The Genius Factory (30 page)

Endnotes

*
 
¹
Graham took credit for the magazine’s name. At the time it launched, he was facetiously addressing his letters to “Arnold Gingrich, Esquire.” When Gingrich was brainstorming a name for the magazine, one of Graham’s letters arrived, and
Esquire
was born.

*
 
²
From the beginning, sperm banking had a comic aspect to it. In July 1976, a prankster named Joey Skaggs announced that he would be auctioning rock star sperm from his “Celebrity Sperm Bank” in Greenwich Village. “We’ll have sperm from the likes of Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and vintage sperm from Jimi Hendrix,” he declared. On the morning of the auction, Skaggs and his lawyer appeared to announce that the sperm had been kidnapped. They read a ransom note: “Caught you with your pants down. A sperm in the hand is worth a million in a Swiss bank. And that’s what it will cost you. More to cum. [signed] Abbie.” Hundreds of women called the nonexistent sperm bank asking if they could buy; radio and TV shows reported the aborted auction without realizing it had been a joke. And at the end of the year, Gloria Steinem—presumably unaware that it had been a hoax—appeared on an NBC special to give the Celebrity Sperm Bank an award for bad taste.

*
 
³
At home, even a careful donor could run into unexpected difficulties, as Donor Orange did. The Repository instructed home donors to first place samples in their freezer, to cool them down slowly, and transfer them to liquid nitrogen only later, after that pre-icing. Said Donor Orange:

“I was moving from one apartment to another down the hall, and I was in the middle of processing specimens. They were in the freezer of my old apartment. I wanted to make sure the electricity was hooked up in the new apartment so that the freezer would be working when I transferred the samples. I called the power company, and I didn’t want to explain too much, so I told them that I had ‘human specimens’ in my freezer and wanted to make sure they were not damaged when I moved. The power company lady seemed taken aback, but she was very nice and confirmed that the power was on. I hung up.

“Ten minutes later the police were at my door. The officer wanted to come in and check the freezer to see that I didn’t have body parts in it. I explained that the ‘human specimens’ were sperm donations. It was very embarrassing.”

*
 
⁴
The first time I interviewed Paul, he asked me if I could put him in touch with Bill Gates, since
Slate
was owned by Microsoft. Paul said he wanted to recruit Gates as a sperm donor—“even though I hate his operating system.” I laughed him off. The second time I saw Paul, we were saying good-bye, and his wife, Adonna, asked, “If I send you a donor application, would you fill it out?”

“No, my wife wouldn’t want that,” I answered.

“C’mon, you’ll think about it,” urged Adonna.

“Okay, I’ll think about it,” I said.

As I drove away, my first thought was,
That is the most flattering thing anyone has ever said to me. I am genius sperm bank material.
I knew I would never do it, but how gratifying to be asked. But my second thought was: That is just sad. From Bill Gates to me—the perfect arc of decline.

Adonna, incidentally, never sent me the application.

*
 
⁵
Here is imprinting as an anecdote: The dancer Isadora Duncan once suggested to George Bernard Shaw that they should have a child. “Think of it!” Duncan said. “With my body and your brains, what a wonder it would be.” Shaw replied, “But what if it had my body and your brains?”

*
 
⁶
Well, maybe not too crude for everyone. A British production company recently announced plans for a reality TV show tentatively titled
Make Me a Mum,
in which one thousand men will compete to become the sperm donor to a first-time mother by showing off their intelligence, good looks, and health.

*
 
⁷
Charging for interviews is not an unreasonable position: Doron sees no reason to waste his life as an unpaid sideshow freak. He wants something for his inconvenience, for having to answer the same tedious questions:
So, are you a genius?
Foreign reporters give him cash without hesitation. American journalists arrange byzantine schemes to avoid paying him directly. For example,
60 Minutes
repeatedly flew Doron’s mother from Los Angeles to visit him at boarding school in New Hampshire, housing her at top-notch hotels. Some journalists have “rented” Afton’s house in order to obtain an interview or booked her for one of her psychotherapy sessions. Other media outlets don’t disclose that they’ve done this.

I managed to get Afton to talk to me by taking her out to a nice dinner in Pasadena. Doron was more complicated. When I reached him in 2001, he asked for cash. I refused, but, at my
Slate
editor’s suggestion, I proposed that the magazine fly him to the East Coast so that he could visit his best friend in New Hampshire and I could meet him. That way he would get a benefit he wanted, a plane ticket worth several hundred dollars, and I could feel as if I were not buying him off. My convoluted ethical justification: I would have had to fly cross-country to see him, so what difference did it make if the airplane fare went to me or him?

He agreed, but it turned out he couldn’t fly east until months after I needed to talk to him. So I interviewed him over the phone for a long time and made plans to meet him at the airport for a follow-up when he finally came east. But because his schedule changed, I never did meet him face-to-face.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The children, parents, and donors of the Repository for Germinal Choice took a risk by sharing their secrets with me. I can’t thank them enough.
The Genius Factory
wouldn’t exist without them. I wish I could name them, but pseudonyms will have to do. Thank you Tom and Mary Legare, Samantha and Alton Grant, Jeremy Sampson, Donor White, Beth, and Joy. I was amazed at the grace with which you handled events that were sometimes joyful, often awkward, and always complicated.

I owe my colleagues at
Slate
big time. Michael Kinsley pushed me to investigate the Nobel sperm bank, and Jacob Weisberg, his successor as
Slate
’s editor, encouraged me to persist with the project. Jack Shafer came up with the inspired idea of using the Internet to let children and donors find me. June Thomas thought up a great name for my series, “Seed.” Practically everyone else at
Slate
contributed valuable leads, suggestions, and corrections for the project.

