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Most of the Most of S.J. Perelman
This book includes many of the greatest hits from 1930 to 1958--available only in this edition--by the devastatingly witty Perelman, the leading figure of The New Yorker magazine's golden age of humor and one of the most popular American humorists ever. In these hilarious pieces, the charmingly cranky Perelman turns his scathing attention to books, movies, New York socialites, the newspaper business, country life, travel, Hollywood, the publishing industry, and, last but not least, himself. His self-portrait: "Under a forehead roughly comparable to . . . Piltdown Man are visible a pair of tiny pig eyes, lit up alternately by greed and concupiscence. . . . Before they made S. J. Perelman, they broke the mold." Sophisticated and supremely mischievous, Perelman is an acrobat of language who turns a phrase and then, before the reader has time to finish admiring his agility, turns it again.
572 pages, Paperback
Published May 30, 2000
About the author
S.J. Perelman
112 books102 followersSidney Joseph Perelman, almost always known as S. J. Perelman, was a Jewish-American humorist, author, and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for The New Yorker. He also wrote for several other magazines, as well as books, scripts, and screenplays.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 18, 2025
DNF @ p30
Part of my kill-my-tbr project, in which I'm reading all my physical, unread books, which number around one thousand
Pre-Read Notes:
Books written in the early 20th century, especially humor, tend to leave me behind. This is a collection of very short works, mostly, with two short novels thrown in. I will review those separately, if I stick with this one long enough.
Final Review
My Favorite Things:
✔️ If you like the feel of old fashioned, you'll find it here. For me it feels anochronistic, from the attitude about professional writers to the diction to the references (of which there are many). None of feels familiar or even "cozy".
✔️ It's humor and it's clever...for its time. Also, the style is kind of strange. Tons of slang and jargon and references that are inaccessible to contemporary readers. I find the style sort of stilted, like the author is yelling his stories.
Notes:
1. content notes: racist language,
I own a paperback copy of THE MOST OF S. J. PERELMAN by S. J. Perelman in Libby.
✦ Scavenger Hunt 🕵🏼♂️(created by ChatGPT to keep me entertained for this read... didn't work!)
1. The Perfectly Twisted Simile
Find three comparisons that make you laugh out loud, even if you don’t quite understand the references. (Bonus: underline one that feels like it could apply to your own life.)
2. The Unexpected Guest Star
Track all the surprising figures who show up in his essays (celebrities, fictional characters, historical figures). Note which ones still feel instantly recognizable to you and which ones have faded into anachronism.
3. The “Wait, What?” Word
Spot at least five words that are either completely new to you or used in such a bizarre way you have to pause. Write them down as if they were part of your own private dictionary.
4. The Joke That Still Lands
Find a gag that works despite the dated references—where the structure or absurdity makes it funny on its own.
5. Tiny Plot, Big Trouble
Pick out one short piece where almost nothing happens, yet everything spirals into chaos. Summarize it in a single sentence for your own amusement.
6. The Casual Bigotry Radar
Each time you hit a line that feels mean-spirited or dismissive (racist, sexist, etc.), give it a little mental stamp: 🪦. That way you’re noting the cultural fossil without letting it sink the whole reading.
7. Lines to Steal for a Zine
Collects 2–3 one-liners that are so edgy or bizarre you can imagine dropping them into a comic bubble or collage.
Part of my kill-my-tbr project, in which I'm reading all my physical, unread books, which number around one thousand
Pre-Read Notes:
Books written in the early 20th century, especially humor, tend to leave me behind. This is a collection of very short works, mostly, with two short novels thrown in. I will review those separately, if I stick with this one long enough.
Final Review
My Favorite Things:
✔️ If you like the feel of old fashioned, you'll find it here. For me it feels anochronistic, from the attitude about professional writers to the diction to the references (of which there are many). None of feels familiar or even "cozy".
✔️ It's humor and it's clever...for its time. Also, the style is kind of strange. Tons of slang and jargon and references that are inaccessible to contemporary readers. I find the style sort of stilted, like the author is yelling his stories.
Notes:
1. content notes: racist language,
I own a paperback copy of THE MOST OF S. J. PERELMAN by S. J. Perelman in Libby.
✦ Scavenger Hunt 🕵🏼♂️(created by ChatGPT to keep me entertained for this read... didn't work!)
1. The Perfectly Twisted Simile
Find three comparisons that make you laugh out loud, even if you don’t quite understand the references. (Bonus: underline one that feels like it could apply to your own life.)
2. The Unexpected Guest Star
Track all the surprising figures who show up in his essays (celebrities, fictional characters, historical figures). Note which ones still feel instantly recognizable to you and which ones have faded into anachronism.
3. The “Wait, What?” Word
Spot at least five words that are either completely new to you or used in such a bizarre way you have to pause. Write them down as if they were part of your own private dictionary.
4. The Joke That Still Lands
Find a gag that works despite the dated references—where the structure or absurdity makes it funny on its own.
5. Tiny Plot, Big Trouble
Pick out one short piece where almost nothing happens, yet everything spirals into chaos. Summarize it in a single sentence for your own amusement.
6. The Casual Bigotry Radar
Each time you hit a line that feels mean-spirited or dismissive (racist, sexist, etc.), give it a little mental stamp: 🪦. That way you’re noting the cultural fossil without letting it sink the whole reading.
7. Lines to Steal for a Zine
Collects 2–3 one-liners that are so edgy or bizarre you can imagine dropping them into a comic bubble or collage.
May 17, 2024
Looks pretty hopeless. I tried a half-dozen of the newer ones, and abandoned all of them. Clever writing but just not my sort of thing. Oh, well. I'll try a few more before I give up? Maybe.
Closing out as 2-star, just not to my taste. Oh, well. Never know until you try! Not for me.
Closing out as 2-star, just not to my taste. Oh, well. Never know until you try! Not for me.
November 24, 2007
I read many of the stories in this book about thirty-five years ago. I was in eighth grade or so. I was steeped in the work of THE NEW YORKER humorists of the mid-century: James Thurber, E. B. White, Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker.
Perelman was of particular interest to me for two reasons other than the fact that he was one of that crowd of writers: 1) He co-wrote two movie scripts for my heroes, The Marx Brothers (MONKEY BUSINESS and HORSEFEATHERS) and 2) He was still alive and writing. I had a subscription to THE NEW YORKER and, every four issues or so Perelman had a little piece.
Anybody reading this review probably has some familiarity with Perelman's prose. It is miniaturist, complex and slapstick. Each piece (about a page and a half long with a column or two of advertisements and a cartoon) had six or seven words William F. Buckley would have been hard-pressed to define. I admit I was usually somewhat lost reading these, in a way which was not true when I read Thurber or, say, P. G. Wodehouse.
While Perelman's stuff appeared every four issues or so circa 1974 (he being in his seventies then, or older) every six weeks or so there would be something by Woody Allen. It was clear to me even then that Woody Allen's stories were penned in homage to Perelman. It was as if Allen wanted to let Perelman know his writings had been worthwhile. I do not sense that Woody Allen was trying to compete with Perelman. First of all, the language was nowhere near as complex in Woody Allen's case and the tone was, somehow, a warmer one, but I do think Perelman picked up on the similarities. He did an interview on NBC's New York affiliate's "Live At Five" show just when the last book to come out in his lifetime (VINEGAR PUSS)was published. This was in 1975 or so. The interviewer asked him about NEW YORKER "casuals", the brief bits of humorous prose THE NEW YORKER had virtually invented, and Perelman said the only living practitioner of this art other than himself was Woody Allen.
Perelman's writing is cold. You won't find a trace of pathos. Nevertheless, if you want to sample literary confection of the sort NEW YORKER readers used to inhale, seek THE MOST OF S.J. PERELMAN.
Perelman was of particular interest to me for two reasons other than the fact that he was one of that crowd of writers: 1) He co-wrote two movie scripts for my heroes, The Marx Brothers (MONKEY BUSINESS and HORSEFEATHERS) and 2) He was still alive and writing. I had a subscription to THE NEW YORKER and, every four issues or so Perelman had a little piece.
Anybody reading this review probably has some familiarity with Perelman's prose. It is miniaturist, complex and slapstick. Each piece (about a page and a half long with a column or two of advertisements and a cartoon) had six or seven words William F. Buckley would have been hard-pressed to define. I admit I was usually somewhat lost reading these, in a way which was not true when I read Thurber or, say, P. G. Wodehouse.
While Perelman's stuff appeared every four issues or so circa 1974 (he being in his seventies then, or older) every six weeks or so there would be something by Woody Allen. It was clear to me even then that Woody Allen's stories were penned in homage to Perelman. It was as if Allen wanted to let Perelman know his writings had been worthwhile. I do not sense that Woody Allen was trying to compete with Perelman. First of all, the language was nowhere near as complex in Woody Allen's case and the tone was, somehow, a warmer one, but I do think Perelman picked up on the similarities. He did an interview on NBC's New York affiliate's "Live At Five" show just when the last book to come out in his lifetime (VINEGAR PUSS)was published. This was in 1975 or so. The interviewer asked him about NEW YORKER "casuals", the brief bits of humorous prose THE NEW YORKER had virtually invented, and Perelman said the only living practitioner of this art other than himself was Woody Allen.
Perelman's writing is cold. You won't find a trace of pathos. Nevertheless, if you want to sample literary confection of the sort NEW YORKER readers used to inhale, seek THE MOST OF S.J. PERELMAN.
