Don Marquis

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This article is about the humorist and journalist. For other uses, see Donald Marquis (disambiguation).
Don Marquis, early, 1910s

Donald Robert Perry Marquis (/ˈmɑːrkwɪs/ MAR-kwis; July 29, 1878 – December 29, 1937) was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters Archy and Mehitabel, supposed authors of humorous verse. During his lifetime he was equally famous for creating another fictitious character, "the Old Soak," who was the subject of two books, a hit Broadway play (1922–23), a silent film (1926) and a talkie (1937).

Life

Marquis was born and grew up in Walnut, Illinois. His brother David died in 1892 at the age of 20; his father James died in 1897. After graduating from Walnut High School in 1894, he attended Knox Academy, a now-defunct preparatory program run by Knox College, in 1896, but left after three months.

In 1909, Marquis married Reina Melcher, with whom he had a son, Robert (1915–1921) and a daughter, Barbara (1918–1931).

Reina died on December 2, 1923, and three years later Marquis married the actress Marjorie Potts Vonnegut, whose first husband, actor

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
, the bestselling author, playwright and satirist. Marjorie died in her sleep on October 25, 1936.

Marquis died of a stroke in New York City, after suffering three other strokes that partly disabled him.

On August 23, 1943, the United States Navy christened a Liberty ship, the USS Don Marquis (IX-215), in his memory.

Career

From 1902 to 1907 Marquis served on the editorial board of the Atlanta Journal where he wrote many editorials during the heated gubernatorial election between his publisher Hoke Smith and future Pulitzer Prize winner, Clark Howell (Smith was the victor).[1]

In 1912 he began work for the

Collier's and American magazines and also appeared in Harper's, Scribner's, Golden Book, and Cosmopolitan
.

Marquis's best-known creation was Archy, a fictional

Pete the Pup
, Clarence the ghost, and an egomaniacal toad named Warty Bliggins.

Marquis was the author of about 35 books. He co-wrote (or contributed posthumously to) the films The Sports Pages, Shinbone Alley, The Good Old Soak and

The Cruise of the Jasper B
was supposedly based on his 1916 novel of the same name, although the plots have little in common.

Publications

Front dust jacket art by Thelma Cudlipp for Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers, 1916.

See also

References

  1. ^ "ATLhistory".
  2. ^ See Norris Houghton, But Not Forgotten: The Adventure of the University Players, New York: William Sloane Associates, 1951, pp. 285–6.

Sources

  • "Humor's sober side: Being an interview with Don Marquis, another of a series on how humorists get that way by
    Josephine van der Grift
    ," Bisbee Daily Review, October 13, 1922, p. 4.

Further reading

  • O Rare Don Marquis by Edward Anthony, published 1962 by Doubleday.

External links

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