Betsy Wade Drinks: 6 P.M

Society of the Silurians LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD BANQUET The National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Honoring Betsy Wade Drinks: 6 P.M. • Dinner: 7:15 P.M. Meet old friends and award winners Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization (212) 532-0887 Members and One Guest $100 each of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 Non-Members $120 NOVEMBER 2016 Betsy Wade: Game Changer BY MYRON KANDEL ot many people can be cred- ited with helping change the Ncourse of journalistic history, but we Silurians can be proud that one of them is our own long-time devoted member Betsy Wade, the worthy recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to a distinguished newspaper career, which itself merits this award, Betsy is enshrined in history as a leading member of the group of brave and intrepid women who challenged The New York Times for its treatment of female employees. That effort, which developed into a precedent-setting 1974 class action suit, Elizabeth Boylan, et. al. vs. The New York Times, reverberated far beyond the confines of the paper’s offices, then located on West 43rd Street. Publishers and editors around the country began thinking that if the august Times could be accused of treating its women staffers improperly, perhaps they had better re-evaluate their own behavior. Slowly, and sometimes painfully, the tide began to turn toward greater equality, a movement that still hasn’t been fully achieved. Betsy and her six other named plaintiffs deserve appre- ciation from the generations of women journalists past, present and future, who have benefited, and will benefit, from their courageous action. To digress a bit, why did the suit use the name Elizabeth Boylan (she married James Boylan, who also became an outstanding journalist, in 1952) when she’s always professionally been called Betsy Wade? The answer is that the name used was the one that appeared on her Times payroll record. And why did the suit lead with her name? Because «B» Continued on Page 2

recommended a therapist to him. He told with it were vows, never to be broken. We me that each afternoon, when lunch was journalists were like priests (no chastity done, he would go back to his office, put required), but special, seekers of truth. An Editor’s Worth his head on his desk, close the door, and When he liked something I had brought BY ANNE ROIPHE to myself, I’ll never make a mistake like sleep the rest of the afternoon away. He to him I felt joy in every bone of my body. good editor is worth far more that again—or so I hope. was not alone in his regimen of the long When he felt it could be better I tried as than rubies and pearls. But the My first book editor was at Simon and afternoon nap. many times as it took to satisfy him. Adefinition of a good editor is Shuster. He published an early feminist My book was well reviewed. He took Then I had to earn more money. That’s primarily one who likes your work. novel of mine Up the Sandbox. It was me to lunch at the Four Seasons to cel- what happens when you reproduce and Of course it also is one who sharpens 1970. I was 30. He was a new, young ebrate, or perhaps it was someplace like want all your children to be brain sur- and focuses, saves you from over writing editor with a big office and an expense that with fountains and pastry trays and geons. I wrote for Ms magazine. There or factual mistakes, or catches repetitions, account. He took me to lunch often at cigarette smoke curling around lettuce the editors were on the hunt for the wrong imprecisions, and fudging. I have had restaurants filled with agents and edi- leaves. I ate the cherries in his Manhat- pronoun, for the incorrect gender use, editors who taught me how to sharpen, tors and authors, picking at their food, tans. It wasn’t the fruit he was after. for the message that had to be the right how not to be lazy, how to confirm and drinking martinis, manhattans, double Then I wrote for the New York Times message. It was like writing for the Daily reconfirm controversial quotes. I have had bourbons, scotch, vodka, At almost every Magazine. My editor there, Lewis Berg- Worker. It was not exactly about truth or editors whom I admired and even loved. table little, white onions, olives, blood red man, was sharp and quick—dedicated style, or perceptiveness. It was all about And I have had editors who were in a cherries bobbed in their liquids, up and to the craft. He taught me to push for The Movement: Politics trumped the hurry, who didn’t care, who pushed me down. This was not a one-drink crowd. answers, to care about the piece I was truth. It drove me crazy. to be broader, stupider, flatter. But when My editor did not have much to say about working on as if the fate of the world I wrote a piece about field hockey. I had a good editor, one who made me my book, but he did tell me the office depended on getting it right. He didn’t I said that we would know the feminist think, who improved the original with a gossip. He did tell me about his disastrous mind a little ruthlessness in pursuit of a movement had accomplished its goals question, a cut, a red pencil around some love life and his indifferent famous doctor fact. I think he felt the profession was a when field hockey games were on Sunday exaggeration or show-off phrase, I think father. I was married to a psychoanalyst. I sacred one and the obligations that came Continued on Page 8 PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2016 President’s Report BY BERNARD KIRSCH his is my first report as Pres- A Girl in a Newsroom ident of the Society of the TSilurians, and I am extremely BY CAROL LAWSON sure section. He assigned a single page were men who had had long careers happy that this year is off to such a love- n a sunny summer day in to each editor in the department—the at The Times. My name and picture ly and exciting start. Frank Bruni and 1974, the phone rang in my film page or the theater page, for exam- were posted on bulletin boards Jeffrey Toobin, our first two speakers, San Francisco apartment. ple. The page editor was responsible for everywhere in the newsroom. The packed the house. The National Arts O The editor of the Arts & Leisure creating story ideas, editing the writing Times was blasting big news: “We Club, our home base now for every event, had to run tables down the long section of The New York Times was of the paper’s critics and freelancers, found one! We hired a woman!” corridor. Of course that was no great calling. He said I was recommended correcting page proofs, and writing A few years later, I wanted to hardship for our members, because that by my former editor in New York, headlines and captions. I was assigned change jobs and be a reporter, not meant some of you were closer to the where I had been managing editor of the art coverage, which occupied not an editor. When I told the managing bar area. a magazine of international affairs. one page but a page and a half. (Plus editor, he yelled, “It’s not my job to If I were 20 years younger—no, 55 He got down to business right away. ça change . . .) make people here happy.” years younger—I’d call this an “awe- “The women at The Times have To make matters worse, the editor Nevertheless, I did succeed in some” beginning to our 2016-17 season. filed a lawsuit charging sex discrim- told me to meet with museum directors. becoming a reporter in the culture And there are many more good things to ination,” he began. “We have women I had taken one art history class in department. As a reporter, I was come. In November, we will be honoring reporters, but we need women edi- college. I can still hear the voice of the writing two columns of theater one of our own, Betsy Wade, with our tors. Would you come to news plus other news and feature Lifetime Achievement Award, and for New York for two weeks stories every week. Some weeks I December we are planning on having for a tryout?” “It’s not my job to make people happy.” was in the paper nearly every day. someone who has covered this insane I said yes immediately. I Meanwhile, a man in the depart- presidential election. Stay tuned. All our functions will happen on the third had no intention of leaving --a The New York Times editor ment, an egotistical former foreign Wednesday of the month. my happy life in San Fran- correspondent, did almost nothing. As a 92-year-old society, we are not cisco and moving back to I was the lowest-paid reporter in the acting our age. We are as spry as ever, New York, but I thought it would director of the Solomon Guggenheim department, and he was collecting and, to boot, we are in fine financial be a kick to have a peak inside The Museum as we sat down to lunch at The a cushy salary. Finally I received a health, and doing good things with Times for two weeks. Times: “What are your qualifications?” small raise. (Plus ça change. . . .) our money. That includes distributing The tryout went so well, I was At the same time, dance was sud- Little by little, opportunities for funds for two scholarships to journal- offered a job—provided I could start denly becoming popular in New York. women did begin to improve in the ism students, one at NYU and another work in three weeks. It was an offer Indeed, people said the city was having newsroom after the lawsuit, but it at CUNY. In addition to what we now I could not refuse, even though The “a dance boom.” Since I was the only was like turning around the Titanic. have in our kitty, we also have a Con- Times offered no relocation com- woman in Arts & Leisure and had tak- Still, I am forever grateful to the tingency Fund that is there to aid fellow pensation for my airfare, hotel in en ballet lessons when I was six years courageous women who stood up to journalists who have fallen on hard New York for two weeks, or moving old, the editor named me dance editor. The Times and opened the door for times. All transactions and requests are across the country. I did not know who Petipa was, not to me. They gave me the adventure of confidential. Please be in touch with Steve Marcus, who now heads this fund. I arrived at The Times as the only mention Balanchine. a lifetime. One factor that has made our society