Born Today- American Humorist Don Marquis- website

The Creator of Archy & Mehitabel, Freddy the Rat, Warty Bliggens the Toad,
Hermione, The Old Soak and other timeless American treasures

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																																					Archy at work on Don's typewriter Click picture for full size image Search this site or the world for any word or string   Search the web Search this site Search donmarquis.com and donmarquis.org    Search the web Search the sites WEBMASTERS:  Add a Don Marquis link to your site. Who was Don Marquis and who cares? Donald Robert Perry Marquis 1878-1937, was a newspaper columnist, humorist, poet, playwright and author of about 35 books of which the best known are books of humorous poetry about Archy the cockroach and Mehitabel the cat. Don's work appeared regularly in the New York Sun and the Saturday Evening Post, among other places. Though largely forgotten today, in his time Don Marquis was often described as America's most popular and best-loved columnist, playwright, humorist and author. Don still had enough fans in 1978, 41 years after his death, that several dozen people assembled in Port Townsend, Washington, to celebrate his 100th birthday. Among the celebrants were Frank Herbert, author of the Dune trilogy; William McCollum, Jr., editor of The Selected Letters of Don Marquis (Northwoods Press) and the now-defunct Don Marquis Newsletter; Bob Lyon of The Non-Profit Press who published Don's play Everything's Jake in honor of the occasion; and Jim Ennes, author of Assault on the Liberty (Random House), who proudly shares Don's name and maintains this web site. The group shared cocktails, dinner, conversation, speeches, stories about Don, and Baked Beans Ambrosia prepared exactly as Don says beans should be prepared in The Almost Perfect State. This page is a creation of Jim Ennes, a longtime admirer and namesake of Don's. Although not related by blood, Jim's full name is James Marquis Ennes, Jr., because he was named after his father, James Marquis Ennes, Sr. James, Sr. was named not after Don, but after Don's father, Dr. James Marquis, who was a respected elder neighbor and mentor of Jim's grandfather, Lindsey Theodore Ennes (1886-1960). The Ennes and Marquis families were next-door neighbors for many years in Walnut, Illinois, where Don was raised. For a superb introduction to Don's The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel, click here to read a review by e b white at www.donmarquis.org/ebwhite.htm. For more about Don, see Highway marker in Walnut, Illinois Don's family home in Walnut, Illinois Chronology and Bibliography compiled by Bill McCollum, editor of "The Selected Letters of Don Marquis" "O Rare Don Marquis," by Edward Anthony (Doubleday, 1962) Biography compiled by Biography Magazine. The Walnut Public Library writes about Don John Batteiger on Don Marquis Don Marquis on Don Marquis Don Marquis sketches Don Marquis Don Marquis picture gallery Norman Rockwell illustrates Don's short story "Willie Takes a Step" 1935 The American Magazine Don writes about "My Heart's Desire" in SUCCESS Magazine, 1925 Don performed at half time at the 1928 Stanford Big Game Don writes about his days at Knox College On Being 55 -- Don writes about achieving his 55th year On Growing Old -- Don writes in "The Almost Perfect State" about how he hopes to grow old Christopher Morley writes about Don in The Saturday Review, May 15, 1937 Christopher Morley writes about Don in The Saturday Review, June 5, 1937 Christopher Morley writes about Don in The Saturday Review, January 8, 1938 A marvelous eulogy to Don by his friend Benjamin DeCasseres Liberty Ship USS Don Marquis was christened in Don's memory in 1943 Don Marquis quotations from brainyquote.com More Don Marquis quotations from brainyquote.com Marquis quotes from Zaadz.com Don remembered on Veterans Wall in Walnut, Illinois Don's "Lines for a Gravestone" Don's final resting place in New York City Cemetery Don's death mask For all about Don's home town of Walnut, Illinois, see Walnut, Illinois Books by Don Marquis: Click here for an illustrated list of all of Don's books, when and