Try and Stop Me (book)
Encyclopedia
Try and Stop Me was a best-selling book written by American
publisher and writer Bennett Cerf
and illustrated by artist Carl Rose
. The first of a series of joke books compiled by Cerf, the founder of Random House
publishers, Try and Stop Me sold over one million copies in the first two years of publication.
The book is mainly a compilation of anecdotes, urban legends, jokes, ghost stories, what Cerf calls "shaggy dog stories", and profiles of newsmakers. Celebrities profiled by Cerf include Alexander Woollcott
, Gertrude Stein
, Robert Emmet Sherwood, Albert Einstein
, Herbert Bayard Swope
, Dorothy Thompson
, Monty Woolley
, George Gershwin
, and Lucius Beebe
.
While reviewers called the book "a lot of stories some of which practically everybody has read or heard", the book sold well, going into eleven editions with its first publisher, Simon & Schuster
, before being released in a condensed form by the magazines Reader's Scope and Omnibook Magazine
. A special edition for the armed services was published in 1945; later that same year, it was serialized in the English newspaper the London Evening Chronicle and published in Swedish by publisher A.B. Ljus Forlag. It was later published by Pocket Books
in numerous editions and was in print as late as the 1950s.
In 1948, Cerf published a sequel called Shake Well Before Using.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publisher and writer Bennett Cerf
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?.-Biography:Bennett Cerf...
and illustrated by artist Carl Rose
Carl Rose
Carl Rose was an American cartoonist whose work appeared in The New Yorker, Popular Science, The Saturday Evening Post, and elsewhere. He received the National Cartoonists Society's Advertising and Illustration Award for 1958....
. The first of a series of joke books compiled by Cerf, the founder of Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
publishers, Try and Stop Me sold over one million copies in the first two years of publication.
The book is mainly a compilation of anecdotes, urban legends, jokes, ghost stories, what Cerf calls "shaggy dog stories", and profiles of newsmakers. Celebrities profiled by Cerf include Alexander Woollcott
Alexander Woollcott
Alexander Humphreys Woollcott was an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine and a member of the Algonquin Round Table....
, Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
, Robert Emmet Sherwood, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, Herbert Bayard Swope
Herbert Bayard Swope
Herbert Bayard Swope was a U.S. editor, journalist and intimate of the Algonquin Round Table. Swope spent most of his career at the New York World newspaper. He was the first and three time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting...
, Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Thompson was an American journalist and radio broadcaster, who in 1939 was recognized by Time magazine as the second most influential women in America next to Eleanor Roosevelt...
, Monty Woolley
Monty Woolley
Monty Woolley was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his best-known role in the stage play and 1942 film The Man Who Came to Dinner...
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, and Lucius Beebe
Lucius Beebe
Lucius Morris Beebe was an American author, gourmand, photographer, railroad historian, journalist, and syndicated columnist.-Early life and education:...
.
While reviewers called the book "a lot of stories some of which practically everybody has read or heard", the book sold well, going into eleven editions with its first publisher, Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
, before being released in a condensed form by the magazines Reader's Scope and Omnibook Magazine
Omnibook Magazine
Omnibook Magazine was published from 1938 until 1957 by Omnibook Inc., 76 Ninth Avenue, New York, New York. It was edited by Maxwell M Geffen and Victor W. Knauth and featured "authorized abridgements of current best-selling books."...
. A special edition for the armed services was published in 1945; later that same year, it was serialized in the English newspaper the London Evening Chronicle and published in Swedish by publisher A.B. Ljus Forlag. It was later published by Pocket Books
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
in numerous editions and was in print as late as the 1950s.
In 1948, Cerf published a sequel called Shake Well Before Using.