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Guys and Dolls and Other Stories
Slick, upbeat and funny, these stories inspired the popular musical and film Guys and Dolls.
'Of all the high players this country ever sees, there is no doubt but that the guy they call the Sky is the highest.. He will bet all he has, and nobody can bet any more than this'.
'Of all the high players this country ever sees, there is no doubt but that the guy they call the Sky is the highest.. He will bet all he has, and nobody can bet any more than this'.
288 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2005
93 people are currently reading
466 people want to read
About the author
Damon Runyon
225 books84 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
November 6, 2020
Runyon is, to my mind, the closest America has come to producing a Wodehouse of its own. As a lifelong fan of Plum I do not make this comparison lightly. These stories are a joy and are full to bursting with friends you haven't yet met; Dave the Dude, the Lemon Drop Kid, Harry the Horse, Spanish John and (my personal favourite) Nicely Nicely Jones.
June 10, 2021
Well, the truth is that a short while ago I was reading about horse racing and gambling and one thing and another when I saw reference to a man named Damon Runyon and so I pick up this book with a lot of stories penned by this Runyon and damned if he isn't the world's most natural storyteller; whether he's writing about Broadway or who knows what, his tales are gifts from the gods and, trust me, that's no phonus bolonus
February 23, 2025
Nothing is more excellent than this collection of writings by Damon Runyon. He is without a doubt works on a genius level.
July 13, 2016
While I have been familiar with Damon Runyon as a famous New York character and the writer for such films as "Guys and Dolls", "Little Miss Marker" and "Pocketful of Miracles"/"Lady for a Day" I had never really read his original works. "Guys and Dolls and Other Writings" puts it all together in one volume and it gave me many hours of joy and amusement. It got to the point where I started tawking like some of da citizens what occupied the pages (just for fun). The short stories that make up "The Broadway Stories" are as American and delightful as O. Henry or Twain (though the author thinks of himself more of a Bret Harte). Based on these alone this would be a five star review.
It is the "other writings" where I became a bit disappointed. After the colorful, heart of gold characters from Broadway, the real life trial reporting of Al Capone, George McManus and Henry Morgan seems dull. We also get some humorous poetry, a few unconnected very short stories of varying quality and a bit of prose on beds, gamblers and the sufferings of Job. The book ends on a high note with a piece on Sherman Billingsley, the owner of New York's famed Stork Club. But even he can't hold a candle to the likes of Nathan Detroit, Harry the Horse, Big Jule and the other citizens of Broadway.
It is the "other writings" where I became a bit disappointed. After the colorful, heart of gold characters from Broadway, the real life trial reporting of Al Capone, George McManus and Henry Morgan seems dull. We also get some humorous poetry, a few unconnected very short stories of varying quality and a bit of prose on beds, gamblers and the sufferings of Job. The book ends on a high note with a piece on Sherman Billingsley, the owner of New York's famed Stork Club. But even he can't hold a candle to the likes of Nathan Detroit, Harry the Horse, Big Jule and the other citizens of Broadway.
September 2, 2016
If you are one of those people who loves reading about Prohibition-era New York, you will find the "Broadway Stories" highly amusing. Yes, the plots are completely ridiculous, but I doubt they were meant to be taken seriously. They are more like cynical fairy tales in which the endings are sometimes grim.
Most of the career criminals which populate the stories are portrayed as the good guys (in contrast to police and bankers); although in some instances the narrator merely feigns goodwill toward Harry the Horse and Little Isadore from the Brooklyn waterfront (who have a reputation as killers) because to offend them might be injurious to his health. The result is he gets dragged along on some hair-brained odyssey which lasts until morning the next day. I actually wanted more, and it turns out not everything is here (such as "Palm Beach Santa," which is mentioned in the afterword, but not in the book). Most of the locales and speakeasies named are based on real places (Lindy's, The 1600 Club) so you do get the effect of hanging out with these characters day after day.
