Chatting with Bob Mlnottl,
a well known New Yorker who
traded the Gay White Way for
Oriental’s more leisurely
Pamlico pace, Is always an
enjoyable experience.
It’s doubly enjoyable for a
typewriter pounder like us,
since Bob worked for a
metropolitan newspaper many
years ago. That was before his
operation of a popular Long Is
land restaurant.
His friends In the old days
Included such journallsUc
giants as Damon Runyon and
Arthur Brisbane, both now de
ceased, and Walter Wlnchell,
who at this writing Is still
very much alive.
Mlnottl was especially fond
of Runyon, In whose memory
and name many millions of
dollars have been raised for
cancer research. The two were
closely associated, and Bob was
nearby when the man who wrote
so cleverly of the Big Town’s
“guys and dolls” passed away.
Few who become smear^
with printer’s Ink approach
Runyon’s versatility. He was
a war correspondent, colum
nist, short-story writer, and an
authority on show business and
sports. His stack of books In
cluded My Wife Ethel, My Old
Man, and Money From Home.
Four of his novels were made
Into movies. Along with Bob,
the one we remember best, as
will older New Bemlans, was
Little Miss Marker, starring
an adorable moppet named Shir
an adorable moppet named
Shirley Temple. A tender story.
It helped to make Shirley a
beloved International star.
“Everybody liked Runyon,”
Mlnottl told us during a coffee
session the other day. “He got
the characters for his stories
from real people he met and
knew as he made his rounds
of New York.”
In one respect at least, Run
yon resembled Asheville’s
great literary figure, Thomas
Wolfe. Both were careless
dressers. “Damon’s necktie
was seldom In the right place,”
Bob recalled. And Runyon was
no nlbbler when It came to
eating.
Mlnottl remembers Arthur
before Runyon In 1936, as the
“rlghthand man” of William
Randolph Hearst. For various
periods, he was editor of the
New York World, New York
Evening Journal, and the Wash
ington Times.
His specialty was forceful
editorials, syndicated in hun
dreds of newspapers. Brisbane
had a style that appealed to
most readers. For some reason
or other, we remember him best
for the optimistic columns he
wrote before the Wall Street
crash of 1929, encouraging
Americans to continue on their
stock-buying spree.
“Walter Wlnchell has al
ways been a neat dresser,”
says Mlnottl. Incidentally, be
fore Wlnchell turned news
paperman he was a hoofer In
vaudeville. His first articles
In print appeared back in 1922,
for The Vaudeville News.
He is credited, or blamed,
according to your point of view,
with originating the gossip
column as we know it today.
Some of his critics accused
the fast talking commentator
of using “keyhole” tactics In
his snooping for choice Items.
For better or worse, Wlnchell
invented a type of jargon that
(Continued on Page 8)
New Bern PuBlic Library
The NEW BERN
WEEKLY
OF
E#.
Ca. ^
Si Per
VOLUME 6
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1963
NUMBER 18
THE GANG’S ALL HERE—^Pictured are kids from City
Recreation playgrounds who showed up for a bicycle
rodeo j(^tly sponsored by the Department and the
New Bern Pilot Club. Pedal pushers from seven to four-
teen had a parade, and competed in a variety of events
for coveted ribbons; It was a lot of fun, topped off by
refreshments served by Pilot members to their happy
guests.—Photo by John R. Baxter.
BRUIN’S MOVING DAY—Workers struggling with the
New Bern High school bear aren’t mistreating him,
even if it appears that one of them is trying to keep
the ponderous student mascot from breathing. The big
fellow — weighing gosh knows how much — had to
find a new spot on the campus to make room for addi
tional clas.s room.s. He was good natured about the mat
ter.—Photo by .John R. Baxter.
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