View source for James Thurber

{{Short description|American cartoonist, author, journalist, and playwright (1894–1961)}}
{{for|the political scientist|James A. Thurber}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| image        = James Thurber NYWTS.jpg
| caption      = Thurber in 1954
| birth_name   = James Grover Thurber
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1894|12|8}}
| birth_place  = [[Columbus, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1961|11|2|1894|12|8}}
| death_place  = New York City, U.S.
| resting_place = [[Green Lawn Cemetery (Columbus, Ohio)|Green Lawn Cemetery]], Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
| occupation   = {{flatlist|
* Cartoonist
* author
* humorist
* journalist
* playwright
}}
| period       = 1929–1961
| genre        = Short stories, cartoons, essays
| subject      = Humor, language
| notableworks = {{Unbulleted list|''[[My Life and Hard Times]]''|''[[My World and Welcome to It (book)|My World—and Welcome to It]]''|"[[The Catbird Seat]]"|"[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]"}}
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Althea Adams|1925|1935|reason=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Helen Wismer<br>|1935}}
}}
| children = 1
}}

'''James Grover Thurber''' (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American [[cartoonist]], writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his [[gag cartoon|cartoons]] and short stories, published mainly in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' and collected in his numerous books.

Thurber was one of the most popular humorists of his time and celebrated the comic frustrations and eccentricities of ordinary people. His works have frequently been adapted into films, including ''[[The Male Animal]]'' (1942), ''[[The Battle of the Sexes (1959 film)|The Battle of the Sexes]]'' (1959, based on Thurber's "[[The Catbird Seat]]"), and "[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]" (adapted twice, [[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film)|in 1947]] and [[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013 film)|in 2013]]).

==Life==
Thurber was born in [[Columbus, Ohio]], to Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes "Mame" (née Fisher) Thurber on December 8, 1894. Both of his parents greatly influenced his work. His father was a sporadically employed clerk and minor politician who dreamed of being a lawyer or an actor. Thurber described his mother as a "born comedian" and "one of the finest comic talents I think I have ever known". She was a practical joker and on one occasion pretended to be disabled, and attended a faith healer revival only to jump up and proclaim herself healed.<ref name="Authors">{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/thurber.htm |title=James Thurber |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819141311/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/thurber.htm |archive-date=August 19, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Due to overcrowding in his grandfather's house, where his family had moved while his father recovered from an illness, Thurber often stayed at the home of his aunt, Margery Albright. Albright lived in [[Downtown Columbus, Ohio|Downtown Columbus]] near [[Holy Cross Church (Columbus, Ohio)|Holy Cross Church]], the clock and bell of which Thurber would reference in later writing.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Blundo |first=Joe |date=30 October 2011 |title=Thurber's world and welcome to it |url=https://infoweb-newsbank-com.oh0024.oplin.org/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0E57256569C75960&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F13AB60785BF94528 |work=[[The Columbus Dispatch]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Blundo |first=Joe |date=7 December 2008 |title=Humorist put a face on our city for nation |url=https://infoweb-newsbank-com.oh0024.oplin.org/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0E57256569C75960&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F124F02A5F327C3A0 |work=[[The Columbus Dispatch]]}}</ref>

[[File:James Thurber 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Thurber at age 14]]

When Thurber was seven years old, he and one of his brothers were playing a [[Shooting an apple off one's child's head#William Tell|game of William Tell]], when his brother shot James in the eye with an arrow.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-is-there-a-street-in-falls-church-va-named-after-james-thurber/2018/04/07/98d14084-3903-11e8-9c0a-85d477d9a226_story.html|title=Perspective {{!}} Why is there a street in Falls Church, Va., named after James Thurber?|last=Kelly|first=John|date=April 7, 2018|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=May 17, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=December 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213153219/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-is-there-a-street-in-falls-church-va-named-after-james-thurber/2018/04/07/98d14084-3903-11e8-9c0a-85d477d9a226_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He lost that eye, and the injury later caused him to become almost entirely blind. He was unable to participate in sports and other activities in his childhood because of this injury, but he developed a creative mind, which he used to express himself in writings.<ref name="Authors"/> Neurologist [[V. S. Ramachandran]] suggests that Thurber's imagination may be partly explained by [[Charles Bonnet syndrome]], a neurological condition that causes complex visual hallucinations in people who have had some level of visual loss.<ref>{{cite book|pages=85–7|title=Phantoms in the Brain|author=V.S. Ramachandran| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1988 |author2=Sandra Blakeslee|title-link=Phantoms in the Brain|author2-link=Sandra Blakeslee|author-link=V. S. Ramachandran}}</ref> (This was the basis for the piece "The Admiral on the Wheel".)