woman editor in Arts & Leisure and The new dance coverage occupied so young at heart is our dedicated board was assigned a desk just outside half a page. Now I was responsible for of governors. Betsy Ashton, who hand- the editor’s office. There were two two pages each week while the men in Carol Lawson was on the staff of ed off the presidential baton to me, is phones, one for me and the other for the department edited only one. (Plus The New York Times for 23 years. always there with advice — as has been the editor. When his secretary was ça change. . . .) She was an editor in Arts & Leisure, true of other past presidents. With that not at her desk, I had to answer his Eventually, I started writing for Arts wrote about the visual and perform- said, Mike Kandel, aka Mr. Silurian, phone. (Plus ça change . . .) & Leisure. My first article, “Will Pet- ing arts in Culture, and reported on and Mort Sheinman, who recruited me As I arrived, the editor was in the rodollars Oil the Art Market?” won a changing American lifestyles for the to join the Silurians a decade ago, have midst of reorganizing the Arts & Lei- Publisher’s Award. Typically, winners Style department. been my big-time go-to dudes. Between them, they are responsible for finding many worthy speakers and many worthy members. We have more than 300 paid- up Silurians. If anyone knows a journalist who might qualify — someone who has been in the business at least 12 Betsy Wade: Game Changer years, has worked in the New York area or has worked for a New York-based Continued from Page 1 woman president of the Guild’s New Betsy retired from the Times in 2001, news organization—please give her or came alphabetically before the names of York local. In her pension capacity, she after nearly 45 years, but continues him an application. the six other named plaintiffs in the suit. became privy to salary information, to be engaged in women’s rights and Now let us praise a few other people. Betsy’s illustrious career in journal- discovering that women were paid far journalism. Just this year she agreed Karen Bedrosian Richardson, our trea- ism had not always taken a smooth path. less than men in comparable jobs, among to serve as a member of the Silurian’s’ surer, and Linda Amster, our secretary, Following graduation from Barnard other inequities. That revelation helped Contingency Fund, which provides fi- keep our records in order. There are College and the Columbia Graduate fuel the class-action suit. That suit was nancial assistance to members in need. Michael Serrill, our second vice presi- School of Journalism, she joined the finally settled in 1978, not to every plain- dent, and Valerie Komor, who take care After all the years that have passed, of our prestigious awards program. And women’s department of the New York tiff’s satisfaction, but with a landmark Betsy, when pressed, still talks nos- Fred Herzog, our webmaster, keeps our Herald Tribune, but was let go after she promise by The Times to implement an talgically about her earliest years in web site in order and makes sure that all disclosed she was pregnant with her first affirmative-action plan for women and journalism -- all the way back to ed- our members get their lunch and dinner son. Later, upon hearing Turner Cat- minorities. iting her junior high and high school notices. ledge, managing editor of The Times, Betsy doesn’t talk much about any of papers in Bronxville, NY, and writing Mort, along with Ben Patrusky, keep bemoan the fact that it was difficult to this, but many friends and colleagues for the Carleton College paper, where our web site, silurians.org, vibrant. The find good copy editors, she applied for feel that her activism in the women’s she spent two years and “raised a lot web site has videos of our past speakers that job there. movement and her Guild leadership, as of hell,” before transferring to Barnard and past copies of the Silurian News, It wasn’t easy, but after more than a well as the paper’s then-longstanding and then graduating from Columbia and many other comings and goings in year of trying, she was hired in 1956, aversion to women in top positions, J-School, where she excelled in copy the world of journalism. We also have and became the first female copy editor blocked her from rising higher in man- editing. a Facebook page, which board member in the paper’s history. Her first stint was agement ranks. So glass ceiling or not, Asked recently how she would de- Bill Diehl is overseeing. But he needs in the women’s department, but even- she realized she had gone as far as she scribe herself in one word, Betsy, with- help in keeping the page current, posting tually she managed to get transferred was likely to go in the newsroom and events relevant to the world of journal- out hesitation, answered “tenacious.” ism, and getting people to join the Face- to the rim of the more-mainstream city accepted an offer to write the Practical Later generations may not even know book world. So if there is any tech-savvy copy desk (where this writer was priv- Traveler column for the Sunday Travel it, but it was that outspoken tenacity that Silurian out there who would like to help ileged to serve with her). She quickly section. There she adopted a character- helped change the world of journalism out, please let us know. This is a day and made her mark there and later moved to istically active approach, opposing puff to the benefit of all of us. age where social media is so very vital the foreign desk, where she eventually pieces and advocating traveler rights It’s been an awesome lifetime of to keep an organization front and center. was promoted to slot man (slot woman and protections along with presenting achievement, and fortunately, it’s still Before becoming president, I was ed- hasn’t caught on, even now), becoming sound travel advice. Her columns were ongoing. itor of our Silurian News, and that honor the first woman to head one of the pa- so well-regarded that many of them were has been passed on to first vice president per’s copy desks. It was an important gathered in a book bearing the name (For an intimate portrait of Betsy David A. Andelman. With an organiza- achievement. of the column, which was published in Wade, check out an article in the May tion full of writers, David is waiting to Along the way, she became active 1994. She also compiled an anthology 2013 issue of The Silurian News, on hear from you and your story ideas. in Newspaper Guild activities, serving of articles written by her friend and page five, by her husband Jim Boylan. All these people, plus others, make as shop steward, contract negotiator, colleague Homer Bigart, the Pulitzer It’s easily available at: http://www.silu- up one heck of a team, and make me pension trustee, member of the union’s Prize-winning war correspondent, titled proud to be President. rians.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ International Executive Board and first “Forward Positions.” siluriannewsmay2013.pdf .) NOVEMBER 2016 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3 Campaign 2016: A View from the Critic’s Corner With the 2016 Presidential campaign We know Trump thinks highly of Vlad- taking on all the attributes of prime-time imir Putin. But our intelligence commu- reality television, Silurian News thought it nity is worried about covert Russian in- would be useful to ask an actual critic to fluence operations in the United States. discuss the impressions of what she has Trump hasn’t been consistently confront- read, seen or heard. ed with that. And, so far, there’s been no in-depth follow up to his personal attacks BY LEIDA SNOW on President Obama that might be seen as ntil Hillary Clinton’s bout with dog-whistles to fire up racist elements in pneumonia, the towering issues his supporters. Ufacing the nation were her emails When Mrs. Clinton spoke in Cleveland and Donald J. Trump’s vow to build a wall shortly before her reluctant announce- across the Mexican border. You’d think so, ment that she was suffering from pneumo- based on most of the media coverage of the nia, many television outlets covered her presidential campaign. coughing fit rather than the substance of Forget about race relations, gun control, her remarks, while Trump’s visit to a black or income inequality. There were plenty of church received wide coverage. reports about the latest mass shooting or Focus groups reflect what they see on the killing of a black man by a white cop, television: Trump is a racist and Clinton is or features about those struggling to make a liar. The data show there remains a lin- ends meet. But these were almost never gering distrust of Clinton over criminal jus- tied to what’s going on in the race for the tice issues. According to The Times, “the White House. focus groups and interviews with young Instead there was, and continues to be, act that resulted in a fine—leading her Mrs. Clinton is running a more conventional black activists suggest many of them are poll tracking. Pundits opine that neither office to drop a case it seemed to be campaign which, by definition, picked up after not aware of Mrs. Clinton’s plans regard- candidate is liked very much, and Mrs. building against Trump University. Labor Day. ABC’s David Muir sat down with ing police conduct, mass incarceration and Clinton isn’t seen as trustworthy. Only But as of this writing, the story hasn’t Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, for structural racism broadly.” But Mrs. Clin- rarely is it noted, as it was on Face the Na- gotten much traction on network tele- an interview in Ohio shortly after the holiday, ton’s first speech of the campaign focused tion, that Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers vision. with segments airing on Good Morning Amer- on criminal justice and she has made seri- track nicely with media coverage. When Yet there are many television pack- ica and the evening news. And she held what ous proposals on the issue. You’d have to it’s favorable, as after the Democratic ages about the heads of state or corpo- would become a daily meeting with reporters on go to her website to follow them. Convention, her poll numbers rise, and rate officials who contributed to the her plane shortly after Labor