James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his
cartoons
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
and short stories, published mainly in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' and collected in his numerous books.
Thurber was one of the most popular humorists of his time and celebrated the comic frustrations and eccentricities of ordinary people. His works have frequently been adapted into films, including ''
The Male Animal
''The Male Animal'' is a 1942 American comedy-drama film produced by Warner Bros., starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Leslie.
The film was based on a hit 1940 Broadway play of the same name written by James Thurber and Elliott N ...
'' (1942),
''The Battle of the Sexes'' (1959, based on Thurber's "
The Catbird Seat"), and ''
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...
'' (adapted twice,
in 1947 and
in 2013).
Life
Thurber was born in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, to Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes "Mame" (née Fisher) Thurber on December 8, 1894. Both of his parents greatly influenced his work. His father was a sporadically employed clerk and minor politician who dreamed of being a lawyer or an actor. Thurber described his mother as a "born comedian" and "one of the finest comic talents I think I have ever known." She was a practical joker and, on one occasion, pretended to be disabled and attended a faith healer revival, only to jump up and proclaim herself healed.
![James Thurber 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/James_Thurber_1.jpg)
When Thurber was seven years old, he and one of his brothers were playing a
game of William Tell, when his brother shot James in the eye with an arrow. He lost that eye, and the injury later caused him to become almost entirely blind. He was unable to participate in sports and other activities in his childhood because of this injury, but he developed a creative mind, which he used to express himself in writings.
Neurologist
V. S. Ramachandran
Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...
suggests that Thurber's imagination may be partly explained by
Charles Bonnet syndrome
Visual release hallucinations, also known as Charles Bonnet syndrome or CBS, are a type of psychophysical visual disturbance in which a person with partial or severe blindness experiences visual hallucinations.
First described by Charles Bonnet in ...
, a neurological condition that causes complex visual hallucinations in people who have had some level of visual loss. (This was the basis for the piece "The Admiral on the Wheel".)
![James Thurber](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/James_Thurber.jpg)
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
where he was a member of the
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...
fraternity and editor of the student magazine, the
Sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
. It was during this time he rented the house on 77 Jefferson Avenue, which became
Thurber House
Thurber House is a literary center for readers and writers located in Columbus, Ohio, in the historic former home of author, humorist, and ''New Yorker'' cartoonist James Thurber. Thurber House is dedicated to promoting the literary arts by pr ...
in 1984. He never graduated from the university because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
(ROTC) course.
In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
![James Thurber House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/James_Thurber_House.jpg)
From 1918 to 1920, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the
embassy in Paris. On returning to Columbus, he began his career as a reporter for ''
The Columbus Dispatch
''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...
'' from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios", a title that was given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber returned to Paris during this period, where he wrote for the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' and other newspapers.
Move to New York
In 1925, Thurber moved to
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
in New York City, obtaining a job as a reporter with the ''
New York Evening Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established i ...
''. He joined the staff of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' in 1927 as an editor, with the help of
E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985) was an American writer. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including ''Stuart Little'' (1945), ''Charlotte's Web'' (1952), and '' The Trumpet of the Swan'' ...
, his friend and fellow ''New Yorker'' contributor. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 after White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication; White inked-in some of these earlier drawings to make them reproduce better for the magazine, and years later expressed deep regret he had done such a thing. Thurber contributed both his writings and his drawings to ''The New Yorker'' until the 1950s.
Marriage and family
Thurber married Althea Adams in 1922, although the marriage, as he later wrote to a friend, devolved into “a relationship charming, fine, and hurting.” The marriage ended in divorce in May 1935.
They lived in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. A ...
, with their daughter Rosemary (b. 1931). He married Helen Wismer (1902–1986) in June 1935. After meeting
Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...
on a ferry to
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
, Thurber began summering in
Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornwall is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2020 census.
History
The town of Cornwall, Connecticut, is named after the county of Cornwall, England. The town was incorporated in 1740, near ...
, along with many other prominent artists and authors of the time. After three years of renting Thurber found a home, which he referred to as "The Great Good Place."
