Three funny Stories by Frank Sullivan, E.B. White and Peter de Vries

 Three funny Stories by Frank Sullivan, E.B. White and Peter de Vries

The Night the Old Nostalgia Burned Down by Frank Sullivan

The way I understand this short, humorous account is by taking the proposals as exaggerations and laughing at them.

It is however difficult to separate preposterous from facts.

Perhaps Governor Lovelace has really brought the first marble from England, in 1668 and gave it to the great aunt of the narrator.

But it seems incredible that a childhood friend, Ada Rehan – “a little gold-haired thing”- would shoot President Garfield.

Aunt Caroline is an apparition, with “silk hat, immaculate shirt, white tie…and that magnificent, purple black beard”

-          A beard, and magnificent to boot? Really?

An outstanding scene is the one of the ritual of the Saturday night bath, when they would line up:

-          father, mother, housekeeper, butler, second girl, the third and fourth girl and twelve of the youngsters, with a couple of other people, soap and towels in hand.

They all went solemnly down Fifth Avenue, “in a single file to the old reservoir, keeping a sharp eye out for Indians”.

They all went in at a signal and furthermore,” everyone who was anyone had his Saturday bath in the reservoir.”

Grandmother was more than remarkable, for at the “age of eighty seven she could skip rope four hundred and twenty-two times without stopping”…

And to think that I can only do about two hundred.

The wealthy Mrs. Murgatroyd “would lift her skirt to the knee, fish out a huge wallet and gave them each…$ 2,000,000”

Oh, and postmen wore uniforms of pink velvet…

Across the Street and into the Grill by E.B. White

“With my respects to Ernest Hemingway”

This account struck me as absurd.

Mr. Perley takes this girl to Schrafft’s and it all seems rather reasonable, even if she says she has to call Mummy first.

They are welcomed by Botticelli, with a fiasco in each hand:

-          “Good morning, my Assistant Treasurer”

Mr. Perley and the girl who works at the reception desk…crawl under the table!!

-          “We are having fun, aren’t we?

-          Yes, sister” he said…but why under the table??

And besides, Botticelli brings in…an Indian blanket

I did not really get the humor of this author, supposedly one of the fifty funniest American writers

The House of Mirth by Peter de Vries

This one is more my cup of tea, even if I feel that as long as couples do not quarrel or needle each other in public, that is about enough.

In this tale, the husband wants to play in a team with his wife, with a pre- established script, with lines that will give him the chance to seem smart and witty.

It reminded me of two French films: Ridicule and Moliere, in both of which there is enormous emphasis on wit and humor in conversation, to the detriment alas of other, more important values and strengths.

The scenario prepared by the husband does not work, for when the wife is coming up with her line, there is a crucial word missing.

For instance, they expected talk about Monica, and the line was about her new lover as “a man of considerable reserve”, to which the husband would add: “which Monica will get her hands on in short order”.

The spouse however changed her intended cue to “he’s such a quiet, unassuming chap”, and then there was the issue of Shelley who was drowned and washed up at the Gulf of Spezia, giving the chance for a clever: “he was lucky, most poets are washed up before they’re dead”

But again, he did not have the chance to insert his wit into the conversation for his wife changed the text of her part…