My agent, Rafe Sagalyn, had the sense to recognize that the Nobel sperm bank was a book, even when I didn’t. Jonathan Karp at Random House has the gift of the true editor: he knows that you have to edit something
before
it’s written. When I was floundering around with fifteen different ideas for the book, Jon identified the real story and gave me a great big shove in the right direction. His colleagues at Random House, particularly Jonathan Jao and Jillian Quint, were helpful at every stage, and Lynn Anderson and Dennis Ambrose saved me from dreadful mistakes.

Derek Anderson was my sounding board, my private eye, and my pal. Derek, who was researching a documentary about the Repository as I was working on my book, was unbelievably generous with his time and his discoveries. I never would have unraveled the story of Donor Coral without him.

I don’t have the space to thank everyone who sat for interviews or contributed to my research, but I’m particularly grateful to the following people:

Doron and Afton Blake, the Ramm family, Lorraine O’Brien, Edward Burnham, Donor Light Blue, Donor Orange, Donor Blue/Black, Donor Aqua, and many other donors and families gave me great insight into why mothers used the Repository, why donors contributed to it, and how kids felt about it.

Marta Ve Graham supplied me with a useful documentary record of her husband Robert Graham’s life. Robert Graham’s son Robin, brother Tom, nephews Tom and Jeff, and daughter-in-law Diane all shared memories of Robert Graham with me.

Former Repository employees Paul Smith, Julianna McKillop, and Anita Neff spent hours describing the inner workings of the sperm bank. Steve Broder filled me in on the early history of the Repository, and was a trove of information about modern sperm banking. Dr. Cappy Rothman and Marla Eby told me all about California Cryobank, the gold standard of American sperm banks. Joanna Scheib tutored me on the identity release program at the Sperm Bank of California. Wendy Kramer explained how her Donor Sibling Registry works. Lori Andrews and Alexander Capron advised me on the ethics of the fertility industry. Margaret Williams guided me through the marvelous William Shockley archive at Stanford. Edwin Chen of the
Los Angeles Times
recalled the media circus that followed his 1980 story about the Repository. At the Genetics and Public Policy Center, Susannah Baruch, Gail Javitt, and Kathy Hudson instructed me on the law and science of fertility. Connie Cappel brought the history of Harbor Springs to life. She also put me in touch with Bruce Gathman, who debunked the myth of Ephraim Shay. Shannon Brownlee sent me some great articles on imprinting. Derek Anderson’s colleagues at Cinenova, particularly Ric Bienstock, Kathryn Liptrott, and David Lint, helped by sharing material they had gathered for their documentary.
Saturday Night Live
historian Patrick Lonergan tracked down the “Dr. Shockley’s House of Sperm” sketch. I consulted lots of books: The three most useful (and fascinating) were Daniel Kevles’s
In the Name of Eugenics,
Gina Maranto’s
Quest for Perfection,
and Lillian Hoddeson and Michael Riordan’s
Crystal Fire.

Sarah Stillman, Stephen Baxter, and Rebecca Gordon were superb research assistants. I wish I could have paid you more!

All of my friends tolerated my endless sperm bank stories graciously. Some did even more. Marjorie Williams suggested the structure of the book. Frank Foer, Linda Perlstein, Emily Yoffe, and Ben Wittes gave me excellent advice about how to write a book. Arthur Allen and Christine Rosen told me some of their favorite eugenics stories. Michael Raunitzky did some nifty online detective work for me. David Greenberg proposed a subtitle. Ben Sheffner, David and Nancy Sheffner, Tonje Vetleseter, Auran Piatagorski, Michael and Kathryn Koehler, Craig and Anne Turk, Ben Cooley, and Jenny Konner offered warm beds and hot meals during my various California sojourns. Rosemary Quigley counseled me on the ethics of sperm banking, and pointed me at some great legal cases. Rosemary died the week I finished the book: I wish she had lived to argue with me about it.

Clara Jeffery, Margaret Talbot, and David Finkel did the kindest, most masochistic thing you can do for a friend: They read the first draft. Their comments were incredibly helpful in clarifying and shaping the book.

My brother John Plotz offered tons of encouragement, as did my in-laws Miriam and Eli Rosin, Michael Rosin, Dalila Rosin, and Lisa Soltani.

This is a book about what it means to be a parent. Fortunately, I learned about that from the best: My parents, Paul and Judith Plotz, have been all that a son could hope for—loving, attentive, curious, hands-off, hands-on, funny. I never would have known about the Nobel sperm bank if not for my father. I never would have had the wit to write about it if not for my mother.

My daughter, Noa, was born just as I started researching the Nobel sperm bank, and my son, Jacob, was born just as I started writing the book. In
The Genius Factory,
I have tried to explain what it feels like to be a father: I wouldn’t have understood anything about that without Noa and Jacob.

This book is for my wife, Hanna. She made me write it when I didn’t have the guts to do it. She’s my love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D
AVID
P
LOTZ
is deputy editor of the online magazine
Slate.
He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children. For more information on
The Genius Factory,
including original documents, please visit www.thegeniusfactory.net.

Copyright © 2005 by David Plotz

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

R
ANDOM
H
OUSE
and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This book was inspired by a series of articles written by the author for
Slate
magazine. While some of the same stories are included in this work, they have been greatly expanded from the original articles.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Plotz, David.

The genius factory: the curious history of the Nobel Prize sperm bank / David Plotz.

p. cm.

1. Graham, Robert Klark. 2. Sperm banks—United States. 3. Artificial insemination, human—United States. 4. Nobel Prizes. 5. Intellect—genetic aspects. I. Title.

HQ761.P56 2005                                                      362.17'83—dc22                                                      2004051497

Random House website address:
www.atrandom.com

eISBN: 978-1-58836-470-8

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