Well, I wrote the other day about Archy & Mehitabel, which has been such a delight and joy to me my whole life and has never once been out of print. (Let’s ponder for a moment on the intellectual climate – and the serendipity – that could produce something of the inventiveness, and perennial freshness, with the breadth of reference, of Archy & Mehitabel, as a funny popular newspaper column. It’s no surprise to hear that functional literacy levels are lower now than in 1912. And what do we get? Charlie Brookner.)
But in all this time I had never seen before Archy and Mehitabel’s creator, the American newspaper humorist Don Marquis. Isn’t he great?
Like Archy, Marquis had a soul and something to make out of it; but, unlike Archy, he was embodied in exactly the right form: a newspaperman of the early twentieth century. What a thing to be.
On second thoughts, don’t you like this one even better? Toujours gaie, readers, toujours gaie
1 Comment
July 3, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Those interested should read the fine biography, “O Rare Don Marquis” by Edward Anthony. Alas, DM had a very painful life, though he left us with much joy…