Latest Addition To The Archives…First Day Of Issue Thurber Stamps
Through the generosity of Michael Rosen, Thurberista par excellence, the Spill has received a commemorative folder containing a sheet of first day of issue Thurber stamps, dated September 10 1994, along with various materials related to celebratory events on the occasion (Fran Lebowitz* delivered “Remarks”). My thanks to Mr. Rosen for his continued support of the Spill!
*From The New York Times piece, September 10, 1995, “Remembering The Humor and Hope It’s Catching”:
“For sheer funniness…nobody comes close to Thurber. It’s much harder to be funny than to make people cry. Most people are ready to cry anyway.”
Ever since she was sent to the principal’s office in junior high for being unable to keep herself from laughing while reading Thurber’s “The Night The Bed Fell In” during a math class, Ms. Lebowitz has revered him.
Listen here to one of Thurber’s favorite songs: “Who?” (a 1926 recording by George Olsen)
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James 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