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Reading edition
TURNS ABOUT TOWN ROBERT CORTES HOLLIDAY
By ROBERT CORTES HOLLIDAY
Turns About Town
Men and Books and Cities
Broome Street Straws
Walking-Stick Papers
Peeps at People
Booth Tarkington
The Memoir To: Joyce Kilmer: Poems Essays and Letters
TURNS ABOUT TOWN
BY ROBERT CORTES HOLLIDAY
NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Copyright, 1921, By George H. Doran Company Printed in the United States of America
CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THE DEDICATION OF THIS BOOK TO JOHN BUNKER, ESQRE
The Players, 16 Gramercy Park, New York City, June 10, 1921.
Dear John:
I am, with your permission, dedicating to you a new book of mine—that it, on condition that you help me read the proofs. The book is to be called "Turns About Town." It will be published sometime this autumn.
Ever yours, Bob.
To: John Bunker, Esqre
New York, 521 West 148th Street, June 12, 1921.
Dear Bob:
You can't intimidate me by any such threat. On the contrary, I think I shall be secretly (and tremendously) pleased. As for the proofs, all I have to say is (in the words of the stage villain), "Produce your proofs!"
Always, dear Bob, Sincerely yours, John.
To: Robert Cortes Holliday, Esqre
FOREWORD
MORE than half of these pieces were syndicated in a number of American newspapers by The Central Press Association of New York. Several others of them originally appeared in The Bookman. "Literary Lives" has been amplified since it was written for the New York Times as a review of the "Dictionary of National Biography," Second Supplement, Volumes II and III. "Only She Was There" and "Former Tenant of His Room" are reprinted from the New York Evening Post. "The Sexless Camera" was contributed to a magazine called The International. "I Know an Editor" was written at the invitation of a gentleman whose name I cannot recall, and whether or not he ever used it in whatever publication it was with which he was connected I do not know.
I thank all these friends of mine for permitting me to here reprint these articles.
R. C. H.
New York, 1921.
CONTENTS
CHAPTERPAGE
Foreword vii
IThe Hotel Guest 13
IIA Humorist Misfits at a Murder Trial28
IIIQueer Thing, 'Bout Undertakers' Shops36
IVThe Haircut that Went to My Head46
VSeeing Mr. Chesterton55
VIWhen is a Great City a Small Village?72
VIIThe Unusualness of Parisian Philadelphia81
VIIIOur Last Social Engagement as a Fine Art90
IXWriting in Rooms99
XTaking the Air in San Francisco115
XIBidding Mr. Chesterton Good-Bye124
XIINo System at all to the Human System141
XIIISeeing the "Situations Wanted" Scene151
XIVLiterary Lives162
XVSo Very Theatrical173
XVIOur Steeplejack of the Seven Arts182
XVIIFormer Tenant of His Room196
XVIIIOnly She Was There205
XIXA Humorist's Note-Book216
XXIncluding Studies of Traffic "Cops"228
XXIThree Words about Literature236
XXIIRecollections of Landladies242
XXIIIAn Idiosyncrasy256
XXIVThe Sexless Camera271
XXVI Know an Editor276
XXVIA Dip into the Underworld281
XXVIINosing 'Round Washington290
XXVIIIFame: A Story of American Literature328