Damon Runyon

Runyon, Damon

24 featured booksRunyon, Damon

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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OL835248A

Overview

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24 representative editions

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Display name
Damon Runyon
Personal name
Runyon, Damon
Source identifier
OL835248A

Featured books

Representative editions for works actually authored by this person.

Works in catalog

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Miami Noir
Representative edition published 2020
Open Work
Food Stories
Representative edition published 2014
Open Work
Guys, dolls, and curveballs
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
The Greatest Cat Stories Ever Told
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
Fireside Al's Treasury of Classic Stories
Representative edition published 1998
Open Work
The snatching of Bookie Bob and other stories
Representative edition published 1995
Open Work
Guys & dolls
Representative edition published 1993
Open Work
Guys and dolls
Representative edition published 1993
Open Work
Guys and Dolls
Representative edition published 1992
Open Work
From first to last
Representative edition published 1990
Open Work
Seven American Short Stories
Representative edition published 1989
Open Work
Great humorous stories
Representative edition published 1987
Open Work
Romance in the roaring forties and other stories
Representative edition published 1985
Open Work
Great Short Stories of the World
Representative edition published 1981
Open Work
The Bloodhounds of Broadway and Other Stories
Representative edition published 1981
Open Work
Great American Short Stories [34 stories]
Representative edition published 1977
Open Work
The Damon Runyon omnibus
Representative edition published 1976
Open Work
Damon Runyon from first to last
Representative edition published 1975
Open Work
Happy Endings
Representative edition published 1974
Open Work
The Britannica Library of Great American Writing - Volume II
Representative edition published 1960
Open Work
A treasury of Damon Runyon
Representative edition published 1958
Open Work
Guys and dolls & other stories
Representative edition published 1956
Open Work
Runyon on Broadway
Representative edition published 1955
Open Work
Runyon on Broadway
Representative edition published 1954
Open Work