EPIGRAPH
vii“Funny business, a woman’s career”: All About Eve, 20th Century Fox, 1950.
vii“She is such a feeling person”: Runner Associates, 1957 job evaluation of Miss Helen Marie Gurley, then a copywriter at Foote, Cone & Belding, HGB Papers, SSC.
PROLOGUE
1“Oh well he’s got that je ne sais quoi”: Helen Gurley Brown, poem written circa early 1960s, HGB Papers, SSC.
1“a lady who knew . . . the power of sex”: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, Helen, 1970–71, HGB Papers, SSC.
1“Enter, Helen”: Ibid.
2“Anybody can be me”: Ibid.
2They called this song, “Look at Me,” aka “The Mouseberger Blues”: Ibid. Note: In later years, the spelling changed from mouseberger with an e to mouse-burger with a u.
2“she made supper”: Quotes and impressions from Lyn Tornabene, interview with the author, November 2014.
3During those sessions: Summary of subjects discussed gleaned from collected taped interviews recorded by Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, 1970– 72, HGB Papers, SSC.
3“It was too soon”; “I’m still trying”: Lyn Tornabene, interview with the author, November 2014.
1: REAL ESTATE
5“All my life, ever since I was a little girl”: How to Marry a Millionaire, 20th Century Fox, 1953.
5Helen loved the idea of David Brown; “gentle as a baby lamb”: Descriptions of Helen Gurley Brown’s impressions of David; and his house; career, background, and their courtship are from her unpublished autobiography, 1962– 63, HGB Papers, SSC.
5“collector’s-item age”: Ibid.
6“It’s too soon”: Ibid.
6Helen was a lousy legal secretary: Descriptions of Helen’s early jobs, such as working for Paul Ziffren, are from her unpublished autobiography, 1962–63, as well as from I’m Wild Again: Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), p. 282.
7“Helen, the kind of man you are thinking of”: Helen Gurley Brown, I’m Wild Again, p. 283.
7He interviewed her on a Monday: Ibid., p. 14.
7It was a simple arrangement: Helen described her affair with the wealthy builder and the liquor, cash, and gifts he gave her in Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, audio recording file no. 2551b, tape 7, “Haring (?) Saga” (side B), Lyn Tornabene, HGB Papers, SSC.
8“I was like a prostitute”: Ibid.
9According to Ruth’s thumbnail sketch: Helen Gurley Brown, unpublished autobiography, 1962–63.
10He was seriously impressed: Accounts of Helen and David’s early courtship are from Helen Gurley Brown’s unpublished 1962–63 autobiography and I’m Wild Again, pp. 25–26.
10he, too, had been abandoned by his father: Details about David Brown’s family and childhood are from his memoir, Let Me Entertain You (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), pp. 60–71.
10“We were a secret”; “He was the worst kind of snob”: Ibid.
11“He’s only 42”; “I feel more like a something with other people”: Helen Gurley Brown, early unpublished notes about David Brown, HGB Papers, SSC.
11His house was more run-down: Descriptions of David’s Pacific Palisades house and Helen’s living situation are from Helen Gurley Brown’s unpublished autobiography, 1962–63.
2: GROUND RULES
13“Don’t you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty?”: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 20th Century Fox, 1953.
13Sol Spiegel, Sam Siegel: Helen described struggling to learn names in Hollywood in her unpublished autobiography, 1962–63, HGB Papers, SSC.
13a little mnemonic device: Ibid.
14Helen spent at least half her salary buying black-tie dresses: Ibid.
14“Tell me, Ernest”: Ibid.
14“You simply don’t ask a screenwriter . . . What would you think”: Ibid.
15“She’s supposed to have a clean house . . . but I just have a feeling”: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, dialogue from audio recording file no. 2549b, “General Personality” tape 5, (side B), 1970–71, HGB Papers, SSC.
15“Nobody ever asks me”: Helen Gurley Brown, unpublished autobiography, 1962–63.
15“Look, you are not a Radcliffe undergraduate . . . You must simply act”: Ibid.
3: SEX AND THE NOT-SO-SINGLE GIRL
16“It’s useful being top banana”: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Jurow-Shepherd, 1961.
