Thurber Thursday: Latest Addition To The Spill Library…Tale Blazer’s Edition Of Thurber’s “The Greatest Man In The World” And “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty”

Latest Addition To The Spill Library…Tale Blazer’s Edition of Thurber’s “The Greatest Man In The World” And “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty”

Two of James Thurber’s New Yorker stories, “The Greatest Man In The World” and “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” back-to-back in the form of a 1979 teaching/learning publication, recently came this way courtesy of the fab and fun illustrator, Tom Bloom (my thanks to him!). The pamphlet contains sections such as “The Story Line,” “Probing For Theme,” “Things To Write Or Talk About.” The Spill went into some small detail about The Greatest Man[‘s]…” publication in its November 30th Thurber Thursday.

Here’s a snippet of the introductory page:

Here’s an interesting video of the “The Greatest Man…” introduced by Henry Fonda, who, you’ll see, obviously enjoys saying the main characters name: “Smurch”:

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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