Also included in this volume are some odds and ends including one hilarious story featuring The Turps, a husband and wife from Brooklyn (the prototypes for Archie and Edith Bunker), who barge into the White House, demanding the President reinstate their local mailman who loses his job after 30 years. Then there are some others which predate Runyon's move to New York and are a little bit rough around the edges. What makes them worth reading is they deal with subjects like the Colorado mining strike of 1907. More interesting is his reporting on the trials of Arnold Rothstein's killer (George McManus) and Al Capone (for tax evasion). Of course Runyon was close to both Rothstein and Capone. To prove that Capone had plenty of money, Federal Prosecutors detail every single item he bought, right down to his silk underwear. Hence, Runyon views him more as a victim than a gang chieftain.
His outrage against the big banks is apparent in his coverage of a Senate investigation of the Morgan Investment Bank (the purpose of which was to determine its role in the crash of 1929). This took a turn for the surreal when J.P. himself rather grudgingly allowed a midget to sit on his lap after some circus folk somehow hijacked the proceedings. Morgan acted amused (though he was clearly not) because he could not afford to look like an elitist snob. His top ax man, George Whitney had no such reservations.
Most of the career criminals which populate the stories are portrayed as the good guys (in contrast to police and bankers); although in some instances the narrator merely feigns goodwill toward Harry the Horse and Little Isadore from the Brooklyn waterfront (who have a reputation as killers) because to offend them might be injurious to his health. The result is he gets dragged along on some hair-brained odyssey which lasts until morning the next day. I actually wanted more, and it turns out not everything is here (such as "Palm Beach Santa," which is mentioned in the afterword, but not in the book). Most of the locales and speakeasies named are based on real places (Lindy's, The 1600 Club) so you do get the effect of hanging out with these characters day after day.
Also included in this volume are some odds and ends including one hilarious story featuring The Turps, a husband and wife from Brooklyn (the prototypes for Archie and Edith Bunker), who barge into the White House, demanding the President reinstate their local mailman who loses his job after 30 years. Then there are some others which predate Runyon's move to New York and are a little bit rough around the edges. What makes them worth reading is they deal with subjects like the Colorado mining strike of 1907. More interesting is his reporting on the trials of Arnold Rothstein's killer (George McManus) and Al Capone (for tax evasion). Of course Runyon was close to both Rothstein and Capone. To prove that Capone had plenty of money, Federal Prosecutors detail every single item he bought, right down to his silk underwear. Hence, Runyon views him more as a victim than a gang chieftain.
His outrage against the big banks is apparent in his coverage of a Senate investigation of the Morgan Investment Bank (the purpose of which was to determine its role in the crash of 1929). This took a turn for the surreal when J.P. himself rather grudgingly allowed a midget to sit on his lap after some circus folk somehow hijacked the proceedings. Morgan acted amused (though he was clearly not) because he could not afford to look like an elitist snob. His top ax man, George Whitney had no such reservations.
May 6, 2018
This is a decent selection of twenty of Runyon's Broadway stories and would serve as a good introduction to one of the truly great comic writers of the 20th Century.
I first read some Runyon about 35 years ago and after a page or two of him was completely hooked. It's a joy throughout with very neatly constructed short stories, memorable characters and, above all, writing which can make me laugh out loud just through its style. If you need a sample of Runyon's wonderful, utterly distinctive prose, try this paragraph from the classic The Brain Goes Home:
"I once read a story about a guy by the name of King Solomon who lives a long time ago and who has a thousand dolls all at once, which is going in for dolls on a very large scale indeed, but I guarantee that all of King Solomon's dolls put together are not as expensive as any one of The Brain's dolls. The overhead on Doris Clare alone will drive an ordinary guy daffy, and Doris is practically frugal compared to Cynthia Harris and Bobby Baker."
Damon Runyon has been one of the joys of my life and, if you haven't already, I would urge you to try him. For a much fuller selection, my advice is to get hold of a copy of the Picador paperback, On Broadway. It's out of print (scandalously, in my view) but used copies are still readily available. Failing that, you won’t be disappointed with the little gems in this Penguin selection. Very warmly recommended.
