Word: menckenisms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Henry Louis Mencken, the veteran volcano from Baltimore, had a wonderful time at the Wallace convention (see PRESS), and nearly became the subject of a resolution. Maryland Wallaceites wanted the convention to censure him for his reporting in the Baltimore Sun ("Whereas he has resorted to un-American slander against the people of this convention . . ."). But the chair refused the motion on the ground that it would start a flood of others. Other Menckenisms filed to the Sun (on Henry Wallace): "If ... he suddenly sprouts wings and begins flapping about the hall, no one will be surprised"; (on Vice Presidential...
John Reed, who later became a Soviet saint, rides on a raid with Pancho Villa (1914) and turns in a story that is half good fast Western, half a discussion of human liberty. In the same manner, H. L. Mencken ignores most of the who, what & when of the courtroom testimony in the Scopes evolution trial (1925) and tells the why of the trial in the mores of the backward, superstition-ridden hill folks...
Many newsmen lifted some of their stories directly from the telescreen (see PRESS) without bothering to stir from the press lounge. After a few minutes at Convention Hall, Correspondent H. L. Mencken wrote: "I began to wilt and go blind, so the rest of my observations had to be made from a distance and through a brown beer bottle." Television showed just about everything that could be seen in Philadelphia, and a lot more than any one man could see on his own. (Example: a LIFE-NBC televiewer could watch Dewey arriving at Convention Hall, leaving the Hall, arriving...
...Henry L. Mencken was very nearly a dead issue, in Baltimore. The daughter of his colored cook fatally stabbed her mother with-an ice pick and then set out for the Menckens'. Presently Mencken's brother August looked out his window and saw the daughter approaching, a bottle in each hand; he talked to her through,, the window, at the same time dialed police, who came on the double, nabbed her, and packed her off to a sanitarium. Mencken slept through everything...
Veblen Girls. In the '20s Veblen, for all his misfortunes, became the hero of the sort of cult he most disliked. "Veblenism," mocked H. L. Mencken in Smart Set, "was shining in full brilliance. There were Veblenists, Veblen clubs, Veblen remedies for all the sorrows of the world. There were even, in Chicago, Veblen Girls-perhaps Gibson Girls grown middle-aged and despairing." But Veblen himself had had enough of public life. Nominated for the presidency of the American Economic Association, he coldly rejected it, remarking: "They didn't offer it to me when I needed...