S.J. Perelman Books

I have read a fair amount of Perelman and although I enjoy him I find his humor a bit dated at times, while at other times he is trying to be too clever, playing word games that interfere with the overall flow of the writing. I have no such reservations about this book, whose humor is timeless, and outstanding. Anyone who has ever felt they've been done in by a contractor, or anyone who has ever tried the country life for a while will especially enjoy the book. One of the stories, about staying alone in the country house at night, caused me to break out in tears of laughter the first three times I read it.

I scribble the occasional humor book myself (most recently, Scratching The 'Net: Web Sites for Cats) but I can only dream of one day reaching the classy comedic heights of Mr. Perelman. He had an amazing command of language, yet wrote in a style so amazingly easy to read that it goes down like a fine wine. Acres and Pains is a decent sample of his work, telling tales of his travails in Bucks County, PA, where so many of the New York literati used to maintain country homes. His run-ins with the locals, relatives and the house itself (which he named "Rising Gorge") provide one hilarious situation after another. When it comes to 20th century humor writers, Perelman is a refined cut above.

As S.J. Perelman himself put it: "Before they made me, they broke the mold." One-of-a-kind, lapidary, laugh-outloud prose. Buy this book and become addicted, like the rest of us.

Why do so few people know SJ Perelman's work today? Is it because of the strange way his last name is spelled and thereby eluding the casual library/bookstore searcher typing in something like: "Pearlman"? Or perhaps he has simply become overshadowed by his more famous and equally witty contemporaries, Robert Benchley and Groucho Marx. (Perelman did indeed help write a few Marx Bros. movies - and he writes hilariously about those experiences). Check out Mr. Perelman's work. Sadly, this short book is just about the only collection of his material available on the market, and that's a great pity. It's not really his finest work... but at the least, it's a start. One must let S.J. take them out for a whirl.

I scribble the occasional humor book myself (most recently, Scratching The 'Net: Web Sites for Cats) but I can only dream of one day reaching the classy comedic heights of Mr. Perelman. He had an amazing command of language, yet wrote in a style so amazingly easy to read that it goes down like a fine wine. Acres and Pains is a decent sample of his work, telling tales of his travails in Bucks County, PA, where so many of the New York literati used to maintain country homes. His run-ins with the locals, relatives and the house itself (which he named "Rising Gorge") provide one hilarious situation after another. When it comes to 20th century humor writers, Perelman is a refined cut above.

A man who made so many people laugh in his day is almost forgotten today. For those for whom games with words are the stuff of life he is an incomparible master of the incorrigibly long and complicated regurgitation of delicious delicatessanlike drivel . All who read him come away wondering whether their heads are screwed on right or have been swimming in a washing machine and are infinitely damaged. Perelman does stuff that no one else does. Of course he should be in print, and of course read far more than he is today even though I might say I have laughed at his work sometimes without having a clue as to whether I really understand it.

How can a book that contains the most crafted writing in the English language be out of print?

To become a devout fan and follower of S.J. Perelman all you have to do is read any one of the stories in this compilation. Scratch that, all you need to do is read the title of one of the stories in this compilation. They all attest to how much Mr. Perelman loved words and how obsessed he was with turning a pretty phrase on its heels and knocking it off its feet.

If you can't find this book, then find this book anyway. If you still can't find this book, then find some of his other books. If you are having a hard time and can't find any of his other books, then go watch "Horse Feathers" or "Monkey Business" by the Marx Brothers. Then start your letter-writing campaign to Simon & Schuster inquiring as to why they haven't re-released more of S.J. Perelman's writing. Do yourself (and the world) a favor, get started today.

I too find it deplorable that this is out of print. Besides many well-chosen words (who besides Perelman and the late Robertson Davies uses "tohubohu," a word from the Hebrew Bible that sounds exactly like what it means?), this book has several movie reviews that made me amoeboid with laughter. "The Wickedest Woman in Larchmont"--a review of the movied that gave the world the phrase "Kiss me, my fool"--is itself worth the price of the entire volume (to use a cliche, which Perelman would never do except to make it hilarious).

("Tohubohu," by the way, is a ruckus; it's in Genesis, where the newly created earth is described as formless and void.)

Most humorous writing isn't funny when it comes out, let alone years later. The majority of the New Yorker's Algonquin Round Table -- people like Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker -- simply aren't that amusing when you read them today. Perelman is different -- read him and you'll understand where the best modern humor comes from (Woody Allen is unthinkable without Perelman). Read him and you'll also connect with the greatest writers of the past (T.S. Eliot was a great Perelman fan). Check out the brilliant parody of "Fairwell, My Lovely" (Perelman was a friend of Dashiell Hammett) and the definitive travelogue Westward, Ha! Happy reading!

