Albert Podell (February 25, 1937 – April 9, 2023) was an American magazine editor and writer, advertising executive, trial attorney, and documentary film producer and director.
When the University censored and suppressed an issue featuring Beat Generation writers, Podell resigned and became a founder of Big Table, a literature publication.
[citation needed] In late 1959 Podell joined the editorial staff of Playboy, where he edited all non-fiction except jazz and cooking.
After Army service, where he edited the official manual on how to build and where to locate latrines, Podell moved back to New York to become the picture story editor of Argosy, then the oldest continuously country's published magazine.
In March 2015 St. Martin's Press published Podell's book Around The World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth[3][4] which became an immediate New York Times best seller, was reprinted in paperback in July 2016 and has been translated into five languages.
[citation needed] From 1964 to 1966 Podell was co-leader of the Trans-World Record Expedition, which made the longest, direct, non-repetitive automobile trip around the world.
[citation needed] In December 2012 Podell completed a five-decade mission to visit every country in the world and became, it is believed, the first American to achieve that goal.
In 1974, Podell became the director of legislative operations for Common Cause in Albany, a position he held until accused by political anti-reformers of running a ring of teenage prostitutes in the State Legislature.
in 1976 from NYU School of Law, and joined the firm of Rosenman, Colin, Freund, Lewis, and Cohen, where he worked on the landmark case of Universal Pictures Studios v. Sony (464 U.s. 417. aka the Betamax Case), where he helped Sony win the right to sell the VCR and opened up the world of home video sales and usage.