Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-08-13
Runyon Lists
10 'Bes+s'
BY O. Henry
Puts A Municipal Report
at the Top
BY DAMON RUNY0N

A'l gument with that During
person who incautiously re-
marked that O. Henry is not in
the same class with Bret Harte
and that he wrote only two good
stories. So many persons rushed
in TO assist me in giving Durling
his come-uppance that j felt
sorry for the guy and did not
continue the discussion.
One of my volunteer helpers
was Ben De Casseres, but he
turns out 10 be a both-ways
bloke because while smuggling
Durling he takes a pop at me,
denying my assertion that Bret
Harte's work is more of classic
than o. Henry's because the
latter was essentially topical.
Ben claims that il was Harte
who was essentially topical. He
says Hartes west is gone for
ever and so are his stories, while
there are few of o. Henrys
stories that do net possess, for
him, the core of eternals.
In short, Ben argues that O.
Henry described men and women
as they existed in Caesars day,
today, and a thousand years
from now.
will tell you one thing-I am
not going to get into a literary
debate with De Casseres.. He IS
too doggoned erudite Tor me. L
knew him when he was known
as The Mad Poet" through the
old roaring forties and tore OF
high-class verse a mile q minute
and threw epigrams hotter than
incendiary bombs around and
about
Ii was common rumor that he
was hep TO Plato and Aristotle
and Shakespeare and Milton and
other big name fellows and
might recite them TO you II you
did not watch out.
HOWEVER, when Ben names
IL Roads OF Destiny as an
O. Henry classic and lets 1t go
at that, / am a little dlsap-
pointed. l think he should have
given us a choice list of the o..
Henry tales he rates best. Ben
is an exceptionally good judge
of literary product and his selec-
tons would be OF value. He says
ne has been re-reading o..
Henry's more than $50 stories
since the argument started, and
so have /.
While Roads Of Destiny is
a marvelously delicate piece of
writing, il is not even IN the
first 10 of my favorites IN the
O. Henry collection. Nor do /
find it on more than one OF the
lists compiled years ago by
distinguished literary persons.
1t used 10 be quite popular
pastime TO pick o. Henry's 10
"beSts." Nearly all generally in
cluded "A Municipal Report. =
which / think is one OF the
greatest short stories in the
English language.
DROBABLY my own list would
Il begin with that and include
AN Unfinished Story The
Pendulum" The Last Leaf, y
The Furnished Room" The
Ethics of Pig" "Hygeia at the
Solito." Past One at Rooney's, ="
The Rose of Dixie" and "A
Retrieved Reformation" And l
hate to leave out "A Lickpenny
Lover" THE Passing OF Black
Eagle" and "Mammon and the
Archer"
Winchell horned into the
Runyon-Durling debate. picking
/ up the title of one story / men
toned as The Ransom OF Red
Mack" and asking if did not
mean The Ransom of Red
Chief" l did not.
meant The Ransom OF
/ Mack" admitting the error Of
the Red" The story will be
found in Heart of the West
and il is swell story The
/ Ransom of Red Chief is quite
another tale
! 1T is a great experience 10
L pick up o. Henry again and
re-read the little tales that were
the literary sensation of a gen.
Grafton back. He was once
called THE American Maupas-
SAINT though i think he had
far greater humor than the
Frenchnan and certainly far
greater command of plot.
He could handle all kinds of
dialect with amazing skill. And
he had heart, which is not as
popular as II used 10 be in writ
ing. but which remains the
greatest asset writer can have.
1t is lack of heart in our writ
ers that keeps us from having
more .. Henrys.
Copy right 1912. by King Features Synd In
Distributed by International News Service
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