The old ones are the best ones

We often need reminding that there’s little new under the sun. Two accounts of old-time PR men bring this to mind:

There’s 88 year-old Gene Weber, still sending out type-written press releases and still making news events happen according to The New Yorker (via PR Fuel).

The key to making things happen is to take your client, who may not even deserve to be in the papers, see what he has to work with, and, even if it’s not much, rub a few ideas together till something hopefully catches on fire.

Then there’s Silicon Valley PR pioneer Fred Hoar who has died (The Mercury News reports.) Thanks to the birth of POP! Public Relations for this. And for the personal recollection of Fred Hoar saying: “advertising is pay for play, while public relations is pray for play.”