History Creator / SJPerelman

Sidney Joseph "S. J." Perelman (February 1, 1904 – October 17, 1979) was an American humorist whose work appeared in several different media. Wiki/TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

* SincerestFormOfFlattery: Woody Allen's 2007 collection of humor essays, ''Mere Anarchy'', contains some pieces that very closely ape Perelman's SignatureStyle.

* TravelogueShow: or rather, Travelogue Story-- in particular ''Westward Ha!'' and its sequel ''Eastward Ha!''.

Sidney Joseph "S. J." Perelman (1904–1979) was an American humorist whose work appeared in several different media. Wiki/TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

* SelfDeprecation

Perelman co-wrote the scripts for the Creator/MarxBrothers films ''Film/MonkeyBusiness'' (1931) and ''Film/HorseFeathers'' (1932) (which should establish his humorist bona fides), and won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward in 1956 for his screenplay for ''Film/{{Around the World in Eighty Days|1956}}''. He also co-wrote (with Creator/OgdenNash) the book to the 1943 Broadway musical ''Theatre/{{One Touch of Venus}}'', to music by Kurt Weill; a few years later ''Sweet Bye and Bye'', a musical which employed the talents of Perelman, Ogden Nash and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirschfeld Al Hirschfeld]], "closed in Philadelphia like a ten-cent mousetrap" (as Perelman put it) before reaching New York.

But it is his humor writing, in ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' and elsewhere, which is commended here. As Andrew Ferguson wrote about Perelman's 1948 book ''Westward Ha!'' in that well-known humor compendium, ''The Wall Street Journal'', in 2006: "For sheer verbal virtuosity, for his dizzy manipulation of language, Perelman deserves a place at the top of the trade." His wordplay was reminiscent of Creator/JamesJoyce, but ... well, read the quote above and you'll see.

Perelman could apparently write about anything. For example, an off-hand phrase he stumbled upon in a ''New York Times Magazine'' article ("...the late Pandit Motilal Nehru-- who sent his laundry to Paris-- the young Jawaharlal's British nurse etc. etc.") became his 1955 classic "No Starch in the Dhoti, S'il Vous Plaît", a series of imaginary letters that might have been exchanged in 1903 between an angry Pandit Nehru in India and a Parisian laundryman. One posthumously-published piece ("To Yearn Is Subhuman, To Forestall Divine") references ''Franchise/TheTexasChainsawMassacre'' (!!).

* HypocriticalHumor: There's at least one piece out there where Perelman decries women as frivolous creatures unable to comprehend perfectly sensible actions like [[ItMakesSenseInContext using a tape recorder to eavesdrop on the conversation of the groceries in the refrigerator.]]

Sidney Joseph "S. J." Perelman (1904–1979) was an American humorist whose work appeared in several different media. TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

Perelman co-wrote the scripts for the Creator/MarxBrothers films ''Monkey Business'' (1931) and ''Horse Feathers'' (1932) (which should establish his humorist bona fides), and won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward in 1956 for his screenplay for ''Film/{{Around the World in Eighty Days|1956}}''. He also co-wrote (with Creator/OgdenNash) the book to the 1943 Broadway musical ''Theatre/{{One Touch of Venus}}'', to music by Kurt Weill; a few years later ''Sweet Bye and Bye'', a musical which employed the talents of Perelman, Ogden Nash and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirschfeld Al Hirschfeld]], "closed in Philadelphia like a ten-cent mousetrap" (as Perelman put it) before reaching New York.

Perelman co-wrote the scripts for the MarxBrothers films ''Monkey Business'' (1931) and ''Horse Feathers'' (1932) (which should establish his humorist bona fides), and won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward in 1956 for his screenplay for ''Film/{{Around the World in Eighty Days|1956}}''. He also co-wrote (with Creator/OgdenNash) the book to the 1943 Broadway musical ''Theatre/{{One Touch of Venus}}'', to music by Kurt Weill; a few years later ''Sweet Bye and Bye'', a musical which employed the talents of Perelman, Ogden Nash and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirschfeld Al Hirschfeld]], "closed in Philadelphia like a ten-cent mousetrap" (as Perelman put it) before reaching New York.