[[File:James Thurber 2.jpg|thumb|upright|High school graduation photo, East High School]]
[[File:James Thurber.jpg|thumb|Thurber family portrait taken in Columbus, Ohio, in 1915. From left to right: seated: Robert and Charles. Back row: William, James, and Mame]]

From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended [[Ohio State University]] where he was a member of the [[Phi Kappa Psi]] fraternity and editor of the student magazine, the ''[[Sundial Humor Magazine|Sundial]]''. It was during this time that he rented the house on 77 Jefferson Avenue,<ref name="csmonitor/life-James-Thurber">{{cite news |last1=Tonguette |first1=Peter |title=The not-so-secret life of James Thurber |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2019/0711/The-not-so-secret-life-of-James-Thurber |access-date=April 23, 2023 |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=July 11, 2019}}</ref> which became [[Thurber House]] in 1984. He never graduated from the university because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] (ROTC) course.<ref name="House">{{cite web|author=Thurber House|title=James Thurber|url=http://www.thurberhouse.org/james/james.html|access-date=October 14, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012130424/http://thurberhouse.org/james/james.html |archive-date=October 12, 2007}}</ref> In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.<ref name="House2">{{cite web|author=Thurber House |title=James Thurber: His Life & Times |url=http://www.thurberhouse.org/james/life_2.html |access-date=October 14, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060114100742/http://www.thurberhouse.org/james/life_2.html |archive-date=January 14, 2006 }}</ref>

[[File:James Thurber House.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Thurber House]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071012130424/http://thurberhouse.org/james/james.html The Thurber House website]</ref> in [[Columbus, Ohio]]]]

From 1918 to 1920, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the [[United States Department of State]], first in Washington, D.C., and then at the [[Embassy of the United States, Paris|embassy in Paris]]. On returning to Columbus, he began his career as a reporter for ''[[The Columbus Dispatch]]'' from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios", a title that was given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber returned to Paris during this period, where he wrote for the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' and other newspapers.<ref name="House2"/>

===Move to New York===
In 1925, Thurber moved to [[Greenwich Village]] in New York City, obtaining a job as a reporter with the ''[[New York Post|New York Evening Post]]''. He joined the staff of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' in 1927 as an editor, with the help of [[E. B. White]], his friend and fellow ''New Yorker'' contributor. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 after White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication; White inked-in some of these earlier drawings to make them reproduce better for the magazine, and years later expressed deep regret he had done such a thing. Thurber contributed both his writings and his drawings to ''The New Yorker'' until the 1950s.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

===Marriage and family===
Thurber married Althea Adams in 1922, although the marriage, as he later wrote to a friend, devolved into "a relationship charming, fine, and hurting".<ref>{{cite web|title=Is Sex Necessary?|url=https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2018/9/7/is-sex-necessary|website=The Attic|date=September 7, 2018|access-date=September 8, 2018|archive-date=April 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406041526/https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2018/9/7/is-sex-necessary|url-status=live}}</ref> They lived in the [[Sanford–Curtis–Thurber House]], in [[Fairfield County, Connecticut]], with their daughter Rosemary<ref name="lithub/grandfathers-book">{{cite web |last1=Sauers |first1=Sara T. |title=Designing Your Grandfather's Book (When He's James Thurber) |url=https://lithub.com/designing-your-grandfathers-book-when-hes-james-thurber/ |website=[[Literary Hub]] |access-date=April 23, 2023 |date=August 30, 2019 |archive-date=December 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228050210/https://lithub.com/designing-your-grandfathers-book-when-hes-james-thurber/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (b. 1931).<ref name="connecticutcreativeplaces/sanford-curtis-thurber">{{cite web |title=71 Riverside Road, Newtown |url=https://connecticutcreativeplaces.org/places/sanford-curtis-thurber-house |website=Connecticut Creative Places |access-date=April 23, 2023}}</ref><ref name="newstimes/11055925">{{cite news |last1=Koerting |first1=Katrina |title=Newtown home once belonged to humorist James Thurber |url=https://www.newstimes.com/realestate/article/Newtown-home-once-belonged-to-humorist-James-11055925.php |access-date=April 23, 2023 |work=[[The News-Times]] |date=April 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/12/archives/a-window-into-thurbers-secret-life.html|title=A Window Into Thurber's Secret Life|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Michael|last=Knight|date=March 12, 1975|access-date=August 4, 2018|archive-date=August 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804201414/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/12/archives/a-window-into-thurbers-secret-life.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The marriage ended in divorce in May 1935, and Althea kept<ref name="ctpost/11055925">{{cite news |last1=Koerting |first1=Katrina |title=Newtown home once belonged to humorist James Thurber |url=https://www.ctpost.com/realestate/article/Newtown-home-once-belonged-to-humorist-James-11055925.php |access-date=April 23, 2023 |work=[[Connecticut Post]] |date=April 6, 2017 |quote=At one point, Thurber had drawn several cartoons on the baseboards, but when he and his wife, Althea, divorced in 1935, she got the house and wallpapered them over. |archive-date=April 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423191018/https://www.ctpost.com/realestate/article/Newtown-home-once-belonged-to-humorist-James-11055925.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Sanford–Curtis–Thurber House.<ref name="Authors"/> He married his editor, Helen Muriel Wismer (1902–1986) in June 1935.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Helen Thurber Is Dead at 84; Edited Writings of Husband|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/26/obituaries/helen-thurber-is-dead-at-84-edited-writings-of-husband.html|journal=The New York Times|access-date=January 11, 2016|date=December 26, 1986|archive-date=March 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308232626/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/26/obituaries/helen-thurber-is-dead-at-84-edited-writings-of-husband.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After meeting [[Mark Van Doren]] on a ferry to [[Martha's Vineyard]], Thurber began summering in [[Cornwall, Connecticut|Cornwall]], Connecticut, along with many other prominent artists and authors of the time. After three years of renting, Thurber found a home, which he referred to as "The Great Good Place", in Cornwall, Connecticut.<ref name="connecticutcreativeplaces/Great Good Place">{{cite web |title=92 Great Hollow Road, Cornwall |url=https://connecticutcreativeplaces.org/places/birdseye-and-tanner-brook-farm |website=Connecticut Creative Places |access-date=April 23, 2023 |archive-date=August 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020343/https://connecticutcreativeplaces.org/places/birdseye-and-tanner-brook-farm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Sommer|first=Mimi G.|date=August 3, 1997|title=Finding Thurber at Grandfather's House|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/03/nyregion/finding-thurber-at-grandfather-s-house.html|access-date=September 2, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=April 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407115113/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/03/nyregion/finding-thurber-at-grandfather-s-house.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Death===
Thurber's behavior became erratic in his last year. Thurber was stricken with a blood clot on the brain on October 4, 1961, and underwent emergency surgery, drifting in and out of consciousness. Although the operation was initially successful, Thurber died a few weeks later, on November 2, aged 66, due to complications from [[pneumonia]]. The doctors said his brain was [[Senescence|senescent]] from several small strokes and hardening of the arteries. His [[last words]], aside from the repeated word "God", were "God bless... God damn", according to his wife, Helen.<ref name="Bernstein 501">{{cite book|last=Bernstein|first=Burton|title=Thurber|publisher=[[Dodd, Mead & Company]]|year=1975|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/thurberbiography00bern/page/501 501]|isbn=978-0-396-07027-6|url=https://archive.org/details/thurberbiography00bern|url-access=registration}}</ref>

