Damon Runyon

Damon Runyon (b 4 Oct 1884, d 10 Dec 1946) is an author who never fails to make you feel better for having read him. He is best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City during the 1930's. His world is that of the lowlife, sub-surface city dwellers, those either actively engaged in crime or on the periphery. A cavalcade of characters, gamblers, thieves, actors and gangsters pass by, all with names like "Nathan Detroit", "Big Jule", "Harry the Horse", "Good Time Charlie", "Dave the Dude", "Sleepout Sam Levinsky", "Lone Louie", "Little Isadore" and "Spanish John" etc etc. The stories are hilariously funny. A peculiarity is that they are all written in the present tense. Here's an example : It is maybe 11.30 of a Wednesday night, and I am standing at the corner of Forty-eighth Street and Seventh Avenue, thinking about my blood pressure, which is a proposition I never before think much about. In fact, I never hear of my blood pressure before this Wednesday afternoon when I go around to see Doc Brennan about my stomach, and he puts a gag on my arm and tells me that my blood pressure is higher than a cat's back, and the idea is for me to be careful about what I eat, and to avoid excitement, or I may pop off all of a sudden when I am least expecting it. 'A nervous man such as you with a blood pressure away up in the paint cards must live quietly,' Doc Brennan says. 'Ten bucks, please,' he says. That story 'Blood Pressure' was one of the Runyon stories on which the successful film and stage musical 'Guys and Dolls' was based. If you have never had the pleasure of reading Runyon's work then you owe it to yourself to make his acquaintance immediately.