely a funny one for people of all ages and especially helpful if you happen to do a lot of presentations. Slip one of these jokes into your presentation, your audience is laughing - and you got them eating out of the palm of your hand.
So give it a try - you'll really enjoy yourself.

It was Cerf's intention to write AT RANDOM using as a basis the transcriptions of 21 question and answer interviews conducted by Mary R. Hawkins of Columbia University's Oral History program. Unfortunately, he died before he could edit these thousand or so pages into a cohesive manuscript. The good news was that he had discussed his intentions with the editors of this book, and they feel that they have brought his intentions to fruition.

They not only used the aforementioned transcripts, but they also made use of the copious diaries that he had kept since his student days at Columbia University. In addition to that, they had his scrapbooks and many articles he had written which came in handy where clarification was needed.

The resulting book is not just a biography of Bennett Cerf's life. It is also a history of the publishing business, centering, of course around the company he had co-founded, Random House, and containing a number of anecdotes about writers, entertainers, politicians, editors, power-brokers, and just plain everyday people, and, in addition, it is a condensed history of the U.S. for the first three quarters of the twentieth century.

Through the course of the book we are given insights into the characters and personalities of such diverse persona as Eugene O'Neill, Robert Sherwood, Ayn Rand, George Gershwin, Moss Hart, Irwin Shaw, Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur and many, many more with whom Cerf had business and/or personal relations. No matter how difficult the person was to deal with (and many of them were) he could usually find some redeeming features. There were one or two exceptions to this, but I'll let you read the book to find out who and why.

Along the way, Cerf was instrumental in building the company, Random House, that he had co-founded and nursed through its infancy, from a single office with four or five people to a publicly owned organization, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and one with a book list that included a number of authors and titles that anyone would be proud to represent. Many of the books Random House brought out were Pulitzer Prize winners, Book-of-the-Month Club selections, etc. He was also responsible for bringing the Modern Library to its prominent current position in the book industry. On the reverse side of the coin, he was also responsible for bringing out a few real stinkers.

Along with his business acumen, Cerf built up a reputation of honesty and integrity. He was well liked by almost everyone who knew him and was respected for his compassion and sense of humor.

When he died, THE SATURDAY REVIEW OF LITERATURE carried an obituary that included the words I used for the title of this review. AT RANDOM concludes with an excerpt from this obituary.

Taken from twenty-one interviews with Bennett Cerf between September 1967 and February 1968, this would have been the greatest work for this American publishing giant.
Unfortunately, his life was ended suddenly in August of 1971. This book covers birth right up to death, between those two points is a life I find myself envious of.
Schooled at Columbia, purchased The Modern Library with Donald Klopfer in 1925 and set out to create a publishing empire. Bennett kept in true "high-society" - actors, musicians, politicians, executives, and authors. Bennett has a great style, not often seen today. In all his books and appearances he leaves the reader/viewer feeling good.
This is an excellent companion book to "Dear Donald, Dear Bennett". Plenty of photos too: book catalogs, Truman Capote, Ayn Rand, J. Edgar Hoover, Cerf family, etc. This makes a great read for anyone who: has seen Bennett on "What's My Line?" is interested in any of Random House's authors or the publishing industry in general.

This book is a must read for bibliophiles. Mr.Cerf may be more well known by the public for his radio and television appearances, but the bulk of this book is dedicated to his adventures in publishing. This book made me want to go into the publishing business! He talks about many well known authors: Ayn Rand, Eugene O'Neill, William Saroyan, and William Faulkner just to name a few. He also devotes time to writing about the ins and outs of the publishing business. On every page, Cerf's love of books and publishing is obvious. The book is interesting, funny, and informative. I highly recommend it.

This book is a roar. A very funny collection of puns & humor that reads as funny today as in 1968 when it was published.

Now that I see other works by Cerf available through Amazon, I may suggest them as Christmas gifts.

Published in 1948, this is the sequel to "Try and Stop Me". Again wonderfully illustrated by Carl Rose. Mr. Cerf has separated this volume into sections like a large Sunday newspaper. Including The Theatre, Book Review, Hollywood, Financial, Travel, Sports, and Society. Stories again cover a range of persons: Will Rogers, Mark Twain, Jack Benny etc. There is an index included in the back. As with all of Bennett's early works, there are some stories that in today's society, some may consider politically incorrect. As Bennett as said he doesn't mean any ill will, or try to convey any prejudice. It merely shows that all people, all of us, have funny moments and funny stories to tell.