Damon Runyon a Life (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This biography of the hellraising journalist Runyon, written by another hellraising reporter, reads a lot like one of Runyon's short stories. Although a popular and widely read journalist, Runyon became famous for his fiction depicting gangster life on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s. From the stories came the film Little Miss Marker with Shirley Temple, and the musical Guys and Dolls . Breslin, author of numerous books and a long-time New Yorker, knows the territory well. His book is sprinkled with scenes of the colorful lifestyle that was glamorized in Runyon's short stories. Although Breslin's affection and appreciation for Runyon shine through, his view is not an uncritical one. We see Runyon and his times, warts and all. Recommended for all libraries.
- Rebecca Wondriska, Trinity Coll. Lib., Hartford, Ct.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

The life of the mythic, wealthy journalist/short-story writer of the Broadway classic Guys and Dolls, told by the legendary, wealthy journalist/novel writer of Table Money, World Without End, Amen, etc. Making some allowances, this book is like Hemingway on Shakespeare. At first Breslin's bragging--making the reader brilliantly aware that the Breslin Mouth is equal to its subject-- is off-putting. But as his Runyon anecdotes gather force, we slowly grasp that Breslin's self-esteem is tested to the breaking point by this portrait of a figure even more legendary and cynically witty in his day than Breslin himself. The Runyon/Breslin team on the page is, with its fruity richness of newsroom lore, simply overwhelming, better than Runyon's buddy Gene Fowler on John Barrymore in Good Night, Sweet Prince, with Breslin tailoring Runyon's every word and move to cut the most--well, Shakespearean- -figure possible. This Runyon with all his invented dialogue must be a fiction--but so what when the page is drugged with such high humor? Runyon at eight cut his teeth as his father's printer's devil in the western states, at 15 was on his own as a wandering reporter. He was a shy, quiet poet with a withering view of mankind--and also a man of warm fellowship with murderers, gamblers, and criminals who fed him the life in his copy and later became his fictional characters. Breslin excels at creating the mirror-reversed moral world of criminals, with the reader, like Alice, on a Broadway of monsters ruled by Runyon, their re-creator in print--people who later become Runyonesques by choice. Companion to Al Capone, Arnold Rothstein, Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, and Walter Winchell, and William Randolph Hearst's highest-paid sportswriter and war-reporter, Runyon never bit the hand that fed him--which included many, many hands, only some of them legitimate. Breslin's best--and more impressive in its sustained cynicism than Runyon's own writing. Could live forever. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Hodder Stoughton Ltd(england (March 5, 1992)
• ISBN-10: 0340570342
• ISBN-13: 978-0340570340
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,919,814 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breslin Dissects a Predecessor, May 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Damon Runyon (Paperback)

Before there was Jimmy Breslin, there was Damon Runyon: A writer who kept company with gangsters and gamblers, politicians and showgirls, sports figures and cops. Breslin, a very gifted writer, dissects his subject with humor. The heroes of Runyon's world were figments of his imagination. He was enthralled with gangsters, adopting their street language himself. He romanticized the worst among him. He drank heavily and smoked heavily; eventually giving up the booze for waterfalls of coffee. It was too late for the cigarettes. Toward the end of his life, Runyon communicated by writing notes, his vocal chords having succumbed to cancer. This book is a gem. You come away knowing much more about Runyon the person and his times: New York City during the glamorous 1920's. A time made-up by one Damon Runyon. Breslin remains the best at what he does.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tall tales of the twenties with your host Jimmy Breslin, January 17, 2006

By	J. Carroll "Jack" (Island Heights,NJ) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Damon Runyon: A Life (Hardcover)

On the book jacket of DAMON RUNYON: A LIFE there is the line, "Much more than a biography." Actually it is much less. Rather it is a colection of oft told tales of the roaring twenties, secondhand stories with little corroboration, and with little effort being made to set history straight. Runyon is just one of the many characters who captures Breslin's fancy, Pancho Villa, various mobsters, and "colorful polticians all make appearences, with or without Runyon's presence. It's entertaining in the fact that Breslin always knew how to tell a story, but if you're actually looking for a biography...look elsewhere.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Breslin's Best, October 2, 2004

By	Joel N. Allen - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Damon Runyon: A Life (Hardcover)

Jimmy Breslin's biography of Damon Runyon and the attendant stories of the characters and scoundrels of New York City is very colorful and at times a fun read but the book is so full of factual errors, typos and cynicism that I found it difficult to get through. The most egregious example is the story of Runyon's attempt to solve his cancer problems by using the same doctor that treated Babe Ruth - including the statement that they had met at the Babe's funeral. The only problem is that the Babe died in 1948 and Runyon in 1946! The Rothstein murder alternatively took place at the Park Circle Hotel and the Park Central Hotel and so on. These errors and others had me straining to believe some of the more outlandish stories about Runyon's relationships with Al Capone and Pancho Villa and also cast doubt on the book's authenticity in general. I also thought Breslin's dismissal of all of the athletic achievements of the 20's with the exception of those of a horse, Bill Tilden and Red Grange was over the top. Indeed the book seemed to me to be as much a vehicle for Breslin to get some of his personal predjudice's off his chest as much as it was a book about Runyon.