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The Most of S. J. Perelman (A Fireside book)

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To become a devout fan and follower of S.J. Perelman all you have to do is read any one of the stories in this compilation. Scratch that, all you need to do is read the title of one of the stories in this compilation. They all attest to how much Mr. Perelman loved words and how obsessed he was with turning a pretty phrase on its heels and knocking it off its feet.

If you can't find this book, then find this book anyway. If you still can't find this book, then find some of his other books. If you are having a hard time and can't find any of his other books, then go watch "Horse Feathers" or "Monkey Business" by the Marx Brothers. Then start your letter-writing campaign to Simon & Schuster inquiring as to why they haven't re-released more of S.J. Perelman's writing. Do yourself (and the world) a favor, get started today.

I too find it deplorable that this is out of print. Besides many well-chosen words (who besides Perelman and the late Robertson Davies uses "tohubohu," a word from the Hebrew Bible that sounds exactly like what it means?), this book has several movie reviews that made me amoeboid with laughter. "The Wickedest Woman in Larchmont"--a review of the movied that gave the world the phrase "Kiss me, my fool"--is itself worth the price of the entire volume (to use a cliche, which Perelman would never do except to make it hilarious).

("Tohubohu," by the way, is a ruckus; it's in Genesis, where the newly created earth is described as formless and void.)

How can a book that contains the most crafted writing in the English language be out of print?

The first adult book I bought was Perelman's "Keep It Crisp" at a rummage sale when I was 13. The best 5 cents I ever spent.

Most humorous writing isn't funny when it comes out, let alone years later. The majority of the New Yorker's Algonquin Round Table -- people like Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker -- simply aren't that amusing when you read them today. Perelman is different -- read him and you'll understand where the best modern humor comes from (Woody Allen is unthinkable without Perelman). Read him and you'll also connect with the greatest writers of the past (T.S. Eliot was a great Perelman fan). Check out the brilliant parody of "Fairwell, My Lovely" (Perelman was a friend of Dashiell Hammett) and the definitive travelogue Westward, Ha! Happy reading!

"Button-cute, rapier-keen, wafer-thin and pauper-poor" was how S.J. Perelman described himself.

S.J. Perelman's career overlapped that of Dorothy Parker's, who wrote the introduction to this book, and which gives a good example of her wit vis-à-vis Perelman's. He was only about 10 years younger than her, and yet Parker is still living vibrantly beyond her death, but he isn't now nearly as well-known as when he was alive. Yet, I always enjoyed reading him much more than Parker, because I prefer clever, witty belly-laughs to clever, witty morbidity--although clever, witty morbidity certainly has its place in literature. His sense-of-humor radiates best, the more satirical he gets. For example, one story in this book commences:

"Anybody who chanced to be flatboating down the Sunday book-review sections lately, poling his way through such nifties as Bismarck: A New Synthesis, by Dr. Stauffer, or A Deciduous Girl of Old Williamsburgh, by Sara Leamington Latrobe, probably wound up the day in a darkened room applying vinegar poultrices freely to his forehead."

Perelman was strictly a humorous and tremendous wit, whereas Parker was a serious writer, who could be, but not always, humorous and witty. Like both Perelman and Parker, often the most comical of people wear the most serious expressions continually glued to their face. We can remember him, too, through the mouth of Groucho Marx, who was his mouth piece. When we were laughing at Groucho, we were really laughing at S.J. Perelman who had written what Marx was only delivering. He had a much more successful screenwriting career than Dorothy Parker, who didn't write any memorable screenplays, but Perelman won an academy award for writing the screenplay for "Around the World in 80 Days."

This book is a 650-page anthology of someone--one of the great humorists of the 20th Century--being hilarious with the use of a gigantic vocabulary and colorful language.

I discovered this book in high school and found myself reading it instead of what I was supposed to be studying. The language and strange comic turns took me by surprise and from there I was hooked. Although you would do well to explore other full books of Perelman's (those that are in print, at least) this is a cute collection of the master's works.

This is a collection of Perelman's writings from a wide variety of times and sources. It is easily over
600 pages in length. It is quite comprehensive for those seeking a one-volume archive. Easily recommended.
For those unfamiliar with Perelman, search around for a while. I am sure you will find yourself saying, "Oh, he wrote that? Now I know who he is!"

A man who made so many people laugh in his day is almost forgotten today. For those for whom games with words are the stuff of life he is an incomparible master of the incorrigibly long and complicated regurgitation of delicious delicatessanlike drivel . All who read him come away wondering whether their heads are screwed on right or have been swimming in a washing machine and are infinitely damaged. Perelman does stuff that no one else does. Of course he should be in print, and of course read far more than he is today even though I might say I have laughed at his work sometimes without having a clue as to whether I really understand it.