where they were published, some excerpts from them, and where and how to buy them Books about Don Marquis For a comprehensive biography of Don Marquis, see O Rare Don Marquis by Edward Anthony (Doubleday & Company, 1962) For a collection of Don's assorted works, see The Best of Don Marquis (Doubleday & Co., 1946) For biographical statement sent to his friend Christopher Morley see The Selected Letters of Don Marquis, collected and edited by William McCollum, Jr. To buy or sell books by or about Don Marquis, visit The Don Marquis Book Store  Don's Archy & Mehitabel stories Don's archy musings at The Atlanta Journal The coming of Archy (Archy's first appearance in Don's column) A Roach of the Taverns Don complains bitterly and profanely about the shallowness of Hollywood Don reflects on the dignity and importance of work Warty Bliggens the toad considers human vanity Ralph's Warty Bliggens presentation Archy reflects on bars, breeding, and his royal ancestry. Archy reveals why Mehitabel jumped Don describes Baked Beans Ambrosia from The Almost Perfect State Archy writes about the demise of Freddy the rat archy experiences a seizure The Robin and the Worm The Big Bad Wolf Archy Climbs Everest Archy on Everest More archy from John Batteiger's donmarquis.com Archy reflects on human superiority Some Samples of Archy & Mehitabel from John Batteiger's fine Archy site mehitabel was once cleopatra the song of mehitabel pity the poor spiders mehitabel's extensive past archy interviews a pharaoh certain maxims of archy the cockroach who had been to hell the flattered lightning bug mehitabel and her kittens pete the parrot and shakespeare the big bad wolf what the ants are saying Other Don Marquis stories, articles, essays, poems, letters A Letter to a Journalism Student from The Selected Letters of Don Marquis, Don writes about mirth in 1928, Collier's Don writes in 1906 about the Wireless Telegraph Thoughts on Spring Fishing (original source unknown) The Honey Bee (poem from Argosy) Don denounces the Dutch Treat Club -- 1930 Don denounces the Dutch Treat Club again -- 1937 The Prude's Alphabet On Thinking On hunting for sport Co-screenwriter with Joseph Mankiewicz of 1931 Academy Award nominee "Skippy" The Lesson of the Moth The Pantoum of the Pilfered Pups, Courtesy of Carla Fine Other Don Marquis and related links Complete Inventory of William McCollum's Don Marquis Collection at Lehigh University. Don Marquis quotations from "Born to Motivate" Don Marquis quotations from "Quotable Online" Don Marquis quotes from Brandyquotes.com SelfKnowledge.com's Don Marquis section John Batteiger's Archy & Mehitabel Page Peter Wadsworth's Archy & Mehitabel Page Roaches walking at MIT for academia Michael Zorn's Marquis Blog Eclectic Peter Wadsworth's Archy & Mehitabel Page Charles Welty's Low Brow Archy Playbill.com discusses Archy and Mehitabel MTI Music Theater International on Archy and Mehitabel Lisa Sturz is Archy on stage Krazy Kat pages John McKay's Archy Blogspot North Carolina State University Department of Entymology remembers Archy Today in Literature The Other Side of Paris Blog Answers.com on Don Marquis Archy and Mehitabel live on stage in Australia Random House now owns and sells Archy and Mehitabel Where do we go from here? We are grateful to The Gutenberg Project for arranging to publish several of Don's full length books electronically on the internet. Volunteer typists are needed to keep this project alive.Now online in electronic and HTML text are: Danny's Own Story, Don's first novel (1912), in electronic text from Gutenberg, or HTML from The University of Virginia Library Dreams and Dust, a book of poetry (1915), in electronic text from Gutenberg, or HTML from The University of Virginia Library The Cruise of the Jasper B, a novel (1916), in electronic text from Gutenberg Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers, a book of humor (1916), in electronic text from Gutenberg As others become available, we will provide links. The Cruise of the Jasper B, offered by fullbooks.com

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Last Updated March 5, 2012
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