What do you think?
Rate this book
Romance in the Roaring Forties: And Other Stories
Available for the first time in decades, this collection of stories by the renowned author includes "Little Miss Marker," "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown," and "Butch Minds the Baby"
394 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Damon Runyon
226 books88 followersSuch volumes as
Guys and Dolls
(1931), the basis for a musical of the same name on Broadway, collect stories of known American writer Alfred Damon Runyon about the underworld of New York.
A family in Manhattan, Kansas, reared this newspaperman. His grandfather, a printer from New Jersey, relocated to Manhattan, Kansas in 1855, and his father edited his own newspaper in the town. In 1882, people forced father of Runyon forced to sell his newspaper, and the family moved westward. The family eventually settled in 1887 in Pueblo, Colorado, where Runyon spent the rest of his youth. He began to work in the newspaper trade under his father in Pueblo. People named a field, the repertory theater company, and a lake in his honor. He worked for various newspapers in the area of the Rocky Mountains and let stand a change in the spelling of his last name from "Runyan" to "Runyon."
In 1898, Runyon enlisted in the Army to fight in the Spanish-American War. The service assigned himto write for the Manila Freedom and Soldier's Letter.
He 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.
Runyon was also a newspaperman. He wrote the lead article for UP on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidential inauguration in 1933.
Runyon died in New York City from throat cancer in late 1946, at age 66. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered from an airplane over Broadway in Manhattan by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker on December 18, 1946. The family plot of Damon Runyon is located at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY. After Runyon's death, his friend and fellow journalist, Walter Winchell, went on his radio program and appealed for contributions to help fight cancer, eventually establishing the “Damon Runyon Cancer Memorial Fund” to support scientific research into causes of, and prevention of cancer.
A family in Manhattan, Kansas, reared this newspaperman. His grandfather, a printer from New Jersey, relocated to Manhattan, Kansas in 1855, and his father edited his own newspaper in the town. In 1882, people forced father of Runyon forced to sell his newspaper, and the family moved westward. The family eventually settled in 1887 in Pueblo, Colorado, where Runyon spent the rest of his youth. He began to work in the newspaper trade under his father in Pueblo. People named a field, the repertory theater company, and a lake in his honor. He worked for various newspapers in the area of the Rocky Mountains and let stand a change in the spelling of his last name from "Runyan" to "Runyon."
In 1898, Runyon enlisted in the Army to fight in the Spanish-American War. The service assigned himto write for the Manila Freedom and Soldier's Letter.
He 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.
Runyon was also a newspaperman. He wrote the lead article for UP on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidential inauguration in 1933.
Runyon died in New York City from throat cancer in late 1946, at age 66. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered from an airplane over Broadway in Manhattan by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker on December 18, 1946. The family plot of Damon Runyon is located at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY. After Runyon's death, his friend and fellow journalist, Walter Winchell, went on his radio program and appealed for contributions to help fight cancer, eventually establishing the “Damon Runyon Cancer Memorial Fund” to support scientific research into causes of, and prevention of cancer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 21, 2024
I found this title at the library and took it home thinking I might enjoy a story or two, I mean who doesn’t like Guys and Dolls? I was surprised that I read cover to cover and enjoyed all but one or two tales. Gambling, thievery and other shady enterprises provide plot engines that drive all of these yarns. The use of bygone vernacular is delightful, if you enjoy that sort of thing, and while the humor is rich there are also tragic and heartwarming elements to be found throughout. I’ve read a lot of hard-boiled crime novels from the early part of the 20th Century but somehow missed out until now on the work of Runyon. I’ll be reading more by the author.
January 30, 2020
The musical "Guys & Dolls" falls short of the humor in Runyon's short stories. The book is a nice compilation for anyone starting out on reading the work of this forgotten American author. While humorous the stories also expose the complex emotions of people in a manner long overlooked by society today.
October 29, 2023
I love most of this collection, especially "Princess O'Hara," but the experience was marred by racist language in the last (and by far the longest) story.
October 8, 2016
ROMANCE IN THE ROARING FORTIES and THE BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY were both published by William Marrow and Company in the 1980's. Each has twenty of Damon Runyon's "Broadway stories" that chronicle life in the New York City underworld during the 1920's, 30's, and 40's. They are quality publications and you can buy good condition used copies for under $5. I got this one on ThriftBooks.
