FIBBLE, D.D.

by Irvin S. Cobb

A collection of three short stories originally published in the Saturday Evening Post, telling the comic misadventures of the Rev. Roscoe Titmarsh Fibble, D.D.

Genres: Humor

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

(Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb)

American author, humorist, editor and columnist from Paducah, Kentucky who relocated to New York during 1904, living there for the remainder of his life.

He wrote for the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, as the highest paid staff reporter in the United States.

Cobb also wrote more than 60 books and 300 short stories. Some of his works were adapted for silent movies. Several of his Judge Priest short stories were adapted for two feature films during the 1930s directed by John Ford.

Reviews

[Yibbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this delightful little comedy is really three books, pardon me that is not quite true, to be completely forthcoming, it is comprised of two epistles and one extract from our narrator’s journal. The first describes in outraged thoroughness the true account of the maiden ventures of the Young Nuts of America. The second is a carefully worded demand for satisfaction from the President of the United States of America for the complete lack of attention given by Secretary of State Bryan to numerous complaints sent in our hero’s hours of distress following the commencement of hostilities after the untimely demise of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. The third departs from the epistolary form of the previous two and takes the form of extracts from his diary pertaining to the events of his acquaintance with Miss Hildegarde Hamm.
I give up. I can’t do it any longer. It’s quite an effort to write like that. It even takes an effort to read. For as short as it is, it took me a really long time to read through it. The words are just so long and funny! They portray a character completely enamored with his own intelligence, importance, and influence but at the same time completely clueless, naïve, helpless and ridiculous.
Do you want a laugh? You really have to give this a try.
The following illustrations are from the Gutenberg copy

Quote from story 1.
“To my slenderness, I also attribute a feeling as though all was not well in the vicinity of the waistline, even though I tightened and retightened my belt so snugly as to cause some difficulty in respiring properly.”


Quote from story 2
“Before replying, I sought to comply with the conventionalities of the occasion by doffing my hat. The difficulties of removing a hat with a hand which holds at the moment an umbrella and a small portmanteau can only be appreciated by one who has attempted the experiment. I succeeded, it is true, in baring my head, but knocked off my glasses and precipitated my steamer rug and a package of books to the floor, where my hat had already fallen.”


Quote from story 3
“ ’Kindly stand back two feet from the mouthpiece and say coo-coo three times, with a rising inflection on the final coo.’ The request appeared reasonable; accordingly I complied. “

[Elisabeth]

I read the first two stories, and though they made me smile a few times, I've read other humor that was funnier and less ponderous. I just didn't really have the desire to read the third story.