Death
Thurber's behavior became erratic and unpredictable in his last year. At a party hosted by
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
, Thurber was taken back to the
Algonquin Hotel
The Algonquin Hotel is a hotel at 59 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The 181-room hotel, opened in 1902, was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett for the Puritan Realty Company. The hotel has hosted numer ...
at six in the morning. Thurber was stricken with a blood clot on the brain on October 4, 1961, and underwent emergency surgery, drifting in and out of consciousness. Although the operation was initially successful, Thurber died a few weeks later, on November 2, aged 66, due to complications from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
. The doctors said his brain was
senescent
Senescence () or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. The word ''senescence'' can refer to either cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Organismal senescence inv ...
from several small strokes and hardening of the arteries. His
last words
Last words are the final utterances before death. The meaning is sometimes expanded to somewhat earlier utterances.
Last words of famous or infamous people are sometimes recorded (although not always accurately) which became a historical and liter ...
, aside from the repeated word "God", were "God bless... God damn", according to his wife, Helen.
Legacy and honors
* Established in 1997, the annual
Thurber Prize honors outstanding examples of American humor.
* In 2008, the
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rang ...
selected Thurber's story, "A Sort of Genius", first published in ''The New Yorker'', for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime.
* Two of his residences have been listed on the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
: his childhood
Thurber House
Thurber House is a literary center for readers and writers located in Columbus, Ohio, in the historic former home of author, humorist, and ''New Yorker'' cartoonist James Thurber. Thurber House is dedicated to promoting the literary arts by pr ...
in Ohio and the
Sanford–Curtis–Thurber House in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. A ...
.
Career
Thurber also became well known for his simple, outlandish drawings and cartoons. Both his literary and his drawing skills were helped along by the support of, and collaboration with, fellow ''New Yorker'' staff member
E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985) was an American writer. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including ''Stuart Little'' (1945), ''Charlotte's Web'' (1952), and '' The Trumpet of the Swan'' ...
, who insisted that Thurber's sketches could stand on their own as artistic expressions. Thurber drew six covers and numerous classic illustrations for ''The New Yorker''.
Writer
Many of Thurber's short stories are humorous fictional memoirs from his life, but he also wrote darker material, such as "The Whip-Poor-Will", a story of madness and murder. His best-known short stories are "The Dog That Bit People" and "
The Night the Bed Fell"; they can be found in ''
My Life and Hard Times'', which was his "break-out" book. Among his other classics are "
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...
", "
The Catbird Seat", "The Night the Ghost Got In", "
A Couple of Hamburgers", "The Greatest Man in the World", and "If
Grant
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
*Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
*Grant, Inyo County, C ...
Had Been Drinking at
Appomattox". ''The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze'' has several short stories with a tense undercurrent of marital discord. The book was published the year of his divorce and remarriage.
Although his 1941 story "You Could Look It Up", about a three-foot adult being brought in to take a walk in a baseball game, has been said to have inspired
Bill Veeck
William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Br ...
's stunt with
Eddie Gaedel
Edward Carl Gaedel (June 8, 1925 – June 18, 1961) was the smallest player to appear in a Major League Baseball game.
Gaedel gained recognition in the second game of a St. Louis Browns doubleheader on August 19, 1951. Weighing and standing t ...
with the
St. Louis Browns
The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...
in 1951, Veeck claimed an older provenance for the stunt.
In addition to his other fiction, Thurber wrote over seventy-five
fable
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...
s, some of which were first published in ''The New Yorker'' (1939), then collected in ''
Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated'' (1940) and ''Further Fables for Our Time'' (1956). These were short stories that featured anthropomorphic animals (e.g. "The Little Girl and the Wolf", his version of
Little Red Riding Hood
"Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brother ...
) as main characters, and ended with a moral as a tagline. An exception to this format was his most famous fable, "
The Unicorn in the Garden", which featured an all-human cast except for the unicorn, which doesn't speak. Thurber's fables were
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
, and the morals served as
punch line
A punch line (a. k. a. punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up ...
s as well as advice to the reader, demonstrating "the complexity of life by depicting the world as an uncertain, precarious place, where few reliable guidelines exist." His stories also included several book-length fairy tales, such as ''
The White Deer
''The White Deer'' is a 96 page children's novel written by James Thurber in 1945. It is a fairy tale about the quest of the three sons of King Clode – Thag and Gallow, the hunters, and Jorn, the poet – who are set perilous tasks to wi ...
'' (1945), ''
The 13 Clocks
''The 13 Clocks'' is a fantasy tale written by James Thurber in 1950, while he was completing one of his other novels. It is written in a unique cadenced style, in which a mysterious prince must complete a seemingly impossible task to free a maid ...