Day. Focus group members reflect the views when it’s less positive, when more emails Clinton Foundation and also got to As a New Yorker, I learned early that cam- of numerous Americans. They, and by ex- come out, her numbers go down. see the Secretary of State, but rarely paigns generally take cities for granted. Yet tension we, want to know what the candi- Print does better than broadcast and a mention that there was no sugges- while the most recent census data tell us that dates’ plans are to make their (our) lives cable, as those who read The New York tion of any quid pro quo. Occasionally 80.7 percent of Americans now live in urban better. Perhaps if the media asked the can- Times and Washington Post know. Col- some commentator will note that the areas, there has been little campaign coverage didates about that, or reported when either umnists chime in. Thank you, especially, bar seems set very low for Trump and of the key issues affecting our cities—home- candidate spoke about their plans, folks Paul Krugman. Some magazines provide exceedingly high for Clinton, but then lessness and affordable housing, mass transit, would have a clearer idea of where their thoughtful features. And there are some the discussion returns to the emails or infrastructure ranging from bridges and roads to votes should go enthusiastically. valuable websites. to why Mrs. Clinton failed to hold a WiFi highways. Secretary Clinton has policies The September Commander in Chief The Times runs in-depth articles on press conference in hundreds of days. on some of these, but they don’t get covered. forum on NBC was yet another missed op- specific issues, but no longer sets the agen- It’s true that the former Secretary of Meanwhile, 60 Minutes recently repeated a portunity. Given 30 minutes with Hillary da for TV coverage, which—despite the State has been less accessible to the po- segment about smartphone hacking. Apparent- Clinton, moderator Matt Lauer spent about growth of the Internet and social media—is litical press. As one reporter noted, you ly, most voters needn’t worry that much, but a third of the time on emails. Her Iraq war still where most Americans get their news. can often get Trump on the phone. On any elected official or corporate officer should. vote from a decade ago got additional pre- For example, The Times ran an extensive the other hand, he said, Trump’s replies They’ve either been hacked and may or may cious minutes. Trump, surrounded by an in- piece about Trump’s business successes to questions are filled with misrepre- not know it, or they will be hacked whether vited audience of veterans, wasn’t pressed and failures. It also reported the $25,000 sentations and verifiably false state- they know it or not, according to the report. So about his five deferments during the Viet- donation from his foundation to the Florida ments, so it isn’t clear how meaning- whether Mrs. Clinton had a private server or nam War, his denigration of a Gold Star District Attorney’s campaign—an illegal ful that access is. It also appears that not becomes moot. Continued on Page 4 HOW I BECAME ONE OF THE NATION’S LEADING PUNDITS (*) BY MARVIN KITMAN Dear Mister Know-It-All: wasn’t working out”—that I should question I am often asked is How dare you say “Laverne turn to a life of crime as a pundit how do I become a pundit like & Shirley” was the worst thing to pundit! No longer could I hide Ayou? happen on TV since the invention behind a medium like television, First of all, I explain there are no of commercials? It’s only your which as pundit Fred Allen once said openings in the field. Already there are opinion, you rat fink Jew commie years ahead of his time (1950), “TV far too many pundits. It is my humble kike bastard.” is called a medium because nothing considered opinion pundits should be Anon. is well done.” licensed like poets or fly fisherman. If the I chose as the medium for my petitioner persists, I explain it is very hard Dear Sir or Madam: work as a serious pundit, not to become a pundit. You have to study If I didn’t have an opinion as a newspapers, which all the other your Hegel and Kant. Eat lots of fresh critic I would be fired. pundits were predicting was on its vegetables, and go to bed early at night. Yours, last legs, but The Internet. I guess I wasn’t too encouraging Rat Fink Jew Kike Commie The Internet is the perfect venue I myself reached the pinnacle of Bastard. for punditing today. True, there are journalistic achievement by watching the Still it pained. You need to develop approximately 2,687,905 practicing TV news. My hero growing up was Eric the skin of a rhinoceros to survive in the art of punditry without a Sevareid, the pundit-in-residence at CBS this line of work. license. [But since only rarely do News circa 1970. There was more to it than calling you need a license to carry a lethal He was the apostle of dealing even- them as you see them in TV criticism. weapon today, why not?] It seems handedly on any controversial subject. And they didn’t call me Four Eyes that everybody is a pundit today. He was so balanced, we called him Eric for nothing! What’s great about The Internet: Severalsides. He would give both sides You needed to come up with there are no fact-checkers. of an issue, even when there were three original concepts that said something Everything carries equal weight: or more, and end with a “You decide.” more meaningful than just thumbs facts, true facts, and no facts. spilling the beans about my craft. Some day I hope to be as respected as up or down. Should you be challenged as Should anyone want to know more, Eric Severalsides. My most important contribution a pundit, your defense can be: you could always enroll in my Famous The ideal basic training for my later was Kitman’s Law: the facts are accurate. I made them up myself. Pundits School of Westport, Conn. Our role as one of the nation‘s leading On the TV screen, pure drivel Of course, you have no idea who actually school motto is: “In the land of the blind, pundits was serving as a TV critic. For tends to drive off ordinary drivel. hears you as you cast your pearls of wisdom the one-eyed man is king.” 35 years at Newsday, I stuck my neck I also was the first to predict that at the swine, I mean, Internet news junkies. In the meanwhile, you can learn more out making judgments on the nation’s cable prices will always rise. Still it’s a lot better than going up to the about modern punditry in action at www. most important issues. What did I think So it was only natural after roof of your high-rise and yelling at the wind. marvinkitman. com. And you can watch of “Laverne & Shirley” or news shows stepping down from the seat of power Or becoming one of those bores at dinner or this space for more to come. like “Jerry Springer?” as an arbiter of taste—as I explained cocktail parties who wouldn’t shut up about I still remember getting a letter from to my readers in 2005, “Newsday Trump or Bernie. Marvin Kitman ran for president as a fan of my work, to whom I replied in gave me an audition in 1969 and Enough of giving away my trade secrets. a Lincoln Republican against Barry kind, if not kindly: after 35 years we mutually decided it It’s bad enough I’m not getting paid for Goldwater in 1964. He lost. PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2016

Raskin to Kihss The annual Quarter Century Award, to be sure, is ample alone to make a dinner notable. A Stroll Down Memory Lane This time, following established practice, last year’s winner, A. J. Raskin, handed it to Pete From deep in the archives of Silurian News, the occasional download, as we inaugurate Kihss. With a mixture of praise, admiration, and kidding, Raskin pleased the audience as A Stroll...This issue headlines The Silurians’ admission of the first eight women members. well as the recipient. The winner’s acceptance was the man himself. Pete utterly down- Rosalind Massow is still a proud, active member of the Silurians. Another, Jo Coppola to-earth, modest and the friend you’d depend on forever. He named the editors who had (whose name is misspelled!), became our first female president in 1981. And seven years taught him and given him assignments that were his chance, he told of beloved associates later, the legendary Edith Evans Asbury of The Times became a Lifetime Achievement and as to a notable career, he turned it into merely a chain of lucky breaks. Justly so, and winner. to the new open-door policy, Mrs. Kihss was right there too witnessing the proud occasion. Harry Hershfield entertained. Tireless in loyalty and generosity he March 31, 1972, page 3 confirmed the remark he had made at the Silurian spring dinner, “he’d rather be a Silurian than anything else.” From his limitless Men-Only [Silurian’s] Rule Smashed; Girls Fill Vacuum store of laughs he produced bright and shining new ones along Good Time Had by All; Femininity Seems Probably Here to Stay with old favorites, of which here’s a sample: He had once asked Arthur Brisbane if a cartoonist could be called a newspaperman. The girls stole the show on October 18 [1971], the Silurians’ fall The sage’s reply: “Yes, if you’d call a barnacle a part of a ship.” dinner at the Players Club; stole it from Peter Kihss of The Times … who was up front getting the society’s highest honor, the Quarter There also was a sidebar about other journalists’ organizations Century Achievement Trophy; stole if from Harry Hershfield—and admitting women. It was written by Dudley B. Martin, whose quite a steal that also, seeing as how Harry was in top form dealing signature is at the bottom. out his heart-warming fun; stole it from Dinner Chairman Pilat, from Recruiter Blumenfeld, from President Siegel, even from the Domino Reaction: Women Allowed In, All Over the Map accordion player who rhapsodized for a long prelude. Smug as pussycats, we Silurians have been watching as other Anyway it turned into a credit and a success, this first co-ed journalist groups, one by one, drop their barriers—real or imagined— session. The total of it brushed away the discontent at difficulties against women membership. Not all of them, mind you, but enough to in getting a drink. The Players by miscalculation had made avail- give the impression the pretty critturs