It looks like you're offline.
Open Library logo
additional options menu
Last edited by MARC Bot
September 30, 2020 | History

Damon Runyon

Oct. 4, 1880 - Dec. 10, 1946

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]

72 works Add another?

Sorting by Sorted by: Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent | Top Rated | Reading Log | Random

Showing all works by author. Would you like to see only ebooks?

  • Cover of: The tents of trouble
    First published in 1911 2 editions in 1 language — 2 previewable Cover of edition tentstrouble00runygoog

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Rhymes of the firing line
    First published in 1912 2 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Runyon, first and last.

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Favourites
    First published in 1929 1 edition

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Guys & dolls: the stories of
    First published in 1931 11 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Damon Runyon's Blue plate special

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Guys and dolls: three volumes in one. Guys and dolls. Money from home. Blue plate special

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Money from home
    First published in 1935 1 edition in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Runyon's Guys and Dolls: Three Volumes in One: Guys and Dolls, Blue Plate Special, and Money from Home

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: The Damon Runyon omnibus.
    First published in 1935 4 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: More than somewhat
    First published in 1937 2 editions in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Take it easy.
    First published in 1938 3 editions in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: My old man.
    First published in 1939 2 editions in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: My wife Ethel.
    First published in 1939 2 editions in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: The best of Runyon
    First published in 1940 1 edition in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: slight case of murder: comedy in two acts

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Furthermore
    First published in 1940 3 editions in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Damon Runyon Favorites
    First published in 1942 3 editions in 1 language — 2 previewable Cover of edition damonrunyonfavor00runy

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Runyon a la carte
    First published in 1944 2 editions in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Runyon à la carte
    First published in 1944 4 editions in 2 languages

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today

ID Numbers

Links (outside Open Library)

No links yet. Add one?

Alternative names

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
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