==Legacy and honors==
* Established in 1997, the annual [[Thurber Prize for American Humor|Thurber Prize]] honors outstanding examples of American humor.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2009/10/06/thurber_prize.html | title=Frazier first to win Thurber Prize twice | newspaper=The Columbus Dispatch | date=October 5, 2009 | author=Grossberg, Michael | access-date=July 28, 2016 | archive-date=August 9, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809014410/http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2009/10/06/thurber_prize.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In 2008, the [[Library of America]] selected Thurber's story "A Sort of Genius", first published in ''The New Yorker'', for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.loa.org/books/289-true-crime-an-american-anthology | title=True Crime: An American Anthology | publisher=Library of America | access-date=July 28, 2016 | archive-date=December 22, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222100328/https://www.loa.org/books/289-true-crime-an-american-anthology | url-status=live }}</ref>
* Two of his residences have been listed on the U.S. [[National Register of Historic Places]]: his childhood [[Thurber House]] in Ohio and the [[Sanford–Curtis–Thurber House]] in [[Fairfield County, Connecticut]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ct/fairfield/state5.html | title=CONNECTICUT - Fairfield County | publisher=National Register of Historic Places | access-date=July 28, 2016 | archive-date=August 31, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020342/https://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ct/fairfield/state5.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/oh/franklin/state6.html | title=OHIO - Franklin County | publisher=National Register of Historic Places}}</ref>
* James Thurber Ct. in [[Falls Church, Virginia]], is named after him.<ref name=":0" />

==Career==
Thurber also became well known for his simple, outlandish drawings and cartoons. Both his literary and his drawing skills were helped along by the support of, and collaboration with, fellow ''New Yorker'' staff member [[E. B. White]], who insisted that Thurber's sketches could stand on their own as artistic expressions. Thurber drew six covers and numerous classic illustrations for ''The New Yorker''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://writersalmanac.org/note/dec-8-2015-birthday-james-thurber/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307132414/http://writersalmanac.org/note/dec-8-2015-birthday-james-thurber/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 7, 2017 | title=Dec. 8, 2015: birthday: James Thurber | publisher=The Writer’s Almanac }}</ref>

===Writer===
Many of Thurber's short stories are humorous fictional memoirs from his life, but he also wrote darker material, such as "The Whip-Poor-Will", a story of madness and murder. His best-known short stories are "The Dog That Bit People" and "[[The Night the Bed Fell]]"; they can be found in ''[[My Life and Hard Times]]'', which was his "break-out" book. Among his other classics are "[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]", "[[The Catbird Seat]]", "The Night the Ghost Got In", "[[A Couple of Hamburgers]]", "The Greatest Man in the World", and "If [[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]] Had Been Drinking at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox]]". ''The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze'' has several short stories with a tense undercurrent of marital discord. The book was published the year of his divorce and remarriage.