have just been invented. Here’s able only one bar and barman for the entire turnout — 230 tickets the score since our fall issue: sold — thereby missing a bonanza. The Silurians of course did not The New York Financial Writers, 33 years young, has fixed its by- remain entirely parched, yet it cannot be said that the applause and laws to include women as members, so long as they meet all the other laughter and warm camaraderie gushed out from artificial mellowness. qualifications. The group also expanded its membership area; formerly restricted to New Yorkers, toilers in their chosen field in Connecticut No More Stag and New Jersey may now apply. The printed tickets for the dinner were worth noticing, although apparently members Milwaukee’s Press Club, said to be the nation’s oldest, voted 150 to 27 to add charm did not read the fine print; else they just ignored and enjoyed it. The tickets, unchanged, to the membership; so did the Atlantic City Press Club, another oldie. carried the notice, “Stag.” Merely a proofreader’s error! Next time, no doubt, we’ll make it “Heterosexual” or whatever. San Francisco Holdout Against difficulties, however, the girls held their star billing. Siegel welcomed them, After a real argument, the Press Club of San Francisco voted to remain stag. Feasibility Pilat introduced them, members and guests stood up and clapped their hands. was the issue, they explained, not discrimination. First on the roll call was Dorothy Diehl, not a joiner but our long-time executive sec- Downstate California, however, the Los Angeles Press Club broke tradition by nam- retary, the voice on the office phone and for this evening, a cherished guest of the society. ing a woman to its board of directors. It took them 20 years to get to this point since the Then, the new members, one by one, the eight first of their kind: membership had included a woman city editor for a long time. From the New York News, Theodora Wilson, Norma Abrams and Mary O’Flaherty Also in California, Carmela Martin became the first woman president of Sigma Delta Amy, with a special quote from Eddie O’Neill— “Theodora, the very gentleman of a Chi — the central California chapter. This followed swiftly on the heels of the society’s woman reporter.” decision to admit women journalists. The Times, Edith Evans Asbury, since last summer the wife of former Managing Editor In Canada, the Toronto Men’s Press Club opted for the status quo auntie but the Thunder Robert Garst, first husband and wife pair of Silurians, husband there beside her at the table. Bay, Ontario, Press Club voted to welcome newswomen. The Canadian Women’s Press The Post, Ruth Preston, and ex-Post, ex-World Telegram, ex-Newsday radio-TV editor, Club, for its part, accepted several men who applied after the National Press Club accepted Jo Coppolla. women. The C.W.P.C. then changed its shingle to the Media Club of Canada, recognizing Ex-Journal, Rosalind Massow, missing the dinner because of a freelance assignment two trends in one swoop. in Europe. Editor & Publisher, Helen Staunton. Washington Slides As first to be enrolled, whose patience crumbled the men-only precedent, Miss Staunton Helen Thomas of U.P.I. in November became the first woman officer of the National of course was called to speak for the new contingent. Her good looks and her remarks, Press Club in Washington. More recently, two women for every man turned up in the sell- brief and charming, evoke editorializing—facing a world of change ahead, doubters must out audience to hear Gloria Steinem’s address to the club members. Obviously impressed, now feel better, may even not feel too bitterly any more about this new turn. Continued on Page 6 Campaign 2016: A View from the Critic’s Corner Continued from Page 3 his tax returns. At the same time, CNN and or insightful questions. Chris Wallace, of the TV pundits and the broadcast audience family, or his dismissal of Senator John MSNBC grilled some Trump surrogates, Fox News, said it isn’t his job as a mod- at large? McCain’s courage because he had been like Trump campaign manager Kellyanne erator to run a truth-squad. But if a can- As Jeff Greenfield pointed out, this isn’t captured. Conway and former NYC Mayor Rudolf didate says something known to be false, a normal campaign. We know how the me- In his blistering takedown of Matt Lau- Giuliani, who suggested that Trump, one- isn’t it a journalist’s job to point that out? dia and the elites saw the debate, but we er’s questioning of the two candidates, New time leader of the so-called birther move- Watching the pundits after the first de- don’t know how the voters experienced it. York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait chillingly ment, now accepts that President Obama bate, I was disappointed — but not sur- As this goes to press, there are two charts the dangerous path set by most tele- was born in the United States. Trump him- prised — by the many predictable opin- additional presidential debates scheduled vision coverage—failing to convey to the self, however, took days to say that public- ions: That Trump and Clinton each made and a month more of campaign media cov- average undecided voter “the fact that the ly, and now promotes the false claim that some good points, that Clinton missed op- erage. Advance apologies for my non-psy- election pits a normal politician with nor- Clinton fueled the birther movement. portunities to correct his falsehoods, that chic abilities. mal political failings against an ignorant, The focus on Clinton’s use of the word whatever bump Clinton got in the polls Most journalists want to be seen as fair. bigoted, pathologically dishonest authori- “deplorables” to describe “half” of Trump’s would disappear soon and the race would Both Clinton and Trump have been in the tarian.” supporters as “racist, sexist, homophobic, tighten again, that Trump was speaking public eye for decades. Their values can Politico stated flatly that TV journalists xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name to “his people,” so his racist comments be seen in their records. Members of the treat “the GOP nominee with kid gloves.” it” has proven a boon to the Trump cover- might not matter, and that Clinton didn’t media who want to fulfill their responsi- I don’t presume to say I’ve followed ev- age. I’m with New York Times columnist seem to connect. bilities might repeatedly remind readers, ery outlet, cable or broadcast, every news- Charles Blow on this: “What Clinton said They didn’t seem to have watched the viewers, listeners, and those on social paper or magazine, so no doubt I’ve missed was impolitic, but it was not incorrect.” debate I saw, with Trump pouting and media, to look beyond the daily chatter to some good reporting and commentary. The distraction of Mrs. Clinton’s leav- flailing and falling back on his same-old what these two have actually done in the However, one PBS NewsHour program ex- ing the 9/11 ceremony early, then collaps- one-liners, while Clinton seemed in com- past as a guide to what they might do in emplified the lack of cohesion, even in TV ing near her car, was predictable. Those mand — of the information and of how the future. news coverage that purports to dive deeply. who say she should have acknowledged to deal with Trump. This, even though A partial list of the media consulted as a The first segment presented a foreign poli- the pneumonia diagnosis she’d been giv- Trump interrupted her multiple times and critic included The New York Times, Wall cy adviser from each campaign. What the en two days earlier have a point. And ran over both her and the moderator. Street Journal, Crain’s New York Busi- viewer saw and heard was mainly “he said, certainly there has been enough coverage NBC’s Lester Holt came in for some ness, Politico, The New Yorker, The At- he said” with little in the way of follow ups of the minutiae of this event. As of this mixed reviews and harsh criticisms, but lantic, Face the Nation on CBS, Meet the offered by the interviewer. Nor was there writing, fuller medical records should be he asked some trenchant questions. And Press on NBC, This Week With George any factcheck at the end. What followed sought from both the Clinton and Trump because he let the two at the podium have Stephanopoulos on ABC, Tavis Smiley, was a thoughtful report on the unavailabil- campaigns. at it, voters had an opportunity to judge Charlie Rose, PBS NewsHour, Washing- ity of Trump’s tax returns, succeeded by So now we come to the debates. Going them unfiltered. ton Week In Review, Inside City Hall, a segment presenting two journalists who in, expectations for Clinton were so high In the instant analysis game, Roxane The New York Times Close Up, Twitter, had written extensively about Trump and that she would have had to hit a grand Gay, contributing opinion writer in The Facebook, and the network evening news who labeled him as a Wizard of Oz or P.T. slam or face a take down, while Trump Times, got it right: “Hillary Clinton…. broadcasts. Barnum, with facts to back that up. There would be seen to succeed if he didn’t in- was prepared and graceful and fierce…. was no overarching theme or continuity be- sult any minority he may have missed or As the debate went on, Mr Trump’s igno- Leida Snow, a longtime Silurian, has tween segments, no wrap-up. treat a woman in any less than chivalrous rance of matters national and international written and/or broadcast for WINS-AM, Still, there have been some hopeful manner. became painfully apparent.” ABC Radio, WABC-TV, Hollywood Report- signs. While Clinton is consistently hound- The choice of a cast of rookie modera- However, as the headline writer asked: er, amNew York, New York Daily News, ed about transparency, television may be tors—those who’ve never done anything Will That Change Anyone’s Mind? Tablet, Our Town, and West Side Spirit. waking up to Trump’s reluctance to disclose like this before—threatened less forceful And, will that analysis make its way to @LeidaSnow