The title story is one of Runyon's best and involves a romantic triangle between a gangster named Dave the Dude, a showgirl named Miss Billy Perry, and newspaper columnist named Waldo Winchester. Waldo Winchester was a spoof of Runyon's good friend and fellow Broadway reporter Walter Winchell. Billy Perry is employed by Miss Missouri Martin of the Sixteen Hundred Club. "Miss Mizzoo" was a take-off on flamboyant club owner Texas Guinan, famed for greeting her guests with "Hello, sucker." Obviously Runyon like to give his friends a boast and I suppose they appreciated the publicity. Things look dicey for a while, but it ends with not one, but two happy couples. How long they stay happy is another matter.
The large collection FURTHERMORE (which I can't find in print or e-book) contains nine of these stories: "Butch Minds the Baby" (one of my favorites) "Little Miss Marker" (made into a Shirley Temple movie) "Baseball Hattie" "All Horse Players Die Broke" "That Ever-Loving Wife of Hymie's" "The Hottest Guy in the World" "For a Pal" "Bred for Battle" and "Princess O'Hara."
MORE THAN SOMEWHAT (now a Kindle e-book) has the title story and also "The Snatching Of Bookie Bob" "Hold 'Em, Yale" "Dream Street Rose" "Earthquake" and "The Old Doll's House."
GUYS AND DOLLS contains "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" "Johnny One-Eye" "The Melancholy Dane" and "A Story Goes With It"
"Money From Home" is one I've never found in any other collection. Most of Runyon's stories are ten to twenty pages long, but "Money" is fifty pages - almost a novella. It's a riotous farce that pulls Runyon's unnamed narrator into some wild shenanigans at a Maryland Country Club and steeple chase track. And that brings me to a delicate matter. Runyon's stories are never mean, but he used the language of his rough characters and that includes some racist terms that would be unacceptable now. In fact, Amazon won't even let me whisper them into your ear. So be warned and let's all be happy that the expression "stove lid" has been eradicated from the American vocabulary. I think.
Since this book and BLOODHOUNDS were published at the same time by the same publisher, the two books contain no duplicate stories. It's not the complete collection, but if you can only get two Runyon books, these two would be my picks.
The title story is one of Runyon's best and involves a romantic triangle between a gangster named Dave the Dude, a showgirl named Miss Billy Perry, and newspaper columnist named Waldo Winchester. Waldo Winchester was a spoof of Runyon's good friend and fellow Broadway reporter Walter Winchell. Billy Perry is employed by Miss Missouri Martin of the Sixteen Hundred Club. "Miss Mizzoo" was a take-off on flamboyant club owner Texas Guinan, famed for greeting her guests with "Hello, sucker." Obviously Runyon like to give his friends a boast and I suppose they appreciated the publicity. Things look dicey for a while, but it ends with not one, but two happy couples. How long they stay happy is another matter.
The large collection FURTHERMORE (which I can't find in print or e-book) contains nine of these stories: "Butch Minds the Baby" (one of my favorites) "Little Miss Marker" (made into a Shirley Temple movie) "Baseball Hattie" "All Horse Players Die Broke" "That Ever-Loving Wife of Hymie's" "The Hottest Guy in the World" "For a Pal" "Bred for Battle" and "Princess O'Hara."
MORE THAN SOMEWHAT (now a Kindle e-book) has the title story and also "The Snatching Of Bookie Bob" "Hold 'Em, Yale" "Dream Street Rose" "Earthquake" and "The Old Doll's House."
GUYS AND DOLLS contains "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" "Johnny One-Eye" "The Melancholy Dane" and "A Story Goes With It"
"Money From Home" is one I've never found in any other collection. Most of Runyon's stories are ten to twenty pages long, but "Money" is fifty pages - almost a novella. It's a riotous farce that pulls Runyon's unnamed narrator into some wild shenanigans at a Maryland Country Club and steeple chase track. And that brings me to a delicate matter. Runyon's stories are never mean, but he used the language of his rough characters and that includes some racist terms that would be unacceptable now. In fact, Amazon won't even let me whisper them into your ear. So be warned and let's all be happy that the expression "stove lid" has been eradicated from the American vocabulary. I think.
Since this book and BLOODHOUNDS were published at the same time by the same publisher, the two books contain no duplicate stories. It's not the complete collection, but if you can only get two Runyon books, these two would be my picks.
November 22, 2015
I didn't read every single story as I've learned that I enjoy Runyon's style in a smaller collection. His New York is fascinating, funny and at times sad. The introduction made me curious to read more about his life.
June 12, 2012
From the opening moments of Guys and Dolls I was hooked on Damon Runyon's fascinating, romanticized world of gangsters and molls. I'm a cheeseball at heart. So sue me.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews