Sidney Joseph Perelman

Entering the warped world of SJ Perelman - the Marx brothers' greatest scriptwriter, amongst other things - is a unique comic experience. A satirist and parodist, his celebrated sketches lampoon the screaming absurdities of modern life and bring succour to that most persecuted minority of all: the embattled sane. The undoubted star of these sketches is Perelman's own put-upon fictional persona: all he craves is a little peace and quiet, yet he is continually pushed closer to the edge by those sent to try him. Written mainly for the New Yorker magazine, the sketches in this volume are a brand new selection of some of his finest pieces, many of which have been unavailable for decades. This collection covers every decade in which he wrote from the '30s to the '70s. His subversive wit seems as fresh today as it did when it first appeared and to many he is quite simply the most original and funniest humorist of the twentieth century.

The World of S.J. Perelman

The Best 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.

Most of the Most of S.J. Perelman

Ogden Nash

Modern art collector Whitelaw Savory unearths a long-lost statue of Venus of Anatolia and is thrilled to display her in his New York museum. But when a naïve young barber named Rodney unwittingly brings the statue to life, Venus fixes her affections on him and pursues him all over New York. Rodney's shrewish fiancée doesn't like this one bit, and Savory will do anything-including framing Rodney for murder-to recover his beloved statue. Rodney keeps trying to set things right, and poor Venus can't understand why he doesn't respond to her seductions. After a series of comic setups and mix ups involving a couple of thugs, a nagging mother, a wisecracking secretary, some ancient Anatolians and a good dose of Olympian magic, earthly order is restored and new love found.

One Touch of Venus

Listen to the Mocking Bird

Baby, It's Cold Inside

Interviews with the late novelist share his veiws on writing, literary fame, his major works, criticism, and his life and career.

Conversations with S.J. Perelman

A literary event--the hilarious, revealing, poignant correspondence of one of the greatest American humorists of the twentieth century. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.

The Selected Letters of S.J. Perelman

Don't Tread on Me

In these pages one of the delights of sophisticated conversation lives again. His interviews collected in this book comprise a treasury of wit. Perelman (1904-1979) was one of America's best writers and, undeniably, one of its wittiest talkers. His great ability to take the tired English language and make it new and shiny was perhaps his most amazing feat. For his seemingly effortless contributions to the world of humor and to an avid, exhilarated readership flourishing over six decades the New York Times Book Review declared him a national treasure. Spanning his entire career, these conversations show that from the beginning he was a unique practitioner and a professional curmudgeon. He discusses his progress from youthful cartoonist to comic writer. He amuses listeners with accounts of hilarious adventures in Hollywood working with the Marx Brothers and later with Mike Todd on Around the World in 80 Days, for which Perelman won an Academy Award for scriptwriting.

Sidney Joseph Perelman

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