NOVEMBER 2016 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5 A Book Reborn Online Fourteen years ago, Silurian Barbara her mother Charlotte; and Bruno Gumpel, a Lovenheim wrote about two Jewish families friend of Erich’s who after the war marries who successfully hid from the Nazis in the Ruth. The family is not particularly religious center of Berlin. Now the printed work has and Dr. Arndt long considered himself a been revived as a compelling e-book. This patriotic German who happened to be Jew- is its story and the story of the Jews who ish. He was a medic in World War I and made it through. was awarded an Iron Cross for his service. He could not imagine the Nazis would dare BY MICHAEL S. SERRILL target him for deportation. Only at the last he time is late 1942, the place possible moment does his son persuade him Berlin. For ten years the Nazis to go into hiding to save his life. Thave been brutally attacking the The seven fugitives credit more than 50 Jewish community, restricting Jews’ abil- Germans, many of them patients of the doc- ity to work and where they can live, even tor, with either hiding them or keeping the dictating what they can buy, wear or eat. secret of their whereabouts. One heroine was Tens of thousands have been deported Anne Gehre, Dr. Arndt’s patient who hid the to an unknown fate, yet still, more than doctor in her small apartment and helped the 30,000 Jews still live in Germany’s cap- group find other hiding places. Another was ital city, many of them working as slave Max Koehler, also a patient, who employed laborers in factories, including one run by Erich in his factory and allowed him to stay Siemens, then and now one of Germany’s overnight. Ellen soon moved largest industrial companies. Word spreads in and by 1945, as bombs that the Gestapo is about to launch a huge shattered the city, all seven raid, sweeping up Berlin’s remaining Jews were living there. Earlier, and sending them east to Auschwitz and several had been constantly certain death in the gas chambers. By the on the move, always seeking time the raid does take place in February a safe place to sleep. Ruth kept 1943, thousands have gone into hiding and a toothbrush in her purse. At one spend the next three years, hunted, barely point, Charlotte paid a prostitute one step away from their relentless pursu- so she could sleep in her bed when ers led by Nazi propagandist and virulent she wasn’t entertaining a client. The anti-Semite Josef Goebbels. Barely 1,400 tiny apartment was just blocks from survive to the German surrender in July the offices of Adolf Eichmann, the 1945—effectively successful Anne Franks tyrannical Nazi who helped con- who managed to elude their determined ceive the Final Solution and was pursuers for years. in charge of carrying it out. In the late 1990s, Silurian Barbara But finding shelter was just one Lovenheim was introduced to three of these challenge. Members of the group had to earn survivors. Erich and Ellen Arndt were living money to buy food or stand in food lines, in Barbara’s hometown, Rochester, New posing as bombed out gentiles. Ellen and York. Erich’s sister, Ruth Arndt Gumpel, Ruth worked as seamstresses and maids and was a widow in Petaluma, California. They were eventually hired by a top Nazi officer were eager to work with Barbara on a to cook and serve meals to his colleagues, memoir. The resulting book, Survival in the whose advances they managed to fight off. Shadows, was published in 2002 by Peter Charlotte at one point had the chutzpah to Owen, a small publisher in London. The enter a restaurant, sit down with a German history of the book since then should be an officer and order a meal. When she exclaimed inspiration to everyone with an unpublished she had mislaid her ration cards, the officer manuscript languishing in the bottom draw- graciously paid for her dinner, then tried to er of a desk. make a date with her. The British publisher sold barely 1,000 Toward the end of the war, the 6,000 copies, a tribute largely to its high cover Jewish fugitives who had survived in hiding price. Peter Owen then sold the German in Berlin were starving. [WAIT: YOU SAID rights to Siedler Verlag, a publisher of the AT THE START THAT 1,400 SURVIVED Bertlesmann group in Berlin. This edition TO THE END OF THE WAR…SO THAT sold more than 5,000 copies. The book was MEANT IN THE FINAL DAYS AT LEAST reviewed in top newspapers and discussed 4,600 WOUND UP LOSING THEIR LIVES on a host of radio stations. Most reports AFTER YEARS OF SUCCESSFULLY highlighted the crucial role of non-Jewish EVADED THE NAZIS? IS THAT WORTH Germans in protecting the fugitives from SAYING ??!!] And, as the Allies closed in, Nazi oppression by feeding, housing and they were in constant danger of employing them. Both Barbara and the being blown up by Allied aircraft, Arndts were invited to the German cap- which bombed the city relent- ital to tell their extraordinary tale and to lessly. Remarkably and entirely by be honored by the German government. chance, the small factory owned by TeamWorks, a Bertlesmann film company, Max Kohler at Oranienstrasse 20, in optioned the film rights. a neighborhood called Kreuzberg, Years passed. The film was never made, survived unscathed. Although the while the book disappeared from store factory no longer exists, the building shelves. In 2012 Jane Friedman, a top where it was located has been reha- editor at Harper Collins, left to found an bilitated and is today a working space independent e-book publishing company, for architects. Open Road, encouraging authors to submit Lovenheim still finds it remarkable new and old print books. Her editors would that the Arndts were able to survive take a look and convert them to e-books if in the belly of the Nazi beast. And accepted. Open Road also created an archive she believes that the story resonates for the Holocaust books they acquired. today. “Considering the horrible Friedman added Survival in the Shadows situation in Syria,” she says, “and the to her list. Open Road has now sold at least number of refugees living hand to 15,000 e-books copies of the book, largely mouth all over Europe, and the ever-present through a series of major cross-promotional sense of terror that innocent refugees as well campaigns with Amazon and BookBub. The as ordinary citizens experience, the story e-book was also twice a best-seller on the of the Arndts and the Germans who defied Wall Street Journal books page. Print sales Hitler to help them is as relevant today as it have also increased in tandem with the was seven decades ago.” enthusiastic word of mouth from e-book readers. But above all, the success of Survival Michael Serrill is second vice presi- in the Shadows suggests its truly timeless dent of the Society of the Silurians, and a value. Though we know how the story ends, former editor at Time, BusinessWeek and that doesn’t diminish the suspense and dra- Bloomberg News. ma we feel as the Jewish protagonists play Barbara Lovenheim is a former member hide and seek with the Gestapo in the heart of the Silurians’ Board of Governors and of the Nazi empire. The book focuses on founding editor of NYCitywoman.com. She seven survivors: Dr. Arthur Arndt and his has written for The New York Times, The wife, Lina; their grown children Erich and Wall Street Journal, New York magazine and Ruth; Erich’s fiancée, Ellen Lewinsky, and other publications. PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2016

puses—are getting their news. restaurant critic. “We need to tone down the discourse “My little brother says I have atten- Frank Bruni: Free Rein of how we talk about people on the oth- tion deficit disorder,” he quipped about Frank Bruni’s peripatetic journal- er side,” he suggested. He also pointed the varied roles he has had. He still ist’s career has brought him acclaim in out how both candidates hardly were is enamored of food, though, and has many fields—but it was the Presidential overwhelmingly popular, even with a book he co-authored with Jennifer election that dominated his talk and the electorate who votes for them. Steinhauer called A Meatloaf in Every the Silurians’ questions at the kickoff He was upbeat speaking about his Oven, to be published by Hachette early luncheon on Sept. 21. varied career, but remained dour about next year. Now a New York Times op-ed col- where the country is headed in terms of Politics dominated his talk, though, getting the news: “General in- and Silurian Barbara Lovenheim asked “My plea to Donald is this: Insult the terest in newspapers is almost what did he think would happen if bejesus out of Clinton.” dead,” he claimed. “One of the Donald Trump were to win the election. scariest things on campus is He virtually moaned, and said, “We’d --Frank Bruni, The New York Times to see where people get their lose a lot of respect on the world stage.” 26 September 2016 news from, often from friends But whoever the winner turned out on social media.” to be, he suggested, “a month later, umnist with free rein on many aspects But Bruni kept his sense of humor everyone will be talking about 2020.” of public life, Bruni told a huge crowd about his career, which began at the And what did Frank Bruni expect to at the National Arts Club that he was New York Post straight out of Columbia be doing by then? becoming concerned with the way the J-School, and continued at The Times, “I wouldn’t be surprised if in five Clinton-Trump race had divided the as a metro reporter, Washington corre- years I’d be covering football. I’m a country. And he also is worried about spondent, and then on to Rome—be- football fan.” Frank Bruni the way people—even on college cam- fore his seven-year stint as the paper’s — Gerald Eskenazi

