Runyon was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde. The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted. He spun humorous tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Nathan Detroit," "Benny Southstreet," "Big Jule," "Harry the Horse," "Good Time Charley," "Dave the Dude," or "The Seldom Seen Kid." Runyon wrote these stories in a distinctive vernacular style: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.
The musical Guys and Dolls was based on two Runyon stories, "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure".[3] The musical also takes characters and story elements from a few other Runyon stories, most notably "Pick The Winner." The film Little Miss Marker (and its remake, Sorrowful Jones) grew from his short story of the same name.
Runyon was also a newspaperman. He wrote the lead article for UP on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidential inauguration in 1933.
[Wikipedia]
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Fiction, Short stories, Social life and customs, short stories, Fiction, short stories (single author), History, Horror stories, New york (n.y.), fiction, American literature, Children's fiction, Classic Literature, Horror fiction, Horror tales, Juvenile audience, Manners and customs, Nouvelles, allegory, change, death, gentleman's agreements, nonlinear narrative, recluses, tradition, African Americans, AgriculturePlaces
Broadway (New York, N.Y.), New York, New York (N.Y.), Jefferson, Mississippi, United States, Yoknapatawpha County, Alabama, Amazon rainforest, Caribbean, Dublin, Ireland, Justice of the Peace Court, London, Mike Schofield's house, New England, Owl Creek Bridge, Paris, Ship-Trap Island, Tibet, Wall StreetPeople
Colonel Sartoris, Emily Grierson, Homer Barron, Mr. Grierson, Tobe, Abner Snopes, Bartleby, Bill Hutchinson, Caddy, Cicero, Damon Runyon (1880-1946), Dilsey, Eugene Foster, General Zaroff, Ginger Nut, Harry Graves, Ivan, Jailer, Jason, Jesus, John Jacob Astor, Lennie Snopes, Lizzie, Louise Schofield, Major de SpainID Numbers
- OLID: OL835248A
- ISNI: 000000010866415X
- VIAF: 7365839
- Wikidata: Q714880
- Inventaire.io: wd:Q714880
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Alternative names
- Alfred Damon Runyon
| September 30, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | add ISNI |
| March 31, 2017 | Edited by MARC Bot | add VIAF and wikidata ID |
| October 19, 2010 | Edited by Lestevenon | Edited without comment. |
| October 19, 2010 | Edited by Lestevenon | Added new photo |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |