Marvin Kitman (born November 24, 1929) is an American

television critic Television criticism is the act of writing or speaking about television programming to evaluate its worth, meaning, and other aspects. Such criticism can be found in daily newspapers, on culture discussion shows (on TV and radio), and in speciali ...

, humorist, and author. He was a columnist for ''

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 fo ...

'' for 35 years and was a finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize for Criticism The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism has been presented since 1970 to a newspaper writer in the United States who has demonstrated 'distinguished criticism'. Recipients of the award are chosen by an independent board and officially administered by ...

in 1982. He is the author of nine books, including two on

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

that combine humor with extensive historical research.

Early life and education

Kitman was born on November 24, 1929, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania. His family moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, during his childhood. A line he subsequently used often was, "Some parents send their kids to Switzerland 'for finishing'; mine brought me to Brooklyn." In any case, he has remained a fan of the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

throughout his life. He attended

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is an elite public high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is one of ...

graduating in 1947. He then graduated from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in 1953.

Marriage, military service, and family

Kitman married the former Carol Sibushnick in 1951. She became a photographer. Kitman was drafted into the

Army of the United States The Army of the United States is one of the four major service components of the United States Army (the others being the Regular Army, the United States Army Reserve and the Army National Guard of the United States), but it has been inactive ...

, where he served from 1953 to 1955.Kitman, ''George Washington's Expense Account'', p. 16. During this time he was a member of the 47th Infantry Regiment in the 9th Infantry Division stationed at

Fort Dix Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force ...

. In his later telling, he "rose in only two years to the rank of Private First Class". Upon his return, the couple raised a son and two daughters. They became longtime residents of

Leonia, New Jersey Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,937, He became active in several organizations within the town. He lived across the street from novelist Robert Ludlum, then working on the first in a long list of thrillers, the sight of which Kitman later said inspired him to get serious about his own writing.

Early career

Kitman worked as a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. For ten years he wrote a column for ''

The Armstrong Daily ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', a horseracing tout sheet. The cleverness of these efforts led to

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American author, journalist, and comedian. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key ...

hiring him to write satirical consumer advocacy for ''

The Realist ''The Realist'' was a Humor magazine, magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire", intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of Mad (magazine), ''Mad'' and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly ''The Independent.'' Edited and ...

'', which included pieces that took television commercials literally or imagined sardonic extremes of

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

preparedness. Beginning in 1963, Kitman became a managing editor of ''

Monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...

'', a satirical magazine of the 1950s and 1960s. He subsequently became an officer and partner in ''Monocles periodicals and books divisions. Kitman was one of ''Monocle'' editors who created the idea of the ''

Report from Iron Mountain A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

'' satirical hoax, which was written and published by Leonard Lewin in 1967 and subsequently believed as true by many. He also worked as a staff writer for ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

'' during 1965–66. Taking on politics, Kitman staged a mock run in the

1964 United States presidential election The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nomi ...

, entering the

New Hampshire primary The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choos ...

for the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

. He ran as a "Lincoln Republican" who would finish the unmet campaign promises of 1864, such as providing for civil rights, and said that accordingly "I am the only truly reactionary Republican in the race." He also mentioned his Jewish upbringing, say he was "twice as Jewish" as candidate and eventual nominee

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president ...

, whom he labeled a "McKinley Republican". His campaign slogan was "I would rather be President than write." Kitman said the delegate pledged to him received 725 votes in the primary, but that he was demanding a recount as "there was some kind of fraud in my getting so many." He carried his campaign on a bit further, including staging a $1-a-plate fundraising dinner at a self-service cafeteria in New York. Kitman had a brief period working in advertising in New York: first as a "humorist-in-residence" with the firm of Solow/Wexton during 1966–67 and then as a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

for the firm Carl Ally during 1967–68.

Television critic

Kitman was one of the earlier, and longer-lasting,

s. He began his efforts in this arena writing for ''

The New Leader ''The New Leader'' (1924–2010) was an American political and cultural magazine. History ''The New Leader'' began in 1924 under a group of figures associated with the Socialist Party of America, such as Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas. It was ...

'' in 1967. He then started his run at ''

'' on December 7, 1969 ("A day that will live in infamy, as far as the TV industry is concerned," he said), and remained there until April 1, 2005, totaling 5,786 columns. The column was called "The Marvin Kitman Show" and Kitman was credited as its "Executive Producer". It ran three times a week in ''Newsday'' and was also distributed by the

Los Angeles Times Syndicate The ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate was a print syndication service that operated from 1949 to 2000. Owned by the Times Mirror Company, it also operated the ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate International; together the two divisions sold more tha ...

. Kitman worked from his home in Leonia the entire time, avoiding the commute to Melville, New York, where the paper was published, and in the earlier years sometimes using couriers to carry videotapes and copy back and forth. When the time came for the column to end, Kitman said in typical fashion, "''Newsday'' gave me a tryout, and after 35 years we decided it wasn't working out." Kitman held strong views about the lack of quality of much of what was on television during his time as a critic. Regarding the premiere of the sixth season of ''Saturday Night Live'' in 1980, the first with none of the original cast, he called it "offensive and raunchy" without being funny. "This new edition is terrible. Call it 'Saturday Night Dead on Arrival'." In reaction to the 1983 television film '' Kentucky Woman'', starring ex-

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...

lead

Cheryl Ladd Cheryl Ladd (born Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor; July 12, 1951) is an American actress, singer, and author best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the ABC television series ''Charlie's Angels'', whose cast she joined in its second season in 1977 t ...

in a serious role, Kitman wrote, "Cheryl Ladd as a coal miner was a very moving television experience. It made me want to convert to nuclear power." Regarding his need to judge television news programs, he summed that he had spent "thirty-five years of getting paid to watch the bad, the bemused, and the blond of TV news." He coined the so-called Kitman's Law: "On the TV screen pure drivel tends to drive off ordinary drivel." Writer

Bob Klapisch Roberto Salvador "Bob" Klapisch is a sportswriter for ''the Newark Star Ledger''. He has previously written for '' The New York Times'', '' New York Post'', ESPN, Fox Sports and '' New York Daily News'', and has written six books about baseball in ...

has described Kitman's style as "like sarcasm dried to a delicate crisp." Nevertheless, Kitman recognized that by and after the end of his tenure at ''Newsday'', there was a wave of quality series on television, which he claimed a connection to: "I take credit for oday's better programmingbecause I used to say cable was the answer. The whole fallacy was that television was giving the public what they wanted, but the public didn't know what was out there until cable showed what can happen – all the great stories, all the great acting – when you're not worried about ratings." In retrospect, Kitman has identified the 1980s series ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

'' as a turning point in American broadcast television quality, although not fully capitalized on at the time. Kitman had two runs on television as a critic on New York local news, first with

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship of ...

Channel 11 in 1973–74 and later for several years with WNEW Channel 5 on Saturday nights during the 1980s. He was also a frequent panelist on the show ''All About TV'' which appeared on

WNYC-TV WPXN-TV (channel 31) is a television station in New York City, airing programming from the Ion Television network. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on Seventh Avenue ...

. He had a radio show known as "Watching TV" on the

RKO Radio Network The RKO Radio Network, a subsidiary of RKO General, was the first commercial radio network to distribute programming entirely by satellite. When it began operations on October 1, 1979, the initial RKO network was the first new full-service Ameri ...

in the early 1980s.

Author

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

said of 1969's ''You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover'', a collection of humor pieces by Kitman, "He talks and he talks … but he talks. Yet the groggy reader is usually jarred into ordering more coffee and reading on." Kitman wrote several other books that were explicit humorist efforts. He also wrote about television, in particular in ''I Am a VCR'' (1988), which was about the effect watching television constantly for two decades was having on the author. The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' found that "Kitman generally finesses his contradictory viewpoint that television is both contemptible and fascinating.... ''VCR'' has its chuckles, but Kitman's joke-a-line style makes for a book best 'watched' in several installments, one with all the permanence of the medium it covers." Kitman was a co-creator and co-writer, along with

Jim Bouton James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 196 ...

and

Vic Ziegel Victor "Vic" Ziegel (August 16, 1937 – July 23, 2010) was an American sports writer, columnist, and editor for the ''New York Post'' and the ''New York Daily News''. His writing frequently centered on baseball, boxing, and horse racing. Ziegel ...

, of the short-lived 1976 television situation comedy ''

Ball Four ''Ball Four'' is a book written by former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Bouton (1939-2019) in 1970. The book is a diary of Bouton's 1969 season, spent with the Seattle Pilots and then the Houston Astros following a late-season trade. In it, ...

'', based upon Bouton's book of the same name. It gave Kitman a chance to see the television creative process from the inside. As he later recalled: "It was the constant rewriting at night, how everyone was always so exhausted. And the input from the executives – all they knew about writing was the alphabet, but they were the ones who kept saying, 'This is the way it's always been done.'" Kitman wrote two books about

that combined humor with extensive historical research. The first was ''George Washington's Expense Account'', published in 1970, which capitalized on Washington having declined a salary while serving as Commander-in-Chief of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

and instead only asking for his expenses to be reimbursed. Billed as being by coauthors "General George Washington and Marvin Kitman, Pfc (Ret.)", it presents in facsimile form Washington's ledger from 1775 to 1783 combined with Kitman's investigations and discussions regarding the expenses. Kitman's theme is that Washington foreshadowed the modern practice of maintaining, and sometimes manipulating,

expense account An expense account is the right to reimbursement of money spent by employees for work-related purposes. Some common expense accounts are: Cost of sales, utilities expense, discount allowed, cleaning expense, depreciation expense, delivery expense ...

s. The book made the ''New York Times Book Reviews "New and Recommended" list; a profile from that paper noted Kitman's "serious digging in various archives" and said that "Kitman's interpretation keep crossing the line that divides verity from travesty." The second work was ''The Making of the Prefident 1789'', with the fifth word of the title intentionally misspelled to make it look like a colonial-era use of the

long s The long s , also known as the medial s or initial s, is an archaic form of the lowercase letter . It replaced the single ''s'', or one or both of the letters ''s'' in a 'double ''s sequence (e.g., "ſinfulneſs" for "sinfulness" and "po� ...

. First envisioned in 1972 or before, when

Theodore H. White Theodore Harold White (, May 6, 1915 – May 15, 1986) was an American political journalist and historian, known for his reporting from China during World War II and the ''Making of the President'' series. White started his career reporting for ...

's ''The Making of the President'' books were popular, it was published in 1989 and sought to explore how Washington and his supporters managed to get into a position where he was unopposed in the

1788–89 United States presidential election The 1788–1789 United States presidential election was the first quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Monday, December 15, 1788, to Saturday, January 10, 1789, under the new Constitution ratified that same year. George Washingto ...

. It again drew comic parallels between those events and politics in modern times. Judged as history, reactions to Kitman's two Washington works were mixed. Brent Tarter, a public historian in Virginia, wrote that the first was "temporarily amusing but highly perishable" while the second was "sometimes carelessly and sometimes even deliberately contemptuous of evidence; it destroys Kitman's credibility with serious readers. Whatever useful he might have to say is impeached by his over-clever prose and his twisting of facts and misrepresentation of historical context in order to make puns, draw irrelevant parallels, and otherwise write in flip and entertaining style ..." British historian Marcus Cunliffe did not quibble with the accuracy of ''George Washington's Expense Account'' but found its interpretation comparing Washington to modern practices too stretched. But historian of Virginia William H. Stauffer found the same work "informative" and "praiseworthy" for the full light it shed on Washington's character. Art historian and Washington iconographer Karal Ann Marling said that while ''The Making of the Prefident 1789'' maintained an "air of pie-in-the-face irreverence," Kitman had demonstrated that he could "moonlight in the library with the best of 'em." And American historian

Francis Jennings Francis "Fritz" Jennings (1918November 17, 2000) was an American historian, best known for his works on the colonial history of the United States. He taught at Cedar Crest College from 1968 to 1976, and at the Moore College of Art from 1966 to ...

cited ''George Washington's Expense Account'' regarding the subject's drinking habits, and noted that it contains "hilarious and fully documented analysis" and that "as my trade's custom is to deplore such irreverence, let it be noted that the book includes a facsimile of the account in question." In 2007, Kitman published a biography of the popular but controversial television commentator Bill O'Reilly. Titled ''The Man Who Would Not Shut Up'', it was based upon 29 interviews Kitman conducted with the subject as well as large amounts of research. Although politically liberal, Kitman had often admired the mostly

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

O'Reilly as a broadcaster and O'Reilly in turn had read Kitman's ''Newsday'' columns growing up. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' said "it's difficult to imagine a better-researched or less-biased work about such a divisive figure as O'Reilly". 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 ...