lid slightly askew and simmer about 30 minutes. TUCCI A Pair of Frank Recipes 4 Return meat to pot, along RAGU While today, Frank Bruni is more TUCCI RAGU with any juices that accumu- concerned about the temperature on (Actor Stanley Tucci’s favorite as well) lated in bowl. Cover with lid the political circuit than in any oven, slightly askew and simmer, his heart is still in the kitchen. Next INGREDIENTS stirring frequently, until meat February, he’ll be launching an entire • ¼ cup olive oil is very tender and tomatoes are book of recipes for one of his favorites— • 1 pound stewing beef, trimmed of cooked, about 2 hours. Warm Meatloaf. But here are a few of his other fat, rinsed, patted dry and cut into pieces water may be added to sauce, favorites from years past. • 1 pound country-style spareribs, in 1/2-cup portions, if sauce be- trimmed of fat, rinsed, patted dry and comes too thick. PUBLICAN CHICKEN cut in half • 1 cup coarsely chopped onions INGREDIENTS • 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil • ½ cup dry red wine A Stroll Down Memory Lane • 2 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice • 1 6-ounce can tomato paste Continued from Page 4 It is nice to report, too, that women con- • 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar • 8 cups whole plum tomatoes (about • 1 tablespoon Espelette pepper or Gloria signed up for membership. tinue to get better jobs in our profession. In two 35-ounce cans), passed through a Washington’s Gridiron Club bent a little: New York City, for instance, Gloria Wolford Spanish smoked hot paprika food mill or puréed in a blender or food distaff membership is still a no-no but the Johnson, as general news editor, is now one • 1 tablespoon dried oregano processor club will suffer women guests at its annual of the five supervising editors responsible • 2 cloves garlic, sliced • 3 fresh basil leaves Spring white-tie dinner. Similar action by the for United Press International’s daily news • ½ teaspoon salt New York State Legislative Correspondents reports to U.S. newspapers. • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano Association which agreed to invite “appro- And they’re keeping good jobs! Former • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried pepper priate” women to its annual show and to news reporter Isabelle Keating Savell has • 1 3-pound chicken, backbone re- allow women to perform. New York City’s been renamed by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller PREPARATION Inner Circle, comprised of past and present to the New York State Workmen’s Compen- moved political writers, has set up a committee to sation Board at $38,300 a year.

1 In a stew pot over medium-high draw up constitutional changes relating to the PREPARATION admission of women members. —Dudley B. Martin heat, warm olive oil. Sear stewing beef 1 In a large mixing bowl, combine oil, until brown on all sides, about 10 min- lemon juice, brown sugar, Espelette pep- utes. Remove from pot, set aside in a per or hot paprika, oregano, garlic and bowl. New Members salt and pepper. Mix well. 2 Add spareribs to pot and sear until 2 Flatten chicken and add to mari- brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Richard Bernstein, a veteran correspondent reported for the Long Island section of The Times nade, turning it until coated. Cover and Remove ribs and set aside in bowl with for Time magazine and The New York Times, is a from 1990 to 1996. Following that, she wrote refrigerate for at least one hour or over- stewing beef. (If your pot is big enough freelance writer and lecturer, as well as an author. articles and essays for publications that include In 1971, Bernstein was studying Chinese in Tai- Architectural Record, Under Our Skin, Visible Ink night. to hold all the meat in a single layer, it wan when he became a part-time stringer for The and Prime Number magazine. 3 Prepare a grill, arranging coals or may be cooked at the same time.) Washington Post. That led to a full-time position Faye Haun, currently a PhD candidate in the gas flame so it is hot on only one side. 3 Stir onions and garlic into pot. at Time magazine in 1973, when he was assigned History Program at CUNY, is a former managing Place chicken skin-side down on un- Reduce heat to low and cook until on- to write about Asia while based in Hong Kong. In editor of Parents Magazine and of Mademoiselle. heated side of grill (so it will cook by ions begin to soften, about 5 minutes. 1980, he launched a bureau in Beijing, Time’s first She was then deputy editor and a contributing edi- indirect heat). Grill, basting every 5 Stir in wine, scraping bottom of the pot in what was then the People’s Republic of China. tor of Rodale Press’s Organic Style magazine. minutes and turning chicken once about clean. Add tomato paste to pot. Pour 1/2 Two years later, he joined The Times, serving suc- Anthony Mancini was a reporter and editor halfway through, until juices run clear cup warm water into tomato paste can cessively as UN bureau chief, Paris bureau chief, at the New York Post from 1959 to 1978. He when chicken is pierced near joint of to loosen any residual paste and then national culture correspondent, book critic and Ber- began teaching journalism at Brooklyn College in thigh, about 30 minutes. pour into pot. Cook to warm the paste lin bureau chief. He left The Times in 2006 to focus 1980 and is now director of the school’s journal- 4 Remove chicken from grill and al- through, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes on writing books, the most recent of which was ism department. published in 2015 and is called China 1945: Mao’s Sally Wendkos Olds is an award-winning low to rest 5 minutes. Carve as desired, along with additional 1 cup warm wa- Revolution and America’s Fateful Choice. writer who specializes in child development, fami- and serve. ter. Stir in basil and oregano. Cover with Suzanne Charlé was a contract editor and ly life, human relationships and health. She’s writ- writer at The New York Times from 1985 to 2005, ten some 200 articles for publications that include filling a number of roles, including assignment edi- McCall’s, Woman’s Day, Redbook, Ladies’ Home PUBLICAN tor for the Magazine and overseeing the launch of Journal, Mademoiselle, Ms., Self, Good House- CHICKEN “Magazine Part II.” She was also a contributing keeping and The New York Times Magazine, and writer for the Magazine as well as the National, is the author or co-author of 11 books. International, Arts & Leisure, and Travel sections. Cynthia Tornquist is president of Cynthia Her articles have also appeared in The Nation, The Tornquist Productions, creating content for broad- Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tri- cast and digital media. Her journalistic career goes bune, The Washington Post and The San Francisco back to the mid-1980s, at WOR Radio. She subse- Chronicle, among others. She is presently a con- quently joined CNN, where she produced, directed tributing writer for a number of publications and or- and reported for programs such as Showbiz This ganizations, including Gotham magazine, the Asia Week and Showbiz Today. In 2001, she moved to Society, the Ford Foundation, and the World Bank. News12 New Jersey, covering the statehouse in Ellen Kirschner is a former contributor to The Trenton and she’s been a New York-based free- New York Times and a freelance writer whose lance field producer for Entertainment Tonight work has appeared in a variety of publications. She Canada. NOVEMBER 2016 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 7

OBITUARIES Lawrence (Larry) Van Gelder, retired as assistant managing edition and perhaps the longest-running hi. Following his return to the U.S. who made the rounds at four tor, died of cancer on May 26. She cast member of that group’s annual after his evacuation from Cam- New York City newspapers be- was 72. During her career, she filled “Financial Follies.” During World War bodia, he was metropolitan editor fore joining The New York Times assignments in the publication’s Los II, he was awarded a Bronze Star for from 1977 to 1980, then wrote a and becoming a beloved stalwart Angeles and Washington bureaus, his service as a combat infantryman twice-weekly column about New of the newsroom for the next 43 later adding managerial responsibil- in France and Germany. York. His column was discontinued years, died at home on March 11 ities as well, overseeing the maga- in 1985 after Schanberg was high- of leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer. zine’s reporters and administering Sydney H. Schanberg, a Pulit- ly critical of The Times’s coverage He was 83. Van Gelder, a native its editorial operations. She was zer Prize-winning correspondent for of Westway, a highway and real New Yorker, started as a copy boy named assistant managing editor in The New York Times and a Silurians estate deal that he characterized at The Daily Mirror in 1955, then 1989. In a tribute from editor Steve Lifetime Achievement Award winner, as “a mega-boondoggle.” Schan- moved to The World-Telegram Forbes following her death, she was whose coverage of war in Southeast berg was offered another assign- and Sun, The World Journal Tri- described as “one of the key people Asia and escape from guerilla terror- ment but turned it down and left bune and the Daily News before who made Forbes an editorial giant ists was the basis of the 1984 mov- The Times after 26 years. He was settling in at The Times in 1967. in the latter part of the last century.” ie “The Killing Fields,” died on July 9 a columnist for Newsday for almost As a Times reporter, film critic and She was the widow of veteran Forbes after suffering a heart attack several 10 years, then wrote for such mag- obituary writer, he produced more editor James Michaels. days earlier. He was 82. Schanberg azines as Vanity Fair, Penthouse than 5,200 bylined articles. In ad- graduated from Harvard in 1955 with and The Nation, and he critiqued dition, he served as an editor on George F. Auerbach, a veteran a degree in American history, was the media for The Village Voice. the culture and metro desks be- financial reporter and long-time Silu- drafted in 1956, wrote for an Army His 1980 cover story for The Times fore retiring in 2010. rian, died on July 3. He was 93. Au- newspaper in Frankfurt and joined Magazine “The Death and Life of erbach was a reporter and editor at The Times as a copy boy in 1959. Dith Pran,” became a book that in- Jean Briggs, a mainstay of The New York Times before going He was promoted to staff reporter in spired “The Killing Fields.” He is Forbes magazine from 1972, into his own public relations business. 1960, then sent to Albany as bureau also the author of Beyond the Kill- when she began as a reporter-re- He was also a former president of the chief. He moved to the foreign staff ing Fields, a 2010 anthology of his searcher, until 2007, when she New York Financial Writers Associa- in 1969 as bureau chief in New Del- reporting.

