DO NOT ASHE ME MY NAME
In 1969 British journalist David Frost introduced his guest - Penelope Ashe - author of a recent best-selling novel. The novel, Naked Came the Stranger , was an erotic literary smash. Surely a comely young sexy-librarian type wrote the book, and would soon take the stage all intellectual in a mini dress and Go-Go boots, glasses askew just so. When Frost announced Miss Ashe the author came out, and came out, and came out, until the stage was filled with 23 men and two women. Naked Came the Stranger was a literary hoax. Mike McGrady, a journalist for Newsday magazine, decided to pull a prank on the publishing industry. He felt that books at that time were all sizzle and smut. Jacqueline Susann was publishing's it girl after the success of Valley of the Dolls - a pill popping, booze soaked showbiz pot boiler. McGrady thought that if "trash" like Valley of the Dolls could earn best seller status, then he could do the same. He asked a team of 25 writers - mostly men - to ...