# Humorous memoirs 1900-1920?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-memoirs-1900-1920/266613>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 29, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-memoirs-1900-1920/266613 "2004-09-29T03:48:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-memoirs-1900-1920/266613/1 "2004-09-29T03:48:26Z")

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Recently I have read “Three Men In A Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome (1870s I think) and “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay” by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough (written in 1942 about 1925).

Both were utterly delightful and I discover that these humorous works make the people of the times seem much more contemporary than other styles.

Anybody know of works in the same vein from 1900-1920? (a time period of particular interest to me because I know relatively little about it)

Thanks Dopers!

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-memoirs-1900-1920/266613/2 "2004-09-29T04:01:45Z")

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Harpo Marx was born in 1888 and _Harpo Speaks_ is one of the best, and funniest, autobiographies I have ever read.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-memoirs-1900-1920/266613/3 "2004-09-29T12:34:42Z")

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**Cheaper by the Dozen** by Frank Kenneth Galbraith. The original memoir is great reading and was made into a pretty good play and movie (and I don’t mean the Steve Martin version, which has only a title in common).

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-memoirs-1900-1920/266613/4 "2004-09-29T14:39:45Z")

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Sterling North’s _Rascal_, about the pet raccoon he kept around 1917-1918. Lots of great small-town characters.

Clarence Day’s _Life with Father_ is set mostly in the 1890s, but he also has some writings about later periods, I think especially in _Life with Mother._

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-memoirs-1900-1920/266613/5 "2004-09-29T14:43:04Z")

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> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> **Cheaper by the Dozen** by Frank Kenneth Galbraith. The original memoir is great reading and was made into a pretty good play and movie (and I don’t mean the Steve Martin version, which has only a title in common).

Whoops, forgot – I’ll second this recommendation and also make a slight correction to the author name: Frank B. (Bunker) Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.