learns her casting call as an extra was Silurian leadership to drop the fruit and Martin Hollander: Newsday’s Serious Man actually for her car and even it didn’t get cookies and restore the fancy desserts. the job because of bumper damage? “New Seriously. BY JOAN KELLY BERNARD York is cruel.” In recent years, he served as a volun- ith a nod to the Coen broth- A Queens native, Marty was a graduate teer at the American Museum of Natural ers, Martin Hollander was of Stuyvesant High School and Queens History. One day, a group of young wom- Wa Serious Man. He was College. His editing career began at The en from Japan approached the informa- devoted to his family, generous with Bulletin in Philadelphia, which is no tion desk and asked him, “How do we get friends, and a consummate working pro- longer in publication. He also worked to Harvard?” He resisted the impish, and fessional. He was, as Newsday described for UPI, and was especially proud of his predictable, “Study hard!” and simply him in his obituary, “graceful and at ease stint at The (pre-Murdoch) Wall Street said, “You go out that door, turn left to the under pressure … an editor whose flair Journal. He spent 25 years at Newsday, subway, take the C train to Penn Station, for language and eye for detail enabled where he was an op-ed editor in the get on Amtrak to Boston, then take the him to shape news events into poignant Viewpoints section and also frequently subway to Cambridge from there. It will opinion pieces.” contributed travel pieces from around take you about four hours. If you leave Marty, as he was known to friends and the world and from weekend getaways. now, you can be there by dinnertime.” family, died at age 78 on June 23 of a sud- He was a serious student of World Stunned at the distance, they explained den, rapidly advanced metastatic cancer. War II and current events, especially they just wanted to see an American uni- A resident of Port Washington, N.Y., he issues involving the State of Israel. He versity. So Marty, learning they planned had been moved just that afternoon from loved lectures, history books, intelligent to do some shopping in SoHo, suggested Huntington Hospital to hospice. The end TV series like “The Wire,” and movies they check out NYU instead. came so swiftly and he was treated with of all kinds—yes, including those of the Marty is survived by his longtime enough needed pain medication that he Martin Hollander Coen brothers. He was a regular at the companion, fellow Silurian Fran- was likely unaware of his condition—a Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington and cine Brown of Port Washington, his special blessing to those who loved him. so noisy, which elicited her surprising a devotee of the annual Philadelphia daughter Danielle and granddaughter, (Once asked if he had any hobbies, he secret sauce for someone opening a new Flower Show. As his close friend, former Elizabeth, of Huntington Station, N.Y, said, “I worry.”) Had he known what restaurant: “It has to be very uncomfort- colleague, and Long Island Press senior and daughter Jessica of Greenpoint, was in store, his friends agreed, he would able—because that’s what seems to be editor Spencer Rumsey told Newsday, Brooklyn. He also maintained a warm have written and edited his own obituary, succeeding.” “There will never come a guy like him and supportive relationship with his ex- sparing his survivors the risk of lapses of Marty embodied the true measure of who knew so much about so many wife and mother of their children, Nita fact or errors in syntax or grammar. maturity, the ability to play. A sampling things.” Hollander of Huntington Station. He was serious about his profession of his split-second e-mail responses: In He didn’t shrink from personal in- and held others to high standards. Fellow a dispute over whose turn it was to treat volvement with issues, serving on the Silurians may remember him for the for lunch? “We will reach an amicable East Meadow school board in 1980s and Silurian Joan Kelly Bernard works at occasional trenchant question for guest accord.” The promise of a friend to stop being an active union member while at the American Museum of Natural History speakers. He asked legendary restaurant forgetting to “reply all” to group emails? Newsday. And he was looking forward and was a colleague of Martin Hollander critic Mimi Sheraton why restaurants are “You are a Great American.” A friend to launching a letter-writing campaign to for much of his time at Newsday.

