Bibliography
BOOKS
(*: Posthumous Collection)
(+: Illustrations/Pictures by Gluyas Williams)
-Adams, Franklin P.: Women I’m Not Married To. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1922
-Benchley, Nathaniel: Robert Benchley: A Biography. Foreword by Robert E. Sherwood. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1955
-Benchley, Nathaniel: Speakeasy. Garden City: Doubleday, 1982
-Benchley, Robert: Of All Things. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1921
” Love Conquers All. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1922
” Pluck And Luck. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1925
” The Early Worm. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1927
” 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, or, David Copperfield. New York : Henry Holt & Co., 1928
” +The Treasurer’s Report & Other Aspects of Community Singing. New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1930
” +No Poems, or, Around the World Backwards and Sideways. New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1932
” +From Bed To Worse, or, Comforting Thoughts About the Bison. New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1934
” +My Ten Years In a Quandary, and How They Grew. New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1936
” +After 1903 – What? New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1938
” +Inside Benchley. New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1942
” +Benchley Beside Himself. New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1943
” +One Minute, Please. London: Dennis Dobson, Ltd., 1945
” *+Benchley – Or Else! New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1947
” *+Chips Off the Old Benchley. New York & London: Harper & Bros., 1949
” *+The Bedside Manner, Or No More Nightmares. London: Dennis Dobson, Ltd., 1952
” *+The Benchley Roundup. Edited, and with a Foreword by Nathaniel Benchley. New York: Harper & Bros., 1954
-*Benchley, Robert: Benchley At The Theatre: Drama Criticism, 1920-1940. Edited, and with an Introduction by Charles Getchell. Ipswich: Ipswich Press, 1985
-*Benchley, Robert: The “Reel” Benchley, with a Foreword by Howard Dietz. New York: A. A. Wyn, Inc., 1950
-Brown, David: Let Me Entertain You. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990
-Bryan, J.III: Merry Gentlemen (and one Lady), with a Foreword by Caskie Stinnett. New York: Atheneum, 1985
-Disney, Walt: The Reluctant Dragon, from Kenneth Grahame’s Dream Days, Introduced by Robert Benchley. New York: Garden City Publishing, 1941
-Donnelly, Honoria Murphy, with Richard N. Billings: Sara & Gerald: Villa America and After. New York: Times Books, 1982
-Douglas, Ann: Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s. New York: Noonday Press, 1995
-Drennan, Robert E., Editor: The Algonquin Wits. With an Introduction by Heywood Hale Broun. Secaucus: Citadel Press, 1985
-Ford, Corey: The Time of Laughter. Boston, Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1967
-Gaines, James R.: Wit’s End: Days and Nights of the Algonquin Round Table. New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977
-Gehring, Wes D.: “Mr. B” Or Comforting Thoughts About the Bison: A Critical Biography of Robert Benchley. Westport, CT & London: Greenwood Press, 1992
-Gill, Brendan: Here at The New Yorker. New York: Random House, 1975
-Graham, Sheilah: The Garden of Allah. New York: Crown, 1970
-Harriman, Margaret Case: The Vicious Circle: The Story of the Algonquin Round Table. New York: Rinehart & Co., 1951
-Hayes, Helen: My Life in Three Acts (with Katherine Hatch). New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1990
-Keats, John: You Might as Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker. New York: Simon and Shuster, 1970
-Kunkel, Thomas: Genius In Disguise: Harold Ross of The New Yorker. New York: Random House, 1995
-Liebling, A. J.: The Wayward Pressman. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1947
-Maltin, Leonard: The Great Movie Shorts. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972
-Meade, Marion: Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? New York: Penguin, 1987
-Miller, Linda Patterson, Editor: Letters from the Lost Generation: Gerald and Sara Murphy and Friends. New Brunswick & London: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1991