I first read some Runyon about 35 years ago and after a page or two of him was completely hooked. It's a joy throughout with very neatly constructed short stories, memorable characters and, above all, writing which can make me laugh out loud just through its style. If you need a sample of Runyon's wonderful, utterly distinctive prose, try this paragraph from the classic The Brain Goes Home:
"I once read a story about a guy by the name of King Solomon who lives a long time ago and who has a thousand dolls all at once, which is going in for dolls on a very large scale indeed, but I guarantee that all of King Solomon's dolls put together are not as expensive as any one of The Brain's dolls. The overhead on Doris Clare alone will drive an ordinary guy daffy, and Doris is practically frugal compared to Cynthia Harris and Bobby Baker."
Damon Runyon has been one of the joys of my life and, if you haven't already, I would urge you to try him. For a much fuller selection, my advice is to get hold of a copy of the Picador paperback, On Broadway. It's out of print (scandalously, in my view) but used copies are still readily available. Failing that, you won’t be disappointed with the little gems in this Penguin selection. Very warmly recommended.
October 1, 2013
3.5 stars. This is one of those occasional cases where the writing style is really the most notable and entertaining thing about the stories: the deadpan narration and dialect, and the way humor is derived from every variation of crook and "character" on Broadway and around the racetracks—mainly by serious, almost naïve-sounding understatements regarding their tempers and pursuits. (Once you've read a certain amount of these stories, you'll find yourself thinking in present tense.) Some of the situations in these short stories are honestly very funny, but on the other hand (or at least when you've been reading a steady diet of them for a while) some feel a bit forced and trite; once in a while the narrator's dialect gets a little too involved and repetitive for his own good.
Among my favorites in the collection were "A Story Goes With It," "Butch Minds the Baby," and "Breach of Promise." "The Bloodhounds of Broadway" and "Palm Beach Santa Claus" were pretty funny too. Classic film fans will recognize the original stories for "Little Miss Marker" and "Madame La Gimp" (filmed as the charming Lady For a Day); but from what I know of it, I don't think "The Lemon Drop Kid" has much in common with the Christmas movie of the same name.
Whether the stories are good or middling, there's almost always some phrase that'll give you a fit of giggles—I got a real kick out of the bit in "The Lacework Kid" where a man borrowing money gives "his Kathleen Mavourneen, which is a promise to pay that may be for years and may be forever."
Among my favorites in the collection were "A Story Goes With It," "Butch Minds the Baby," and "Breach of Promise." "The Bloodhounds of Broadway" and "Palm Beach Santa Claus" were pretty funny too. Classic film fans will recognize the original stories for "Little Miss Marker" and "Madame La Gimp" (filmed as the charming Lady For a Day); but from what I know of it, I don't think "The Lemon Drop Kid" has much in common with the Christmas movie of the same name.
Whether the stories are good or middling, there's almost always some phrase that'll give you a fit of giggles—I got a real kick out of the bit in "The Lacework Kid" where a man borrowing money gives "his Kathleen Mavourneen, which is a promise to pay that may be for years and may be forever."
January 12, 2014
I read this collection as "background research" whilst playing Nathan Detroit in the musical. Sadly, Nathan only features in a few stories as a minor character but reading this gave a broader understanding of the New York dialect and the morally bereft behaviour of the characters.
Stylistically, Runyon writes as an unnamed narrator who tells the story as though he's a lifelong friend of yours, providing dry, witty asides here and there. Substance-wise, it's a little predictable but amiably so. And who wouldn't want to read a story that contained a character called Madame La Gimp?
Runyon's unique subject matter and highly original prose puts him in a league of his own - Broadway's Hemingway, if you like.
Stylistically, Runyon writes as an unnamed narrator who tells the story as though he's a lifelong friend of yours, providing dry, witty asides here and there. Substance-wise, it's a little predictable but amiably so. And who wouldn't want to read a story that contained a character called Madame La Gimp?
Runyon's unique subject matter and highly original prose puts him in a league of his own - Broadway's Hemingway, if you like.
