Nathaniel (G.) Benchley

The Works** of Nathaniel Benchley

    Children’s/”I Can Read” books

Sindbad the Sailor (1960)
Red Fox and His Canoe (1964)
Oscar Otter (1966)
The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Cluck (1967)
A Ghost Named Fred (1968)
Sam the Minuteman (1969)
The Several Tricks of Edgar Dolphin (1970)
The Flying Lesson of Gerald Pelican (1970)
Small Wolf (1972)
The Magic Sled (1972)
The Deep Dives of Stanley Whale (1973)
Snorri and the Strangers (1976)
George the Drummer Boy (1977)
Running Owl the Hunter (1979)
Walter the Homing Pigeon (1981)
Snip (1981)

    “Junior Books”

Gone and Back (1971)
Feldman Fieldmouse A Fable (1971)
Only Earth and Sky Last Forever (1972)
Bright Candles (1974)
Beyond the Mists (1975)
A Necessary End (1976)
Kilroy and the Gull (1977)
Demo and the Dolphin (1981)

    Novels

Side Street (1950)
One to Grow On (1958)
Sail a Crooked Ship (1960)
The Off-Islanders (1961)
Catch a Falling Spy (1963)
A Winter’s Tale (1964)
The Visitors (1965)
A Firm Word or Two (1965)
The Monument (1966)
Welcome to Xanadu (1968)
The Wake of the Icarus (1969)
Lassiter’s Folly (1971)
The Hunter’s Moon (1972)
Portrait of a Scoundrel (1979)
Sweet Anarchy (1979)
All Over Again (1981)
Speakeasy (1982) (posthumous)

Biography

Robert Benchley (1955)
Humphrey Bogart (1975)

Plays

The Frogs of Spring (1953)

The Circus of Dr. Lao (1957) (w/ Gwyn Conger Steinbeck)

Film

The Great American Pastime (1956)

As Editor

The Benchley Roundup (1954)

**Letter from Nathaniel Benchley

to a very young admirer who had written asking

“Dear Mr. Benchley: I really liked the book about Arthur Cluck

[a chick who disappears], but I wondered what was Mrs. Cluck’s

[Arthur’s mother’s]  first name?”

Dear Jane:

I’m glad you asked about Mrs. Cluck’s first name. She was christened Henrietta Brock  – her mother, a Rhode Island Red from Pawtucket named Lucy Klack, had married Luther Brock in the confusion following a corn-husking bee at Little Compton – and she, Henrietta Brock, met and married Arthur’s father, Jorgensen Cluck, in the fall of the following year (chickens grow up faster than people). Jorgensen Cluck was considered quite a catch in chicken circles; his father, Meriweather Cluck, was a direct descendant of Colonel Sam Johnson Brack, the only rooster to receive his commission directly from Gen.. Robert E. Lee. It made the Brack family rather tiresome and long-winded about their ancestor, but the Cluck branch of the Bracks (Desdemona Brack, Arthur’s great aunt, married Phinias Cluck at the height of a thunder storm in Bedford, N.Y., and everybody laughed so hard later that they didn’t have time to be stuffy) the Cluck branch of the Bracks, as I was saying, were generally pretty nice. One Cluck nephew got in trouble with a dog in Tenafly, N.J., but for the most part they behaved themselves and were looked up to in the community. Arthur’s uncle, Sidney Cluck, was a member of Skull and Bones at Yale, and he wasn’t allowed to talk. He married a pullet named Arabelle Pesh from Bad Neuheim, but that’s another story.

So, to answer your question, Mrs. Cluck’s first name is Henrietta.

Sincerely,

Nathaniel Benchley

 

(same works, chronologically, sort of)

Side Street (1950)
The Frogs of Spring (1953)
The Benchley Roundup (1954)
Robert Benchley (1955)
The Great American Pastime (1956)

The Circus of Dr. Lao (1957)
One to Grow On (1958)
Sail a Crooked Ship (1960)
Sindbad the Sailor (1960)
The Off-Islanders (1961)
Catch a Falling Spy (1963)
Red Fox and His Canoe (1964)
A Winter’s Tale (1964)
The Visitors (1965)
A Firm Word or Two (1965)
Oscar Otter (1966)
The Monument (1966)
The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Cluck (1967)
Welcome to Xanadu (1968)
A Ghost Named Fred (1968)
The Wake of the Icarus (1969)
Sam the Minuteman (1969)
The Several Tricks of Edgar Dolphin (1970)
The Flying Lesson of Gerald Pelican (1970)
Gone and Back (1971)
Lassiter’s Folly (1971)
Feldman Fieldmouse A Fable (1971)
Small Wolf (1972)
The Hunter’s Moon (1972)
The Magic Sled (1972)
Only Earth and Sky Last Forever (1972)
The Deep Dives of Stanley Whale (1973)
Bright Candles (1974)
Beyond the Mists (1975)
Humphrey Bogart (1975)
A Necessary End (1976)
Snorri and the Strangers (1976)
George the Drummer Boy (1977)
Kilroy and the Gull (1977)
Portrait of a Scoundrel (1979)
Running Owl the Hunter (1979)
Sweet Anarchy (1979)
Walter the Homing Pigeon (1981)
All Over Again (1981)
Demo and the Dolphin (1981)
Snip (1981)
Speakeasy (1982) (posthumous)

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