{{anchor|look it up}}Although his 1941 story "You Could Look It Up",<ref>Thurber, James, [http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/james_thurber.pdf "You Could Look It Up"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720200106/http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/james_thurber.pdf |date=July 20, 2011 }}, ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'', April 5, 1941, pp. 9–11, 114, 116.</ref> about a three-foot adult being brought in to take a walk in a baseball game, has been said<ref>Kinney, Harrison (1995). ''James Thurber: His Life and Times''. Henry Holt & Co., p. 672. ISBN 9780805039665</ref> to have inspired [[Bill Veeck]]'s stunt with [[Eddie Gaedel]] with the [[St. Louis Browns]] in 1951, Veeck claimed an older provenance for the stunt.<ref>{{cite book|last=Veeck|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Veeck|author2=Ed Linn|title="A Can of Beer, a Slice of Cake—and Thou, Eddie Gaedel", from ''Veeck – As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck''|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|year=1962|location=Chicago, IL|pages=11–23|url=http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/852180.html|isbn=978-0-226-85218-8|access-date=February 1, 2007|archive-date=February 6, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206140823/http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/852180.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In addition to his other fiction, Thurber wrote more than seventy-five [[fable]]s, some of which were first published in ''The New Yorker'' (1939), then collected in ''[[Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated]]'' (1940) and ''Further Fables for Our Time'' (1956). These were short stories that featured anthropomorphic animals (e.g. "The Little Girl and the Wolf", his version of [[Little Red Riding Hood]]) as main characters, and ended with a moral as a tagline. An exception to this format was his most famous fable, "[[The Unicorn in the Garden]]", which featured an all-human cast except for the unicorn, which does not speak. Thurber's fables were [[satire|satirical]], and the morals served as [[punch line]]s as well as advice to the reader, demonstrating "the complexity of life by depicting the world as an uncertain, precarious place, where few reliable guidelines exist."<ref>Maharg, Ruth A. (Summer 1984), [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/chq/summary/v009/9.2.maharg.html "The Modern Fable: James Thurber's Social Criticisms"]; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202040617/http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/chq/summary/v009/9.2.maharg.html |date=February 2, 2016 }}, ''[[Children's Literature Association Quarterly]]'', Volume 9, Number 2, pp. 72–73.</ref> His stories also included several book-length fairy tales, such as ''[[The White Deer]]'' (1945), ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'' (1950) and ''[[The Wonderful O]]'' (1957). The latter two were among several of Thurber's works illustrated by [[Marc Simont]].

Thurber's prose for ''The New Yorker'' and other venues included numerous humorous essays. A favorite subject, especially toward the end of his life, was the English language. Pieces on this subject included "The Spreading 'You Know'," which decried the overuse of that pair of words in conversation, "The New Vocabularianism", and "What Do You Mean It ''Was'' Brillig?". His short pieces – whether stories, essays or something in between – were referred to as "casuals" by Thurber and the staff of ''The New Yorker''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sorel|first=Edward|title=The Business of Being Funny|work=The New York Times|date=November 5, 1989|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE5D9113CF936A35752C1A96F948260|access-date=August 17, 2007|archive-date=August 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020343/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/05/books/the-business-of-beeing-funny.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Thurber wrote a five-part ''New Yorker'' series, between 1947 and 1948, examining in depth the radio [[soap opera]] phenomenon, based on near-constant listening and researching over the same period. Leaving nearly no element of these programs unexamined, including their writers, producers, sponsors, performers, and listeners alike, Thurber republished the series in his anthology, ''The Beast in Me and Other Animals'' (1948), under the section title "Soapland." The series was one of the first to examine such a pop-culture phenomenon in depth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grauer |first1=Neil A. |title=Remember Laughter: A Life of James Thurber |date=1994 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |page=101 |url=https://archive.org/details/rememberlaughter0000grau/page/100/mode/2up |access-date=April 8, 2024}}</ref>

The last twenty years of Thurber's life were filled with material and professional success in spite of his blindness. He published at least fourteen books in that era, including ''The Thurber Carnival'' (1945), ''Thurber Country'' (1953), and the extremely popular book about ''New Yorker'' founder/editor [[Harold Ross]], ''The Years with Ross'' (1959). A number of Thurber's short stories were made into movies, including ''[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film)|The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]'' in 1947.

===Cartoonist===
While Thurber drew his cartoons in the usual fashion in the 1920s and 1930s, his failing eyesight later required changes. He drew them on very large sheets of paper using a thick black crayon (or on black paper using white chalk, from which they were photographed and the colors reversed for publication). Regardless of method, his cartoons became as noted as his writings; they possessed an eerie, wobbly feel that seems to mirror his idiosyncratic view on life. He once wrote that people said it looked like he drew them under water. [[Dorothy Parker]], a contemporary and friend of Thurber, referred to his cartoons as having the "semblance of unbaked cookies". The last drawing Thurber completed was a self-portrait in yellow crayon on black paper, which was featured as the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine on July 9, 1951.<ref>{{cite news|title=Time Magazine Cover: James Thurber – July 9, 1951|work=Time Archive: 1923 to the Present|publisher=Time Inc.|date=July 9, 1951|url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19510709,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207070014/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0%2C16641%2C19510709%2C00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 7, 2006|access-date=January 31, 2007}}</ref> The same drawing was used for the dust jacket of ''The Thurber Album'' ([[1952 in literature|1952]]).

