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The Hucksters
"The whole story the movie didn't tell."
Vic Norman got everything a man could want...He got a hand-painted tie at $35...and a shiny new job at $35,000...he got an apartment on Sutton Place...and the respect of the toughest old tyrant who ever sold soap...he got Marguerite...and Connie...and glamorous red-headed Jean. He got everything a man could want...but he didn't know what he wanted. Not til he met Kay, cool, blonde, lovely Kay. Then he knew what he wanted but didn't know how to get it!
One of the best-selling novels of 1946, made into a popular Clark Gable film in 1947.
Vic Norman got everything a man could want...He got a hand-painted tie at $35...and a shiny new job at $35,000...he got an apartment on Sutton Place...and the respect of the toughest old tyrant who ever sold soap...he got Marguerite...and Connie...and glamorous red-headed Jean. He got everything a man could want...but he didn't know what he wanted. Not til he met Kay, cool, blonde, lovely Kay. Then he knew what he wanted but didn't know how to get it!
One of the best-selling novels of 1946, made into a popular Clark Gable film in 1947.
307 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1946
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 12, 2013
Actually I read this a few years ago but just last night watched the Clark Gable, Deborah Kerr, Ava Garner movie. Also, just yesterday, I read--three!--articles from the New York Times reviewing Dave Eggers' The Circle (which I plan to read but have not read yet.)
I was drawn to read The Hucksters because of its description of the then maturing profession of advertising, its seeming appearance as source material for the Mad Med television show and the fact it is set in the late 1940's.
Norman is certainly a 1940's version of Don Draper, a little rougher and aggressive--as was the fashion for the hero-man of the 1940's--than Draper who was the ideal hero-man of his time.
What really resonated though, were the similarities of the reviews for the Hucksters (both book and movie) to those for The Circle. Reviewers, in both cases, could not dump on the works for they are not "trash" or "bad"--but there was a strong resistance to praise.
Stepping back I could see what might be going on: Both books deal with a contemporary view of a new, developing industry as well as with new, developing work environments. In The Hucksters' world, employees are being introduced to a world where powerful bosses control by fear. By the time of The Circle (sadly) we've reached a place where that controlling fear in the workplace is a pervasive standard. Now has been added, the need to give over even more of one's identity to the "boss."
Possibly, the critical resistance to the two works is based on a conscious, or sub-concious, resistance to the worlds each depicts. Perhaps a refusal to accept that the worlds depicted are accurate--which would be a hard problem to deal with indeed--so much easier to attack the books by claiming they present a false depiction of the "real" world.
I was drawn to read The Hucksters because of its description of the then maturing profession of advertising, its seeming appearance as source material for the Mad Med television show and the fact it is set in the late 1940's.
Norman is certainly a 1940's version of Don Draper, a little rougher and aggressive--as was the fashion for the hero-man of the 1940's--than Draper who was the ideal hero-man of his time.
What really resonated though, were the similarities of the reviews for the Hucksters (both book and movie) to those for The Circle. Reviewers, in both cases, could not dump on the works for they are not "trash" or "bad"--but there was a strong resistance to praise.
Stepping back I could see what might be going on: Both books deal with a contemporary view of a new, developing industry as well as with new, developing work environments. In The Hucksters' world, employees are being introduced to a world where powerful bosses control by fear. By the time of The Circle (sadly) we've reached a place where that controlling fear in the workplace is a pervasive standard. Now has been added, the need to give over even more of one's identity to the "boss."
Possibly, the critical resistance to the two works is based on a conscious, or sub-concious, resistance to the worlds each depicts. Perhaps a refusal to accept that the worlds depicted are accurate--which would be a hard problem to deal with indeed--so much easier to attack the books by claiming they present a false depiction of the "real" world.
July 2, 2023
Read this with half a mind on Mad Men which somewhat coloured my perception of the novel as a standalone piece of work. After all this novel (one of the most popular in 1946 apparently) came first. The first three quarters zips along breezily as Vic Norman our cynical budding ad man negotiates a new career post war in an ad agency which has a Machiavellian client who holds all the aces in the relationship.
Cue Hollywood where said ad man falls in love with a married woman (husband still overseas involved in the war) and the novel falls off the cliff. Cloying, overblown prose ensues with a handy moral message to end what was at first an intriguing look at the ad agency world. If you liked Mad Men then by all means read this one but beware the last quarter.
Cue Hollywood where said ad man falls in love with a married woman (husband still overseas involved in the war) and the novel falls off the cliff. Cloying, overblown prose ensues with a handy moral message to end what was at first an intriguing look at the ad agency world. If you liked Mad Men then by all means read this one but beware the last quarter.
July 18, 2022
What an unexpected pleasure. Ostensibly a humorous satire about the superficial world of advertising - but harbouring a chocolatey core filled with the gooey exploration of ego, love, success and dignity - 'The Hucksters' follows recently-discharged (in the closing days of the Second World War) Vic Norman as he moves from army radio work back into the world of advertising. He wants success, money, dames and fame. It's very Sex and the City. Given that this was written in *1946*, its tone sometimes feels rooted in its time. For most of it, it feels surprisingly present. From poignant aphorisms on the working of advertising (that remain true today) to the relatively indiscreet love affairs.
It's often laugh-out-loud funny and, without spoilers, I found it surprisingly touching. Glorious fun. Completely sincere.
It's often laugh-out-loud funny and, without spoilers, I found it surprisingly touching. Glorious fun. Completely sincere.
June 2, 2022
The film made some unfortunate compromises dictated by the production code, otherwise, great entertainment, with Gable at his best, which was pretty good.
August 14, 2024
Walked so Mad Men could run.
That being said, quite a sensible conclusion. Not particularly fictitious.
That being said, quite a sensible conclusion. Not particularly fictitious.
April 5, 2026
The novel of the movie starring Gable, Kerr, Gardner, Greenstreet, Menjou, Wynn, Arnold...enjoyed it & didn't know where it was going at the end, & maybe the author didn't, either?
February 14, 2026
A delightful novel about radio advertising near the end of the war. The writing has that cynical quippiness that I associate with the hard boiled noir which made it a fun read. Good corporate room fiction with a powerful love story woven in...A nice surprise!
December 27, 2021
The book goes well, is more bluntly sexual than I expected.
And then the main character falls in love, and everything moves as slow as molasses. The ending was only slightly less obvious than St Patrick's Day in Boston.
Until that point, though, the book is breezy, fun in the free-wheeling escapist sense. The way Office Space is fun - enjoying the life of someone who simply does not care the way everyone around him cares.
And then the main character falls in love, and everything moves as slow as molasses. The ending was only slightly less obvious than St Patrick's Day in Boston.
Until that point, though, the book is breezy, fun in the free-wheeling escapist sense. The way Office Space is fun - enjoying the life of someone who simply does not care the way everyone around him cares.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to Read
November 5, 2023[WBC but I'm not real confident...]
March 6, 2007
I liked it.
Maybe because he's so sincere...
Maybe because he's so sincere...
Want to Read
October 1, 20161946
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews