James Thurber

James Thurber was best known for his short fiction, including the story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” He also wrote memoirs, plays, a screenplay, children’s books, and drew cartoons, many of which first appeared in the pages of the New Yorker magazine.

Thurber came to DC in 1901 with his family, where he was blinded in one eye as a child (the result of an arrow shot by his brother in a misguided game of “William Tell”). Therefore, he was unable to serve in active duty in WWI. He did, however, work in DC beginning in 1918 as a code clerk for the State Department and then at the U.S. Embassy in France during the war years.

Thurber later worked as a journalist, for the Columbus Dispatch, the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Evening Post. His friend E.B. White helped him get a staff position at The New Yorker, which he held until 1935, although he continued to contribute to the magazine into the 1950s.

His numerous books include the short fiction collections: Is Sex Necessary? (co-written with E.B. White, 1929), The Seal in the Bedroom (1932), My World—And Welcome To It (1942), Men, Women and Dogs (with an introduction by Dorothy Parker, 1943), The Thurber Carnival (1945), Thurber Country (1953), and Lanterns and Lances (1961). His books for children and youth include: Many Moons (1943), The Great Quillow (1944), The Thirteen Clocks (1950), and The Wonderful O (1957). His memoirs include: My Life and Hard Times (1933), The Thurber Album (1952), and The Years with Ross (1959). His parodies include: Let Your Mind Alone! (1937), Fables for Our Time (1940), and Alarms and Diversions (1957).

Thurber collaborated with Elliot Nugent on the play The Male Animal (1939), which was a Broadway hit, and later made into a Hollywood movie (1942, starring Henry Fonda and Olivia de Haviland). Thurber hated the 1947 film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” starring Danny Kaye, because it strayed so far from his original story (the movie was re-made in 2013, starring Ben Stiller). The Battle of the Sexes was a 1959 film adapted from a short story, starring Peter Sellers. In his play A Thurber Carnival, another Broadway hit in 1960 and winner of a Tony Award, Thurber acted the part as himself, appearing in 88 performances. A television series, “My World and Welcome To It,” was based on his writing, and ran from 1969 to 1970, starring William Windom and winning two Emmy Awards. The 1972 film The War Between Men and Woman was adapted from Thurber’s fiction, starring Jack Lemmon.

At least ten books have been published posthumously, including two collections of his correspondence.