===Adaptations===
* Thurber teamed with college schoolmate (and actor/director) [[Elliott Nugent]] to write ''[[The Male Animal]]'', a comic drama that became a major Broadway hit in 1939. The play was adapted as a film by the same name in 1942, starring [[Henry Fonda]], [[Olivia de Havilland]] and [[Jack Carson]].
* In 1947 his short story "[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]", was loosely adapted as a [[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film)|film by the same name]]. [[Danny Kaye]] played the title character.
* In 1951 [[United Productions of America]] announced an animated feature to be based on Thurber's work, titled ''Men, Women and Dogs''.<ref name="Priceless">{{cite news|title=Priceless Gift of Laughter|work=Time Archive: 1923 to the Present|publisher=Time Inc.|date=July 9, 1951|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806164-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016211832/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806164-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 16, 2007|access-date=January 31, 2007}}</ref> The only part of the ambitious project that was eventually released was the UPA cartoon ''[[The Unicorn in the Garden (film)|The Unicorn in the Garden]]'' (1953).<ref name="Unicorn">{{cite web|title=The Unicorn in the Garden|website=The Big Cartoon Database|url=http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/725-Unicorn_In_The_Garden.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719100731/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/725-Unicorn_In_The_Garden.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 19, 2012|access-date=January 31, 2007}}</ref>
* In 1958, Thurber's short story "One Is a Wanderer" was adapted for [[General Electric Theatre]],<ref>Kovner, Leo (1958). [https://www.proquest.com/docview/2338165247/994DF8D53C40493BPQ/28 "Television Reviews: One Is a Wanderer"]; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020510/https://www.proquest.com/docview/2338165247/994DF8D53C40493BPQ/28 |date=August 31, 2024 }}. ''The Hollywood Reporter''. p.&nbsp;9. "A moving tale of lonely despair in a big city, admittedly it's not everybody's meat. Yet the atmosphere of gentle melancholy was compelling, and the sensitive, intelligent performance of Fred MacMurray and the direction of Herschel Daugherty command attention and respect." Retrieved March 14, 2022.</ref> resulting in Emmy nominations for writer [[Samuel A. Taylor|Samuel Taylor]] and director [[Herschel Daugherty]].<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/2338172232/2DC7F3C7FB0444C2PQ/2?&imgSeq=2 "CBS Noses Out NBC in Emmy Nominations Race"]. ''The Hollywood Reporter''. April 14, 1959. p.&nbsp;6. Retrieved March 14, 2022.</ref>
* The 1959 film ''[[The Battle of the Sexes (1959 film)|The Battle of the Sexes]]'' was based on Thurber's 1942 short story "[[The Catbird Seat]]".
* In 1960, Thurber fulfilled a long-standing desire to be on the professional stage and played himself in 88 performances of the revue ''[[A Thurber Carnival]]'' (which echoes the title of his 1945 book, ''The Thurber Carnival''). It was based on a selection of Thurber's stories and cartoon captions. Thurber appeared in the sketch "File and Forget". The sketch consists of Thurber dictating a series of letters in a vain attempt to keep one of his publishers from sending him books he did not order, and the escalating confusion of the replies.<ref name="Bernstein 477">{{cite book|last=Bernstein|first=Burton|title=Thurber|publisher=[[Dodd, Mead & Company]]|year=1975|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/thurberbiography00bern/page/477 477]|isbn=978-0-396-07027-6|url=https://archive.org/details/thurberbiography00bern|url-access=registration}}</ref> Thurber received a [[Special Tony Award]] for the adapted script of the ''Carnival''.<ref name="IBDB">{{cite web|title=A Thurber Carnival|website=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2101|access-date=March 1, 2008|archive-date=October 12, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012155252/http://ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2101|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 1961, "The Secret Life of James Thurber" aired on ''[[The DuPont Show with June Allyson]]''. [[Adolphe Menjou]] appeared in the program as Fitch, and [[Orson Bean]] and [[Sue Randall]] portrayed John and Ellen Monroe.
* In 1969–70, a full series based on Thurber's writings and life, titled ''[[My World and Welcome to It|My World{{nbsp}}... and Welcome to It]],'' was broadcast on [[NBC]]. It starred [[William Windom (actor)|William Windom]] as the Thurber figure, John Monroe. Featuring animated portions in addition to live actors, the show won a 1970 [[Emmy Award]] as the year's best comedy series. Windom won an Emmy as well. He went on to perform Thurber material in a one-man stage show.
* In 1972 another film adaptation, ''[[The War Between Men and Women]]'', starring [[Jack Lemmon]], concludes with an animated version of Thurber's classic anti-war work "The Last Flower".
* In 2013, a new [[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013 film)|adaptation]] of ''[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]'' was produced, starring [[Ben Stiller]] as the title character.

