The Legend Of Bill Paley
Bill Paley’s father and uncle were millionaire cigar makers and distributors in Philadelphia. Paley received one million dollars from his father to go into business. The business failed and he lost all the money.
He went to his father a second time for another one million dollars to go into another business. That business also failed, and he lost all the money again.
He went to his father a third time, for another one million dollars to become a partner in the CBS radio network, a dinky little network owned by someone he met at synagogue. His father told him he would give him the million dollars, but if he lost the money again he would have to go into the cigar business with his father and uncle.
Paley tried to sell advertising on CBS radio, but there were no buyers. Again, he went to his father and this time asked him to buy advertising for La Paloma cigars. The elder Paley decided to purchase some advertising. Sales of La Paloma cigars went up.
Bill Paley’s partner used the La Paloma ad campaign to sell time to additional advertisers.
Later, Bill Paley bought out his partner, and took credit for founding the network and making it a success. Thus the legend was born.
Bill Paley also went to great pains to erase all vestiges of his Jewish heritage, passing himself off as a WASP.
—————–
This story is given to me by my husband, after a conversation we had trading stories about successful entrepreneurs in which he was illustrating his abiding interest in how they really got their start.