16She was not beautiful, or even pretty: Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl (Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2003), p. 3.
16painfully plain: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, interview with the author, January 2014.
17“the type who’d ravage females”: Cindy Adams, “He Made Her a Married Woman,” Pageant, December 1963.
17it was David who had come up with the idea: Ibid.
17It was up to Mrs. Neale: Descriptions of David’s house and housekeeper are from Helen Gurley Brown’s unpublished autobiography, 1962–63, HGB Papers, SSC.
17it dawned on Letty: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, interview with the author, January 2014.
18A natural showman: Impressions of Bernard Geis’s appearance and showmanship, Ibid.
18his particular genius was in advertising, promotion, and publicity: Background on Bernard Geis Associates from Dick Schaap, “How to Succeed in Publishing Without Really Publishing,” New York Times, August 13, 1967; and from Amy Fine Collins, “Once Was Never Enough,” Vanity Fair, January 2000.
18“Berney Geis was an original. An innovator”: Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s eulogy for Bernard Geis, shared during interview with the author, January 2014.
18he was a lovable scamp; “How many times a week do you have sex?”: Descriptions of Geis’s flirtatiousness and the famous fireman’s pole in the office, Ibid.
19she nearly passed out: Information on Letty’s responsibilities and promotion at Bernard Geis Associates, Ibid.
19“I’d like to publish this”: Ibid.
19“What is a sexy woman?”: Quotes from Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl, p. 65.
19She had just gotten her own prescription: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, “What ‘The Pill’ Did,” CNN.com, May 7, 2010. Background on Enovid from “The Pill,” American Experience, www.pbs.org.
20“Folksingers Are Promiscuous”: Stephanie Gervis (later Harrington) cited this sign in her fantastic spoof of Sex and the Single Girl, “Guidelines for Village Girls: In Greenwich Village, Sex Is Where You Find It,” Village Voice, July 26, 1962.
20“The average man with an urge”: Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl, p. 21.
20“Don Juan would curl his lip”: Ibid.
20“Carry a controversial book”: Ibid., p. 63.
20“A lady’s love should pay”: Ibid., p. 239.
20“Should a man think you are a virgin?”: Ibid., p. 231.
21Helen’s funny, forthright voice spoke to Letty: Descriptions of Letty’s reaction to Sex and the Single Girl and her own single-girl lifestyle are from Letty Cottin Pogrebin, interview with the author, January 2014.
21“the newest glamour girl of our time”: Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl, p. 5.
21“Berney, you won’t believe it”: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, interview with the author, January 2014.
22“Listen to voices in movies”: Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl, p. 81.
22“Not everyone is going to be charmed”: Dialogue and descriptions of media-training Helen Gurley Brown are from Letty Cottin Pogrebin, interview with the author, January 2014.
4: THE STORY EDITOR
25“If you would please your woman”: David Brown, “Sex and the Single Girl as Seen by David Brown,” Cavalier, April 1964.
25David also discovered some love letters: Helen gave a brief account in a note she wrote prefacing her letters to Bill Peters, written in the late 1940’s, HGB Papers, SSC.
25“what an intolerable waste of gin”: Helen Gurley Brown to Bill Peters, June 15, 1949, HGB Papers, SSC.
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25“With a ukulele and a striped blazer”: Helen Gurley Brown to Bill Peters, August 8, 1949, HGB Papers, SSC.
25“I swam and ate fried chicken”: Ibid.
26She really could write: Helen recalled this story to Art Berman in “Helen’s Book Was a Shock to Her Mother,” Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
26David was essentially a talent scout: Information about David Brown Associates and David’s early projects is from David Brown, Let Me Entertain You (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990), pp. 19–22.
27David reported to Herbert R. Mayes: Background on David Brown’s years at Cosmopolitan, Ibid., pp. 27–34.
27Originally called The Cosmopolitan: Background on Cosmopolitan’s founding and colorful history is from James Landers, The Improbable First Century of “Cosmopolitan” Magazine (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2010), passim.
27For a while, Cosmopolitan enjoyed great success: Ibid. Additional background from David Brown, Let Me Entertain You, p. 28.
28he became a mentor to David: Account of David Brown’s relationship with Herbert R. Mayes from Let Me Entertain You, pp. 28–30.
28“the best editor in New York”: Ibid.
28“I said, ‘No, Herb, the truth is”: Ibid.
29David soon built a reputation in Hollywood: Background on David Brown’s early career in film from Herb Stein, “Hollywood: Brown No Newcomer to Picture-Making; Producer Versatile in Story ‘Know-How,’” Morning Telegraph, February 9, 1961; and from Hollywood columnist Joan Dew, “Joan Dew’s Male Call: A Producer Who Isn’t Stereotyped,” publication and date unknown, HGB Papers, SSC.
29Wayne, a leggy brunette: David Brown discussed his ex-wife Wayne’s unhappiness in Los Angeles, and the decline of their marriage, in Let Me Entertain You, p. 250; he later wrote about the importance of a wife having her own career in “Sex and the Single Girl as Seen by David Brown,” Cavalier, April 1964.
29she and David finally married: Helen gave an account of their wedding in David Brown’s memoir, Let Me Entertain You, p. 40, as well as in her unpublished autobiography, 1962–63, in which she described the later outing to see stripper Candy Barr, HGB Papers, SSC.
30something of a little mascot: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, audio recording file no. 2552a, tape 8, “3/25/72” (side A), HGB Papers, SSC. Helen described her comfortable position at Foote, Cone & Belding.
30Working on the Max Factor account: Helen described this naming process in Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Office (Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2004), p. 308.
30WHIPPED CHERRY and following names: Helen Gurley Brown, “SHADE NAMES,” circa 1959, early advertising copy, HGB Papers, SSC.
30She doubted herself: Accounts of Helen’s frustrations at Kenyon & Eckhardt from Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, audio recording no. 2552a, tape 8, “3/25/72” (side A), HGB Papers, SSC; and from Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Office, p. 308.
31“What am I going to do?”: Dialogue from Helen Gurley Brown’s version of the story told in David Brown’s memoir, Let Me Entertain You, pp. 104–5.
31“There’s a chapter on the apartment”: Ibid.
31“that sounds like my book”: Ibid.
31“It won’t work”: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, dialogue from audio recording no. 2552a, tape 8, “3/25/72” (side A), HGB Papers, SSC.
32the stigma of the single woman: Eleanor Harris, “Women Without Men,” Look, July 5, 1960.
32“There are two sound ways”: Betsy Marvin McKinney, “Is the Double Standard Out of Date?” Ladies’ Home Journal, May 1961.
33“I think you’ve got it”: Helen Gurley Brown and Lyn Tornabene, dialogue and account from audio recording no. 2552a, tape 8, “3/25/72” (side A), HGB Papers, SSC. Helen talked about how David made her rewrite three times. She also cited the article “Women Without Men” as a motivating force.
33It was David who told Helen: David explained how he wanted Helen to write the book under her married name, sharing her own experiences, in “Sex and the Single Girl as seen by David Brown.”
5: A FUN SCAM
34“An extra woman is a problem”: Marjorie Hillis, Live Alone and Like It: A Guide for the Extra Woman (London: Virago Press, 2005), chapter 1.
34“Your very kind, very superlative comments”: Letty Cottin to Helen and David Brown, February 6, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
35“When the clock says Charlie’s due home”: Michael Drury, “Live the Life You Love,” Good Housekeeping, April 1962.
36In 1960, there were an estimated 21 million: Eleanor Harris, “Women Without Men,” Look, July 5, 1960.
36“I think marriage is insurance for the worst years of your life”: Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl (Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2003), p. 4.
36Letty would pull off a lot of stunts: Descriptions based on Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s interview with the author, January 2014; Letty’s eulogy for Bernard Geis; and description of billboard from Barbara Seaman’s excellent biography Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (New York: William Morrow, 1987), p. 325.
38“She worked very hard to create this package”: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, interview with the author, January 2014.
6: SINGLE WOMEN OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
39“Should Men Be Allowed?”: Letty Cottin, press release for Sex and the Single Girl, April 16, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
39“It’s the old ‘Everybody is talking about Sex and the Single Girl’ approach”: Letty Cottin to Helen Gurley Brown, March 14, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
40“We’re not getting too far”: Ibid.
