Christopher Morley's New York

by Christopher Morley, Walter J. Duncan (Illustrator)

A collection of fifty-five essays, written mostly in the mid-twenties but with some later examples as well, Christopher Morley’s New York presents in rich, evocative detail New York at the end of World War I – that heady time after the doughboys returned, the Twenties got roaring, the Volstead Act found itself thwarted, and a lot of progressive life got on with its business before running into the wall of the Great Depression. In the first section of the book, East Side, West Side, All Around the Town, we experience New York just as Morley through its bookstores, restaurants, taverns, waterfronts, and other locales that lent the city its unique, rough-and-tumble character. But we’re also treated to a vivid picture of Christopher Morley himself, particularly in the next section, The Three Hours for Lunch Club, in which Morley’s gusto in food, drink, companionship, conversation, and general bonhomie is plainly evident. Finally, in the last section, we experience another, suburban New Roslyn, Long Island, where for years Morley lived with his wife and family. Contrasted with the vulgar beauty of the city, the natural splendor Morley encountered on Long Island is particularly affecting.

This attractive volume is enhanced by the evocative period illustrations of Walter Jack Duncan, who illustrated so many Morley first editions.

379 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

American writer Christopher Darlington Morley founded the Saturday Review, from 1924 to 1940 edited it, and prolifically, most notably authored popular novels.

Christopher Morley, a journalist, essayist, and poet, also produced on stage for a few years and gave college lectures.

Reviews

[Sketchbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Aquitania, Normandie, Queen Mary, Majestic are just a few of the great liners that Morley recalls moored in the Hudson River, adjacent to townhouses, luxury buildings, restaurants, theatres. When I first saw NYC as a teen, there were many thrills : the art deco palace, Radio City Music Hall + the Rockettes, a Cole Porter musical, Picasso's Guernica at MoMA and burgers at P J Clarke's. But nothing topped the 65th fl rooftop view of the Ile de France sliding down the river toward the Atlantic. It was a spectacular sight. These great international dowagers, parked within walking distance of midtown, gave NYC an enchanting accessibility to the World, along with a stirring worldliness that ripped through your heart. This emotional reality was not duplicated in London or Paris where you'd take the "boat-train" from the city to a distant departure dock.

"A ship in dock at a city pier," writes Morley, "strange sight! It is like a lion in a circus cage." There was nothing like it, and it added to what was unique about NYC. Tugboats, blazing lights, farewell and arrival crowds, writes Morley, for the Berengaria, Bremen, Mauritania, Rotterdam , "looming up in the haze..." Magnificent departure parties on the ship two hours before sailing matched blaring afternoon debarkations that let you hit cocktail hour at the Plaza or Waldorf, just check your watch.

This gentle book of essays remembers the Elevated trains in NYC : the 6th Ave L, hurtling uptown from Greenwich Village, adorns the cover. Last L to go was 3rd Ave, c 1950. You can see it in "The Lost Weekend." ~~ Morley loves NYC, "a bedlam of magical impertinence; the air is electric and nervous," he wrote in 1921. Believe it or not, back then he warned, "It is dangerous to fix undue affection on any landmark in New York; when you have suddenly learned to love and understand it, suddenly it disappears." Real estate interests have always controlled the island.

Morley stayed away from clubs ("they aren't for me"), but he invented his own: the Three Hours for Lunch Club where he and chums met in downtown restaurants, often near the sea, and prattled thoughtfully about glorious nonsense. It was the quality of chatter that mattered, not the topic. Morley (1890-1957) wrote the best-seller, "Kitty Foyle" (1939), abt a white-collar working girl who has an abortion. Ginger Rogers won an Oscar, but the movie was moderated.

A key line, writ in 1923 : "The task of civilization is not to be looking back at a Good Time long ago, but to see the significance and secret of that which is around us."

[craige · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a Christmas present from my mom this year. I read the first essay on the train this morning. What I want to do more than anything right now is go through all the references, look them up online, and find out what they are now, or if they even still exist. Like McQueery's on 35th St. What/where was that exactly? Also, apparently Morley was quite enamoured of Hoboken, namely the Clam Broth House. Too bad that is no longer serving clams. But it does still stand! I know that much.

Such a great way to read about old New York. I loved it. I don't reread books very often, but this is one I could see coming back to again and again.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite not knowing anything about Christopher Morley (and the book being different from what I expected going into it), I ended up enjoying this read. It's a collection of essays from Morley (a popular writer in the early 1900s) that are all on the topic of New York in one way or another.

I'm not usually a fan of this time period, but Morley writes some very pleasant prose, most of it quaint and lightly humorous. Of course some of it is hard to connect with, the writing being mostly about day to day life in the city nearly a hundred years ago, but there is also a lot from Morley's musings that a modern reader can connect with. I often had to smile at some apt description of the city or some reflection of Morley's love and admiration for New York.

The book did get a little boring in certain parts; I found the essays about steamships and boating to be particularly tiring. Overall, though, there is a charm of a bygone era in these essays that I really liked, and that Morley is able to narrate nicely.

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great columns. Up there with Meyer Berger's work in the same vein.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This quaint minuet is redolent with the atmosphere of bygone days."