==In popular culture==
* In Season Nine, Episode 13 of ''[[Seinfeld]]'', titled “[[The Cartoon]]”, [[Elaine Benes|Elaine]] mentions learning of gossip about Thurber while interviewing for a job at ''The New Yorker''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0697670/trivia/?item=tr5122634 |title="Seinfeld" The Cartoon (TV Episode 1998) - Trivia |publisher=[[IMDB]] |access-date=August 10, 2024 |archive-date=August 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020404/https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0697670/trivia/?item=tr5122634 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Beginning during his own father's terminal illness, television broadcaster [[Keith Olbermann]] read excerpts from Thurber's short stories during the closing segment of his [[MSNBC]] program ''[[Countdown with Keith Olbermann]]'' on Fridays, which he called "Fridays with Thurber".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41201964 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123204822/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41201964 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 23, 2011 |title=Olbermann signs off msnbc - Entertainment - Television - TODAY.com |publisher=[[MSNBC]] |access-date=May 6, 2012}}</ref> He reintroduced this during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, reading Thurber stories daily at 8:00&nbsp;p.m. EDT on Twitter, and continued on his podcast, also called ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann''.
* On an episode of [[Norm Macdonald]]'s video podcast, ''[[Norm Macdonald Live]]'', Norm tells a story in which comedian [[Larry Miller (comedian)|Larry Miller]] acknowledges that his biggest influence in comedy was Thurber.
* In 2021 film ''[[The French Dispatch]]'' by [[Wes Anderson]], he was mentioned in the end title credits as inspiration.

==Bibliography==
===Books===
*''[[Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do]]'' (1929 with [[E. B. White]]), 
::75th anniv. edition (2004) with foreword by [[John Updike]], {{ISBN|0-06-073314-4}}
*''[[The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities]]'', 1931
*''The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments'', 1932
*''[[My Life and Hard Times]]'', 1933, {{ISBN|0-06-093308-9}}
*''The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze'', 1935
*''Let Your Mind Alone! and Other More or Less Inspirational Pieces'', 1937
*''[[The Last Flower]]'', 1939, reissued 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-58729-620-8}}
*''[[Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated]]'', 1940, {{ISBN|0-06-090999-4}}
*''[[My World and Welcome to It (book)|My World—And Welcome to It]]'', 1942, {{ISBN|0-15-662344-7}}
*''Men, Women and Dogs'', 1943
*''The Thurber Carnival'' (anthology), 1945, {{ISBN|0-06-093287-2}}, 
::{{ISBN|0-394-60085-1}} (Modern Library Edition)
*''The Beast in Me and Other Animals'', 1948, {{ISBN|0-15-610850-X}}
*''The Thurber Album'', 1952
*''Thurber Country'', 1953
*''Thurber's Dogs'', 1955
*''Further Fables for Our Time'', 1956
*''Alarms and Diversions'' (anthology), 1957
*''The Years with Ross'', 1959, {{ISBN|0-06-095971-1}}
*''Lanterns and Lances'', 1961

===Children's books===
*''[[Many Moons]]'', 1943
*''The Great Quillow'', 1944
*''[[The White Deer]]'', 1945
*''[[The 13 Clocks]]'', 1950
*''[[The Wonderful O]]'', 1957

===Plays===
*''[[The Male Animal]]'', 1940 (with [[Elliott Nugent]])
*''[[A Thurber Carnival]]'', 1960

===Posthumous books===
*''Credos and Curios'', 1962 (ed. Helen W. Thurber)
*''Thurber & Company'', 1966 (ed. Helen W. Thurber)
*''Selected Letters of James Thurber'', 1981 (ed. Helen W. Thurber & Edward Weeks) {{ISBN|978-0-316844-44-4}}
*''Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself'', 1989 (ed. [[Michael J. Rosen]])
*''Thurber on Crime'', 1991 (ed. Robert Lopresti) {{ISBN|978-0-892964-50-5}}
*''People Have More Fun Than Anybody: A Centennial Celebration of Drawings and Writings by James Thurber'', 1994 (ed. Michael J. Rosen) {{ISBN|978-0-151000-94-4}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ervolino |first1=Bill |title=JAMES THURBER'S WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22497215.html |access-date=April 23, 2023 |work=[[The Record (North Jersey)]] |publisher=[[HighBeam Research]] |date=December 17, 1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102173454/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22497215.html |archive-date=November 2, 2012 |location=Bergen County, NJ |pages=}}</ref>
*''James Thurber: Writings and Drawings'' (anthology), 1996, (ed. [[Garrison Keillor]]), [[Library of America]], {{ISBN|978-1-883011-22-2}}
*''The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles'', 2001 (ed. Michael J. Rosen) {{ISBN|978-0-060196-56-1}}
*''The Thurber Letters: The Wit, Wisdom, and Surprising Life of James Thurber'', 2002 (ed. Harrison Kinney, with Rosemary A. Thurber) {{ISBN|978-0-743223-43-0}}
*''Collected Fables'', 2019 (ed. [[Michael J. Rosen]]), ISBN
*''A Mile and a Half of Lines: The Art of James Thurber'', 2019 (ed. [[Michael J. Rosen]]) {{ISBN|978-0814255339}}

===Short stories===
{{Incomplete list|date=January 2011}}
{{div col|colwidth=18em}} <!-- column width of 10em ; default width is 30em -->
* “A Box to Hide In”
* "The Admiral on the Wheel"
* "[[A Couple of Hamburgers]]"
* "A Ride with Olympy"
* "A Sequence of Servants"
* "The Bear Who Let it Alone"
* "The Black Magic of Barney Haller"
* "The Breaking Up of the Winships", 1945
* "The Cane in the Corridor"
* "The Car We Had to Push"
* "[[The Catbird Seat]]", 1942
* "The Crow and the Oriole"
* "The Curb in the Sky"<ref>{{cite news|publisher=New Yorker|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1931/11/28/the-curb-in-the-sky|title=The Curb in the Sky|date=November 20, 1931|access-date=July 31, 2021|archive-date=July 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731090157/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1931/11/28/the-curb-in-the-sky|url-status=live}}</ref>
* "The Day the Dam Broke"
* "The Departure of Emma Inch"
* "Destructive Forces Life"
* "Doc Marlowe"
* "Draft Board Nights"
* "File and Forget"<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Thurber|first=James|date=January 8, 1949|title=File and Forget|magazine=The New Yorker|volume=24|issue=46|pages=24–48}}</ref>
* "If Grant had been Drinking at Appomattox"
* "More Alarms at Night"
* "Mr. Preble Gets Rid of His Wife"
* "Oh When I Was..."
* "One is a Wanderer"
* "Sex Ex Machina"
* "Snapshot of a Dog"
* "The Dog That Bit People"
* "The Evening's at Seven"
* "The Figgerin' Of Aunt Wilma"<ref name="newyorker/figgerin-of-aunt-wilma">{{cite magazine |title=The Figgerin' Of Aunt Wilma |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1950/06/10/the-figgerin-of-aunt-wilma |access-date=April 24, 2023 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=June 3, 1950 |archive-date=August 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020405/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1950/06/10/the-figgerin-of-aunt-wilma |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="youtube=fdvBZItSJTg">{{cite web |author1=Omnibus With Alistair Cooke |title="Figgerin' of Aunt Wilma" (James Thurber Story) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdvBZItSJTg |website=youtube |access-date=April 24, 2023 |language=en |date=April 26, 1953 |quote=Omnibus - © RSA Venture, LLC, renewed 1990 |archive-date=April 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424024044/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdvBZItSJTg&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref>
* “A Friend to Alexander”
* "The Glass in the Field"
* "The Greatest Man in the World"
* "The Lady on 142"
* "The Little Girl and the Wolf"
* "The Macbeth Murder Mystery", 1937 <!-- (printed in ''The New Yorker'') -->
* "The Man Who Hated Moonbaum"
* "[[The Moth and the Star]]"
* "[[The Night the Bed Fell]]"
* "The Night the Ghost Got In"
* "The Owl Who Was God"
*"The Peacelike Mongoose"
* "[[The Princess and the Tin Box]]"
* "[[The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble]]"
* "The Remarkable Case of Mr.Bruhl"
* "The Scotty Who Knew Too Much"
* "The Seal Who Became Famous"
* "The Secret Life of James Thurber", 1943
* "[[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty]]"
* "The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing", 1939<!-- ''The New Yorker'' (April 29, 1939) -->
* "The Subjunctive Mood", 1929
* "The Tiger Who Was to Be King"
* "The Topaz Cuff Links Mystery"
* "[[The Unicorn in the Garden]]"
* "The Whip-Poor-Will"
* "The Wood Duck"
* "University Days"
* "What Do You Mean It Was Brillig?"
* "You Could Look It Up", 1941
{{div col end}}

==See also==
* [[The Battle of the Sexes (1959 film)|''The Battle of the Sexes'' (1959 film)]] based on "The Catbird Seat"
* [[Walter Mitty]], expression

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
===Interviews===
*{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Alistair |author1-link=Alistair Cooke |title=James Thurber: In Conversation With Alistair Cooke |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1956/08/james-thurber-in-conversation-with-alistair-cooke/640459/ |access-date=April 23, 2023 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=August 1, 1956 |language=en}}
::Transcript of [[Alistair Cooke]]{{'}}s Interview With James Thurber on ''[[Omnibus (U.S. TV series)]]'' {{cite news |last1=Shanley |first1=John Patrick |author1-link=John Patrick Shanley |title=TV: James Thurber; Alistair Cooke's Interview With Humorist on 'Omnibus' Is Fine Entertainment Ewell in Melodrama |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/03/05/archives/tv-james-thurber-alistair-cookes-interview-with-humorist-on-omnibus.html |access-date=April 24, 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 5, 1956 |archive-date=August 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020405/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/03/05/archives/tv-james-thurber-alistair-cookes-interview-with-humorist-on-omnibus.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Plimpton |first1=George |last2=Steele |first2=Max |author1-link=George Plimpton |title=The Art of Fiction, No. 10 : James Thurber |journal=[[Paris Review]] |date=1955 |volume=Fall 1955 |issue=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927145250/http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5003/the-art-of-fiction-no-10-james-thurber |archive-date=September 27, 2010 |url=http://theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/prmMID/5003 |access-date=April 24, 2023 |language=en |issn=0031-2037}}

