Little Murders

by Jules Feiffer

Depressed New Yorker Alfred Chamberlain is engaged to perky, can-do Patsy Newquist. As their wedding day grows near, Alfred finds himself embroiled in an urban nightmare not the least of which is his fiance's family, the possiblity of marriage without Faith, muggings, and a sniper's bullet.

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Humor, Drama, Theatre

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Jules Feiffer was an American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and author whose work left a significant imprint on American satire and cultural commentary. Emerging from the postwar era of newspaper comics, he first gained recognition through his long-running comic strip published in The Village Voice, where his loose, expressive line drawings and psychologically sharp dialogue captured the anxieties, contradictions, and social performances of contemporary life. Feiffer used humor to critique politics, relationships, and everyday neuroses, developing a voice that felt conversational, self-aware, and deeply engaged with the shifting cultural moods of the United States. His graphic style, which often emphasized gesture and tone over detailed renderings, was equally distinctive, and helped expand the visual vocabulary of editorial and literary cartooning. Beyond his cartoons, Feiffer became an accomplished writer for stage and screen; his play Little Murders offered a darkly comic exploration of violence and alienation in urban America, while his screenplay for Mike Nichols’s film Carnal Knowledge drew widespread attention for its unflinching examination of intimacy and desire. Feiffer also wrote children’s books, including the popular The Phantom Tollbooth, for which he provided the illustrations that helped establish the book’s imaginative visual identity. He demonstrated an enduring commitment to making art accessible, engaging with students and general audiences alike through teaching and public appearances, and continued producing work across multiple genres throughout his life. His comics and writings were often autobiographical in spirit, even when fictionalized, providing commentary on his experiences growing up in New York and moving through decades of cultural change. Feiffer received numerous honors for his contributions to American arts, including major awards recognizing his innovation in cartooning, his influence on graphic storytelling, and his impact on theater and film. His later work included longer-form graphic novels and personal memoirs, reflecting on childhood, family, and the evolution of his artistic voice. Feiffer remained an active and inquisitive creator well into his later years, consistently exploring new creative forms and responding to contemporary political and social issues. His legacy is seen in the work of generations of cartoonists and writers who drew inspiration from his willingness to bring emotional depth, social critique, and literary ambition to comics and satire. Feiffer’s work stands as a testament to the power of humor to illuminate the complexities of human behavior and the cultural forces that shape everyday life.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rest in peace, Jules Feiffer, 1/23/25, at the age of 95, Pulitzer-prize winner, playful and inventive til the end. Little Murders (1970) I read after seeing the 1971 film adaptation featuring Elliot Gould as an art photographer, who is failing at his chosen career until he begins submitting photographs of. . . how do I say this? uh, dog poop, and suddenly explodes into artworld darling, an avant garde artiste. Nobody seems to get his joke, but hey, he can now pay the rent on time.

So it's a social and cultural satire, set in Manhattan, where most apartment windows are now covered by locked iron doors and everyone living behind them fires multiple guns on to the street from time to time in response to the constant warfare. I haven't seen it or read it in decades and can't say what I'd think of it now--funny, astute, ridiculous? That's what I thought then.

[Ghada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jean-Luc Godard was *supposed* to direct the movie. I can’t help but wonder what that version might’ve looked like, though I absolutely love what Arkin did with it.

Writing this review is challenging because I love the movie so much. I'm not sure if this should be a review of the play or the movie, but reading the play after falling in love with the film version has made me appreciate it even more.

The story follows the Newquist family in NYC during a time when the city was basically falling apart - random shootings, garbage strikes, blackouts, social decay…etc.

I think what makes this dark comedy so brilliant and timeless is its portrayal of how people try to make sense of a world that’s falling apart. Even though it’s set in the late 60s/early 70s, those themes of apathy, social breakdown, and the search for meaning in chaos are just as relevant today, I even can imagine an Egyptian adaptation of it. The play perfectly captures the absurdity of trying to maintain normality in a world gone mad.

There is a lot to say about this play, but I just don't know how!

The movie is on YouTube, highly recommended:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtUYL...

The play was really hard to find until I discovered a scanned copy available for borrowing on archive.org
https://archive.org/details/littlemur...
And
https://archive.org/details/littlemur...

[Moran · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole thing was too melodramatic for me.

I like the concept more than the execution. But it could have also been that something was lost in translation in my reading of the script.

I watched the trailer for the film adaptation and it looks better than what I read.

