I love being surprised on my daily jaunts through Ebay. The below, Love Is A Funny Business, is an example of one such surprise. Hitherto unseen (by me), it features interesting cover art and is credited to “The Kings Of Hilarity.” The Kings are big names: Frank Sullivan, E.B. White, Arthur Kober, and of course, the fellow celebrated here every Thursday, James Thurber.
A look at a few of the scans provided by the seller show us a more contributing “Kings of Hilarity” as well as a glimpse of Thurber’s contribution: a piece originally published in The New Yorker March 4th, 1933, “Mr. Preble Gets Rid Of His Wife.”
It later appeared (with the drawing you see above — the drawing did not accompany the piece in The New Yorker) in Thurber’s 1935 collection, The Middle-Aged Man On The Flying Trapeze.
I should, and will, note that although Love Is A Funny Business is on Ebay, it is not being auctioned, but is for sale at a the “Buy It Now” price of $18.36. Deal, or no deal? I haven’t a clue.
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Thurber’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:
James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”
Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website.
And don’t forget this fabulous book!*
*full disclosure, although you can see it right there on the cover: Liza Donnelly and I contributed to the book.