Perelman co-wrote the scripts for the MarxBrothers films ''Monkey Business'' (1931) and ''Horse Feathers'' (1932) (which should establish his humorist bona fides), and won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward in 1956 for his screenplay for ''{{Around the World in Eighty Days}}''. He also co-wrote (with Creator/OgdenNash) the book to the 1943 Broadway musical ''Theatre/{{One Touch of Venus}}'', to music by Kurt Weill; a few years later ''Sweet Bye and Bye'', a musical which employed the talents of Perelman, Ogden Nash and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirschfeld Al Hirschfeld]], "closed in Philadelphia like a ten-cent mousetrap" (as Perelman put it) before reaching New York.

'''Sidney Joseph "S. J." Perelman''' (1904–1979) was an American humorist whose work appeared in several different media. TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

But it is his humor writing which is commended here. As Andrew Ferguson wrote about Perelman's 1948 book ''Westward Ha!'' in that well-known humor compendium, ''The Wall Street Journal'', in 2006: "For sheer verbal virtuosity, for his dizzy manipulation of language, Perelman deserves a place at the top of the trade." His wordplay was reminiscent of Creator/JamesJoyce, but ... well, read the quote above and you'll see.

But it is his humor writing which is commended here. Andrew Ferguson wrote about Perelman's 1948 book ''Westward Ha!'' in that well-known humor compendium, the ''Wall Street Journal'', in 2006: "For sheer verbal virtuosity, for his dizzy manipulation of language, Perelman deserves a place at the top of the trade." His wordplay was reminiscent of Creator/JamesJoyce, but ... well, read the quote above and you'll see.

Sidney Joseph "S. J." Perelman (1904–1979) was an American humorist whose work appeared in several different media. TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

Perelman co-wrote the scripts for the MarxBrothers films ''Monkey Business'' (1931) and ''Horse Feathers'' (1932) (which should establish his humorist bona fides), and won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward in 1956 for his screenplay for ''{{Around the World in Eighty Days}}''. He also co-wrote (with Creator/OgdenNash) the book to the 1943 Broadway musical ''{{One Touch of Venus}}'', to music by Kurt Weill; a few years later ''Sweet Bye and Bye'', a musical which employed the talents of Perelman, Ogden Nash and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirschfeld Al Hirschfeld]], "closed in Philadelphia like a ten-cent mousetrap" (as Perelman put it) before reaching New York.

Perelman co-wrote the scripts for the MarxBrothers films ''Monkey Business'' (1931) and ''Horse Feathers'' (1932) (which should establish his humorist bona fides), and won an AcademyAward in 1956 for his screenplay for ''{{Around the World in Eighty Days}}''. He also co-wrote (with Creator/OgdenNash) the book to the 1943 Broadway musical ''{{One Touch of Venus}}'', to music by Kurt Weill; a few years later ''Sweet Bye and Bye'', a musical which employed the talents of Perelman, Ogden Nash and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hirschfeld Al Hirschfeld]], "closed in Philadelphia like a ten-cent mousetrap" (as Perelman put it) before reaching New York.

* PungeonMaster: Often in the form of {{Punny Name}}s, such as {{the law firm of|PunPunPunAndWordplay}} Howells & Imprecations.

* PungeonMaster: Often in the form of {{Punny Name}}s, such as the law firm of Howells & Imprecations.

Sidney Joseph "S. J." Perelman (1904--1979) was an American humorist whose work appeared in several different media. TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

Sidney Joseph "S. J." Perelman (American, 1904-1979) was a humorist whose work appeared in several different media. TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

Sidney Joseph "S.J." Perelman (American, 1904-1979) was a humorist whose work appeared in several different media. TheOtherWiki puts it bluntly: "Perelman's work is difficult to characterize."

->''Button-cute, rapier-keen, wafer-thin and pauper-poor is S.J. Perelman, whose tall, stooping figure is better known to the twilit half-world of five continents than to Publishers' Row. That he possesses the power to become invisible to finance companies; that his laboratory is tooled up to manufacture Frankenstein-type monsters on an incredible scale; and that he owns one of the rare mouths in which butter has never melted are legends treasured by every schoolboy.''

But it is his humor writing which is commended here. Andrew Ferguson wrote about Perelman's 1948 book ''Westward Ha!'' in that well-known humor compendium, the ''Wall Street Journal'', in 2006: "For sheer verbal virtuosity, for his dizzy manipulation of language, Perelman deserves a place at the top of the trade." His wordplay was reminiscent of Creator/JamesJoyce, but Perelman's style was different-- read the quote above and you'll see.

-->--'''SJPerelman,''' describing himself.

* NostalgiaAintWhatItUsedToBe The "Cloudland Revisited" essays mock movies and books that Perelman had thought were terrific when he was younger.