'' (1950) and ''
The Wonderful O
''The Wonderful O'' is the last of James Thurber’s five short-book fairy tales for children. Published in 1957 by Hamish Hamilton / Simon Schuster, it followed ''Many Moons'' (1943), '' The Great Quillow'' (1944), ''The White Deer'' (1945) and ...
'' (1957). The latter was one of several of Thurber's works illustrated by
Marc Simont
Marc Simont (November 23, 1915 – July 13, 2013) was a Paris-born American artist, political cartoonist, and illustrator of more than a hundred children's books. Inspired by his father, Spanish painter Joseph Simont, he began drawing at an earl ...
.
Thurber's prose for ''The New Yorker'' and other venues included numerous humorous essays. A favorite subject, especially toward the end of his life, was the English language. Pieces on this subject included "The Spreading 'You Know'," which decried the overuse of that pair of words in conversation, "The New Vocabularianism", and "What Do You Mean It ''Was'' Brillig?". His short pieces – whether stories, essays or something in between – were referred to as "casuals" by Thurber and the staff of ''The New Yorker''.
Thurber wrote a five-part ''New Yorker'' series, between 1947 and 1948, examining in depth the radio soap opera phenomenon, based on near-constant listening and researching over the same period. Leaving nearly no element of these programs unexamined, including their writers, producers, sponsors, performers, and listeners alike, Thurber republished the series in his anthology, ''The Beast in Me and Other Animals'' (1948), under the section title "Soapland." The series was one of the first to examine such a pop-culture phenomenon in depth.
The last twenty years of Thurber's life were filled with material and professional success in spite of his blindness. He published at least fourteen books in that era, including ''The Thurber Carnival'' (1945), ''Thurber Country'' (1953), and the extremely popular book about ''New Yorker'' founder/editor
Harold Ross
Harold Wallace Ross (November 6, 1892 – December 6, 1951) was an American journalist who co-founded ''The New Yorker'' magazine in 1925 with his wife Jane Grant, and was its editor-in-chief until his death.
Early life
Born in a prospector' ...
, ''The Years with Ross'' (1959). A number of his short stories were made into movies, including ''
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...
'' in 1947.
Cartoonist
While Thurber drew his cartoons in the usual fashion in the 1920s and 1930s, his failing eyesight later required changes. He drew them on very large sheets of paper using a thick black crayon (or on black paper using white chalk, from which they were photographed and the colors reversed for publication). Regardless of method, his cartoons became as noted as his writings; they possessed an eerie, wobbly feel that seems to mirror his idiosyncratic view on life. He once wrote that people said it looked like he drew them under water.
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
From a conflicted and unhap ...
, a contemporary and friend of Thurber, referred to his cartoons as having the "semblance of unbaked cookies". The last drawing Thurber completed was a self-portrait in yellow crayon on black paper, which was featured as the cover of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine on July 9, 1951. The same drawing was used for the dust jacket of ''The Thurber Album'' (
1952).
Adaptations
*Thurber teamed with college schoolmate (and actor/director)
Elliott Nugent
Elliott Nugent (September 20, 1896 – August 9, 1980) was an American actor, playwright, writer, and film director.
Biography
Nugent was born in Dover, Ohio, the son of actor J.C. Nugent. He successfully made the transition from silent film ...
to write ''
The Male Animal
''The Male Animal'' is a 1942 American comedy-drama film produced by Warner Bros., starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Leslie.
The film was based on a hit 1940 Broadway play of the same name written by James Thurber and Elliott N ...
,'' a comic drama that became a major Broadway hit in 1939. The play was adapted as a film by the same name in 1942, starring
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics.
Born and rai ...
,
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
and
Jack Carson
John Elmer Carson (October 27, 1910 – January 2, 1963) was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including ''The Strawberry Blonde'' (1941) with James Cagney and ...
.
*In 1947 his short story "
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...
", was loosely adapted as a
film by the same name.
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...
played the title character.
*In 1951
United Productions of America
United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Picture ...
announced an animated feature to be based on Thurber's work, titled ''Men, Women and Dogs''.
The only part of the ambitious project that was eventually released was the UPA cartoon ''
The Unicorn in the Garden'' (1953).
*In 1958, Thurber's short story "One Is a Wanderer" was adapted for
General Electric Theatre
''General Electric Theater'' was an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
Radio
After an audition show ...
