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This is a book I bought so long ago I’ve no memory of where or when I picked it up. I do know I paid two bucks for it thanks to the helpful pencil marking on the inside. I have a very vague memory of almost not buying it because Thurber wasn’t on the cover.
Part of an extensive series, “For Young People,” published by Dodd, Mead, this particular title came out in 1959. Each humorist is given a few pages (Thurber’s section is from page 165- 170). I can’t say there’s anything revelatory to be found in those few pages, but there are a couple of fun moments, beginning with the very first sentence:
“James Grover Thurber, one of the most original and eccentric of American artists and humorists, was born in Columbus, Ohio on December 8, 1894.”
and this one:
“Robert M. Coates describes this author as ‘tall, thin, shy, loose-jointed and absent-minded, with the physical equipment for getting into involuntary mischief, the artist’s detachment for making the most of it after it has happened.'”
James 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
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Article Of Interest: Robert Kraus & Jose Aruego
From Judy Newman At Scholastic: “Meet Robert Kraus And Jose Aruego”
an article on two New Yorker cartoonists we don’t hear too much about these days.
Here are their Spill A-Z entries:
Robert Kraus Born June 21, 1925, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; died, Kent, Connecticut, 2001. In 1966 he founded Windmill Books, which published children’s books by such New Yorker artists as Steig, Darrow, and Addams. New Yorker work: Sept. 6, 1947 – Jan. 25, 1969. More information.
Jose Aruego 
New Yorker work: one drawing, January 9, 1971. Born in the Philippines, 1932. Died, New York, August 9, 2012. More information.