Title: Runyon First and Last
Author: Damon Runyon
Cover artist: Uncredited
Estimated value: $10-15
Condition: 7/10
- I oppose fur but that is a magnificent fur. That is an ostentatious, almost comically elongated sleeve. And shoulder pad.
- I love how she seems to be admiring Runyon's name while poor Slats pleads spectrally in the background.
- Runyon is a really important early 20c. American newspaperman and short story writer. He records and cultivates a certain hardboiled, slangy, colloquial style that ends up being very influential. You may know him from such things as "Guy & Dolls."
- Runyonese. I like my ham on rye with extra Runyonese.
- The titles of these stories alone are worth the price of admission. Soupbone Pew!
- "Informal Execution" is such a menacing phrase. I'm guessing that one wasn't made into a musical.
Page 123~ (from "Old New Year's")
On this day everybody swears off doing something or other, generally drinking, which is very easy for most people to swear off on New Year's Day, because generally they feel so tough from welcoming in the New Year that they never wish to see another drink again as long as they live, or anyway until they feel better.
I like that usage of "tough." So much more delicately ambiguous than the straight jab of "hungover."
~RP
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1 comment:
Just what I'd expect from a Runyon cover. I personally am not a fan of Runyon, but he is an iconic 20th century author. Shame he's not remembered by many. If you don't know the author, some may know of the Damon Runyon 5K race run every year at Yankee Stadium or the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Unfortunately, their missions aside, neither organization seems to promote or talk about him much, if at all. Damon Runyon is iconic 1920's-1940's New York. The 1920's gangsters at gin joints, lunch counters, rolling dice in alleys, etc - that's Runyon.
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