Don Marquis

About Don Marquis

Who is it?: Humorist
Birth Day: July 18, 1929
Birth Place: Walnut, Illinois, United States

Don Marquis

Don Marquis was born on July 18, 1929 in Walnut, Illinois, United States, is Humorist. Don Marquis was a renowned newspaper columnist, journalist and novelist of America. Some of his books include “Cruise of the Jasper B”, “Pandora Lifts the Lid” and so on. As a skilled humorist, he introduced popular characters like Archy the cockroach and Mehitabel the Alley Cat to express his opinion on various issues in a humorous way. In an attempt to ridicule the U.S. Constitution’s amendment regarding prohibition of sale and consumption of alcoholic products, he created the character of Old Soak through his “Sun Dial” column of “The Evening Sun” newspaper. This specific column became popular for its perfect combination of quips, commentary and humorous verse. Through this column, he ridiculed several personalities of that era. The character of Old Soak became so popular that a Broadway play was made on it. Moreover, this fictional character acted as an inspiration for a silent film, “talkie” and a radio drama. He became a finalist for three times for the O. Henry Memorial Prize for his remarkable creation of short fiction. As author of 35 books, he co-wrote for the films like ‘The Spots Pages’, ‘Shinbone Alley’, ‘The Good Old Soak’ and ‘Skippy’. The story of the film ‘The Cruise of the Jasper B’ is loosely based on one of his novels.
Don Marquis is a member of Writers

Does Don Marquis Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, Don Marquis has been died on December 29, 1937.

🎂 Don Marquis - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When Don Marquis die, Don Marquis was 8 years old.

Popular As Don Marquis
Occupation Writers
Age 8 years old
Zodiac Sign Leo
Born July 18, 1929 (Walnut, Illinois, United States)
Birthday July 18
Town/City Walnut, Illinois, United States
Nationality United States

🌙 Zodiac

Don Marquis’s zodiac sign is Leo. According to astrologers, people born under the sign of Leo are natural born leaders. They are dramatic, creative, self-confident, dominant and extremely difficult to resist, able to achieve anything they want to in any area of life they commit to. There is a specific strength to a Leo and their "king of the jungle" status. Leo often has many friends for they are generous and loyal. Self-confident and attractive, this is a Sun sign capable of uniting different groups of people and leading them as one towards a shared cause, and their healthy sense of humor makes collaboration with other people even easier.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Don Marquis was born in the Year of the Snake. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Snake are seductive, gregarious, introverted, generous, charming, good with money, analytical, insecure, jealous, slightly dangerous, smart, they rely on gut feelings, are hard-working and intelligent. Compatible with Rooster or Ox.

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Biography/Timeline

1892

Marquis grew up in Walnut, Illinois. His brother David died in 1892 at the age of 20; his father James died in 1897. After graduating from Walnut High School in 1894, he attended Knox Academy, a now-defunct preparatory program run by Knox College, in 1896, but left after three months. From 1902 to 1907 he served on the editorial board of the Atlanta Journal where he wrote many editorials during the heated election between his publisher Hoke Smith and Future Pulitzer Prize winner, Clark Howell (Smith was the victor).

1912

Marquis began work for the New York newspaper The Evening Sun in 1912 and edited for the next eleven years a daily column, "The Sun Dial". During 1922 he left The Evening Sun (shortened to The Sun in 1920) for the New York Tribune (renamed the New York Herald Tribune in 1924), where his daily column, "The Tower" (later "The Lantern") was a great success. He regularly contributed columns and short stories to the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's and American magazines and also appeared in Harper's, Scribner's, Golden Book, and Cosmopolitan.

1916

Marquis's best-known creation was Archy, a fictional cockroach (developed as a character during 1916) who had been a free-verse poet in a previous life, and who supposedly left poems on Marquis's typewriter by jumping on the keys. Archy usually typed only lower-case letters, without punctuation, because he could not operate the shift key. His verses were a type of social satire, and were used by Marquis in his newspaper columns titled "archy and mehitabel"; mehitabel was an alley cat, occasional companion of archy and the subject of some of archy's verses. The archy and mehitabel pieces were illustrated by Cartoonist George Herriman, better known to posterity as the author of the newspaper comic Krazy Kat. Other characters developed by Marquis included Pete the Pup, Clarence the ghost, and an egomaniacal toad named Warty Bliggins.

1923

In 1909, Marquis married Reina Melcher, with whom he had a son, Robert (1915–1921) and a daughter, Barbara (1918–1931). Reina died on December 2, 1923.

1926

Marquis was the author of about 35 books. He co-wrote (or contributed posthumously) to the films The Sports Pages, Shinbone Alley, The Good Old Soak and Skippy. The 1926 film The Cruise of the Jasper B was supposedly based on his 1916 novel of the same name, although the plots have little in Common.

1936

Three years later Marquis married the Actress Marjorie Potts Vonnegut, whose first husband, actor Walter Vonnegut, was a cousin of American author, Playwright and satirist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. She died in her sleep on October 25, 1936.

1943

On August 23, 1943, the United States Navy christened a Liberty ship, the USS Don Marquis (IX-215), in his memory.

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