1953–54 Volume 78 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

372 THE SCROLL of Phi Delta Theta for May, 1954
QUICK STOP WITH HOPE
Pete had to catch Bob Hope at odd times in comedian's
"madhouse of multiple jobs" to complete
interviews for "This Is On Me," which started in
February ij issue of Post. They are shown here on
Paramount Studio lot.
Martin has invaded to his own credit and
to the pleasure of Post readers. This same
quality of versatility has made him one of
the Post's best coUaljorators. When he does
a Bing Crosby or a Bob Hope autobiography,
the result sounds like Crosby or
Hope talking, not like a writer trying to
make like Crosby or Hope.
"The result," says his boss and friend,
Post Editor Ben Hibbs, "is that so many
millions of people are delighted and bemused
that we manage to peddle some hundreds
of thousands of additional copies
across the newsstands.
"There are several reasons why Pete
Martin has become one of the star magazine
writers of this country. Probably the most
important of these reasons is that he has an
intuitive feeling for interesting material."
This is a characteristic that all magazine
people, writers and editors, should have,
but not all do. Pete has it in abundance—
an instinct which tells him that a thing will
interest millions of people, or conversely.
that it will fall flat on its face because it
is too pale or too slight or just plain dull.
Of equal importance is the fact that
Pete is himself full of those good human
juices that make people warm up to him
instinctively, and he to them. He is as full
of sentiment as a dog- is of fleas, but he also
has a strong counterbalancing streak of
tough skepticism that is essential to a good
reporter.
Nunnally Johnson describes him as "an
enormous, amiable man, pleased to sit down
and talk with anybody on any subject. A
celebrity being interviewed is a pretty transparent
object. Either he is just being himself,
with a hell of an effort, or he is really
a Character. It's not an enviable position,
being scrutinized by an expert, but Martin
seems to note these pathetic histrionics less
with amusement than with sympathy."
That, perhaps, is how he differs from
other historians and biographers. "I've got
to like the people I write about," Pete himself
explains. "If I don't like them, if I
think they're phonies or tiresome or useless,
I can't get very much interested in them. A
lot of writers jump with joy when they hit
on a subject they can ride or have fun with
one way or another, but not me. I like for
my people to look good. I don't want my
readers asking themselves why I'm wasting
my time on some jerk that I don't care for."
His relaxed, informal, easy-going personality
reflects itself in his use of the name
Pete as opposed to the formal given names
of William Thornton. He is listed on the
Post masthead simply as Pete Martin. As a
family the Martins gave in to the inevitable
when they finally had a "Pete Martin" listing
in the telephone book. And so strongly
has Pete become Martin's given name in
fact that the family named its "only son
Peter, after the father's nickname.
Originally Pete didn't exactly prefer Pete
to Bill as a nickname. His father was called
Will, "which is apparently what my Victorian-iiainded
mother would have called
me, too," he says, "if it were not for the
confusion involved. So I was called Thornton
at home and by my schoolmates and
classmates in grade school."
But when Pete was i6, his father died and
his mother was hospitalized. He went froiq,