[Bobby Keniston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have said this about several of the plays I have read this month, but "Little Murders", despite being dated in some regards, is honestly just as relevant today, if not more so. I had read the play a number of years ago, probably as a teenager or young adult, but couldn't remember it--- strange, since as I read it today, I realized it was a piece that really hits my sweet spot as a reader and audience member--- a savage and savagely funny satire and dark comedy that brilliantly and forcefully depicts an America where violence, and particularly gun violence, is as American as apple pie (as Clive Barnes wrote)... or, in other words, simply America. Feiffer said he was inspired to write the story after the assassination of JFK (though he was not necessarily a fan), which was quickly followed upon by the assassination of Oswald, and the violence in Vietnam: "So the motive of the play was the breakdown of all forms of authority--- religion, family, the police. Urban violence was always the metaphor in my mind for something more serious in the country." (Quote from the New York Times)
The play begins in the Newquist family's apartment: the matriarch, Marjorie needs to prepare for dinner, as grown daughter Patsy is bringing her new boyfriend Alfred over to meet her family. Carol, the patriarch (who hates being called by his given name of Carol), figures he will have to booze up the young man to find that he isn't good enough for his daughter. He is adamant that every boyfriend of Patsy's has not been a "real man", and questions their sexuality, all while ignoring his son Kenny, living at home but attending college, who may be closeted. Patsy, a very positive, bright, and strong daughter arrives. She is adored by her father and brother, yet her mother seems somewhat uncomfortable around her. Alfred, her new boyfriend, is a big guy with bruises all over his face--- because of his size, he says that people always want to pick fights with him. He lets them beat on him (as long as they don't touch his cameras--- he is a photographer) until they tire out. This does not sit well with Carol:
CAROL: Christ Jesus, you're not a pacifist?
PATSY: (warning) Daddy...
ALFRED: (slowly shaking his head) An apathist.
Patsy, in fact, can't pull herself away from Alfred because he is so different--- he won't fight, and because of this, she can't win a fight with him.
The family and guest sit down for dinner amidst rolling blackouts and gunshots going on at a fairly regular rate outside the window. And this continues all throughout the play, the gunshots, even before the wedding of Alfred and Patsy (after a big to-do because Alfred doesn't want God mentioned in the ceremony) until, ultimately, there are tragic results from the gunshots, leading to the death of a major character (I won't say which one). Bringing about an ending that essentially paints the picture that the American way of dealing with gun violence is by becoming perpetrators of it yourself.
Jules Feiffer was known as a cartoonist first, at the Village Voice (where he produced the weekly comic strip Feiffer until 1997) before garnering a reputation as a writer and playwright, though as Clive Barnes noted, his cartoons are always monologues from a character, or dialogues. He wrote the animated short "Munro" which won an Academy Award. He also wrote a novel called "Harry, the Rat With Women" in 1963.
"Little Murders" first appeared on Broadway in 1967, featuring Elliot Gould (who would later star in the film adaptation), but it was iced out by critics and closed after seven performances. It fared better in London. But then in 1969, it was staged Off-Broadway, where it probably belonged in the first place, in a production featuring Fred Willard and directed by Alan Arkin (who would helm the film), and received great reviews and ran for 400 performances.
Feiffer is 92, and, from what I could find, he is still teaching at an MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton. He won a Pultizer for Editorial Cartooning, and is in the Comic Book Hall of Fame.
I cannot tell you how much I love this play. It is the type of bold, dark comedy that I find both hilarious and poignant and important... the kind of work I like to do myself from time to time. I would love to see it produced a whole bunch--- as I say, it is still very relevant.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good play, but about an ultra-violent version of our society, where people are regularly shot at, sometimes through their apartment windows. The sound of gunshots is always part of the background noise. Why believe in anything? Why fight back? Why not take photos of fecal matter?

Great dialogue, though the overt homophobia is hard to stomach (this was published in 1968), and very easy to imagine onstage -- though it would be even more upsetting to watch (and hear) than it was to read. Interesting note: This is by the author of The Phantom Tollbooth.

[Zev Roschy · Rating 4 out of 5]

irresponsibly I read this at maachíkʼs house instead of writing my essays but it was worth it this was a hilarious endeavor into nihilism and horribly so, extremely applicable to 2025. the movie was better though!

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chistoso en una forma perturbadora.

[Sophie Yerxa-Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't quite know what to expect, was incredibly impressed with the ease at which this world presented itself. The whole family is insanely bizarre, the situation turns out to be more surreal than it initially lets on and despite the ridiculous feel of some of the specific happenings every character felt real, their situations felt pretty real. It was also easy to draw connections and see why everything was being pulled into the extremes they were. I dunno, basically really enjoyed it despite not quite being sure what exactly was going on throughout the beginning.

[Colleen AF]

Really brilliant and hysterical. The kind of play that makes you laugh and then instantly feel like a worse person for finding it funny. Dark comedy at its best. As another reviewer pointed out, this is even more relevant today, 40+ years after it was written. Based on the stills included in this volume I totally need to hunt down the movie version.

[First Second Books]

Really brilliant and hysterical. The kind of play that makes you laugh and then instantly feel like a worse person for finding it funny. Dark comedy at its best. As another reviewer pointed out, this is even more relevant today, 40+ years after it was written. Based on the stills included in this volume I totally need to hunt down the movie version.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

great play

[Charles Berman · Rating 4 out of 5]

relentless and hilarious satire.

[Sean Nolan]

it was alright

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be an excellent show to produce in todays society. It is rich with relevant details of this modern age.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

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