March 30, 2016
I came to this book not as a fan of either the musical or the film (not having seen either, and watching the trailer online, have no intention on doing so) but just seeing the book around and it looking cool, and me embarking on a concerted effort to read more classics. I loved the hip jive language and the scenes of the city I once visited and loved. And the characters! Brilliant....
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April 2, 2010Damon Runyon is awesome! These stories read like the wayward gangster offspring of Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence and Nero Wolfe's Archie Goodwin. You can't get much better than that. It is difficult to tell what color it is.
November 22, 2011
Not as much fun as I thought it would be. The style in particular ended up being quite grating. Probably better in small does as, of course, originally intended. Interesting to see the derivation of the musical though.
June 11, 2015
Sliktie puiši, policisti, sievietes, azartspēles, nepatikšanas utt.
Ne visi stāsti ir ar laimīgām beigām, bet ar morāli gan un viennozīmīgi aizraujoši. Bija grūti nolikt malā.
Grāmata gan meitenēm, gan zēniem.
Ne visi stāsti ir ar laimīgām beigām, bet ar morāli gan un viennozīmīgi aizraujoši. Bija grūti nolikt malā.
Grāmata gan meitenēm, gan zēniem.
June 29, 2009
Witty, warm and funny. Runyon's prose exhibits all the elegance and style of the Jazz age and his characters are very endearing. Read it!
June 2, 2010
why didn't anyone tell me about Damon Runyon sooner?? Need to own this one (not just take it out of NYPL).
August 2, 2011
Classic short stories centred around the low lives of New York. Luck be a Lady, indeed.
June 27, 2016
I enjoyed these stories HUGELY; they are hilarious and vibrant and ridiculous and delicious.
January 17, 2025
It's Damon Runyon. Need I say more?
Sadly, it may be necessary to say more. I'm shocked by the seemingly intelligent people who look blank when I mention Damon Runyon and his Broadway stories. Even additional hints ("Guys And Dolls"? "Little Miss Marker"?) sometimes do no good. What have we come to?
This is the man who introduced us to the seedy, opportunistic, sometimes violent types who frequent the streets of New York City around the Great White Way. Horse players, gamblers, show girls, rum-runners, evangelists, writers, actors, gangsters, gunmen, and molls rub elbows and exchange pleasantries while trying to figure out how to pick each others' pockets. What are friends for?
Ironically, Runyon grew up in Colorado and started out as a sports reporter. In 1910, NYC was the center of the sports world and Runyon wrote columns on the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Giants, back when all three teams played in stadiums an easy subway ride away from each other.
The Big Apple has always attracted people looking for fame and fortune in sports, fashion, or show business. Then prohibition turned previously law-abiding citizens into thirsty criminals and Broadway speakeasies created a place where socialites and gangsters could come together for the sacred purpose of getting sloshed.
The Great Depression completed the social up-heaval and leveled the playing field. The stock market plunged in 1929, creating economic havoc for old money families and working class stiffs alike. The one thing everyone needed was laughs and Runyon's witty stories supplied them .
For years, I bought as many Runyon story collections as I could find. When they started appearing as Kindle editions, I snapped them up. Unfortunately, the collections were compiled willy-nilly. So some stories have appeared in numerous collections, while others are difficult to find.
This one has five stories not in Kindle collections I already own. When you love the Runyon stories as much as I do, adding a few more to your stash is worth acquiring another book, even knowing that you're paying for duplicates.
Runyon's characters may be shady, but each of his stories has a moral to it. "Dark Delores" shows the danger of eliminating your business rivals, no matter how good an idea it might seem at the time. You may consider you're doing the world a favor, but the dead guy's doll may not think so. A beautiful, charming dame who can swim like a fish is not a female to take lightly.
Even a woman who's getting on up in the paint chips can be serious trouble. "Dream Street Rose" is an old doll brought low by a cruel husband. Life isn't always fair and Rose suffers while her husband has prospered. The Mafia may have coined the expression "Revenge is a dish best eaten cold" but the idea is as old as the human race.
