That Bit About the Drunken Brawl, Could We Leave That Out?

Leave it to the trusty OGIC to have some good inside New Yorker juice (via today’s WSJ). Back in 1966, Murray Schumach prepared a lengthy profile on Wallace Shawn. But editor Arthur Gelb caved and gave Shawn article approval. Results: a New Yorker editor holed up with enmity, months of unsuccessful negotiations, and an article that never made it into print. The lesson is unequivocal. But it still dismays me that so many editors cut this kind of deal.