WELCOME TO OUR WEB • Digital back copies of the Silurian News. Do you know that if you missed any of our lunches or dinners during the • Brief biographies of all new members, which remain posted past four years, you can still see and hear such illustrious guest speakers for six months. as Robert Caro, Gloria Steinem, Gay Talese and Mimi Sheraton on our very • Obituaries of members, also online for six months. own website? Links to videotapes of their presentations to the Silurians, along with those of just about every other luminary who’s been a guest • Brief bios of all officers and board members. speaker since 2012, are available at www.silurians.org—and so is a wide • Links to other websites about journalism. selection of other material, including the brand-new SilurianList (see page • Links to members’ blogs. 8 for the print edition), where you can run a free ad for something you want • Information about joining the Silurians and a downloadable to sell or buy, or let us know about a new project such as a book or a blog. application form. You’ll also find information about upcoming events such as the next lunch or dinner — complete with profiles of the featured speakers and Co-editors Ben Patrusky and Mort Sheinman, plus webmaster Fred Her- information on how to make reservations — as well as a variety of other zog, make it their business to keep the site up to date and relevant. They listings, including: invite you to make it your business to check it out. PAGE 8 SILURIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2016

metaphor and descriptive, to trees, sky, something to say about the work. She before he was 45. My editors now order An Editor’s Worth animals, water, mountains, rocks, ravines, sees where it could go farther, where it salads and diet cokes and check their Continued from Page 1 birds, weather, cut completely. She had could be more accurate, more embracing, phones during lunch. I am always sure afternoon TV, right alongside the NFL or nothing else to contribute. I cut all those more poignant, or piercing. A good editor they are talking to or messaging a writ- major league baseball. I’m still waiting. references or metaphors for her. She did knows that a writer is very childlike and er more interesting and profitable than The editor wanted me to be more upbeat. not improve my book. She insisted on a easily hurt and so treads with care but me. But I could be wrong. They might I did what I could. horrible cover that I knew was a disas- does dare to tread, because whether the be confirming their child’s playdate, or I also wrote for Cosmopolitan. They ter. I hope she gets hives. I hope she has work is fiction or journalism, opinion or their dentist appointment, or looking at paid very well. Of course they were insomnia.I have had book editors who story, the writer is alone in the dark of her the balance in their checking account. paying for my soul. Each article had to make me feel as if the work I have done or his mind and needs, seeks, additional Somehow, I just don’t dare ask. In the have at least three expert quotes. I knew is valuable. I have had others who make light, a hand along the way. Editors are writer’s world it works like this: Ring a experts. I would invent the quote and me feel an inch tall and in imminent dan- busy. They have many paragraphs need- round a Rosie, we all fall down. But not then ask them if they agreed and they ger of being stepped on. I had an editor ing attention, they have deadlines and without dancing and singing, not without would rephrase and give me the quote. recently who wanted to tell me all about rivals, and money pressures. They can’t expecting the best and giving the best we It was awful stuff. It was formulaic, flat, her life and used the tales in my memoir coddle or flirt, or whisper sweet noth- can at any given time. it needed examples which I could easily to talk about her own adventures. This ings in everyone’s ear. Sometimes they have invented but didn’t, so I had to both- was interesting but did not improve the snap, or growl, or just turn their backs. A Anne Roiphe’s latest book is Ballad of er everyone I knew until they said what book. I had an editor who took so long to writer appreciates that an editor is not a the Black and Blue Mind. You are likely I needed them to say. respond to my manuscript, (that he had substitute for a friend or a spouse or even to find other musings about editors and All right, I coached a little. It wasn’t bought ) that by the time he did get back a child or a gentle dog. Editors can bite more in her five memoirs, the most recent that the pieces were useless. It was that to me I had become cold to the thing and and draw blood. being Art and Madness: A Memoir of Lust the Cosmopolitan message of female em- could hardly reread it, so old and faded My three martini lunch editor died Without Reason. powerment through sexual and emotional had it become in my mind. skills was a bit like selling toothpaste. A former editor of the NYT’s book Sometimes the smiles were fake. review, Harvey Shapiro, was my dinner And then I wrote for the New York partner one hot summer Hampton night. Observer. My editor there was a serious He told me and everyone else at the table SILURIAN'S LIST political writer who would talk with me how much he hated a very old book of about the subject at hand. He made my mine and thought it should never have pieces better. I learned from him. He been published. It was a vile book, he didn’t know much about the emotional said. It was about my first marriage. It Calling all TV news editors 3 Books On the Market issues I sometimes wrote about, but he probably was a little vile, but not that knew how to make everything clear. I bad. Harvey Shapiro was a good poet. I Looking for TV news editor to edit •Dr. Judy Kurianksy, The Psychoso- wanted to make him happy. Happy with wish I could say he wasn’t. There should footage of various stories related to cial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: my column, happy for ever. But then he be a statute of limitations for how long international missions in countries to What Ebola Has Taught Us about moved on into his own byline, and I had an editor can carry a grudge against an help people and events at the United Holistic Healing. Santa Barbara: a new editor who was very very young. author for the sin of writing a particular Nations. I had to explain the references, the meta- book. I should forgive him, too, and I ABC-Clio Publishing, 2016 phors, the allusions. He had never heard will in my grave. Contact: Dr Judy Kuriansky of Dien Bien Phu. Why should he have? I had a wonderful editor who wouldn’t [email protected] http://bit.ly/1o4c3wK But the pleasure in writing the columns let me wander or preach, or sag, or tire. (917) 224 5839 associated Video about Burial team was diminished without another person’s [DO YOU WANT TO NAME HER in Sierra Leone thoughts, suggestions, company. SINCE SHE WAS SO GOOOOOD??] http://bit.ly/1KVHgqA I also wrote for women’s magazines on She died of breast cancer after our first Calling all writer/reporters associated VIDEO Psychosocial Is- psychological matters, on style, on why book together. I had a good editor from sues During and After the Ebola Out- Looking for writers and reporters women had their noses fixed, on why a first rate publishing house who helped break the hippies ( I was a fellow traveller) did my manuscript, but kept hoping I would to cover unique stories about mis- not want to wear make-up. The editors sell more copies and was openly disap- http://bit.ly/207xXL7 sions in different parts of the world associated POSTER on: Psychoso- at these magazines were accepting and pointed when the sales went flat. I felt related to the UN global agenda, cial Issues During and After the Eb- careful. There were lines to stay with- sharp shame. I should have been more i.e., mission to help Syrian refugees; commercial than I was. This editor took ola Outbreak in. Advertisers—like the Stasi—were trainings with survivors of disaster, looking over all our shoulders. I some- us to dinner often, which was lovely. She http://bit.ly/2cAtxyq etc. (or to edit and pitch my stories). times wanted to call for revolution, but always made sure the head waiter knew •Dr. Judy Kuriansky et al, Eco- Contact: Dr Judy Kuriansky restrained myself. Vogue is not a place her name and sat us as near to Joan Didion psychology: Advances in the Inter- [email protected] to publish the manifesto of one’s political as possible without our sitting in her lap. section of Psychology and Environ- heart. Some place in my brain holds a list of (917) 224 5839 mental Protection, Santa Barbara, By now, I have had a host of book ed- the famous writers whose food choices itors. One editor from a prominent house I could recite. California: ABC-CLIO/Praeger. hated nature and wanted all references, A good editor appreciates but has Wanted: WorkSpace http://bit.ly/2cbohxc •Dr. Judy Kuriansky et al, Living Help! I need to get out in an Environmentally Traumatized Society of the Silurians Officers 2016-2017 of my kitchen! World: Healing Ourselves and Our

Writer, journalist, commentator Planet, Santa Barbara, California: OFFICERS: COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS: President looking for a workspace, ideally in Praeger Press. BERNARD KIRSCH Advisory: BETSY ASHTON a newsroom (and happy to do light First Vice-President editorial chores in return) or setting DAVID A. ANDELMAN Awards: Exercise Bike & Tutti Quanti MICHAEL SERRILL where there are people around and Second Vice-President a sense of life and liveliness. Work- MICHAEL SERRILL Constitution and Bylaws: ing on two books, columns for every- ALLAN DODDS FRANK Schwinn Airdyne Upright Exer- Secretary one from USAToday to CNBC.com cise Bike: 46L x 25W x 50”H. Wind LINDA AMSTER Dinner: to Suddeutschezeitung; TV appear- resistance cools you. Upper & lower WENDY SCLIGHT ances from France 24 (French & En- Treasurer body get workout (handlebars move KAREN BEDROSIAN Futures: glish) to SkyNews. I spend a third of too). Gives speed & rpms - ask- ALLAN DODDS FRANK RICHARDSON my time in Paris, so I won’t always ing $200.00 (new). Owner has bad BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Membership: be under foot. knees & can’t use. (sells for $399 MORT SHEINMAN JACK DEACY Requirements include Wi-Fi, a/c online discounted) BILL DIEHL GERALD ESKENAZI Nominating: in the summer, heat in the winter! Antique 54” round solid walnut BEN PATRUSKY ALLAN DODDS FRANK Will bring sense of humor and a lim- dining room table: Great poker ta- TONY GUIDA MYRON KANDEL Silurian News ited pocketbook. Make me an offer! ble, beautifully refinished. $150.00 VALERIE S. KOMOR DAVID A. ANDELMAN, Editor David A. Andelman Ethan Allen King size bed: CAROL LAWSON [email protected] BEN PATRUSKY Website: “Danby” / Tango Collection. 78.75”L ANNE ROIPHE BEN PATRUSKY, 917-325-2822 x 58”H. Fits standard king mattress. MYRON RUSHETZKY MORT SHEINMAN, Co-editors WENDY SCLIGHT Iron construction, textured finish in MORT SHEINMAN Webmaster: graphite. Perfect condition. Includes FRED HERZOG Society of the Silurians headboard & footboard. Asking GOVERNORS EMERITI: Social Media: GARY PAUL GATES PO Box 1195 $400. (In store price on sale: $764.) BILL DIEHL HERBERT HADAD Madison Square Station Contact: Janet Allen GARY PAUL GATES New York, NY 10159 LINDA GOETZ HOLMES SILURIAN CONTINGENCY FUND [email protected] ROBERT D. McFADDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: 212.532.0887 (973) 303 5935 (cell) LEO MEINDL STEVEN MARCUS, CHAIR www.silurians.org (973) 857 0065 (home)