I suspect most Americans under 40 or so would be unfamiliar with Mitty. I never had Thurber as assigned reading, but knew of him because my grandfather was a fan, and because some friends did excerpts from A Thurber Carnival for a prep school play.
…and I never knew there was a Danny Kaye movie before now.
I only know him from my literature textbook last year. While we didn’t cover the story it in class, I read the story out of curiosity.
I’m 62. I didn’t read any Thurber in school. I think the first Thurber story I read was The Figgerin’ of Aunt Wilma in my older brother’s HS English lit textbook. We had one collection of his stories, “Thurber Country”, and I read some of those stories. I also heard some tracks from the original cast LP (“Walter Mitty” not included) of A Thurber Carnival. I believe I first read “Walter Mitty” in an old issue of “Reader’s Digest”.
Thanks ! I seem to be one of the few lovers of that series: even most Turtledove fans appear to reckon it far from “his finest hour”.
I’m 41, American Educational System graduate, and I knew of the character, though I was a voracious reader in my youth.
Portlanders also have this to keep the name alive…
Danny Kaye was awesome. I grew up with the movie “Hans Christian Anderson” which starred Danny Kaye. I haven’t seen it since I was a child, but I bet it held up as entertainment value for children and families. I wonder if it is findable now.
Hmm. Was the owner named that? If not, do you think the Thurber Estate OK’d the name?
I have a feeling it is: Amazon.com: Hans Christian Andersen (DVD) : Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, Zizi Jeanmaire, Charles Vidor: Movies & TV
Awesome! Thank you!