Rogers Ernest Malcolm Whitaker (January 15, 1900 – May 11, 1981) was an editor 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 ...

'' magazine who was known to readers for his many contributions to ''Talk of the Town'' under the pen name of E. M. Frimbo, World's Greatest Railroad Buff.

Early life

Whitaker's father,

Charles Harris Whitaker Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, was an editor of the ''Journal of the American Institute of Architects''. He lectured frequently and transited the Atlantic over 50 times on steamships. When Rogers Whitaker was nine he took his first solo train ride. He developed a love for trains that lasted his entire life. During Whitaker's sophomore year at Princeton, Whitaker's father declined to continue paying his tuition, and instead gave him $40 and a letter of introduction to use in seeking a job. Whitaker lived in a theatrical boarding house down the hall from

Mae West Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...

and worked at the New York ''

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specific ...

'' checking bridal announcements for hoaxes placed by jilted suitors while also selling advertising for a trade magazine.

Career at ''The New Yorker''

In 1926, Whitaker was employed by ''

'' magazine as head of the make-up department, responsible for laying out each issue. He went on to establish the fact-checking department and acted as chief proofreader at the copy desk. Eventually he rose to the level of editor, and took on many duties. He covered college football from 1937 until 1968, signing the pieces "J.W.L." because an editor reportedly liked the look of the letters together. He was also a major contributor to the magazine's "Goings on About Town" section, spending much time at cabarets and supper clubs. Whitaker retired from ''The New Yorker'' in 1975.

E. M. Frimbo

Whitaker's greatest love in life was traveling by train. He accumulated 2.7 million miles of such travel during his lifetime, and wrote extensively about his trips under the pen name "E. M. Frimbo," often in collaboration with the staff writer Tony Hiss. He put his knowledge of trains to good use during World War II, where he was commissioned as a Major in the U.S. Army's Traffic Control Division of the

Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Qua ...

. There he helped to plan the routing of troop trains. In 1970, Whitaker testified before the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...

to argue against the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

Railroad's plan to eliminate all 34 of its long-distance passenger trains. A year before his death Whitaker appeared in the first episode ("Coast to Coast") of the BBC documentary series

Great Railway Journeys ''Great Railway Journeys'', originally titled ''Great Railway Journeys of the World'', is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figu ...

, in which he is interviewed by the episode's narrator

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and ...

Personal life

Whitaker was a cat enthusiast who gave his cats names based on unusual criteria. "Epiphany" was named for the important day in the

church calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgy, liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including Calendar of saints, celebrations of saints, a ...

on which the cat came to his home. "Edward W. Riegelman" was named for a ferryboat he enjoyed riding. "Rosemont" was named for the similarly patterned horse of that name that won the 1935

Withers Stakes The Withers Stakes is a Graded stakes race, Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three years old horses over the distance of miles on the dirt scheduled annually in February at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York (state), New York. T ...

at Belmont Park.''Cat People'', Bill Hayward, introduction by Rogers E. M. Whitaker. New York: Dolphin/Doubleday, 1978

References

*Rogers E. M. Whitaker and Tony Hiss (1997), ''All Aboard with E. M. Frimbo, World's Greatest Railroad Buff'', Kodansha International, New York. {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, Rogers E. M. 1900 births 1981 deaths United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American essayists Rail transport writers