, resulting in Emmy nominations for writer
Samuel Taylor and director
Herschel Daugherty
Herschel Eldon Daugherty (October 27, 1910 – March 5, 1993) was an American television and film director and occasional actor.
Early life and career
Born in Clarks Hill, Indiana, to Charles Emerson and Blanche Eracene Daugherty (né Feere ...
.
*In 1960, Thurber fulfilled a long-standing desire to be on the professional stage and played himself in 88 performances of the revue ''
A Thurber Carnival
''A Thurber Carnival'' is a revue by James Thurber, adapted by the author from his stories, cartoons and casuals (humorous short pieces), nearly all of which originally appeared in ''The New Yorker''. It was directed by Burgess Meredith. Follow ...
'' (which echoes the title of his 1945 book, ''The Thurber Carnival''). It was based on a selection of Thurber's stories and cartoon captions. Thurber appeared in the sketch "File and Forget". The sketch consists of Thurber dictating a series of letters in a vain attempt to keep one of his publishers from sending him books he did not order, and the escalating confusion of the replies.
Thurber received a
Special Tony Award
The Special Tony Award category includes the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award and the Special Tony Award. These are non-competitive honorary awards, and the titles have changed over the years. The Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre ...
for the adapted script of the ''Carnival''.
*In 1961, "The Secret Life of James Thurber" aired on ''
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
''The DuPont Show with June Allyson'' (also known as ''The June Allyson Show'') is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959, to April 3, 1961, with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961.
The series was ...
''.
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...
appeared in the program as Fitch, and
Orson Bean
Orson Bean (born Dallas Frederick Burrows; July 22, 1928 – February 7, 2020) was an American film, television, and stage actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was a game show and talk show host and a "mainstay of Los Angeles’ small ...
and
Sue Randall
Sue or SUE may refer to:
Music
* Sue Records, an American record label
* ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus
* " Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie
Places
* Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits isla ...
portrayed John and Ellen Monroe.
*In 1969–70, a full series based on Thurber's writings and life, titled ''
My World... and Welcome to It,'' was broadcast on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
. It starred
William Windom
William Windom (May 10, 1827January 29, 1891) was an American politician from Minnesota. He served as U.S. Representative from 1859 to 1869, and as U.S. Senator from 1870 to January 1871, from March 1871 to March 1881, and from November 1881 ...
as the Thurber figure. Featuring animated portions in addition to live actors, the show won a 1970
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
as the year's best comedy series. Windom won an Emmy as well. He went on to perform Thurber material in a one-man stage show.
*In 1972 another film adaptation, ''
The War Between Men and Women
''The War Between Men and Women'' is a 1972 American comedy-drama film directed by Melville Shavelson and starring Jack Lemmon, Barbara Harris, and Jason Robards. The film is based on the writings of humorist James Thurber, and was released by ...
'', starring
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...
, concludes with an animated version of Thurber's classic anti-war work "The Last Flower".
*In 2013, a new
adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
of ''
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...
'', starring
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...
as the title character.
In popular culture
*Beginning during his own father's terminal illness, television broadcaster
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann (; born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer.
Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and r ...
read excerpts from Thurber's short stories during the closing segment of his
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
program ''
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' is an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program hosted by Keith Olbermann that aired on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011 and on Current TV from 2011 to 2012. The show presented five selected news stories o ...
'' on Fridays, which he called "Fridays with Thurber." He reintroduced this during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, reading Thurber stories daily at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Twitter.
*On an episode of
Norm Macdonald
Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...
's video podcast, ''
Norm Macdonald Live
''Norm Macdonald Live'' was a weekly audio and video podcast hosted by Canadian stand-up comedian, writer and actor Norm Macdonald. The Comedy Store's Adam Eget (b. 1979) served as the show's co-host, with former '' Late Show with David Letterma ...
'', Norm tells a story in which comedian
Larry Miller acknowledges that his biggest influence in comedy was Thurber.
*In 2021 film ''
The French Dispatch
''The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun'', or simply ''The French Dispatch'', is a 2021 American anthology comedy drama film written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson from a story he conceived with Roman Coppola, Hugo Gui ...
'' by
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by so ...
, he was mentioned in the end title credits as inspiration.
Bibliography
Books
*''
Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do
''Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do'' is a collection of essays written by E. B. White and James Thurber, first published in 1929.
The book is a spoof of the many popular books on Freudian sexual theories published in the 1920s. I ...
