Imagine a world at war. Cities and countries wiped off the face of the earth. It happened. Imagine kids getting through it dreaming of white Christmases, of falling in love and living happily ever after. That happened too. These same kids invented Elvis Presley, Rock and Roll, tail fins for cars and the panty girdle. They invented the Hula Hoop, EZ Bake Ovens and the bikini...why they even landed on and walked around on the moon. Nothing to it.

Their first loves were harder. Meet a forties child Jerry. Jerry's rose colored glasses came off in the '60s, he came of age, forgot he was just a kid and conquered marketing. Hollywood couldn't have written it better, and it's true.

"Just finished the book and I am simply staggered at how good it is. The story is engrossing and speaks to what every man has lived in his own life. It is a profound work. It is at its root a story of growth and passage. Passage from youth to maturity. All of us have had a similar experience but you have memorialized it into a beautiful narrative. There have been two comparable works for me personally. J. D. Salinger s epic, A Catcher in the Rye as I became a teenager and a movie I brought to the screen in the 1980 s: Stand by Me directed by Rob Reiner and written by Stephen King. Both made a profound impact on me and shed insight and light on my own life and evolution. Now, I must add a third leg to this group: The Long Stem is in the Lobby. It is that good. Thank you for making our times together a part of this wonderful work. I am honored. Congratulations my friend. I am glad that you have been and are in my life. Pete"

Peter S. Sealey (Past president of Columbia Pictures)