When Writers Go Weird: That time Carl Sandburg appeared on a game show...and a book publisher didn't recognize him.

Are writers ever normal? No, otherwise they'd be productive members of society. When Writers Go Weird is when we remember writers acting strange, odd, off, or--yeah--just plain weird. Also known as Tuesday to them.

Today:  That time Carl Sandburg appeared on a game show. And a powerful book publisher was unaware.
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We've covered some truly weird situations with When Writers Go Weird, including guys accidentally killing their wife, another writer faking their own death, and yet another literary visionary trying to stage a military coup. We mean weird when we say weird. So, by those lofty standards, having a world-famous writer appear on a game show is practically amateur hour. The point is, hey, you don't see Jodi Picoult on Jeopardy! much, now do you?

By 1960, the game show What's My Line? was in its tenth year of a 17-year run on CBS and at the height of its popularity. The show's premise was fairly simple. Four B-level celebrity panelists questioned everyday people all in an attempt to guess their occupation. Considering this was the 1950s and '60s, this was about as edgy as television got.

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"Being 82-years old at the time and hard of hearing, Sandburg appears to have a grand old time...chirping yup! and nope! with a bird-like pitch."
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In addition to hum-drum everyday jamokes, each week What's My Line? invited mystery celebrities to appear, where the blindfolded panelists guessed the celebrity's identity through a series of questions, all while the guest masked their voice. And those mystery celebrities were huge by any standard. People like Muhammad Ali, Walt Disney, and Better Davis appeared...as did Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Paul Newman...Betty White, Elizabeth Taylor, and even Sir Edmund Hillary. The list went on.

This is exactly what three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Sandburg walked into when he appeared on September 11, 1960. Being 82-years old at the time and hard of hearing, Sandburg appears to have a grand old time during his roughly 5-minute segment, chirping yup! and nope! with a bird-like pitch during his failed attempt to thwart people.

(Sandburg's segment doesn't really starts until the 3:08 part of the video, but watch the first three minutes to see how elaborately the panelists introduce one another, all while dressed like MET Gala attendees.)





In the end, panelist Arlene Francis guesses Sandburg out of the blue. None of the panelist's previous questions seemingly whittled down the scope to Sandburg. Yet, somehow--somehow--it appears Francis has psychic visions a carnival swindler would admire, and Carl Sandburg pops in her head. Rii-i-ight.

But wait!

There was one big kicker! (And it's not even Arlene Francis' psychic abilities!) One of the panelists was Bennett Cerf. You're quietly asking yourself right now, "And who the hell is he?" If the name doesn't ring a bell, you might know him by a tiny little publishing company he helped co-found: Random House.

That's right. The co-founder of one of the largest publishing houses ever created was none-too-quick with guessing one of the most famous poets of the 20th century.

Maybe Cerf was more of a Robert Frost fan.

Homeless man gets off the streets by selling books.

Philani Dladla was a young man living on the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa, addicted to drugs, and with little to look forward in his future.

Except he had books.

Books were Dladla's first great love. At 12-years of age he was given a book from his mother's employer--an elderly gentleman who she took care of. The book, as he tells on his website, was The Last White Parliament, a 175-page nonfiction book that was extremely difficult for the young boy to understand, especially since it was written in English--not his first language.

But the book stirred something in him. When the elderly man died, he left nearly 500 books for Dladla, which became a mini library for him as he grew up. Later, he moved, got a job as a caretaker like his mother had been, and moved to Johannesburg.



In his twenties, Dladla says he fell in with the wrong crowd. As he tells Nalibali.org, "I got too comfortable and I started experimenting with drugs. I suppose I did it to fit in with my new friends. Johannesburg is a tough place."

He became homeless, spending night after night wandering the streets and looking for a fix. Life became a series of miseries.

Except he had his books.

Dladla started selling books to random people as a means to earn money, earning the nickname The Pavement Bookworm--and something changed. "With some self-motivation and a lot of self-help books, I made the decision to stop taking drugs," he says on his website. He saved his money, eventually earning enough to rent out a room, then an apartment. Then, with a new life ahead of him, he decided he wanted to help children learn the love of reading as well.

Dladla started a book club at a nearby park, where he gives free books to young people. The only rule is that they must come back to the park at a later date and tell him what they learned. Twenty-six people from the park have joined, from ages 12-to-28. "There are some kids who take books and never come back, but I don’t let that dampen my spirit," he says on his site. "Because I know there are many more who love to read and who will use books as weapons to fight poverty."