'', (1929 with
E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985) was an American writer. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including ''Stuart Little'' (1945), ''Charlotte's Web'' (1952), and '' The Trumpet of the Swan'' ...
), 75th anniv. edition (2004) with foreword by
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...
,
*''
The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities'', 1931
*''The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments'', 1932
*''
My Life and Hard Times'', 1933
*''The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze'', 1935
*''Let Your Mind Alone! and Other More Or Less Inspirational Pieces'', 1937
*''
The Last Flower'', 1939, reissued 2007
*''
Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated'', 1940
*''
My World—And Welcome to It'', 1942
*''Men, Women and Dogs'', 1943
*''The Thurber Carnival'' (anthology), 1945, , (Modern Library Edition)
*''The Beast in Me and Other Animals'', 1948
*''The Thurber Album'', 1952
*''Thurber Country'', 1953
*''Thurber's Dogs'', 1955
*''Further Fables for Our Time'', 1956
*''Alarms and Diversions'' (anthology), 1957
*''The Years with Ross'', 1959
*''Lanterns and Lances'', 1961
Children's books
*''
Many Moons
''Many Moons'' is a children's picture book written by James Thurber and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. It was published by Harcourt, Brace & Company in 1943 and won the Caldecott Medal in 1944.American Library AssociationCaldecott Medal Win ...
'', 1943 (later condensed as ''The Princess Who Wanted The Moon'')
*''The Great Quillow'', 1944
*''
The White Deer
''The White Deer'' is a 96 page children's novel written by James Thurber in 1945. It is a fairy tale about the quest of the three sons of King Clode – Thag and Gallow, the hunters, and Jorn, the poet – who are set perilous tasks to wi ...
'', 1945
*''
The 13 Clocks
''The 13 Clocks'' is a fantasy tale written by James Thurber in 1950, while he was completing one of his other novels. It is written in a unique cadenced style, in which a mysterious prince must complete a seemingly impossible task to free a maid ...
'', 1950
*''
The Wonderful O
''The Wonderful O'' is the last of James Thurber’s five short-book fairy tales for children. Published in 1957 by Hamish Hamilton / Simon Schuster, it followed ''Many Moons'' (1943), '' The Great Quillow'' (1944), ''The White Deer'' (1945) and ...
'', 1957
Plays
*''
The Male Animal
''The Male Animal'' is a 1942 American comedy-drama film produced by Warner Bros., starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Leslie.
The film was based on a hit 1940 Broadway play of the same name written by James Thurber and Elliott N ...
'', 1940 (with
Elliott Nugent
Elliott Nugent (September 20, 1896 – August 9, 1980) was an American actor, playwright, writer, and film director.
Biography
Nugent was born in Dover, Ohio, the son of actor J.C. Nugent. He successfully made the transition from silent film ...
)
*''
A Thurber Carnival
''A Thurber Carnival'' is a revue by James Thurber, adapted by the author from his stories, cartoons and casuals (humorous short pieces), nearly all of which originally appeared in ''The New Yorker''. It was directed by Burgess Meredith. Follow ...
'', 1960
Posthumous books
*''Credos and Curios'', 1962 (ed. Helen W. Thurber)
*''Thurber & Company'', 1966 (ed. Helen W. Thurber)
*''Selected Letters of James Thurber'', 1981 (ed. Helen W. Thurber & Edward Weeks)
*''Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself'', 1989 (ed.
Michael J. Rosen)
*''Thurber on Crime'', 1991 (ed. Robert Lopresti)
*''People Have More Fun Than Anybody: A Centennial Celebration of Drawings and Writings by James Thurber'', 1994 (ed. Michael J. Rosen)
*''James Thurber: Writings and Drawings'' (anthology), 1996, (ed.
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...
),
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rang ...
,
*''The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles'', 2001 (ed. Michael J. Rosen)
*''The Thurber Letters: The Wit, Wisdom, and Surprising Life of James Thurber'', 2002 (ed. Harrison Kinney, with Rosemary A. Thurber)
*''Collected Fables'', 2019 (ed.
Michael J. Rosen), ISBN
*''A Mile and a Half of Lines: The Art of James Thurber'', 2019 (ed.
Michael J. Rosen)
Short stories
* “A Box to Hide In”
* "A Ride with Olympy"
* "The Departure of Emma Inch"
* "The Admiral on the Wheel"
* "Doc Marlowe"
* "One is a Wanderer"
* "The Topaz Cuff Links Mystery"
* "What Do You Mean It Was Brillig?"