Another inconvenient wife shows up in "Broadway Complex" with a husband who has an unusual plan to get rid of her. Unwanted wives live in danger, as do rival gangsters and their gun-toting gorills, but the narrator's friend Ambrose Hammer has the most dangerous job on Broadway. He's a theater critic and NO ONE is more deadly than an actor whose performance has been panned.
I'm surprised that "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" is so hard to find, since it was the basis of the Broadway musical (and popular movie) "Guys and Dolls." Good looking gambler Sky Masterson has nerves of steel when it comes to rolling the dice, but a pretty Salvation Army worker cleans him out permanently.
"A Light in France" is an atypical Runyon story, since it takes place not in on Broadway, but in a small coastal village in France during the early days of WWII. Runyon may have been cynical, but he was a patriot. The Nazi soldiers don't come off looking well.
These are only five stories out of thirty-six. The rest are in other Runyon collections I own, but that doesn't mean I mind rereading them. "Butch Mind the Baby" "Blood Pressure" "The Brain Goes Home" and "Romance in the Roaring Forties" are stories I enjoy as much as I did when I first read them and that's a LONG time ago. They are literary comfort food and I return to them often.
As to the rest of the stuff. The dialect in the "Turps" stories turns my stomach and I'm not a poetry fan. The western stories are mildly entertaining and Runyon's reporting on the trials of Arnold Rothstein (the original of "The Brain") and Al Capone are good. He was a fine reporter and essayist, but (given the choice) I'll stick to his Broadway stories.
Damon Runyon occupies the same position in humorous writing that Dashiell Hammett fills in mystery writing. Both men produced unique material. They can be copied, but never equaled.
Sadly, it may be necessary to say more. I'm shocked by the seemingly intelligent people who look blank when I mention Damon Runyon and his Broadway stories. Even additional hints ("Guys And Dolls"? "Little Miss Marker"?) sometimes do no good. What have we come to?
This is the man who introduced us to the seedy, opportunistic, sometimes violent types who frequent the streets of New York City around the Great White Way. Horse players, gamblers, show girls, rum-runners, evangelists, writers, actors, gangsters, gunmen, and molls rub elbows and exchange pleasantries while trying to figure out how to pick each others' pockets. What are friends for?
Ironically, Runyon grew up in Colorado and started out as a sports reporter. In 1910, NYC was the center of the sports world and Runyon wrote columns on the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Giants, back when all three teams played in stadiums an easy subway ride away from each other.
The Big Apple has always attracted people looking for fame and fortune in sports, fashion, or show business. Then prohibition turned previously law-abiding citizens into thirsty criminals and Broadway speakeasies created a place where socialites and gangsters could come together for the sacred purpose of getting sloshed.
The Great Depression completed the social up-heaval and leveled the playing field. The stock market plunged in 1929, creating economic havoc for old money families and working class stiffs alike. The one thing everyone needed was laughs and Runyon's witty stories supplied them .
For years, I bought as many Runyon story collections as I could find. When they started appearing as Kindle editions, I snapped them up. Unfortunately, the collections were compiled willy-nilly. So some stories have appeared in numerous collections, while others are difficult to find.
This one has five stories not in Kindle collections I already own. When you love the Runyon stories as much as I do, adding a few more to your stash is worth acquiring another book, even knowing that you're paying for duplicates.
Runyon's characters may be shady, but each of his stories has a moral to it. "Dark Delores" shows the danger of eliminating your business rivals, no matter how good an idea it might seem at the time. You may consider you're doing the world a favor, but the dead guy's doll may not think so. A beautiful, charming dame who can swim like a fish is not a female to take lightly.
Even a woman who's getting on up in the paint chips can be serious trouble. "Dream Street Rose" is an old doll brought low by a cruel husband. Life isn't always fair and Rose suffers while her husband has prospered. The Mafia may have coined the expression "Revenge is a dish best eaten cold" but the idea is as old as the human race.
