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Archy at work on Don's typewriter
Click picture for full size image
WEBMASTERS:
Add a Don Marquis link to your site.
Who was Don Marquis and who cares?
Donald Robert Perry Marquis 1878-1937, was a newspaper
columnist, humorist, poet, playwright and author of about 35 books of which the best known
are books of humorous poetry about Archy the cockroach and Mehitabel the cat. Don's work
appeared regularly in the New York Sun and the Saturday Evening Post,
among other places. Though largely forgotten today, in his time Don Marquis was often described as
America's most popular and best-loved columnist, playwright, humorist and author.
Don still had enough fans in 1978, 41 years after his death, that several dozen people assembled in Port Townsend, Washington, to celebrate his 100th birthday. Among the celebrants were Frank Herbert, author of the Dune trilogy; William McCollum, Jr., editor of The Selected Letters of Don Marquis (Northwoods Press) and the now-defunct Don Marquis Newsletter; Bob Lyon of The Non-Profit Press who published Don's play Everything's Jake in honor of the occasion; and Jim Ennes, author of Assault on the Liberty (Random House), who proudly shares Don's name and maintains this web site. The group shared cocktails, dinner, conversation, speeches, stories about Don, and Baked Beans Ambrosia prepared exactly as Don says beans should be prepared in The Almost Perfect State.
This page is a creation of Jim Ennes, a longtime
admirer and namesake of Don's. Although not related by blood, Jim's full name is
James Marquis Ennes, Jr., because he was named after his father, James Marquis Ennes, Sr.
James, Sr. was named not after Don, but after Don's father, Dr. James Marquis, who was a respected elder neighbor and mentor of
Jim's grandfather, Lindsey Theodore Ennes (1886-1960). The Ennes and Marquis families were next-door neighbors for many
years in Walnut, Illinois, where Don was raised.
For a superb introduction to Don's The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel, click here to read a review by e b white at www.donmarquis.org/ebwhite.htm.
For more about Don, see
- Highway marker in Walnut, Illinois
- Don's family home in Walnut, Illinois
- Chronology and Bibliography compiled by Bill McCollum, editor of "The Selected Letters of Don Marquis"
- "O Rare Don Marquis," by Edward Anthony (Doubleday, 1962)
- Biography compiled by Biography Magazine.
- The Walnut Public Library writes about Don
- John Batteiger on Don Marquis
- Don Marquis on Don Marquis
- Don Marquis sketches Don Marquis
- Don Marquis picture gallery
- Norman Rockwell illustrates Don's short story "Willie Takes a Step" 1935 The American Magazine
- Don writes about "My Heart's Desire" in SUCCESS Magazine, 1925
- Don performed at half time at the 1928 Stanford Big Game
- Don writes about his days at Knox College
- On Being 55 -- Don writes about achieving his 55th year
- On Growing Old -- Don writes in "The Almost Perfect State" about how he hopes to grow old
- Christopher Morley writes about Don in The Saturday Review, May 15, 1937
- Christopher Morley writes about Don in The Saturday Review, June 5, 1937
- Christopher Morley writes about Don in The Saturday Review, January 8, 1938
- A marvelous eulogy to Don by his friend Benjamin DeCasseres
- Liberty Ship USS Don Marquis was christened in Don's memory in 1943
- Don Marquis quotations from brainyquote.com
- More Don Marquis quotations from brainyquote.com
- Marquis quotes from Zaadz.com
- Don remembered on Veterans Wall in Walnut, Illinois
- Don's "Lines for a Gravestone"
- Don's final resting place in New York City Cemetery
- Don's death mask
For all about Don's home town of Walnut, Illinois, see
Books about Don Marquis
Don's Archy & Mehitabel stories
Other Don Marquis stories, articles, essays, poems, letters
Other Don Marquis and related links
Where do we go from here?
We are grateful to The Gutenberg Project for arranging to publish several of Don's full length books electronically on the internet. Volunteer typists are needed to keep this project alive.
Now online in electronic and HTML text are:
- Danny's Own Story, Don's first novel (1912), in electronic text from Gutenberg,
or
HTML from The University of Virginia Library
- Dreams and Dust, a book of poetry (1915), in electronic text from Gutenberg,
or
HTML from The University of Virginia Library
- The Cruise of the Jasper B, a novel (1916),
in electronic text from Gutenberg
- Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers, a book of humor (1916), in electronic text from Gutenberg
As others become available, we will provide links.
- The Cruise of the Jasper B, offered by fullbooks.com
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