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Rudolph Edgar Block

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Rudolph Edgar Block (December 6, 1870 – April 29, 1940) was a Jewish American journalist, columnist, and author. Much of his writing was done under the pen name of Bruno Lessing.[2]

Rudolph Edgar Block[1][2]
Born(1870-12-06)December 6, 1870
New York City
DiedApril 29, 1940(1940-04-29) (aged 69)
Tucson, Arizona
Occupation(s)journalist, columnist, author
SpouseEleanor Block
ChildrenRudolph,[3] Albert

Biography

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Rudolph Block began his career as a journalist in 1888. He worked first as a news reporter on The New York Sun and later joined The New York World. In 1896 he became the editor of the comic supplements to the Hearst newspapers,[citation needed] a position he held for the next 28 years.[1] During his tenure he supplied text for The Yellow Kid[4] and helped to create such popular series as Happy Hooligan and The Katzenjammer Kids.[1] As "Bruno Lessing" his short stories chronicled life in the Jewish ghetto of New York City.[5] Between 1905 and 1909, many of these tales were published by Cosmopolitan, which at that time was a literary magazine.[6] During the years 1915 – 1916 he also wrote a number of screenplays depicting the Jewish American experience.[7]

Ambrose Bierce, another frequent contributor to Cosmopolitan,[8] mentioned Block in his satirical work The Devil's Dictionary, recounting the author's alleged encounter with a prominent critic.[9] A short poem by Bierce, titled "Rudolph Block", had no apparent connection to the man himself.[10]

An avid traveler, Block wrote about his experiences in the daily newspaper column "Vagabondia", which was published from 1928 through 1939.[11][12] Along the way he amassed a collection of 1,400 walking sticks, although he himself walked unaided.[13] After his death, the collection of canes, each made from a unique type of wood, was donated to Yale University.[14]

Selected works

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  • 1903 Children of Men[15]
  • 1909 Jake or Sam
  • 1914 With the Best Intention

References

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  1. ^ a b c William J. Burling, Bruno Lessing, vol. 28 of Dictionary of Literary Biography, (Detroit: Gale Research Co. 1984), pp. 133–136.
  2. ^ a b "Bruno Lessing is Dead in Arizona". St. Petersburg Times. May 2, 1940. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
  3. ^ "Bruno Lessing's Son Gets Post in Seattle" (PDF). Jewish Daily Bulletin. April 2, 1934. Retrieved October 19, 2024. also available at "Bruno Lessing's Son Gets Post in Seattle". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. April 2, 1934. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  4. ^ "Origins of the Kid: High Art". virginia.edu. Archived from the original on August 19, 2006.
  5. ^ Spack, Ruth (1994). "The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen". The International Story. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65797-6.
  6. ^ Schneirov, Matthew (1994). The Dream of a New Social Order. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 242. ISBN 0-231-08290-8.
  7. ^ "Bruno Lessing". IMDb. April 29, 1940. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  8. ^ Bierce, Ambrose (September 15, 2010). The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary. University of Georgia Press. p. 340. ISBN 0-8203-2634-8.
  9. ^ "The Devil's Dictionary: story". The Devil’s Dictionary daily definitions. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  10. ^ Shapes Of Clay, vol. 4 of The Collected Works Of Ambrose Bierce, (New York & Washington: Neale Pub. Co., 1910) p. 373.
  11. ^ The New York American April 5, 1935
  12. ^ The Milwaukee Sentinel December 21, 1939
  13. ^ Catalogue of a private collection of walking sticks. New York: Rudolph Block. OCLC 1041790652.
  14. ^ Rudolph Block's Collection: Canes Of Various Woods lumberjocks.com. Retrieved: January 27, 2014.
  15. ^ Lambert, Josh (2010). "Children of Men". American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide. Jewish Publication Society. p. 35. ISBN 9780827610026.
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Articles
"The End of the Task"
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