Lyle Stuart (born Lionel Simon; August 11, 1922June 24, 2006) was an American author and independent publisher of controversial books. He worked as a newsman for years before launching his publishing firm, Lyle Stuart, Incorporated. A former part-owner of the original Aladdin Hotel & Casino in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, Stuart was also a noted gambling authority, who advised casinos on how to protect themselves from cheats and cons. He had a wide circle of friends, freely admitting to a lively sex life. He was fond of gambling, with

baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...

and

craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...

being his games of choice. His gambling bestsellers were ''Casino Gambling for the Winner,'' ''Winning at Casino Gambling,'' and ''Lyle Stuart on Baccarat.'' He boasted, in ''Casino Gambling for the Winner,'' of having won $166,505 in ten consecutive visits to Las Vegas.

Career

The Walter Winchell feud

Stuart had first gained national notoriety by taking on the powerful newspaper columnist

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and ...

in a series of scathing magazine articles, collected in book form in 1953. After serving with the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

and the

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he worked for

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

,'' Music Business, and RTW Scout. In 1951, he launched a monthly tabloid named ''Exposé'' (name later changed to ''The Independent'') designed to publish those stories and articles that others would not have dared publish because they might have offended subscribers or advertisers. Contributors included

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in sever ...

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Maile ...

George Seldes Henry George Seldes ( ; November 16, 1890 – July 2, 1995) was an American investigative journalist, foreign correspondent, editor, author, and media critic best known for the publication of the newsletter ''In Fact'' from 1940 to 1950. He was a ...

, Ted O. Thackrey and

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

EC Comics

In the early 1950s, he was the business manager of the

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, war novel, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through th ...

line published by

Bill Gaines William Maxwell Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically import ...

, a close friend. In 1956, with $8,000 of the money he collected from libel actions against Walter Winchell, ''Confidential,'' ABC-TV, and ''

Editor & Publisher ''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the newspaper industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry." Originally based in New York City, ...

,'' he began his publishing company, Lyle Stuart, Inc., of which, as noted below,

Kensington Books Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender G ...

subsequently acquired ownership.

Lyle Stuart, Inc.

The publishing firm for which Stuart was best known, Lyle Stuart, Inc., was founded in 1955 with the proceeds of a lawsuit settlement. In 1965, in partnership with Loujon Press, Stuart published Charles Bukowski’s second important poetry collection, Crucifix in a Deathhand, though the firm was better known for publishing books such as ''

The Sensuous Woman ''The Sensuous Woman'' is a book written by Terry Garrity and issued by Lyle Stuart. Published first during 1969 with the pseudonym "J", it is a detailed instruction manual concerning sexuality for women. It is notable for greater frankness in di ...

'' and ''

Naked Came the Stranger ''Naked Came the Stranger'' is a 1969 novel written as a literary hoax 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' ...

''. In the early 1980s, Lyle Stuart Inc. made a deal with UK publishers

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became wel ...

/ W H Allen for US distribution of the paperback novelizations of the TV series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'', coincident with the increasing popularity of the show on US public broadcasting. The company was sold in 1988 to developer Steven Schragis, who started Carol Publishing. In 2000, Carol Publishing filed for bankruptcy and was itself sold to the

Kensington Publishing Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender G ...

Corporation.

Barricade Books

In 1997, Stuart's publishing house

Barricade Books Barricade Books is an independent publishing company specializing in non-fiction titles and featuring biography, memoir, including holocaust memoirs, and true crime and Mafia titles. History The genesis for Barricade Books was Lyle Stuart Inc. ...

reissued ''

The Turner Diaries ''The Turner Diaries'' is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. It depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and, ...

,'' a novel thought to have been the inspiration behind

Timothy McVeigh Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third ...

's bombing of the Murrah building. He was a strong advocate of

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

, and believed it was important for people to be able to read and make up their own minds. (In the introduction he wrote to his reissue of ''The Turner Diaries,'' he made clear how strongly he opposed the viewpoint expressed in the book.) Also in the 1990s, casino mogul

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn (''né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction ...

sued Stuart over catalog copy. The copy on ''Running Scared,'' a biography of Wynn, made reference to a

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London' ...

report that tied the Las Vegas tycoon to the

Genovese Crime Family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the Ame ...

. (The book refuted some of the report's findings.) Stuart lost the libel case and was ordered to pay three million dollars in defamation, forcing him into

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

. This judgment was overturned on appeal by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2001 and sent back for a new trial, which Wynn chose not to pursue.

Personal life

Stuart was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

on August 11, 1922. Stuart's first wife, Mary Louise Stuart, died in 1969. They are the parents of famed jazz guitarist

Rory Stuart Rory Stuart (born January 9, 1956) is an American jazz guitarist. Although he has performed as a sideman with many jazz musicians, he is best known for his work as leader of groups and for his role as an educator. Career Stuart was born in New ...

. Later Stuart married Carole Livingston Stuart in 1982 and they were married until his death. Stuart, especially in his last years, was a resident of

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, t ...

. He died from a heart attack at a hospital in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from po ...

, on June 24, 2006, at age 83.Ramirez, Anthony
"Lyle Stuart, Publisher of Renegade Titles, Dies at 83"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' June 26, 2006.

Bibliography

*''God Wears a Bow Tie'' (1950) *''Inside Western Union'' (1950) *''The Secret Life of Walter Winchell'' (1953) *''Inside The FBI'' (1967) *'' The Rich and the Super-Rich'' (1968) *''

'' (1969) *''

'' (1969) *'' The Anarchist Cookbook'' (1970) *''

The Sensuous Man ''The Sensuous Man'' is a book written by an author initially known as "M", later revealed to be Joan (Terry) Garrity, John Garrity, and Len Forman. First published in 1971 by both L. Stuart and W. H. Allen, by Corgi in 1972 and again in 1982 b ...

'' (1971) *''The MAD World of William M. Gaines'' (1972), Library of Congress Card No. 72-9178 *''Jackie Oh!'' (1978) *''Casino Gambling for the Winner'' (1978), *'' The Prostitute Murders: The People Vs. Richard Cottingham'' (1983) *'' Du Pont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain'' (1984) *'' L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?'' (1987) *'' Black Robes, White Justice'' (1987), *''Winning at Casino Gambling'' (1994), *''Lyle Stuart on Baccarat'' (1997),

References

External links

Lyle Stuart's Open letter in ''The New York Times''
1988-01-03
''Publishers Weekly'' on Nevada Supreme Court verdict
2001-10-08
Finding aid to Lyle Stuart papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Lyle 1922 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male writers American publishers (people) American sailors American tax resisters Comic book publishers (people) EC Comics Jewish American writers People from Fort Lee, New Jersey Writers from Manhattan 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews