Forward by Bennett Cerf
I. ANYWHERE, U.S.A.
Cornelia Otis Skinner On
Skating
Dorothy Parker The
Sexes
Joe H. Palmer By
Any Other Name
The
Odds Were Right
Corey Ford How
to Guess Your Age
The
Office Party
Edward Streeter Excerpt:
Father of the Bride
Robert Benchley Ladies’
Wild
Russell Lynes The
New Snobbism
McEvoy, J.P. [sic] From
Host to Guest in One Generation
II. NEW ENGLAND
Frank Sullivan Quigley
873
E.B. White A
Weekend with the Angels
Charles W. Morton Prep
Schools
Fishing
Stories
Russell Maloney Inflexible
Logic
Cleveland Amory Newport:
Of Cottages and Queens (Abridged)
III. NEW YORK
O. Henry Mammon
and the Archer
Man
About Town
Clarence Day Father
Wakes Up the Village
Dorothy Parker From
the Diary of a New York Lady
Leonard Q. Ross The
Rather Difficult Case of Mr. K*A*P*L*A*N
Ring Lardner Liberty
Hall
Sit
Still
Damon Runyon Blood
Pressure
Wolcott Gibbs The
Free Lance
Arthur Kober Chocolate
for the Woodwork
H. Allen Smith New
York Is Mostly People
Frank Sullivan An
Interesting Cure
Bennett Cerf The
Artful Dodgers
A. J. Liebling The
Jollity Building (Abridged)
IV. THE SOUTHLAND
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Benny
and the Bird-dogs
Joel Chandler Harris The
Wonderful Tar Baby
Mark Twain Journalism
in Tennessee
Roark Bradford Excerpts:
Ol’ Man Adam an’ His Chillun
Erskine Caldwell A
Small Day
Alva Johnston The
Legendary Mizners and the Florida Boom (Abridged)
Eudora Welty The
Petrified Man
Mac Hyman Excerpts:
No Time for Sergeants
V. THE MIDWEST
James Thurber The
Night the Bed Fell
The
Night the Ghost Got In
Ellis Parker Butler Pigs
is Pigs
Ring Lardner Mr.
Frisbie
Emily Kimbrough Cincinnati
and I
Max Shulman Excerpts:
Barefoot Boy with Cheek
VI. THE SOUTHWEST
Will Rogers Frolics
and Follies
Taking
the Cure, by the Shores of Cat Creek
George Sessions Perry Edgar
and the Dank Morass
Frank Sullivan An
Innocent in Texas
The Editor A
Texas Sampler
VII. THE FAR WEST
Bret Harte An
Ingenue of the Sierras
S. J. Perelman Strictly
from Hunger
John O’Hara Life
Among These Unforgettable Characters
Will Rogers It’s
Time Somebody Said a Word for California
Robert Lewis Taylor Excerpt:
W.C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes
Herb Caen There’ll
Always Be a Cable Car
Betty MacDonald Excerpt:
The Egg and I
VIII. THIS SIDE OF PARODIES
Donald Ogden Steward The
Whisky Rebellion
S. J. Perelman Waiting
for Sanity
Ira Wallach The
Keeper of the Gelded Unicorn
Wolcott Gibbs Shad
Ampersand
E. B. White Across
the Street and into the Grill
IX. THE NEXT VERSE YOU HEAR
X. A WHIFF OF GREASE PAINT
--THREE MEMORABLE SCENES FROM BROADWAY COMEDY HITS
Hecht & MacArthur Last
Scene from The Front Page
Kaufman & Hart Opening
Scene from The Man Who Came to Dinner
Lindsay & Crouse Scene
from Act II of Life with Father
--TWO FAMOUS RADIO “FEUDS”
Jack Benny vs. Fred Allen
W.C. Fields vs. Charlie McCarthy
A Vaudeville Classic: Dr. Kronkhite
The Editor: Show Cases
XI. GROWING PAINS
Robert Benchley One
Legend Less
F. Scott Fitzgerald The
Baby Party
Milt Gross Excerpt:
Nize Baby
Margaret Millar Excerpts:
It’s All in the Family
Shirley Jackson Charles
Ruth McKenney Excerpt:
My Sister Eileen
John Mason Brown Happy
Birthday
Salley Benson Excerpt:
Junior Miss
All Capp Memories
of Miss Mandelbaum
Hildegarde Dolson Excerpt:
We Shook the Family Tree
XII. BEYOND THE TWELVE-MILE LIMIT
Anita Loos Excerpts:
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Donald Ogden Steward Excerpts:
Mr. And Mrs. Haddock Abroad
Mark Twain A
Night of Terror
Donald Moffat Gendarmes
and the Man
Art Buchwald Some
Heady Phrases on Wine
Other
Voices, Other Wines
Robert Benchley Carnival
Week in Sunny Las Los
S. J. Perelman The
Idol’s Eye
Wolcott Gibbs Cure
Thomas Heggen The
Birthmark (From Mr. Roberts)
Guy Gilpatric Mary,
Queen of Scots