* "The Glass in the Field"
* "The Crow and the Oriole"
* "The Little Girl and the Wolf"
* "Snapshot of a Dog"
* "Oh When I Was..."
* "The Greatest Man in the World"
* "If Grant had been Drinking at Appomattox"
* "The Bear Who Let it Alone"
* "Destructive Forces Life"
* "The Seal Who Became Famous"
* "The Moth and the Star"
* "Sex Ex Machina"
* "The Man Who Hated Moonbaum"
* "The Black Magic of Barney Haller"
* "
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...
"
* "
The Night the Bed Fell"
* "The Night the Ghost Got In"
* "
The Unicorn in the Garden"
* "
The Moth and the Star"
* "
The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble"
* "The Macbeth Murder Mystery", 1937 (printed in ''The New Yorker'')
* "The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing", ''The New Yorker'' (April 29, 1939)
* "You Could Look It Up", 1941
* "
The Catbird Seat", 1942
* "The Secret Life of James Thurber", 1943
* "The Breaking Up of the Winships", 1945
* "
A Couple of Hamburgers"
* "The Greatest Man in the World"
* "The Cane in the Corridor"
* "The Bear Who Let It Alone"
* "
The Princess and the Tin Box"
* "The Dog That Bit People"
* "The Lady on 142"
* "The Remarkable Case of Mr.Bruhl"
* "The Scotty Who Knew Too Much"
* "The Night the Ghost Got In"
* "The Car We Had to Push"
* "The Day the Dam Broke"
* "More Alarms at Night"
* "A Sequence of Servants"
* "University Days"
* "Draft Board Nights"
* "The Curb in the Sky"
* "The Wood Duck"
* "The Tiger Who Was to Be King"
* "The Owl Who Was God"
*"The Peacelike Mongoose"
* "File and Forget"
* "The Whip-Poor-Will"
* "Mr. Preble Gets Rid of His Wife"
* "The Evening's at Seven"
See also
*
''The Battle of the Sexes'' (1959 film) based on "The Catbird Seat"
*
Walter Mitty
Walter Jackson Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's first short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and in book form in '' My World—and Welcome to It'' in 1942. Thurber ...
, expression
References
Further reading
Biographies of Thurber
* Bernstein, Burton. 1975. ''Thurber''. William Morrow & Co.
* Fensch, Thomas. 2001. ''The Man Who Was Walter Mitty: The Life and Work of James Thurber''.
* Grauer, Neil A. 1994. ''Remember Laughter: A Life of James Thurber''. University of Nebraska Press.
* Kinney, Harrison. 1995. ''James Thurber: His Life and Times''. Henry Holt & Co.
Literature review
* Holmes, Charles S. 1972. ''The Clocks Of Columbus: The Literary Career of James Thurber'' Atheneum.
External links
Official Website of James Thurber– overseen by the Thurber estate and editor Michael J. Rosen
The James Thurber Papers– The Ohio State University Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection
*
Charles S. Holmes Research for The Clocks of Columbus– The Ohio State University Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection
The Harrison Kinney Archive for James Thurber: His Life and Times– The Ohio State University Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection
The ''Paris Review'' Interviewby Bill Ervolino, ''The Record'' (Bergen County, NJ), December 17, 1995
Pathfinder: James Grover Thurber– Thurber links portal
*
ttp://www.barbaroandnicanor.blogspot.com/ Origins of "the Thurber Dog"James Thurber Biography, ''Encyclopedia of World Biography''''New Yorker'' magazine digital archive– abstracts of 1,758 Thurber short stories, poems, cartoons and commentaries
* a list o
James Thurber books* an alphabetical list o
* – 1982 dramatization of the James Thurber short story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurber, James
1894 births
1961 deaths
20th-century American novelists
American cartoonists
American humorists
American male novelists
American male short story writers
American male dramatists and playwrights
Blind people from the United States
Blind writers
Burials at Green Lawn Cemetery (Columbus, Ohio)
Fabulists
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
Ohio State University alumni
Artists from Columbus, Ohio
Special Tony Award recipients
The New Yorker cartoonists
The New Yorker editors
The New Yorker people
Writers from Columbus, Ohio
Writers who illustrated their own writing
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American male writers
Novelists from Ohio
20th-century American essayists
American male essayists
American expatriates in France