Another inconvenient wife shows up in "Broadway Complex" with a husband who has an unusual plan to get rid of her. Unwanted wives live in danger, as do rival gangsters and their gun-toting gorills, but the narrator's friend Ambrose Hammer has the most dangerous job on Broadway. He's a theater critic and NO ONE is more deadly than an actor whose performance has been panned.
I'm surprised that "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" is so hard to find, since it was the basis of the Broadway musical (and popular movie) "Guys and Dolls." Good looking gambler Sky Masterson has nerves of steel when it comes to rolling the dice, but a pretty Salvation Army worker cleans him out permanently.
"A Light in France" is an atypical Runyon story, since it takes place not in on Broadway, but in a small coastal village in France during the early days of WWII. Runyon may have been cynical, but he was a patriot. The Nazi soldiers don't come off looking well.
These are only five stories out of thirty-six. The rest are in other Runyon collections I own, but that doesn't mean I mind rereading them. "Butch Mind the Baby" "Blood Pressure" "The Brain Goes Home" and "Romance in the Roaring Forties" are stories I enjoy as much as I did when I first read them and that's a LONG time ago. They are literary comfort food and I return to them often.
As to the rest of the stuff. The dialect in the "Turps" stories turns my stomach and I'm not a poetry fan. The western stories are mildly entertaining and Runyon's reporting on the trials of Arnold Rothstein (the original of "The Brain") and Al Capone are good. He was a fine reporter and essayist, but (given the choice) I'll stick to his Broadway stories.
Damon Runyon occupies the same position in humorous writing that Dashiell Hammett fills in mystery writing. Both men produced unique material. They can be copied, but never equaled.
December 11, 2023
This 2005 edition of 'Guys and Dolls and Other Stories' is a reprint of a Penguin book that first appeared in 1956. It contains 20 short stories, all set in the 1920s/1930s against a background of the New York underworld. The stories are often very humorous and sentimental, and are usually written in 'first person' in which the style of narrative and, indeed the speech patterns of all characters, is in a kind of formal slang without contractions nowadays known as 'Runyonese'. Two of the stories used here formed an inspiration for the musical 'Guys and Dolls', whilst numerous others of the stories have inspired movies as well. Enjoyable from start to finish, yet just enough outside of my usual comfort zone to inspire my reading.
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January 5, 2024"How The Sky ever becomes acquainted with Miss Sarah Brown is a very great mystery, but the next thing anybody knows, he is saying hello to her, and she is smiling at him out of her one-hundred-per-cent eyes..."
—The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown by Damon Runyon
or aka my enteral ... THE IDYLL OF MISS SARAH BROWN by Damon Runyon, later adapted to stage and screen as ... GUYS AND DOLLS (1955).
✍🏾 https://dominiquerevue.weebly.com/cin...
—The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown by Damon Runyon
or aka my enteral ... THE IDYLL OF MISS SARAH BROWN by Damon Runyon, later adapted to stage and screen as ... GUYS AND DOLLS (1955).
✍🏾 https://dominiquerevue.weebly.com/cin...
March 15, 2025
If short stories were ragtime jazz: Damon Runyon, whose stories inspired the musical Guys and Dolls, writes with affection and humor about people who do not work 9 to 5 during Prohibition and the Depression. Most of his stories are light and fun. A few are darker and grim. Trigger warning; misogyny is baked in to their structure. Women are respected or sympathized with, but sometimes beaten if they misbehave. His news reporting of Al Capone's tax evasion trial and J. P. Morgan's appearance before a Senate hearing committee show not much has changed in the behavior of the very rich.
July 2, 2023
Perhaps an acquired taste, Damon Runyon has a unique and marvelous style. These somewhat interconnected stories are a delight to read: lots of humor and pizazz. Highly recommended.
December 22, 2023
I really enjoyed this! Daft short stories, fun context about some of the characters in guys and dolls, and I got to look at Marlon Brando's mug every time I picked it up.
September 14, 2025
stories were fine, just too many of them. You don't need to read them all to get a sense of the author's writing style and the location (NYC) and era.
