Lardner-You Know Me Al

In the early decades of the twentieth century newspaperman and humorist Ring Lardner (1885&;1933) made America laugh with his hilarious depictions of odd characters in the sporting world Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood. His first great success was You Know Me Al a fictional series of letters from a popular baseball hero to his friend slyly revealing the letter writer as a crude conceited semiliterate self-deceiving boob.The letters created while Lardner was writing a sports column for The Chicago Tribune first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post and were later published in book form in 1918. You Know Me Al reveals Lardner as a satirical master at the peak of his form: a fine albeit misanthropic storyteller with a superb feel for the niceties of characters and speech and a sure instinct for provoking laughter.