Additional education came in Britain and France after his mother's marriage to Dixon, who managed an American bank in Paris.
[6] He left the newspaper in 1935 to found Young America, a weekly news magazine for use in classrooms,[2] with backing from Marshall Field III.
[6] From April 18, 1952, until December 19, 1952, Scheftel was host of The Hot Seat, a 30-minute American Broadcasting Company television program on which he and a guest interviewed public figures, including Joseph McCarthy and Tex McCrary.
[3] In 1950, Scheftel was in charge of press relations for the Senate Crime Investigating Committee, with Estes Kefauver at its head.
[3] In 1961, he sought to be the Liberal Party's candidate for mayor of New York City, but he withdrew after failing to gather enough signatures on the designating petition.
His role in that position included investigating problems related to young people and suggesting programs that might be implemented by the city's Youth Service Agency.
[1] Created in 1965 with Scheftel investing more than $500,000, the display occupied a half-acre in the basement of the American Management Association Building at 135 West 50th Street.
[16] Scheftel and his brother were co-owners of Animal Management Services, which in December 1971 announced plans to build a drive-through exotic game preserve in West Milford, New Jersey.
The plans called for a baboon island, a reconstructed African village, a tropical rain forest, and more than 2,000 wild animals and birds.
[24] The Scheftel brothers once defeated the future King Edward VIII and American golfer Bobby Jones 6 and 4 in a match.
[25] Scheftel wed actress Geraldine Fitzgerald on September 10, 1946, in Los Angeles,[26][27] and they remained married for 47 years.