Evening star., 1933-09-26
RING LARDNER DIES
FROM LONG ILLNESS
Humorist and Ranking Fig
ure of American Literature
Suddenly Expires.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, September 26.-Ring
Iardner, who once noted that there
wasn't much difference between his ma
tive Niles, Mich, and his adopted New
York because both begin with an IN"
has lost his long fight against tubcr-
CuloSiS.
The lean. 6-foot humorist who made
you and me know Al and who became
a ranking figure of American literature,
died suddenly at his East Hampton,
Long Island, home last night in the
48th year Of an active, interesting life.
For 10 years Ringgold Wilmer Lard
ner had fought the disease. During
steadily closer, his humor flowed on.
bringing laughs to the faces Of those
who saw on the stage Elmer the
Great and then June Moon" and to
other tens of thousands who read his
''Story of Wonder Man." Love Nest"
and other stories.
Heart Disease Fatal
Heart disease, complicated by other
ailments was given by his doctors as
the immediate cause of death.
Only in the last few years had the
Iardner typewriter gone on short hours.
His doctors ordered him to the South
west and he remained there many
months When he returned to New
York several months ago he was re-
ported much better.
His days of quantity production, how
ever, were over He did a column on
radio in the weekly New Yorker. The
sweep Of the humor that filled "You
Know Me, AL" "Gullible's Travels"
"Own Your Own Home" and the hilar-
ious How to Write Short Stories" was
gone Occasionally it flashed on those
last published writings, but the spon
taneity and wit Of Treat En- Rough"
The Young Immigrants" and "Symp-
toms of Being 35" were not there.
Larner was born in Niles, Mich,
March 6, 1885. AS he put it, he was
born during "Have-a-Baby' week. In
comparing Niles and New York later
he said there was little advantage either
way, as the New York Central tracks
ran through both places.
Throughout many of Lardner's writ
tngs the hometown pride is noted. His
youth was spent there and his first
job on a newspaper was in South Bend,
Ind, just 10 miles away.
Sports Writer.
His journalistic experience was de-
voted almost entirely to the sports page
South Bend, Chicago, st. Louis, Bos-
ton and back to Chicago. He travelled
with the base ball clubs, the White Sox
and the Cubs, in the days of DOC"
White, Mordecei (three flngered)
Brown, Frank Chance, Thinkers, Evers
and the many others of Chicago's hey
dey of base ball. He became a recog-
nized authority on the game, loving it
for its sport and for the humanness
of its players. From this experience
he drew the material for the develop
ment Of his best known character, the
egotistical, bumptious. lovable and dumb
bushleaguer Jack Keefe. who told of
his experiences in the big league by
means Of letters to AL
He called me dumb OK, and / said,
oh, is that so.' And he didn't have
no comeback"
Such was the character that centered
serious attention on Ring Lardner as
humorist. At the time Lardner was
conducting the In the Wake of the
News" column in the Chicago Tribune,
post to which he succeeded following
the death Of HEX" a pioneer sports
columnist. On Mondays instead Of
running the usual column Lardner
wrote child verse based, it was said, on
the antics of his own children. These
later were collected and published as
bib Ballads" his first published work
Lardner has told that the Jack
Keefe" letters were based on his expe-
riences with an ilfterate but mighty
ball player who brought letters from his
wife for Lardner to read and answer.
The wife was always asking for money,
and the ball player was always full of
reasons why he couldn't send any.
Made Reputation.
The success of the "You Know Me,
Al" stories brought Lardner many Of
fers. In 1919 he resigned from the
Chicago Tribune and devoted himself
to literary work, also doing syndicated
feature, widely circulated. 1t was at
that time that he moved to New York,
settling at Great Neck. Long Island,
where he maintained his home until
moving three years ago to East Hamp-
ton.
In these later years the full power
of Lardner as a short story writer
f1owered, and he received for the first
time serious consideration by the
critics. It was in this second phase Of
his career that he wrote his classic,
THE Champion" and Haircut" which
many critics have held are without
peer in contemporaneous American lit
erature.
That a new note had been struck
was quickly noticeable. The late Will
liam Bolitho wrote: Ring Lardner,
commonly referred to as a humorist,
is the greatest and sincerest pessimist
America has produced" Other critics
also noted the tincture of bitterness,
but saw as well thread of pity and
understanding.
Few writer's were ever more highly
regarded personally than Lardner. He
spent prodigally, backing the shows Of
his friends, helping those in need. 1t
hos heen said that he had Only one
known enemy-a clerk in municipal
office in Chicago. Lardner wrote that
whenever he went to Chicago he al
ways stopped at the Hotel Sherman
because it overlooked the Municipal
Building and enabled him from his
III Over so Years Of Quality Service