This is nothing less than the funniest book ever written. I have read many other hilarious books, from the funny parts of Huckleberry Finn, to Dave Barry, to P. G. Wodehouse, to James Thurber, to the Monty Python transcripts, but nothing quite equals this. The material was already considerably dated when I read it at age 13 in 1958, but Perelman's exquisite descriptive powers, vocabulary, and sense of humorous situation brought it to life--and will do the same for you in 2005! There are larger collections of Perelman, but this is the distilled essence of his genius.

This is a collection of satirical essays written between 1931 and 1947. But many of remain viable, chuckle inducing observances on life, enjoyable today. Dated elements include the technology of the time or popular culture references, such as Ronald Colman, but the style of the humor is timeless. Imagine Perelman as a rather more literary Mike Nelson, or less sophomoric Dave Barry, and ask yourself if those men will be funny to readers in the year 2068.

Perelman possesses great comedic range, capable of the good-natured warmth and bemusement of Garrison Keillor or Jean Shepherd, detached intellectual dissection of cultural foibles, and inspired sarcasm and zaniness, having scripted some truly wacky films for the Marx Brothers, among his other accomplishments. His commentaries in this book are on subjects as varied as tax deductions, buffaloes, the "Yellow Peril," bitterness from Santa's elves, Vogue Magazine's Woman of Tomorrow, and the assemblage of a Jiffy Cloz moth-proof portable closet. Titles include "Is there an osteosynchrondroitrician in the house?", "Nothing but the Tooth," "Physician, Steel Thyself," and "A Farewell to Omsk." Even if you do not appreciate the puns evident in the titles, do not take that to mean the contents of each are not substantive (and often hilarious); it just means that Perelman extended his funny bone even into naming his compositions. And despite the sharp wit, Perelman never comes across as arrogant or acerbic, avoiding a trap into which many fall by keeping a self-deprecating tone.

Perelman is probably best known for his literary parodies and commentaries, and these are among the best entries in this volume. Included are his famed treatise on spicy pulp auteur Robert Leslie Bellem's creation Dan Turner, "Somewhere a Roscoe..."; dryly funny observances of a small-town orthopedist's memoirs in "Boy Meets Girl Meets Foot"; and his thoughts on the bug-eyed monster-type science fiction popular in the era, called "Captain Future, Block That Kick."

Which brings me to the best of all, the reason I bought this book and why I would have paid ten times what I did to own it: his loving Raymond Chandler spoof "Farewell, My Lovely Appetizer." Chandler and Perelman corresponded via letters in the 40's, and the latter knew his subject well. In nine short pages, Perelman affectionately fricassees a great many hard-boiled, first-person, Marlowe-esque PI cliches, as well as sticking brief jabs into plots of James Cain and Dashiell Hammett. This piece is every bit as funny as Neil Simon or Woody Allen's Bogart spoofs, or Ed McBain's deconstruction of Spillane, "Kiss Me, Dudley." And it's dead-on, too, in its exaggerated way, telling the story of an attractive blonde whose husband had been nearly poisoned to death with a rotten herring. Chandler himself might have written it, if he didn't take himself and his art so seriously.

A must-have for humor lovers, buffs of the era, connoisseurs of quality satire, and oddly enough, hard-boiled enthusiasts.

Like most of the other stuff from the master, if you have a yen for humor with brains, please, please buy this book. A columnist for the New Yorker, screenplay writer for the Marx Brothers, humorist par excellence - do you need more reasons? How about the fact that he makes most other humorists look like college boys indulging in frat-house antics...

Buy and enjoy! And then, buy the rest of his oeuvre!!

Hilarious account of the year legendary humorist S. J. Perelman took his family (wife and two mid-sized children) on a trip around the world. A follow-up to the equally delightful "Westward, Ha!", his similar trip with illustrator Al Hirschfeld. They travel the South Seas and Asia, the Middle East and all over Europe, accumulating ever larger piles of impedimentia.

Every sentence sparkles with Perelman's unique and exquisite brand of "airy persiflage" (reassuring a threatening official of a tyranical oil company: "No muckraker I, I nervously assured him, but a vapid little tomtit writing elegiacs about temple bells and lepidoptera"). Not only funny, but a very interesting look at a the state of the world still readjusting itself from WWII. Heartily recommended.

Play by S. J. Perelman and Ogden Nash starred Mary Martin as Venus, in the Broadway cast list in my copy of the book! Pages have deckle edges, nice. Endpapers have the song words and drawings in red, nice illustrations. Rare. Great deal, recommended.

In one fine book, the collected short stories of American humorist S. J. Perelman, including "To Err is Human, the Forgive, Supine" and "Anna Trivia Pluralized." Perelman's works appeared in The New Yorker for years.

This collection of Perelman's last pieces (most of which appeared in "The New Yorker") will tickle fans almost as much as his best work in his heyday (and when was his heyday? 30s? 40s? 50s? 60s? Probably all of them). The book also includes several chapters from his planned autobiography, telling amusing tales of the Marx Brothers, Nathanael West (his brother-in-law!), Dorothy Parker, and others.

