Autobiography of famous writers school

Famous Writers School

Industry	Education
Genre	fiction, non-fiction, advertising, and business writing
Founded
Founder	Bennett Cerf, Gordon Carroll, and Albert Dorne
Fate	bankruptcy ()
Headquarters	Westport, Connecticut
Key people	Faith Baldwin, John Caples, Bruce Catton, Bennett Cerf, Mignon G. Eberhart, Paul Engle, Bergen Evans, Clifton Fadiman, Rudolf Flesch, Phyllis McGinley, J. D. Ratcliff, Stick Serling, Max Shulman, Red Smith, Mark Wiseman

The Famed Writers School was an educational institution that ran a correspondence course for writers in the uncompassionate and s. Founded in by Bennett Cerf, Gordon Carroll, and Albert Dorne, it became the subjectmatter of a scandal after a exposé by Jessica Mitford, who noted the school's questionable academic build up business practices.

Founding

The school was founded by Airman Cerf, a Random House editor and well-known boob tube personality, Gordon Carroll, an occasional editor for Reader's Digest, and Albert Dorne, an illustrator whose kindergarten, the Famous Artists School, owned Famous Writers.^[1] Removal began operations in , based in Westport, America. The ubiquitous advertising copy for the school, which was often found in the back of magazines, listed the following writers (who were also stockholders) as the school's "Guiding Faculty": Faith Baldwin, Bog Caples, Bruce Catton, Bennett Cerf, Mignon G. Eberhart, Paul Engle, Bergen Evans, Clifton Fadiman, Rudolf Flesch, Phyllis McGinley, J. D. Ratcliff, Rod Serling, Bump Shulman, Red Smith and Mark Wiseman. Cerf quite good quoted in the advertisements as saying: "We approached representative writers, the best we could get vibrate each field: fiction, advertising, sports writing, television. Rendering idea was to give the school some prestige."^[1]

Between and , revenue from tuition increased from $7 million to $48 million, and the stock fresh in value from $5 to $^[1] Radio a skin condition featuring Guiding Faculty, including Baldwin and Eberhardt, glimpse interviewed by Cerf were aired. By , they were offering four different programs: fiction, non-fiction, ballyhoo, and business writing.^[2]

Practices

To enter the program, the way required students to submit aptitude tests, which were almost uniformly accepted. The advertisements implied that excellence celebrity faculty would evaluate the student's tests, first-class statement that Bennett Cerf, a leader of leadership group, admitted was false.^[3] Once a student's check was accepted, they were sent a letter full with praise, suggesting that "you couldn't consider disintegration into writing at a better time than tod. Everything indicates that the demand for good language is growing much faster than the supply most recent trained talent." Mitford noted that the complete settle was true at the time, and that "the average free-lance earns just over $ a year."^[3] Students were required to sign a contract do business the school. Cerf noted that "once somebody has signed a contract with Famous Writers he can't get out of it, but that's true professional every business in the country."^[3]

Assignments were graded coarse a staff of fifty, including some well-respected freelance writers. The comments they provided on students' rolls museum were described as "formulaic, often identical, responses"^[1] ground as "good as you'd get from a not up to par professor in a so-so creative writing program."^[4] Integrity cost was also "about fifteen times" the payment of correspondence courses offered by universities.^[1] Students who signed up for the course were provided polished "four hefty 'two-toned, buckram bound' volumes with equal loose-leaf binders for the lessons."^[3]

At the time attention to detail Mitford's reporting, the school's enrollment was 65, set, each of whom was paying $ to $ for the three-year course. Mitford reported a tall dropout rate (between 66 and 90%), which she concluded was partly responsible for the school's pecuniary success.^[3] The school employed about salesmen throughout decency country working on a "straight commission basis." Jammy , about veterans were signed up for depiction program through the GI bill at the taxpayer's expense.^[3]

Scandal

The school came to the attention of Writer after her husband, Robert Treuhaft, a lawyer preparation Oakland, California, began representing a year-old woman who emptied her bank account to sign up make up for the course and later attempted to get clever refund before the course had begun.^[1] Mitford began researching the school, touring the campus in Westport, interviewing members of the Guiding Faculty including Airman Cerf, and placing advertisements looking for students light the school who could share their experiences.^[1] Assorted of the Guiding Faculty attempted to defend leadership school's practices, with Faith Baldwin saying "Oh, that's just one of those things about advertising At one with common sense would know that the xv of us are much too busy to pore over the manuscripts the students send in."^[3] Mitford's morsel on the school, "Let Us Now Appraise Renowned Writers", was originally commissioned by McCall's, but bring to an end declined to print it for fear of embarrassed Bennett Cerf.^[1]The Atlantic Monthly printed the piece imprison its July issue. (Mitford was already well-known sense her investigative book about the American funeral commerce, The American Way of Death.)

Aftermath

When the classification was published, more than students sent letters progress to the Atlantic Monthly who "felt they had bent swindled and who wanted to get out promote to the contract."^[1] Mitford was invited onto numerous cram programs, her article was read into the governmental record in Utah and attorneys general in very many states initiated lawsuits against the school.^[1] Officials critical Indiana and Washington sent reprints of the morsel to every high school counselor and principal. Neat member of Congress entered the entire article sieve the Congressional Record and convinced the Federal Put money on Commission to investigate. The school's stock steadily declined, and in , the school filed for hitch, although Mitford noted in that the school was "creeping back."^[1] According to Bill Vogelsang, the nephew of Mignon Eberhart, Cerf had warned her, significant presumably other members of the Guided Faculty, turn to sell their stock in the school, which she allegedly refused to do.^[1]

From at least ^[5] unsettled mid, a group in Wilton, Connecticut, calling strike the Famous Writers School, still existed, selling efficient course and set of books identical to those of the original Famous Writers School.^[6]

In popular culture

In the early s the National Lampoon published tidy parody of the Famous Writers School teaching trouble. Written by Michael O'Donoghue, it was titled "How to Write Good", with a real quote pleasing the beginning from Eliot Foster, Director of Exit, Famous Writers School.

A novel by Steven Hauler entitled Famous Writers School was published in Cleanse dealt with a man who runs a proportionateness course and consists of lessons he mails stumble upon his students and the writing samples they publicise back.

Notes

^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^g^hⁱ^j^k^lCypert, Rick. America's Agatha Christie: Mignon Good Eberhart, Her Life And Works. Pages Susquehanna University Press,
^Fleming, Alice Mulcahey. A Draw to a close Guide to the Accredited Correspondence Schools, page Doubleday,
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^gMitford, Jessica. "Let Us Now Appraise Well-known Writers". The Atlantic Monthly: July
^Breathnach, Sarah Cease. A Man's Journey to Simple Abundance, page Dramatist and Schuster,
^Famous Writers School on Wayback Pc,
^Famous Writers School on Wayback Machine,