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Fadiman worked for Simon & Schuster for ten years, ending as its chief editor. He was book editor for '' The New Yorker '' from 1933 until 1943 , and in 1944 became a judge for the Book Of The Month Club . Books by Clifton Fadiman:
Fadiman may be considered the prime example of the "witty intellectual" type that was popular on television in the 1950s . John Charles Daly , Bennett Cerf , George S. Kaufman , Alexander King and a number of other television celebrities personified, along with Fadiman, the highly-educated, elegant, patrician raconteurs and pundits that were considered by TV executives of that era as appealing to the upper-class owners of expensive early TV sets. Fadiman was already well known from radio, where from 1938 until 1948 , he hosted the popular Quiz Show '' Information Please! '', which he briefly revived for CBS -TV in 1952 as a thirteen-week summer replacement for the musical variety program ''The Fred Waring Show''. During that June-September period, devoted fans of the departed program could finally not only hear, but also see '' Information Please! '' longtime panelists Franklin P. Adams and John Kieran who, like Fadiman himself were literary figures and intellectuals. In fact, with the advent of TV, Fadiman gained in popularity, quickly establishing himself as the all-purpose highly knowledgeable guest and host. At ease in front of the TV camera and experienced from his years in radio, he frequently appeared on talk shows and hosted a number of upscale quiz programs. His longest-lasting TV program was '' This Is Show Business '', which ran on CBS -TV from July 15 , 1949 to March 9 , 1954 . Called ''This Is Broadway '' during the first four months of its run, the show mixed song, dance and other musical entertainment, with information. Host Fadiman, celebrity guest panelists, and regular raconteurs/intellectuals Kaufman , Abe Burrows and Sam Levenson commented on the musical performers and chatted with them. In late September 1951 , ''This Is Show Business'' became the first regular CBS series to be televised live from coast to coast. The continuing need in early TV for summer series to replace live variety shows, likewise brought this show back for a 12-week period in June-September 1956 . Fadiman and Burrows returned along with new panelists Walter Slezak and future '' Valley Of The Dolls '' author Jacqueline Susann . Susann 's husband Irving Mansfield produced the 1956 revival for NBC -TV. Fadiman's first marriage was to Elizabeth Rush, with whom he had a son, Jonathan Rush. His second marriage was to Annalee Whitmore Jacoby (later Annalee Jacoby Fadiman), a World War II foreign correspondent for '' Life '' and '' Time '' magazine, with whom he had two children, Kim Fadiman and Anne Fadiman . One notable quote: "When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before." |
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