The Press: Crow in the City Room

As a pressagent for National Distillers’ Old Crow whisky, Stuart Little, 54, had an aspiration essential in his calling. He wanted to get his product’s name past the sharp, hostile eyes of newspaper editors and into print for some free publicity. For deft Stuart Little,#&134; who also wanted some information for a promotion booklet, the problem was simple. Out of Editor & Publisher he picked the names of 250 dailies, sent them all the same letter: “There are upwards of 3 billion crows in North America . . . But I think there must be octogenarian crows that live far beyond the twelve-year span allotted them by the migratory bird experts. My grandfather, for instance, had a politically-minded talking crow which he chased off his farm when the bird deserted Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and plumped for Alton B. Parker for President . . . Grandpa also claimed he found the crow as a fledgling … in 1861 . . . That would make the old crow 43 years old at the time their friendship was fractured over politics.”

Thoughtfully, Pressagent Little got more specific about his product: “A friend in Kentucky wrote that he was sending along an old crow which had been around for 125 years. When the expressmen delivered the package, it contained a bottle of an oldtime beverage called Old Crow. Another wag offered to ship me, prepaid, an elderly female relative by marriage . . . However, what I am looking for are authenticated very old crows … I would deeply appreciate any help from you or your readers.” He signed his name and address, but not his occupation.

Last week Little totted up spectacular results. More than 100 dailies, including the Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, Chicago Daily News and Cincinnati Enquirer, ran the letter. Columnists picked it up, and several papers even ran editorials about it. A reporter from the Christian Science Monitor called, Little said, explained that the paper was amused by the letter, but “you know we can’t mention liquor in the paper.” Graciously, Little told him to take out the reference to Old Crow (the Monitor did, ran the letter in one edition). Readers were equally responsive. In Little’s mail came three live crows and a crow whistle from a Pennsylvania editor, who suggested Little might use it to catch some live birds and study their longevity at first hand, and 400 to 500 letters offering information about crows.

Last week Pressagent Little dispatched a second letter begging editors to ask readers to stop sending him crows. Emboldened by his first success, this time he managed to mention Old Crow not once but twice, has already got it printed in several newspapers.

#&134;Not to be confused with Humorist E. B. White’s mouse’ of the same name.