Capturing the idiom of the man in the street
RUNYON, Damon. Money from Home. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. 1935.
8vo. Original red cloth with illustrated dustjacket (not price clipped); pp. ix, [3], 313; small flaws to corners, head and tail of spine of dustjacket with light spotting.
First edition.
Damon Runyon is best known for his book Guys and Dolls, written in the regional slang that would become his famous trademark. Money from Home is a rare assortment of short stories, showcased previously in Cosmopolitan Magazine and Collier's Weekly, and one novel, all published for the first time into one volume. The eponymous title would inspire the 1953 Paramount movie starring Dean Martin. The comedy would be the first of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis collaboration to be shot in colour.
The blurb of Money from Home attests to the reality Runyon succeeds in bringing to life, as a review from the New York journalist Heywood Broun states: "Damon Runyon is supreme in orchestrating the idiom of the man from the street…. The ear of Mr Runyon has not missed a beat or a single note".
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