Word: meredith
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Born. To James Meredith, 34, Negro civil rights activist and contender for the vacant congressional seat of Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell; and Mary Wig gins Meredith, 30: twin boys, their second and third children; in Manhattan...
...trouble with Heterosexual is that the play does not rise to its climactic moment but runs down to it like an unwound clock. As comedy, it is fitful; as a social comment, it is fretful, without being particularly penetrating or fresh. Considering how talky the evening is, Burgess Meredith's direction wings it along at a dancing pace with frenetic motion and effervescent, semi-psychedelic lighting. It may be an ironic reflection of the health, resilience and confidence of the U.S. spirit that the play, despite transparent distaste for American capitalism, was supported, promoted, and frequently applauded...
...Meredith who in 1952 started "auctions"-the practice of submitting promising manuscripts, along with a bidding deadline, to more than one publisher at a time. Typically, he will send out letters to about 20 publishers informing them in glowing but vague terms about a sure-fire bestseller. After a sufficient number of nibbles, Meredith sets his H-hour, and on the big day-watches synchronized, manuscripts neatly packed in grey boxes-a platoon of messengers fans out across Manhattan to deliver their valuable cargo to the publishers. Fevered reading is then followed by even more feverish bidding...
Although conservative agents mutter in their tweeds about such practices, many have learned the game. Yet Meredith remains the master auctioneer. For Mystery Writer Evan Hunter, he got a $550,000 advance on two novels and nine "Ed McBain" thrillers; for Irving Shulman (Valentino), $100,000 apiece for his next two books; for Science Fictioneer Arthur C. Clarke, $160,000 for one book; for Whodunit Author Richard Prather (The Kubla Khan Caper), $1.1 million for 20 paperbacks...
However they handle their job, though, most agents are happy enough to participate in the publishing bonanza. But there are many who also fear that the payoff is getting too big for comfort. Says Jim Brown of James Brown Associates: "A man like Scott Meredith has hurt the industry by pressing for unrealistic advances in terms of what he is offering." Echoes Agent Robert Lescher: "I'm in the business of handling creative careers. I don't want a publisher turning sour on a writer because I negotiated too big an advance...