September 10, 2023
6/10 Enjoyment Rating, 7/10 Quality - Damon Runyon's famous Broadway stories - many of which lack a strong plot - collectively paint a picture of the underworld in and around the Great White Way in the 1930s and 40s. Yes, these are the stories which inspired the musical Guys and Dolls.
The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown is vaguely interesting for the missionary plot which makes its way into the musical, as is Blood Pressure. The best stories are Romance in the Roaring Forties and Madame La Gimp, but even these I'd only give a 7.5.
For the most part, the stories are more sketches of life or reportings of going on. I need character development and/or plot and so these stories weren't to my taste. Where there is plot, it is sometimes too ridiculous.The tone is observational, reflecting the author's journalism career. The narrator is neither a criminal nor a womanzier nor a heavy gambler but is able navigate these worlds without pissing anyone off.
The author is most famous for his Runyonesque style. The Wikipedia entry on him summarises: 'The comic effect of his style results partly from the juxtaposition of broad slang with mock pomposity. Women, when not "dolls", "Judies", "pancakes", "tomatoes", or "broads", may be "characters of a female nature", for example. He typically avoided contractions such as "don't" in the example above, which also contributes significantly to the humorously pompous effect. In one sequence, a gangster tells another character to do as he is told, or else "find another world in which to live"'. He almost completely avoids the past tense and rarely uses.the future. The characters' unique way of speaking and heavy constitute a fun pseudo-language.
I wouldn't recommend, but it is fun to read one or two and soak up the style. The real truth is that the Broadway show does a fantastic job at capturing the language and I'd rather just watch that or listen to it.
Examples of Runyonesque style:
'"It is commencing to sound to me like a movie such as a guy is apt to see at a midnight show.'" (p 168, Madame La Gimp)
'Now most any doll on Broadway will be very glad indeed to have Handsome Jack Madigan give her a tumble."' (Social Error)
'Now Rusty Charlie once drives a short for a living himself, until the coppers get an idea that he has not always delivering his customers to the right address, especially such as may happen to be drunk when he gets them, and he is a pretty fair driver, but he only looks one way, which is straight ahead.' (p 30, Blood Pressure)
'So we go in, and the place is full of people sitting at tables, or out on the floor dancing, and I see Miss Missouri Martin with all her diamonds hanging from her in different places, and Good Time Charlie Bernstein, and Feet Samuels, and Tony Bertozola, and Skeets Boulevard, and Nick the Greek, and Rochester Red, and a lot of other guys and dolls from around and about. (p 159, Romance in the Roaring Forties)
The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown is vaguely interesting for the missionary plot which makes its way into the musical, as is Blood Pressure. The best stories are Romance in the Roaring Forties and Madame La Gimp, but even these I'd only give a 7.5.
For the most part, the stories are more sketches of life or reportings of going on. I need character development and/or plot and so these stories weren't to my taste. Where there is plot, it is sometimes too ridiculous.The tone is observational, reflecting the author's journalism career. The narrator is neither a criminal nor a womanzier nor a heavy gambler but is able navigate these worlds without pissing anyone off.
The author is most famous for his Runyonesque style. The Wikipedia entry on him summarises: 'The comic effect of his style results partly from the juxtaposition of broad slang with mock pomposity. Women, when not "dolls", "Judies", "pancakes", "tomatoes", or "broads", may be "characters of a female nature", for example. He typically avoided contractions such as "don't" in the example above, which also contributes significantly to the humorously pompous effect. In one sequence, a gangster tells another character to do as he is told, or else "find another world in which to live"'. He almost completely avoids the past tense and rarely uses.the future. The characters' unique way of speaking and heavy constitute a fun pseudo-language.
I wouldn't recommend, but it is fun to read one or two and soak up the style. The real truth is that the Broadway show does a fantastic job at capturing the language and I'd rather just watch that or listen to it.
