The producers; the long-running act behind "Sweet Smell of Success."(David Brown, Ernest Lehman)(Interview)

One day in the summer of 1937, David Brown and Ernest Lehman decided to make their fortunes together by conquering the world of big-time magazines. They had grown up a few blocks from each other, in Woodmere, Long Island, and after college (Brown went to Stanford, Lehman to City College) they renewed their friendship. At the time, Brown -- whom Lehman remembers from those days as "kind of shy and reclusive despite the fact that he wore a Maurice Chevalier straw hat, smoked cigars, and wore green suits" -- was making a meagre living as a copy editor and a second-string drama critic for Women's Wear Daily. Lehman spent his days pacing up and down Riverside Drive, wondering ...