-Parker, Dorothy: Men I’m Not Married To. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & CO., 1922
-Parker, Dorothy: Sunset Gun: Poems. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1928
-Parker, Dorothy: The Portable Dorothy Parker. With a new Introduction by Brendan Gill. New York: Viking, 1973
-Parker, Dorothy: The Viking Portable Library: Dorothy Parker. With an Introduction by W. Somerset Maugham. New York: Viking Press, 1944
-Redding, Robert: Starring Robert Benchley: Those Magnificent Movie Shorts. Albuquerque: Univ. New Mexico Press, 1973
-Rosmond, Babette: Robert Benchley, His Life And Good Times. Garden City: Doubleday, 1970
-Tompkins, Calvin: Living Well Is the Best Revenge. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1982
-White, E. B.: Letters of E. B. White, Collected and Edited by Dorothy Lobrano Guth. New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, London: Harper & Row, 1976
-Yates, Norris W.: Robert Benchley. New York: Twayne Publishers, inc., 1968
SELECTED ARTICLES
-Acocella, Joan: “After the Laughs;” The New Yorker, Aug. 16, 1993
-Benchley, Nat: “So Sweet a Place;” Nantucket Magazine, MidSummer, 1995
-Benchley, Robert: “Chaplin and Shakespeare: Eccentric Comedians,” N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 27, 1917
-Curry, Ralph L.: “Leacock and Benchley: an acknowledged literary debt;” The American Book Collector, Vol. VII, No. 7, Mar., 1957
-Getchell, Charles: “The golden age of Benchley and the theater;” Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 1989
-Goulart, Ron: “the healthy humor of mr. benchley;” Carte Blanche, Summer issue, 1965
-Grauer, Neil A.: “I’m fine, just hurting inside;” American Heritage, April-May, 1986
-Grimes, William: “Wit at the Round Table: Was It, Er, Um, Square?;” New York Times, June 28, 1994
-Harrison, Dr. Stanley L.: “‘The Wayward Press’ Revisited: The Contributions of Robert Benchley;” Journalism History, Spring, 1993
-Harrison, Dr. Stanley L.: “The Editorial Art of Edmund Duffy;” inks, Nov. 1994
-Herrman, Dorothy: “Robert Benchley: bothered, bewildered, but a brilliant wit;” Smithsonian, Feb., 1982
-James, Caryn: “At Wit’s End: Algonquinites in Hollywood;” N. Y. Times, Jan. 8, 1993
-Lane, Anthony: “The Fall Guy: Buster Keaton’s genius turned slapstick and catastrophe into comic gold;” The New Yorker, Oct. 23, 1995
-Luhn, Robert: “In Good Spirits: Robert Benchley Remembered;” Book Forum, 1982
-Nachman, Gerald: “Robert Benchley: When He Laughed, It Never Hurt;” San Francisco Examiner, Sept. 10, 1989
-Rosenblatt, Roger: “What brand of laughter do you use?” New York Times, Nov. 17, 1991
-Solomon, Eric: “Robert Benchley;” Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 11
-Tamkin, Linda: “When Benchley bloomed in the Garden of Allah;” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 12, 1981
-Waterman, Frederick: “The Raconteur Rats;” Forbes FYI supplement, 1993
-Weales, Gerald: “Robert Benchley – Mr. Wonderful;” Boston Sunday Globe, June 4, 1989
FILMS
(*: Shorts; All others are features)
1926 You’d Be Surprised (Paramount): Writer, titles & ideas[#]
1928 *The Treasurer’s Report (Fox): Writer/Actor
1928 *The Sex Life of the Polyp (Fox): Writer/Actor
1928 *The Spellbinder (Fox): Writer
1929 *Lesson Number One (Fox): Actor
1929 *Furnace Trouble (Fox): Actor
1929 *Stewed, Fried & Boiled (Fox): Actor
1932 Sky Devils (RKO-Radio): Writer
1932 The Sports Parade (RKO-Radio): Writer/Actor
1933 *Your Technocracy and Mine (Universal): Actor
1933 Headliner Shooter (RKO-Radio): Actor
1933 Dancing Lady (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1934 Rafter Romance (RKO-Radio): Actor
1934 Social Register (Columbia): Bit Actor
1934 The Gay Divorcee (RKO-Radio): Writer (?)
1934 The Gay Bride (M-G-M): Writer
1935 *How To Break 90 at Croquet (RKO): Writer/Actor
1935 Murder on a Honeymoon (RKO-Radio): Writer
1935 China Seas (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1935 Pursuit (M-G-M): Writer
1935 *How To Sleep (M-G-M): Writer/Actor [Academy Award- winner, Best Live Action Short Subject]
1935 The Perfect Gentleman (M-G-M): Writer
1936 *How To Behave (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1936 Dancing Pirate (RKO-Radio): Writer
1936 *How To Train a Dog (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1936 Riffraff (M-G-M): Writer (?)
