''Naked Came the Stranger'' is a 1969 novel written as a

literary hoax Literary forgery (also known as literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir ...

poking fun at the American literary culture of its time. Though credited to "Penelope Ashe," it was in fact written by a group of twenty-four journalists led by ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' columnist

Mike McGrady Michael Robinson McGrady (October 4, 1933 – May 13, 2012) was an American journalist and author. He is perhaps best known for orchestrating the 1969 literary hoax ''Naked Came the Stranger'', a novel he wrote with a group of fellow ''Newsday ...

. McGrady's intention was to write a book that was both deliberately terrible and contained a lot of descriptions of sex, to illustrate the point that popular American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. The book fulfilled the authors' expectations and became a bestseller in 1969; they revealed the hoax later that year, further spurring the book's popularity.

Hoax

Mike McGrady was convinced that popular American literary culture had become so base—with the best-seller lists dominated by the likes of

Harold Robbins Harold Robbins (May 21, 1916 – October 14, 1997) was an American author of popular novels. One of the best-selling writers of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages. Early life Robbins was b ...

and Jacqueline Susann—that any book could succeed if enough sex was thrown in. To test his theory, in 1966 McGrady recruited a team of ''Newsday'' colleagues (according to Andreas Schroder, nineteen men and five women) to collaborate on a sexually explicit novel with no literary or social value whatsoever. McGrady co-edited the project with

Harvey Aronson Harvey Aronson (born May 1929) is an American journalist and journalism teacher, and a former ''Newsday'' editor who also wrote or co-wrote several books. He was part of a group of ''Newsday'' reporters involved in writing the bestselling hoax n ...

, and among the other collaborators were well-known writers including

1965 Pulitzer Prize The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1965. Journalism awards *Public Service: **The ''Hutchinson News'', for its courageous and constructive campaign, culminating in 1964, to bring about more equitable reapportionment of the Kansas Legislatu ...

winner Gene Goltz,

1970 Pulitzer Prize The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1970. Journalism awards *Public Service: ** '' Newsday'' ( Garden City, New York), for its three-year investigation and exposure of secret land deals in eastern Long Island, which led to a series of crim ...

winner

Robert W. Greene Robert William Greene, Sr. (July 12, 1929 – April 10, 2008) was a pioneering investigative journalist, who uncovered corruption in Arizona after a journalist, Don Bolles, was murdered there and twice helped Newsday win the Pulitzer Prize for Pu ...

, and journalist

Marilyn Berger Marilyn Berger Hewitt (born August 23, 1935), is an American broadcast and newspaper journalist and author. She worked for newspapers including ''The New York Times'' and ''The Washington Post'', and hosted local television news programs in New Y ...

.Matt Schudel
"Journalist was ringleader of popular literary spoof"
'' The Washington Post'', May 16, 2012 . The group wrote the book as a deliberately inconsistent hodge-podge, with each chapter written by a different author. Some of the chapters had to be heavily edited, because they were originally too well written. The book was submitted for publication under the pseudonym "Penelope Ashe". (She was portrayed by Billie Young, McGrady's own sister-in-law, for photographs and meetings with publishers.) The publisher, Lyle Stuart, was an independent publisher then known for controversial books, many with sexual content. According to Stuart, he had appropriated the cover photo (a kneeling nude woman with very long hair down her back, photographed from behind) from a Hungarian

nudist Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

magazine; the model and photographer later demanded and received payment.

Synopsis

Gillian and William Blake are the hosts of a popular New York City breakfast radio chat show, ''The Billy & Gilly Show'', where they play the perfect couple. When Gillian finds out that her husband is having an affair, she decides to cheat on him with a variety of men from their

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

neighborhood. Most of the book is taken up by

vignettes Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

describing Gilly's adventures with a variety of men, from a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

to a mobster.

Reception

The book fulfilled McGrady's cynical expectations, and sales soon reached 20,000 copies, whereupon the co-authors decided to go public, in August 1969. The male authors gave their confession on ''The

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

Show'', after being introduced as "Penelope Ashe" and walking out on stage, single file, as the orchestra played the song "

A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1919 which became the theme song of the ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The first verse and refrain are considered part of the Great American Songbook and are often covered as a ...

". The revelation of the true origins of the book prompted more sales with the book selling approximately 90,000 copies by October 13, 1969.This figure, with according date, is quoted on th
20th-Century American Bestsellers' ''Naked Came the Stranger''
page. By the end of the year, the book had spent 13 weeks on the ''New York Times'' Best-Seller List, although by that time its authorship was common knowledge. It is unclear how much of the book's success was due to its content and how much to publicity about its unusual origin. As of May 2012, the book's publisher reported the book had sold 400,000 copies. In 1970, McGrady published ''Stranger Than Naked, or How to Write Dirty Books for Fun and Profit'', which told the story of the hoax.

Film

''Naked Came the Stranger'' was adapted in 1975 as directed by Radley Metzger and starring

Darby Lloyd Rains Darby Lloyd Rains (born in 1948) is a former adult film performer who was prolific during the 1970s. She is a member of the XRCO Hall of Fame. She appeared uncredited as a stripper in the 1971 film '' The French Connection''. Partial filmograph ...

. As reported by '' The Washington Post'', "Mr. McGrady and the other writers had nothing to do with the hardcore film with the same title. They did, however, see the movie at a Times Square theater. During one vivid scene, Aronson told '' The Charlotte Observer'', someone shouted 'Author, Author!' 'Seventeen of us stood up.

References

External links

Twentieth Century Bestsellers—''Naked Came the Stranger''
{{Portal bar, Society, Film, Novels, Erotica and pornography, United States 1969 American novels American erotic novels American novels adapted into films Barricade Books titles Collaborative novels Hoaxes in the United States Literary forgeries Novels set in New York City Works published under a pseudonym