40“Maybe a Catholic ban!”: Helen Gurley Brown to Letty Cottin, March 19, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
40Mary Magdalene, pre-salvation: Letty Cottin to Helen Gurley Brown, March 30, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
40No, Helen wrote back, her semi-famous exes were out: Helen Gurley Brown to Letty Cottin, March 19, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
40“I know you worked like a dog”: Letty Cottin to Helen Gurley Brown, March 14, 1962.
41“I just don’t think there would be anything in it for them”: Helen Gurley Brown to Letty Cottin, March 19, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
41“Douse the perfume on cotton”: Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl, p. 80.
41On her pink paper, Helen drafted a note to Max Factor: Helen Gurley Brown to Letty Cottin, May 2, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
42“You are that rara avis”: Letty Cottin to Helen Gurley Brown, March 14, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
42“There are just too few single girls browsing through book stores”: Helen Gurley Brown to Letty Cottin, March 19, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
43“Don’t Knock It, Girls, Says Author”: Letty Cottin, press release for Sex and the Single Girl, April 16, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
44“What The Best of Everything did”: Letty Cottin to Jerry Wald, April 24, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
44“Naturally, not all of your girls will become the wife of a Hollywood producer”: Letty Cottin to Director, Katherine Gibbs Schools, April 27, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
45“The book may shatter conventional shibboleths” and following: Letty Cottin to editor, Record Chronicle, Denton, Texas, April 26, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
7: THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
46“As tasteless a book”: Robert Kirsch, “Sex and the Single Girl Falls Short of Its Promising Title,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
46“HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS”: Bernard Geis Associates to Helen Gurley Brown at the Hotel Madison, 15 East 58th St., New York, NY, HGB Papers, SSC. Reproduced with the permission of Bernard Geis Associates. Note: The telegram is dated “23 1050 EDT,” which author interpreted to mean May 23 at 10:50 eastern daylight time. Letty Cottin Pogrebin confirmed that Bernard Geis sent his book authors a congratulatory telegram on their publication dates.
46Godless Gotham: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, eulogy for Bernard Geis.
46Helen’s book tour had begun: Details taken from various corresponde
nce between Helen Gurley Brown and Bernard Geis Associates, as well as from collected book tour itineraries and miscellany, 1962–69, HGB Papers, SSC.
48Sex and the Single Girl instead of Sex for the Single Girl: “Playboy Interview: Helen Gurley Brown,” Playboy, April 1963.
48“How does it feel to be on top of Richard Nixon?” Letty Cottin Pogrebin to Helen Gurley Brown, June 21, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
49“Now, I don’t have to go out and promote”: Ron Fimrite, “The Single Girl’s Expert on Sex,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
49“Of course you feel alone sometimes”: Joy Miller, AP, reprinted as “Former Little Rockian Analyzes Spinsterhood,” Arkansas Democrat, June 7, 1962.
49“So do murder and rape!”: Cleo Bryan to Helen Gurley Brown, May 3, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
49“When Mrs. Cleo Bryan”: Art Berman, “Helen’s Book Was a Shock to Her Mother,” Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
50Helen didn’t mention that she thought her mother was being totally selfish: Helen aired her true feelings about her mother’s reaction to Lyn Tornabene years later in audio recording no. 2552b, “Emotions,” tape 8 (side B), HGB Papers, SSC.
50“My mother is quite a dame”: Art Berman, “Helen’s Book Was a Shock to Her Mother.”
50“David put me up to writing the book”: Ibid.
51“HUSBAND SAID ‘WRITE’”: Ibid.
52Pickwick’s in Hollywood devoted a window display: “How to Promote a Book and Sell 1,000 Copies,” Publishers Weekly, October 1962, HGB Papers, SSC.
52“There are no girls that age down here”: Stephanie Gervis, “In Greenwich Village, Sex Is Where You Find It,” Village Voice, July 26, 1962, HGB Papers, SSC. 53 “a libel against womanhood”: reader letter, San Francisco Chronicle, July 12, HGB Papers, SSC.
53“Miss Brown provides the blueprint of a female so phony”: Robert Kirsch, “Sex and the Single Girl Falls Short of Its Promising Title.”
Enter Helen Page 35
