Millionaire Publishers Creativity hasn't wavered with retirementGEORGE DELACORTE
... original ideas
Millionaire publisher's create1V*t*
y
hasn't wavered- with retirement
Uy RICHARD KAHN
'dines Correspondent
LOST TREE VILLAGE = For
George T. Delacorte, originality
equals success.
"All you have to do is have ori-
ginal ideas -- , that's how I made
most. ofiny money," says Delacorte,
a pioneet in -the publishing industry
in the Unod States.
With duly $5,000 to start, De-
lacorte became the founder of Dell
Publishers in 1921. He was the first
to publish comic books and paper-
back boob in America and the first
to publish magazines featuring
crossword puzzles.
Now he's a millionaire with a pen-
chant f of original ideas in the field
of philanthropy. A native of New
York, hO has built several lavish
f ountain� throughout the city, includ-
ing . one i in Times Square. He also
donated ''d built . a . 2,000 seat the-
ater in dentral Park and sponsors a
traveling; Shakespearean theater that
entertains in the parks and boroughs
of New York.
He admits it was not originality
alone that advanced his career, how-
ever.
"Luck , is one of the greatest ele-
ments that controls your destiny,"
he said with a grin. "Genes aren't
all of it. Look at Benjamin Franklin.
He was one of 14 children and you
never heard of any of them."
Before he sold his company to
Doubleday so he could retire, he
worked with authors James Bald-
win, Kurt Vonnegut, and Irving
Shaw. But Delacorte says he (never
reads novels, only non-fiction like
history books and economic publica-
tions.
They interest him because of his
financial holdings and because of his
fascination with history.
"I think in' .50 to 75 years we'll
have another civil war that will
make the last one look like nothing,
he says, adding he does not see
blacks ever being fully integrated
into society.
"Blacks don't have the same op-
portunity, the same home back-
ground. They live in ghettos. That's
not to say they are not as capable
(as whites). They just don't get the
opportunities."
During the winter, he lives in his
ocean front home . at Lost Tree Vil-
lage, keeping up his tan. For an 88-
year -old man, he is deceptively spry
and alert.
"I still play tennis, doubles of
course," remarks Delacorte with a
smile.
He is fascinated by Roman archi-
tecture and European culture, which
has given rise to some of his ideas.
He saw his first comic book in
France, and instinctively knew they
would sell in America. But he had to
discontinue selling them after he
was forced to raise the price from
10 cents to 15 cents.
"Kids are the toughest customers
in the world," he says. "They will
go into a store with a few cents and
shop for hours. When -I had to raise
the price a nickel they stopped buy-
ing them."
Throughout his career as owner of
® Dell Publishers, he says he always
promoted women as much as men.
"Women are just as capable as
men, and are a lot more loyal when
they're working for you."
�■� One trend in the publishing in-
dustry that worries Delacorte is the
increasing concentration of money
into a few major companies.
"I think it's exceedingly
dangerous. An advertiser will spend
money in the biggest paper he can
afford," and nothing in the small
ones. This is threatening the individ-
ual in the publishing industry."
ize: Since retiring from publishing, he
iltant has, has concentrated ' on beautifying
Iuest his environment, aesthetically . and
writ- culturally. He has' -donated $600,000
rent- to the village of North Palm Beach
for the building of a community cen-
f or ter.
to "It bothers me that in a commu-
nity like Palm Beach, there isn't a
cuss soul living in - that town who has
1 by donated anything for the. cultural
re- benefit of the public. It's not right."
ntal He still thrives on creativity and
in giving unusual gifts to the public,
but he has a word of caution to any -
and one who wants to cultivate creative
be potential.
n• "Your creative ability is like your
,vas sex drive; ' it goes down as age goes
of up »
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