Examples of Runyonesque style:
'"It is commencing to sound to me like a movie such as a guy is apt to see at a midnight show.'" (p 168, Madame La Gimp)
'Now most any doll on Broadway will be very glad indeed to have Handsome Jack Madigan give her a tumble."' (Social Error)
'Now Rusty Charlie once drives a short for a living himself, until the coppers get an idea that he has not always delivering his customers to the right address, especially such as may happen to be drunk when he gets them, and he is a pretty fair driver, but he only looks one way, which is straight ahead.' (p 30, Blood Pressure)
'So we go in, and the place is full of people sitting at tables, or out on the floor dancing, and I see Miss Missouri Martin with all her diamonds hanging from her in different places, and Good Time Charlie Bernstein, and Feet Samuels, and Tony Bertozola, and Skeets Boulevard, and Nick the Greek, and Rochester Red, and a lot of other guys and dolls from around and about. (p 159, Romance in the Roaring Forties)
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May 19, 2017Another book I'm going to have to come back to. At this point, I've read about half the Broadway stories. It's frying my brain, like binge-watching the most dated episodes of Bugs Bunny. I can only take so much of it. The guys are petty gamblers and mobsters; the dolls are chorus girls and gold-diggers (unless they are somebody's "ever-loving wife", or a Yalie football fan who goes to prep school, or a poor Irish single mother of five with a heart of gold). Okay, so I guess there are some interesting characters here, but, as a narrative style, the constant present tense can be quite wearing, and there's an awful lot of betting on horses and going to speakeasies. Not a lot of variety here. So I am done for a while.
June 30, 2020
Fantastically enjoyable, and that rarest of thing, laugh out loud funny.
Very Wodehousian, down to the deadpan understatement and humour of a particular, closed world, this time not the English upper classes, but the American criminal. A rare gift that just a single word, be it "pancake", "fathead" or whatever can raise one's spirits so much. Is there any language as rich as English, that allows for such wordplay and joy and humour.
Its like the humourous bits of Goodfellas and similar that one actually likes such films for, taken to a 5 star, perfect, life affirming level.
It is the genius of so much of American cultural influence that it comes across as so light, and so effortless, but where would we be without it, and who else does it so well.
Very Wodehousian, down to the deadpan understatement and humour of a particular, closed world, this time not the English upper classes, but the American criminal. A rare gift that just a single word, be it "pancake", "fathead" or whatever can raise one's spirits so much. Is there any language as rich as English, that allows for such wordplay and joy and humour.
Its like the humourous bits of Goodfellas and similar that one actually likes such films for, taken to a 5 star, perfect, life affirming level.
It is the genius of so much of American cultural influence that it comes across as so light, and so effortless, but where would we be without it, and who else does it so well.
Read
October 8, 2016Wow, I loved it. When someone can tell a short story well, you can't ask for more. These are twenty little gems, humourous and pithy, of prohibition-era New York. All are narrated by the same character, who is never named, nor is very much revealed about him - you come to know that he is on the fringes of the gangster world but not actually involved in criminality. The personalities he introduces you to sometimes weave in and out of the other stories. The stories seem very immediate because neither narrator nor characters use the past tense. The reader feels as though they've just been granted access to an illegal speakeasy and are rubbing shoulders with the guys and dolls.
October 28, 2019
"Nobody pays any attention to me, because I am known to one and all as a guy who is just around..." The unnamed narrator rubs shoulders with gamblers, mobsters, cardsharps, chorus girls and cops, and most of the (occasionally inter-related) stories are played for laughs. Be careful, however: Runyon's lighthearted tone means that the pathos of a few stories will slip beneath your guard and punch you square in the face.
December 21, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed these stories of speakeasies, race tracks, craps games, and the colorful characters that partook of them. Runyon developed a formula that worked with a seemingly endless supply of amusing premises. The stories drag a bit after the end of Prohibition, but an enjoyable collection that consumed my attention the entire time I read it. Runyon developed an indelible image of what it means to be a gangster that holds up even today.
March 14, 2023
The stories are quite entertaining. I was surprised at how many I was slightly familiar with since they had been turned into movies. The movies took incredible liberties with the plots of the original stories and in general I thought the stories were more original and interesting. The musical Guys and Dolls seems to me to have come closest to Runyon's style, but the plot has very little resemblance to the story about Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown.
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