After finishing 'James Warren: Empire of Monsters', I did some additional online digging into the circumstances of the lawsuit filed by Bill DuBay's nephew Ben DuBay against Stephen King.
This in turn led me to the '20th Century Danny Boy' blog, hosted by Daniel Best. Best has somehow gotten hold of some of the depositions associated with the lawsuit, and posted them to his blog.
One of the more interesting of these depositions is that of former Warren magazines editor and writer Jim Senstrum.
For those of you who don't want to scroll though the lengthy deposition transcript, here are some provocative statements from Senstrum regarding how things really worked at the Warren offices in the 70s and early 80s..............
The scene: it's January 6, 2018, and Senstrum is being questioned first by Vincent Cox, the lawyer representing the Defendant, Stephen King, and then by Ben DuBay, representing himself as the Plaintiff.
(My remarks are in italics.)
Theft in the office:
Cox: And why were you, as you say, canned ?
Senstrum: Well, it was very embarrassing and it's still a sore point with me today. Dubay had accused me of stealing his wallet. Dubay had a habit of leaving his wallet all over the place. He often put it into his desk drawer. I've seen him leave it at restaurants and -- anyway, he was absolutely certain that I had stolen his wallet and I couldn't believe it. My jaw dropped down to the floor. I could -- I was absolutely gobsmacked and I couldn't believe it then and he fired me. I was so shocked I couldn't even say anything. I said, "Listen, that's not something I do."
And a couple of days later he came back and apologized. I don't know if he ever believed that I did it or not, but there was also -- at that time there was a woman in the front office who was stealing money from -- fans and readers of Warren Publishing would buy things through -- in the back there there was a catalog of things that he sold: Posters, toys, back issues of magazines and things like that. And back then it wasn't unusual, since it was just a couple of dollars or something like that, for people to put money into -- into the envelope and then they would send them the magazine or whatever the order.
Well, this woman who was -- it was her job to open up mail and, you know, take the orders and hand that off to the guys in the back – apparently was stealing. And the way they caught her was they sent her some money themselves. They mailed something to themselves and they caught her and fired her.
I have no idea if she had anything to do with it, if it was the help or Bill just lost his damn wallet. I don't know. He did apologize a couple days later and say, "Why didn't you punch me in the face," and believe me I really wanted to, but I did not.
Bill DuBay's Christmas Bonus:
Senstrum: I remember the episode -- he (i.e., DuBay) told me that he was expecting this Christmas bonus. He was so looking for this Christmas bonus that Jim Warren was going to give him and Jim Warren -- it came Christmastime, he took him into his office and he opened up a mini fridge and he gave him some bacon and this was his Christmas bonus and Bill was incensed.
He was so angry at him and I don't know if -- I know that there are -- he -- after that he began – I presume it was just facetious, but he was telling me about plots on how he could kill Jim Warren and he said, "Well, I can take a bolt out of his chair or maybe I can put something in his food or something and" -- never seriously, I must tell you, but that is how he put it, his anger was that much.
Work-Life Balance at Warren magazines:
Ben DuBay: Thank you.
So just to confirm, you did have a beef with James Warren?
Senstrum: To the extent that he was, I thought, abusing his artists and writers. I know that there was at least one artist who he decided not to pay, the fellow had died and that is why Steve Ditko left because he refused to pay Rocco -- I forget his last name.
He refused to pay him -- since he died he refused to pay him for the story. And I had also seen what Jim Warren, himself, had done with the production department at Warren by making people work late hours for no extra pay and it was -- it was an abusive system there.
Jim Warren could be very charming, but he could also be kind of a dick.
Fear and Loathing from the unauthorized reworking of 'A Boy and His Dog':
Ben DuBay: Now, did contact Harlan Ellison by phone before or after you quit?
Senstrum: After. Bill would not let me near the phone and I was not going to use a Warren phone. Rumor was that the Warren phones were bugged and I was not going to call from there. So when I got my last check, I went to the bank, I cashed it and I went over to Grand Central Station, I went to a pay phone and I called Harlan then.
It was about three or four days after his initial getting a hold of Budd Lewis, who then contacted me right away.
The last days of Warren magazines:
Cox: Q: Okay. And do you have any understanding as to why it was that Warren Communications went bankrupt?
Senstrum: As I understand it, it is not the story that Jim Warren tells everybody about him being sick.
I don't know for a fact, but I can only tell you what Bill Dubay told me and that is that Jim Warren, frankly, just got bored and he stopped coming in and -- he enjoyed having parties on his -- I think it was in Long Island and I remember the story about him spending $10,000 in fireworks. Again, all of this from Bill Dubay himself. And he would miss meetings with distributors.
I think he was more interested in maybe moving into movies and things like that. But as far as I can determine, he was just bored and -- I mean, when I was hired as editor for the -- and Bill was moved up to assistant publisher, I never saw him not once. He never came into the office.
He was so angry at him and I don't know if -- I know that there are -- he -- after that he began – I presume it was just facetious, but he was telling me about plots on how he could kill Jim Warren and he said, "Well, I can take a bolt out of his chair or maybe I can put something in his food or something and" -- never seriously, I must tell you, but that is how he put it, his anger was that much.
Work-Life Balance at Warren magazines:
Ben DuBay: Thank you.
So just to confirm, you did have a beef with James Warren?
Senstrum: To the extent that he was, I thought, abusing his artists and writers. I know that there was at least one artist who he decided not to pay, the fellow had died and that is why Steve Ditko left because he refused to pay Rocco -- I forget his last name.
He refused to pay him -- since he died he refused to pay him for the story. And I had also seen what Jim Warren, himself, had done with the production department at Warren by making people work late hours for no extra pay and it was -- it was an abusive system there.
Jim Warren could be very charming, but he could also be kind of a dick.
Fear and Loathing from the unauthorized reworking of 'A Boy and His Dog':
Ben DuBay: Now, did contact Harlan Ellison by phone before or after you quit?
Senstrum: After. Bill would not let me near the phone and I was not going to use a Warren phone. Rumor was that the Warren phones were bugged and I was not going to call from there. So when I got my last check, I went to the bank, I cashed it and I went over to Grand Central Station, I went to a pay phone and I called Harlan then.
It was about three or four days after his initial getting a hold of Budd Lewis, who then contacted me right away.
The last days of Warren magazines:
Cox: Q: Okay. And do you have any understanding as to why it was that Warren Communications went bankrupt?
Senstrum: As I understand it, it is not the story that Jim Warren tells everybody about him being sick.
I don't know for a fact, but I can only tell you what Bill Dubay told me and that is that Jim Warren, frankly, just got bored and he stopped coming in and -- he enjoyed having parties on his -- I think it was in Long Island and I remember the story about him spending $10,000 in fireworks. Again, all of this from Bill Dubay himself. And he would miss meetings with distributors.
I think he was more interested in maybe moving into movies and things like that. But as far as I can determine, he was just bored and -- I mean, when I was hired as editor for the -- and Bill was moved up to assistant publisher, I never saw him not once. He never came into the office.
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