His effort is spreading. In August he was invited to hold a TEDx Talk, and with the launch of his website, he now accepts donated books to try and expand the reach of reading. "For me, reading is a weapon of choice to fight social challenges. If you read, you think,” he tells Nalibali.

And he has some parting words of advice for the wealthy:

"Maybe if they knew, they would think twice about buying that new car and maybe give the schools some computers. It doesn’t take a lot to put a smile on these children’s faces. And they will never forget your face if you give them something. People out there forget that these guys are human."

World Book Night: 100 Greatest Books...as selected by you.

Well, not really. More like "selected by you and an undetermined number of other people across the globe [with a decidedly British flavor]."

World Book Night will be held April 23, 2012, to coincide with...umm, well it's going to parallel the, uh, the...um. April 23 is the date when the, uh...

I got nothing. I don't know why the organizers picked that date. Earth Day? Isn't that in late April? Yeah, let's go with that. When you think about the sheer amount of trees that give up their lives every day to become a book, it only makes sense to align yourself with an environmental cause. It's called synergy, folks. It's the Circle of Life! Strike up the Elton John!

But is Fabio posing on the cover?

Beth Gannon has a problem. It seems she likes writing smutty romance novels in her spare time. Sadly, that's not her problem.

The problem is that Beth is a principal in the Lawrence, MA, school system, and she thought it'd be a good idea to bring her self-published novel to school with her and ask fellow teachers to buy the book. Now, according to whoever you believe, this is where the story gets murky.

A math teacher named Peggy Lynch apparently balked at buying the book. Peggy says that because she refused to buy the "smut" she was assigned after school detention duty. Apparently detention duty is the equivalent of the 7th level of hell, and Peggy feels like she was being singled out. The principal, Beth Gannon, says that's not the case. (Read all about it...here.)

Of course, the problem doesn't end there. No. The book apparently has graphic sex scenes, drug and alcohol use, and suicide. In other words, it's like a Jodi Picoult book, minus the fanatical book club following. And since this is a school, parents are up in arms that their beloved children are reading light porn while eating PB&J at lunch. Likewise, teachers are offended at the vulgarity on display in the book and their being forced to read it, especially math teacher Peggy Lynch. As a result, poor Beth is on paid administrative leave, and is probably going to lose her job.

Listen folks, let your friend Paddy help you all out and be the voice of reason here. Beth's only crime is a lack of imagination. She hasn't written anything that a Harlequin novel hasn't rehashed a couple hundred times at this point. She should be punished for apparently channeling Jodi Picoult's shoddy writing skills and forcing more over-the-top ridiculousness on the reading public. And do you know what the real crime is? Beth Gannon was charging $13.95 for each paerback book. $13.95! For paperback! What in the world is it coming with? A 24k gold leaf cover and winning lotto numbers?

As for the math teacher...we all know math teachers don't read books. That's why they work with numbers. It's scientific fact.

But despite all that, Beth Gannon's crime is definitely not having a book with sex, drugs, and rock & roll in a school, and any parent flustered over this needs to stop watching too many episodes of "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline. Trust me folks, little Bobby and little Suzie at school aren't kicking back at recess reading about bare-chested lotharios with flowing hair getting it on with buxom women. Kids will barely read a comic book these days, never mind an overpriced book their principal wrote. When I was in grade school my principal would've needed to pay me $13.95 and given me a back rub to get me to read anything she published.

Teachers, of course, are saying the issue is that they felt threatened--that they HAD to buy the book. Except, oddly enough, no teacher is complaining about buying the book so much as they're complaining about the raunchy tone of the book. Come on now, we all know if this book was called "The Care Bears Dance on Rainbows" then no teacher would have complained about it. The issue here doesn't seem so much to be about buying a book (how come these same teachers don't complain about buying Girl Scout cookies?), so much as they're uncomfortable about the book's topic.

And what if the kiddos did stumble on Beth's book, as entirely unlikely as it would be? (Are kids going to be crawling through the air ducts at the school so they can shimmy into the teacher's lounge and get a glance at the eye candy on the cover?) What's the worry? If parents do their job and actually raise their children correctly, then the kids will know between a poorly written book and reality. And are we to assume none of these parents have second rate Nora Roberts books on their nightstands their kids could catch a glimpse of?

In the end, Beth Gannon will probably lose her job as a principal. But let me tell you, she's going to make a fortune writing smutty romance books. Jackie Collins can't live forever.