An encyclopedia of modern American humor
The Modern library of the world's best books
Modern library of the world's best books.
On skating / The sexes / By any other name -- The odds were right / How to guess your age -- The office party / Excerpts from Father of the bride / Ladies' wild / The new snobbism / From host to guest in one generation / Quigley 873 / A weekend with angels / Prep schools -- Fishing stories / Inflexible logic / Newport: of cottages and queens (abridged) / Mammon and the archer -- Man about town / Father wakes up the village / From the diary of a New York lady
The rather difficult case of Mr. K*A*P*L*A*N / Liberty Hall -- Sit still / Blood pressure / The free lance / Chocolate for the woodwork / New York is mostly people / An interesting cure / The artful Dodgers / The Jollity Building (abridged) / Benney and bird-dogs / The wonderful Tar Baby / Journalism in Tennessee / Excerpts from Ol' man Adam an' his chillun / A small day / The legendary Misners and the Florida Boom (abridged)
Petrified man / Excerpts from No Time for sergeants / The night the bed fell -- The night the ghost got in / Pigs is pigs / Mr. Frisbie / Cincinnati and I / Excerpts from Barefoot boy with cheek / Frolics and follies -- Taking the cure, by the shores of Cat Creek / Edgard and the dank morass / An innocent in Texas / A Texas sampler / An ingenue of the Sierras / Strictly from hunger / Life among these unforgettable characters / It's time somebody said a word for California
An excerpt from W.C. Fields: His follies and fortunes / There'll always be a cable car / An excerpt from The egg and I / The Whiskey Rebellion / Waiting for Santy / The Keeper of the Gelded Unicorn / Shad Ampersand / Across the street and into the grill / Signal service -- Baseball player -- Frequently -- Advice to young men / Miniature -- 'Twas the night (late) before Christmas / Ambition -- Merry old souls / Mia Carlotta / On hearing French children speak English -- Note on geriatrics
Hell's bells -- Attention: sunburn enthusiasts -- Infant prodigy / Anthologistics / Poems in praise of practically nothing / Thais / Highboy, lowboy, oboy! -- Epitaph on a waiter -- To a certain certainly certain critic / I hate bachelors -- This one's about two Irishmen, or, Oliver Ames ia a raconteur / Excerpts from archy and mehitabel / What's the matter, haven't you got any sense of humor? -- Genealogical reflection -- Song of the open road -- Reflections on ice-breaking -- Reflections on babies -- The rabbits -- The panther -- The termite -- What's the use? -- My daddy
Unfortunate coincidence -- Song of one of the girls -- Parable for a certain virgin -- Bohemia / Last scene from The front page / Opening scene from The man who came to dinner / Scene from Act II of Life with father / Jack Benny vs. Fred Allen -- W.C. Fields vs. Charlie McCarthy -- Excerpts from Out of the blue / Vaudeville classic: Dr. Kronkhite -- Show cases / One legend less / The baby party / Excerpts from It's all in the family / Charles
Happy birthday / Excerpt from Junior miss / Memories of Miss Mandelbaum / Excerpt from We shook the family tree / Excerpts from Gentlemen prefer blondes / Excerpts from Mr. and Mrs. Haddock abroad / A night of terror / Gendarmes and the man / Some heady phrases on wine -- Other voices, other wines / Carnival week in sunny Las Los / The idol's eye / Cure / The birthmark (from Mr. Roberts) / Mary, Queen of Scots
Cerf, Bennett, 1898-1971, editor.
Anderson, Doug, 1919-2014, illustrator.
Cornelia Otis Skinner -- Dorothy Parker -- Joe H. Palmer -- Corey Ford -- Edward Streeter -- Robert Benchley -- Russell Lynes -- J.P. McEvoy -- Frank Sullivan -- E.B. White -- Charles W. Morton -- Russell Maloney -- Clevland Amory -- O. Henry -- Clarence Day -- Dorothy Parker.
Leonard Q. Ross -- Ring Lardner -- Damon Runyon -- Wolcott Gibbs -- Arthur Kober -- H. Allen Smith -- Frank Sullivan -- Bennett Cerf -- A.J. Liebling -- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings -- Joe Chandler Harris -- Mark Twain -- Roark Bradford -- Erskine Caldwell -- Alva Johnston.
Eudora Welty -- Mac Hyman -- James Thurber -- Ellis Parker Butler -- Ring Lardner -- Emily Kimbrough -- Max Shulman -- Will Rogers -- George Sessions Perry -- Frank Sullivan -- Bennett Cerf -- Bret Harte -- S.J. Perelman -- John O'Hara -- Will Rogers.
Robert Lewis Taylor -- Herb Caen -- Betty MacDonald -- Donald Ogden Stewart -- S.J. Perelman -- Ira Wallach -- Wolcott Gibbs -- E.B. White -- Franklin P. Adams -- Richard Armour -- Morris Bishop -- T.A. Daly -- Irwin Edman.
Margaret Fishback -- Arthur Guiterman -- Samuel Hoffenstein -- Newman Levy -- David McCord -- Phillis McGinley -- Don Marquis -- Ogden Nash.
Dorothy Parker -- Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur -- Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman -- Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse -- John Crosby -- Bennett Cerf -- Robert Benchley -- F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Excerpts from Nize baby / Milt Gross -- Margaret Millar -- Shirley Jackson -- An excerpt from My sister Eileen / Ruth McKenney.
John Mason Brown -- Sally Benson -- Al Capp -- Hildegarde Dolson -- Anita Loos -- Donald Ogden Stewart -- Mark Twain -- Donald Moffat -- Art Buchwald -- Robert Benchley -- S.J. Perelman -- Wolcott Gibbs -- Thomas Heggen -- Guy Gilpatric.
edited by Bennett Cerf ; drawings by Doug Anderson.
