Fresh Every Hour: Detailing the Adventures, Comic and Pathetic of One Jimmy Martin, Purveyor of Publicity, a Young Gentleman Possessing Sublime Nerve, Whimsical Imagination, Colossal Impudence, and, Withal, the Heart of a Child. — John Shaqi
Fresh Every Hour: Detailing the Adventures, Comic and Pathetic of One Jimmy Martin, Purveyor of Publicity, a Young Gentleman Possessing Sublime Nerve, Whimsical Imagination, Colossal Impudence, and, Withal, the Heart of a Child.Toohey, John Peter
General
Fresh Every Hour: Detailing the Adventures, Comic and Pathetic of One Jimmy Martin, Purveyor of Publicity, a Young Gentleman Possessing Sublime Nerve, Whimsical Imagination, Colossal Impudence, and, Withal, the Heart of a Child.
Toohey, John Peter
Press agents -- Fiction
McCarthy tore the envelope open almost unconsciously as he went on
talking and unfolded the four long sheets of paper which it contained,
sheets covered with closely written typewritten matter. His gaze drifted
carelessly to the top page where it lingered as something seemed
immediately to interest him. A cynical smile began to play over his
features as he read. Presently it broadened into something more mellow
and human. Then he burst into hearty laughter.
“Shades of Tody Hamilton,” he chortled. “Here’s the last word in
hysterical romance. This fellow makes ’em all look like pikers. He
called me up on the phone to tell it was hot stuff. Well, it certainly
is. It certainly is.”
“What is it?” questioned the managing editor.
“It’s a pipe dream by a bright young gentleman who seems to be trying to
make a living by getting pieces in the paper for Jollyland. He must come
from some place in the tall, tall grass if he labors under the delusion
that he can put anything as raw as this over on a New York paper. I’ll
give him credit, though. It’s a masterpiece of its kind. If someone ever
starts a press agent’s school this could be used verbatim as a horrible
example of the kind of a contribution _not_ to send out.
Just listen to this heading:
BLOODY UPRISING BY
SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS
AT JOLLYLAND QUELLED
––––
BELIEVED TO BE RESULT
OF BOLSHEVIK PLOT
––––
Maddened Savages Armed With
Spears and War Clubs Run
Amuck and Attempt to Take
Possession of Park.
––––
WHISKERED RUSSIAN SEEN
ACTING SUSPICIOUSLY
––––
“Isn’t that immense?” went on McCarthy. “Can you tie the colossal nerve
of that fellow sending a thing like that out? Get his opening paragraph:
“‘Maddened with a thirst for human blood and believed to be acting under
instructions from a Bolshevik agitator who was seen prowling about in
the early evening 186 naked savages from the South Sea Islands made a
desperate attempt last night to massacre all the whites in Jollyland,
the gigantic summer park on Coney Island. Giving utterance to
blood-curdling cries of vengeance and undaunted by the driving rain
which was falling at the time they made an attempt to break out of the
village, where they give daily exhibitions of their quaint and curious
native customs, and were held in check by the park attendants only after
a wild and furious struggle lasting for nearly half an hour!...’”
The managing editor laughed uproariously.
“The poor old Bolsheviki,” he chuckled. “Even the press agents are using
’em. That story’s certainly a gem of purest ray serene. I’d like to meet
that young fellow. He’d make an interesting study.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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