Call this a fond goodbye from one of the great humorists of all time.

This book was a delightfully funny look at the 1920's and the society of the day. Also, it is great for fans of S.J. Perelman; it is his very early work starting about 1925. Some of the things in this book are even funnier than his later works!

Imagine having an invention which would allow you to review various products from the comfort of your own home. An invention which would enable you to purchase food, clothing, books, tools, medicines, transportation, furniture and virtually any other consumer need. An invention which would permit you to choose various delivery options which varied by cost and speed. Oh and by the way the year is 1897. After reading this book I have to say that the 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalogue was truly the Internet of its day. The book lists literally thousands of items which could all be purchased from the Sears Roebuck Company. Many of the items are farming equipment and provide a look at what was needed to raise food in the small family ran farms of the day as opposed to our world of largely corporate farming. The drawings of the home entertainment options available show how much easier we have it today. The product descriptions, especially of the medical products are eye opening (you could actually buy opium) and the overall feel is that a person in the late 1800s, even if stuck in a small rural town, truly had access to the world provided he had a copy of the Sears Roebuck Catalogue.

This is such a great look into turn of century catalogue shopping. You'll be shocked at cheap things like violins and three piece suits used to be. For history or shopping buffs, this is a really, really neat buy.

I love it! It is fun to look at the the prices of the items that were sold back at the turn of the century.

This book is utterly fascinating for those who hold any sort of interest in bygone times. While not a step-by-step guide, it inadvertantly thrusts the reader into the role of a home owner of limited means in the late 1800s. You find yourself shopping, suckered in by the richly worded item desciptions and enticed by the promises of "best on the market," "guaranteed for a lifetime," and "will cure all diseases of the nervous system."

Unconsciously, you create your own little shopping list and envision a home where the husband builds everything from the buggy to the bathrooms while the wife prepares all the meals and pretties herself with skin whiteners and hair lotions.

I am so glad to have bought this catalogue. I use it as a writing prompt for my high school students, to encourage creative and analytical thought, and they delight in it. I implore everyone to investigate this book.

It is truly a window into the era of Queen Victoria and rural american life.

I agree that it should be a capital crime to butcher Perelman's published works, but since I can't find an unabridged copy of "The Most of S. J. Perelman", this book does well enough. As the only thing removed was "Acres and Pains", and that CAN be purchased separately, I would strongly recommend this book.

This book has kept my spirits up over some very tough times. Each short essay is a gem of understated humor. Perelman's gift for making up names that make you laugh out loud -- especially if you know Yiddish -- is unparalleled.

This is a book to savor. Even the introduction and interstitial writing by the editor, Steve Martin, are hilarious.

Perelman is also an erudite humorist, throwing about deadly accurate references to the classics of American and European literature with abandon.

If it was worth lampooning between 1930 and 1958, Perelman lampoons it. The results have not aged badly.

Thanks, SJ, wherever you are.

Most of the Most of S.J. Perelman (part of the Humor and Wit series of Modern Library) is a lengthy, though abridged, volume of the Perelman pieces from 1930 - 1958, many of which originally appeared in the New Yorker, among other magazines. This book should not necessarily be read straight through, as I did to my slight regret, as it can become a little overwhelming. There is some dating in the material but it is more of a delight how little effect time has taken on the comedy. The best pieces are, without a doubt, the marvelous Cloudland Revisited sequences where the author looks at books and movies he admired in his youth to see what horrible things time, experience and maturity have done to them. These selections are the treasures of the volume. A fine look at the almost lost art of a certain form of humour writing at its height. A wonderful volume to be savoured slowly.

I was pretty resistant to the charms of Perelman's prose in my early years, as I usually looked for writers who could give some hint as to life 's deeper meanings. Perelman I find at an age when I am perhaps a bit tired of finding deeper meanings, provides the kind of sheer amusement and escape that few other writers can. His vocabulary is extraordinary and delightful, and his sentences complicated artistic constructions which always seem to arrive at unpredictable and at times hilarious places.
This is a writer who simply delights in making all of mankind seem as if we are one big foible of fun.

Perelman isn't just a brilliant humor writer, he's a brilliant writer. I can't think of another wordsmith, except for Shakespeare, who has a better knack for finding the right word for the right occasion. Half the time, I don't get his esoteric references to New York social life of the 30s and 40s and 50s, but he manages to write his pieces in such a way that I still find it humorous. He is such a gifted writer that he could make a seminar on Social Security funnier than any sketch on Saturday Night Live. It's too bad contemporary Americans no longer appreciate the sort of wordplay, non-sequiturs, and witticisms that define Perelman's writing. At the same time, his work, except when he's writing about obscure New York City social life, still feels fresh and relevant.

Woody Allen said that reading Perelman was detrimental to a young writer because then your own work begins to mimic his. I don't see this as such a bad thing. If only more "humorists" were as funny as Perelman, there might really be a reason to watch sitcoms and spend money to see "comedies."