Audio Of Interest: from WSHU Public Radio, August 11, 2025, “Ordinary Lives” a short (audio) essay, in which David Bouchier cites James Thurber’s most famous (non-seal) character, Walter Mitty.
Video Of Interest:
From Ohio State University, “Thurber’s Columbus” — a short charming video about Thurber from his alma mater’s library’s Special Collections.
–Above, an original Thurber drawing from OSU’s collection: “And this is Tom Wetherby, an old beau of your mother’s — he never got to first base.” Published in The New Yorker, March 14, 1936. [when published, the caption lost its dash, and gained a period following “mother’s”; “He never got to first base” became a stand alone sentence].
Thurber’s A-Z Entry:
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