(Alfred) Damon Runyon - Biography, Runyon in Popular Culture

Writer and journalist, born in Manhattan, Kansas, USA. After service in the Spanish–American War (1898) he turned to journalism and sports reporting for the New York American, and then to feature-writing with syndicated columns. His short stories, written in a racy style with liberal use of American slang and jargon, and depicting life in underworld New York City and on Broadway, won him enormous popularity. His famous collection, Guys and Dolls (1931), was the basis of a successful musical (1950) and film (1955). Other books include Blue Plate Special (1934) and Take it Easy (1938). From 1941 he worked as a film producer.

Damon Runyon (October 4, 1884 – December 10, 1946) was a newspaperman and writer.

He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era.

Here is an example from the story "Tobias the Terrible", collected in More than Somewhat (1937):

If I have all the tears that are shed on Broadway by guys in love, I will have enough salt water to start an opposition ocean to the Atlantic and Pacific, with enough left over to run the Great Salt Lake out of business.

To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde.

Some other examples of Runyonesque phrases include:

ever-loving--almost always prefacing 'wife'; "he is more than somewhat married" pineapple--pineapple grenade roscoe/john roscoe/the old equalizer/that thing--gun shiv--knife

The musical Guys and Dolls was based on two Runyon stories, "The Idyll Of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure";

Biography

He was born Alfred Damon Runyan in Manhattan, Kansas, and grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, where Runyon Field and Runyon Lake are named after him. In his first New York byline, the American editor dropped the "Alfred", and the name "Damon Runyon" appeared for the first time.

A heavy drinker as a young man, he seems to have quit the bottle soon after arriving in New York, after his drinking nearly cost him the courtship of the woman who became his first wife, Ellen Egan.

His best friend was mafia accountant Otto Berman, and he incorporated Berman into several of his stories under the alias "Regret." When Berman was killed in a hit on Berman's boss, Dutch Schultz, Runyon quickly assumed the role of damage control for his deceased friend, correcting erroneous press releases (including one that stated Berman was one of Schultz's gunman, to which Runyon replied, Otto would have been as effective a bodyguard as a two year old.)

Runyon frequently contributed sports poems to the American on boxing and baseball themes, and also wrote numerous short stories and essays.

Gambling was a common theme of Runyon's works, and he was a notorious gambler himself.

Runyon's marriage to Ellen Egan produced two children (Mary and Damon, Jr.), and broke up in 1928 over rumors that Runyon had become infatuated with a Mexican girl he had first met while covering the Pancho Villa raids in 1916 and discovered once again in New York, when she called the American seeking him out. Runyon had promised her in Mexico that, if she would complete the education he paid for her, he would find her a dancing job in New York. After Ellen Runyon died of the effects of her own drinking problems, Runyon and Patrice married.

He died in New York City from throat cancer in 1946, at the age of 62.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, established in his honor, was set up to fund promising scientists in the field of cancer research.

Runyon in Popular Culture

Books

The Tents of Trouble (Poems; 1911)

Rhymes of the Firing Line (1912)

Guys and Dolls (1932) ISBN 0-14-017659-4

Damon Runyon's Blue Plate Special (1934)

Money From Home (1935)

More Than Somewhat (1937)

Furthermore (1938)

Take It Easy (1938)

My Wife Ethel (1939)

My Old Man (1939)

The Best of Runyon (1940)

A Slight Case of Murder (with Howard Lindsay, 1940)

Damon Runyon Favorites (1942)

Capt. Kiernan, 1942)

Runyon a la Carte (1944)

The Damon Runyon Omnibus (1944)

Short Takes (1946)

In Our Town (1946)

The Three Wise Guys and Other Stories (1946)

Trials and Other Tribulations (1947) ISBN 0-394-60444-X

Poems for Men (1947)

Runyon First and Last (1949)

Runyon on Broadway (1950) ISBN 0-330-24543-0

More Guys and Dolls (1950)

The Turps (1951)

Damon Runyon from First to Last (1954)

A Treasury of Damon Runyon (1958)

The Bloodhounds of Broadway and Other Stories (1985)

Guys, Dolls, and Curveballs: Damon Runyon on Baseball (2005; Jim Reisler, editor)

Films

Numerous Damon Runyon stories were adapted for the stage and the screen. Some of the best of these include:

Lady for a Day (1933)---Adapted by Bob Riskin, who suggested the name change from Runyon's title "Madame La Gimp," the film garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Capra), Best Actress (May Robson), and Best Adaptation for the Screen (Riskin). Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra)

Radio

Broadcast from January to December 1949, "The Damon Runyon Theatre" dramatized 52 of Runyon's short stories for radio.

Trivia

He was the inspiration for history's first telethon, hosted by Milton Berle in 1949 to raise funds for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The phrase "Trust, but verify," that is often attributed to U.S. President Ronald Reagan, is also often attributed to Damon Runyon, who likely used the phrase earlier than Reagan did. Named in his honor, the Damon Runyon is a Thoroughbred horse race run every December at Aqueduct Race Track.