1936 Piccadilly Jim (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1936 *How To Vote (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1936 *How To Be a Detective (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1937 *The Romance of Digestion (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1937 Broadway Melody of 1938 (M-G-M): Bit Actor
1937 *How To Start the Day (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1937 Live, Love and Learn (M-G-M): Writer (?)
1937 *A Night at the Movies (M-G-M): Writer/Actor [Academy Award-nominee]
1938 *How To Figure Income Tax (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *Music Made Simple (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *An Evening Alone (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *How To Raise a Baby (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *The Courtship of the Newt (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *How To Read (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *How To Watch Football (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *Opening Day (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1938 *Mental Poise (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1939 *How To Sub-Let (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1939 *An Hour For Lunch (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1939 *Dark Magic (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1939 *Home Early (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1939 *How To Eat (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1939 *The Day of Rest (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1939 *See Your Doctor (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1940 *That Inferior Feeling (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1940 *Home Movies (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1940 Foreign Correspondent (United Artists): Writer [dialogue]/Actor [Dir: Alfred Hitchcock]
1940 Hired Wife (Universal): Actor
1940 *The Trouble with Husbands (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1941 *Waiting for Baby (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1941 Nice Girl? (Universal): Actor
1941 *Crime Control (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1941 *The Forgotten Man (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1941 The Reluctant Dragon (Disney): Actor
1941 You’ll Never Get Rich (Columbia): Actor
1941 *How To Take a Vacation (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1941 Three Girls About Town (Columbia): Actor
1941 Bedtime Story (Columbia): Actor
1942 *Nothing But Nerves (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1942 *The Witness (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1942 Take a Letter, Darling (Paramount): Actor
1942 *Keeping In Shape (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1942 *The Man’s Angle (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1942 The Major and the Minor (Paramount): Actor [Dir: Billy Wilder]
1942 I Married a Witch (United Artists): Actor [Dir: Rene Clair]
1943 Young and Willing (United Artists): Actor
1943 The Sky’s the Limit (RKO-Radio): Actor
1943 Flesh & Fantasy (Universal): Actor/Narrator
1943 *My Tomato (M-G-M): Actor
1943 *No News Is Good News (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1943 The Song of Russia (M-G-M): Actor
1944 See Here, Private Hargrove (M-G-M): Actor
1944 *Important Business (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1944 *Why, Daddy (M-G-M): Writer/Actor
1944 Janie (Warner Bros.): Actor
1944 National Barn Dance (Paramount): Actor
1944 Practically Yours (Paramount): Actor
1945 Pan-Americana (RKO-Radio): Actor/Narrator
1945 It’s in the Bag (United Artists): Actor
1945 *Boogie Woogie (Paramount): Writer/Actor
1945 Duffy’s Tavern (Paramount): Actor/Narrator
1945 Kiss and Tell (Columbia): Actor
1945 Weekend at the Waldorf (M-G-M): Actor
1945 Snafu (Columbia): Actor
1945 The Road to Utopia (Paramount): Actor/Narrator
1945 The Stork Club (Paramount): Actor
1945 *Hollywood Victory Caravan (Paramount/U.S. Treasury Dept.): Actor
1945 *I’m a Civilian Here Myself (U.S. Navy): Writer/Actor
1946 The Bride Wore Boots (Paramount): Actor
1946 Janie Gets Married (Warner Bros.): Actor
[#:”Writer” credits range from suggestions and occasional dialogue to entire scripts]
OTHER SOURCES
-Special Collections, The Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University: Dr. Howard B. Gotlieb, Director
“The Ten-Year Lunch;” Academy Award-winning documentary film by Aviva Slesin, 1987
-The Museum of Television and Radio, 25 West 52nd Street, New York, N. Y. 10019
-Walt Disney Library
-The Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, Robert Taylor, Curator
-The Doheny Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
-The Margaret Herrick Library, AMPAS, Los Angeles, CAL