'' praised Kitman for doing

Boswellian James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer S ...

amounts of research and constructing a well-written narrative, but ultimately concluded that the positive aspect of the portrayal was "unconvincing" and a "mash note". Nevertheless, O'Reilly hated the book, apparently because Kitman addressed the 2004 sexual harassment charges against the star by one of his program's female producers, and refused to follow through on what Kitman said was an agreement to feature the author and the book on the show. As a result, sales of the book suffered, as did Kitman's opinion of O'Reilly. (A decade later, O'Reilly would be forced off television by reporting of a number of sexual harassment suits settled by O'Reilly's employer on his behalf.)

Continuing on

Since ending his ''Newsday'' column, Kitman has remained active in that idiom, well into his eighties and then nineties. In 2008, he wrote a regular column for the

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

. Subsequently he voiced unhappiness over that site's disinclination to pay its contributors. During 2011–12, he wrote columns on business, media, and politics for the

Investor uprising An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

business information site, which did pay. But it then folded. And starting in 2013 he posted columns on television and politics to his MarvinKitman.com website. Such posts continued through 2020, Subsequently Kitman made his "Justaminuteman" postings on politics on the Twitter and

Substack Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...

platforms.

Awards and honors

In 1982, Kitman was a finalist for the

. Kitman was given the Humorous Writing Award from the Society of the Silurians, a New York area press organization, in 1991 and a Special Commentary Award from the same body in 1993. Kitman received City College's Townsend Harris Medal in 1992. He was given the James W. Carey Award for Outstanding Media Ecology Journalism from the Media Ecology Association in 2008. Kitman was enrolled into the Brooklyn Tech Hall of Fame in 1998. Kitman has also proclaimed himself the monarch of the Kingdom of Redonda.

Published works

* ''The Number One Best Seller: The True Adventures of Marvin Kitman'' (Dial Press, 1966) * ''The Red Chinese Air Force Exercise, Diet, and Sex Book'' (Stein & Day, 1968) translated by William Randolph Hirsch", pseudonym for Kitman, Richard Lingeman, and Victor Navasky] * ''You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover'' (Weybright & Talley, 1969) * ''George Washington's Expense Account'' (Simon & Schuster, 1970) [co-author with

] (reprinted by Grove, 2001) * ''The Marvin Kitman Show: An Encyclopedia Televisiana'' (Outerbridge & Diensfrey, 1973) * ''The Coward's Almanac'' (Doubleday, 1975) ith_drawings_by_Lou_Myers.html" ;"title="Lou_Myers.html" ;"title="ith drawings by Lou Myers">ith drawings by Lou Myers">Lou_Myers.html" ;"title="ith drawings by Lou Myers">ith drawings by Lou Myers* ''I Am a VCR: The Kitman Tapes'' (Random House, 1988) * ''The Making of the Prefident 1789: The Unauthorized Campaign Biography'' (HarperCollins, 1989) * ''The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly'' (St. Martin's Press, 2007) * ''Gullible's Travels: A Comical History of the Trump Era'' (Seven Stories Press, 2020)

References

External links

Marvin Kitman website for columns from 2013 to 2020

Biography by William Randolph Hirsch at Encyclopedia.com

Marvin Kitman papers, 1950–2006 at Columbia University
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitman, Marvin 1929 births Living people American columnists American humorists American media critics Television personalities from New York City American biographers Writers from New Jersey Newsday people Jewish American writers City College of New York alumni United States Army soldiers Writers from Pittsburgh People from Brooklyn People from Leonia, New Jersey Candidates in the 1964 United States presidential election 20th-century American politicians Brooklyn Technical High School alumni Journalists from Pennsylvania Micronational leaders