February 17, 2007
Perelman's my favorite humor author but I have to admit that this collection is all anyone should ever read. It covers almost thirty years of his career and has nearly a hundred of his pieces. None of the pieces I've read that weren't included are nearly as good as these. For new readers, I recommend reading the "Cloudland Revisited" pieces first, where Perelman reacquaints himself with films and books that influenced him as a boy. They are a lot more conversational and ease one into the stylistic flights he takes in the other pieces. Be prepared for mid-century pop culture references your grandparents barely remember and classical literary, artistic and musical references schools no longer teach us.
February 12, 2014
An entertaining collection of essays, anecdotes, and (in his "Cloudland revisited" series) reviews of early movies written by Perelman for the New Yorker magazine during the middle decades of the 20th century. Though understandably many of the topics are dated to the modern palate, the articles zip with a warm humour which in its finest moments reaches the heights of the bizarre. The more outre stories crackle with wit and ready shining non-sequitur, no surprise given that Perelman was co-writer of several of the Marx Brothers' finest movies. A delight from start to finish.
August 30, 2013
If you want to experience Perelman (and you should), I would strongly recommend one of these anthologies. There's a lot of duplication with the individual books. The one exception I would make is for Westward Ha!.
May 18, 2011
Sure, some the works are dated and not-so-funny. But at his best, Perelman is one of the best.
October 31, 2020
"Downstairs, meanwhile, Marguerite's scruples are melting like hot marzipan under Julio's caresses, and it is manifest that she is breaking up fast."
July 3, 2020
You are not worthy. But neither am I.
First of all, if you're under 50, don't bother. In fact it's getting to be I'd say that if you're under 60. Not only his style but some of his offhand racial and gender stereotypes can be a little breathtaking. But the pieces in this book span the years 1930 to 1958 and if you expect them to conform to the mores of 2020 you are being whatever the opposite of anachronistic is.
Perelman is impossibly erudite and a consummate stylist. You feel like you should be attired in evening dress, seated in your Queen Anne wing-back leather chair, Debussy murmuring quietly on the gramophone in the background, before you should be vouchsafed the honor of perusing his sparkling "feuilletons" (to use his preferred description).
Keep your unabridged nearby on your hand-carved walnut book stand (or just your smart phone's dictionary app) in case the meanings of words such as tergiversate, embonpoint, or debouch have temporarily slipped your mind.
You can see the traces of where Woody Allen, Thurber, Benchley and other top drawer writers of humor derived some of their style. The short introduction by Steve Martin is very funny (Martin's Cruel Shoes is a classic of humor writing on its own).
Woody Allen's observation is apposite: "When you're a young writer and you read Perelman, what happens is fatal since his style seeps into you."
The best solution is to read Perelman and don't try to be Perelman.
First of all, if you're under 50, don't bother. In fact it's getting to be I'd say that if you're under 60. Not only his style but some of his offhand racial and gender stereotypes can be a little breathtaking. But the pieces in this book span the years 1930 to 1958 and if you expect them to conform to the mores of 2020 you are being whatever the opposite of anachronistic is.
Perelman is impossibly erudite and a consummate stylist. You feel like you should be attired in evening dress, seated in your Queen Anne wing-back leather chair, Debussy murmuring quietly on the gramophone in the background, before you should be vouchsafed the honor of perusing his sparkling "feuilletons" (to use his preferred description).
Keep your unabridged nearby on your hand-carved walnut book stand (or just your smart phone's dictionary app) in case the meanings of words such as tergiversate, embonpoint, or debouch have temporarily slipped your mind.
You can see the traces of where Woody Allen, Thurber, Benchley and other top drawer writers of humor derived some of their style. The short introduction by Steve Martin is very funny (Martin's Cruel Shoes is a classic of humor writing on its own).
Woody Allen's observation is apposite: "When you're a young writer and you read Perelman, what happens is fatal since his style seeps into you."
The best solution is to read Perelman and don't try to be Perelman.
January 19, 2016
A difficult book for me, as I'm not that sophisticated in literary humor, and don't like spending large portion of leisure reading time on reference research or etymology, nonetheless, I'm not a lazy reader.
The satirical pieces on the books and movies are often packed with details little known to younger generation. Other subject matters on business, society, or daily life in his pen are the ageless comedies.
The satirical pieces on the books and movies are often packed with details little known to younger generation. Other subject matters on business, society, or daily life in his pen are the ageless comedies.
Read
November 18, 2011The man is a great observer on American life back in the day. Beautifully constructed work.
January 18, 2013
Witty, with some great word-play. Sadly, just too dated to truly enjoy.
January 17, 2016
A true classic of American wit and humor. A sheer delight.
June 26, 2007
As a humorist AND as a prose stylist, Perelman is a gem.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews