Damon Runyon was the journalist and short story writer who, more than anyone else, personified the razzle-dazzle of Broadway and the Roaring 1920s. As a reporter he found early success covering not only Broadway but also the Mexican Revolution, World War I, the Lindbergh kidnapping and the worlds of professional boxing and baseball. Runyon did not only record the American myth; he helped to create it with his short stories of small-time gamblers and gangsters, drawn directly from the underworld characters he was familiar with. After his death, a collection of his stories became the musical "Guys and Dolls". Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jimmy Breslin helps to recapture the 1920s era in this book that includes the characters of Pancho Villa, William Randolph Hearst, Al Capone, Jimmy Walker and Jack Dempsey.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
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.
- Rebecca Wondriska, Trinity Coll. Lib., Hartford, Ct.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breslin Dissects a Predecessor,
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.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
By far, the most interesting biography I've ever read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Damon Runyon: A Life (Hardcover)
At first, this biography on Damon Runyon seems like any other biography: a list of dates, names, people, and places. As you start reading it, though, it becomes a story that puts you right in the middle of Runyon's life, the good and the bad. You'll see Runyon's start in poetry, sportswriting, war reporting, and what he is most well-known for: his short stories. Also, you'll see the people in Runyon's life who he based some of his most Runyonesque characters on, and people who based their lives off of his characters. This book reads more like a Runyonesque story than a biography, which makes it so interesting to read, besides the fact that it gives a glimpse into the life of the very private Damon Runyon.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Omnipresence,
By
This review is from: Damon Runyon (Paperback)
When I was a youngster in the early 1970's, I picked up Jimmy Breslin's "The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight". I found it so raucous, so vivid, and so intriguingly funny, that I have wanted to learn about gangsters for the rest of my life.
It has been difficult to locate an affordable, readable copy of his treatise of Damon Runyon. But upon finally reading it, Runyon had to be Breslin's hero. He could write sports, theatre, politics or crime with equal ease and passion. His penchant for the ease with which he could interact with any strata of society and retain his dignity and humor coined the term "Runyonesque". His access to all levels and strata of celebrity makes his seem omnipresent. He began his newspaper career almost as a child, and worked almost every single day at it for the rest of his life. He had a decency that earned him the respect of almost all. Breslin brings Runyon to life in his unique writing style. The celebrity characters of the Roaring Twenties remain some of the most vivid in american history, however Breslin almost singularly cuts them down to size against conventional wisdom. Jack Dempsey has always been revered as one of the most fearsome of heavyweight champions. Breslins writes of Dempsey's handlers putting plaster paris shavings in his gloves, which contributed to breaking Jess Willard's ribs and rearranging his face. He calls Dempsey a pedestrian fighter who defended his title only four times in seven years against overmatched and unqualified competition. He makes other surprising revelations about Fiarello LaGuardia, Primo Carnera, Bill Tilden and Walter Winchell, among others. His story of runyon's interaction with Wally Pipp, the Yankees first baseman who took the day off, and let Lou Gehrig, he of the 2130 game playing streak, is wonderfully captivating. Breslin has a unique writing style, and although he jumps around, and can be hard to follow at times, he gives a treatise on a wonderful subject.
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