[1] Larry Sloan initially studied at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), but soon left college to enlist in the United States Army following the outbreak of World War II.
[1] Sloan's connections led to a career transition as a press agent and publicist representing Carol Channing, Mae West, and Elizabeth Taylor, among others.
[1][3] In 1958, television writer Leonard B. Stern and comedian Roger Price launched Mad Libs, a word game book series which the duo had first invented in 1953.
[2] Stern and Price had named the game "Mad Libs" after overhearing an argument between an actor and talent agent at a New York City restaurant.
[1] Stern later noted in a 1994 Washington Post interview that Sloan "eventually became the business man behind Mad Libs.
[1][3] Sloan and Stern later co-founded Tallfellow Press, a publishing company specializing in business books based in Beverly Hills.