===Biographies of Thurber===
* Bernstein, Burton. 1975. ''Thurber''. William Morrow & Co. {{ISBN|9780396070276}}
* Fensch, Thomas. 2001. ''The Man Who Was Walter Mitty: The Life and Work of James Thurber''. {{ISBN|9780738840833}} 
* Grauer, Neil A. 1994. ''Remember Laughter: A Life of James Thurber''. University of Nebraska Press. {{ISBN|9780803221550}}
** {{cite news |last1=Ervolino |first1=Bill |title=JAMES THURBER'S WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22497215.html |access-date=April 23, 2023 |work=[[The Record (North Jersey)]] |publisher=[[HighBeam Research]] |date=December 17, 1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102173454/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22497215.html |archive-date=November 2, 2012 |location=Bergen County, NJ |pages=}}
* Kinney, Harrison. 1995. ''James Thurber: His Life and Times''. Henry Holt & Co. {{ISBN|9780805039665}}

===Literature review===
* Holmes, Charles S. 1972. ''The Clocks Of Columbus: The Literary Career of James Thurber'' Atheneum. {{ISBN|9780689705748}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.jamesthurber.org Official Website of James Thurber] – overseen by the Thurber estate and editor [[Michael J. Rosen]]
*{{YouTube|playlist=OLAK5uy_mOtbVL20v6Dtisp1pm_-HSN7CMcdGrQsI|title=A Thurber Carnival}}
:Provided to YouTube by Masterworks Broadway; ℗ Originally released 1960 Sony Music Entertainment
* [http://thurber.sitesz.com/ Pathfinder: James Grover Thurber] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024181925/http://thurber.sitesz.com/ |date=October 24, 2013 }} – links portal
* [http://www.bertoldhummel.de/english/commentaries/opus_55A.html ''The Last Flower'' – ballet after an idea by James Thurber; 1975]
* [http://www.barbaroandnicanor.blogspot.com/ Origins of "the Thurber Dog"]
* {{YouTube|id=6LPmuFa81IA|title=If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox}} – 1982 dramatization of the James Thurber short story
;[[Ohio State University libraries|The Ohio State University Libraries]] Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection
*[https://library.osu.edu/finding-aids/rarebooks/JamesThurber.pdf The James Thurber Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119052116/https://library.osu.edu/finding-aids/rarebooks/JamesThurber.pdf |date=January 19, 2022 }}
* [https://library.osu.edu/finding-aids/rarebooks/Holmes-CMS384.php Charles S. Holmes Research for The Clocks of Columbus]
* [https://library.osu.edu/finding-aids/rarebooks/kinney.php The Harrison Kinney Archive for James Thurber: His Life and Times]
;Works
* {{FadedPage|id=Thurber, James|name=James Thurber|author=yes}}
* {{Librivox author|id=18882}}
* [http://www.newyorker.com/search?qt=dismax&rows=10&sort=score+desc&query=&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=Submit&bylquery=james+thurber&month1=-1&day1=-1&year1=-1&month2=-1&day2=-1&year2=-1 ''New Yorker'' magazine digital archive] – abstracts of 1,758 Thurber short stories, poems, cartoons and commentaries
* a list of [http://thurber.sitesz.com/home/books James Thurber books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224060530/http://thurber.sitesz.com/home/books |date=December 24, 2021 }}
* an alphabetical list of [https://web.archive.org/web/20150930221757/http://home.comcast.net/~acolby/thurber/storylistalpha.html James Thurber short stories]
*Helen Thurber, [https://archives.library.wales/index.php/helen-thurber-letters°° letters and cards]{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, to [[Geoffrey Woolley]] — [[National Library of Wales]]

{{Special Tony Award}}
{{Authority control}}

<!--
* * * * * * * Please do not add Category:Tony Award winners which is for competitive Tony Award recipients. The Special Tony Award is a non-competitive honor that is bestowed not won. 
 --->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurber, James}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:American blind people]]
[[Category:American magazine cartoonists]]
[[Category:American expatriates in France]]
[[Category:American humorists]]
[[Category:American humorous columnists]]
[[Category:American satirical short story writers]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American male essayists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:American writers with disabilities]]
[[Category:Artists from Columbus, Ohio]]
[[Category:American blind writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Green Lawn Cemetery (Columbus, Ohio)]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in New York City]]
[[Category:American fabulists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Ohio]]
[[Category:Ohio State University alumni]]
[[Category:Special Tony Award recipients]]
[[Category:The New Yorker cartoonists]]
[[Category:The New Yorker editors]]
[[Category:The New Yorker people]]
[[Category:Writers from Columbus, Ohio]]
[[Category:Writers who illustrated their own writing]]
[[Category:Fairy tale writers]]