Calvin Trillin is an American journalist and humorist who's written for The New Yorker, Time Magazine, The Nation, and other publications.
Calvin Trillin
Trillin's journalistic career may have begun when his father decided Calvin and his sister should learn typing. Over the years, most of Trillin's writing has been for magazines, and his work includes serious reporting pieces, short pieces that are meant to amuse (casuals), and pieces that are somewhere in between.
I'll give a few examples.
📓 The Lede (2021)
The first paragraph of a story, meant to engage the reader, is called the lede. Calvin collects ledes, and here's one he especially likes: "A veterinarian prescribed antibiotics Monday for a camel that lives behind an Iberville Parish truck stop after a Florida woman told law officers she bit a 600-pound animal's genitalia after it sat on her when she and her husband entered its enclosure to retrieve their deaf dog."
Calvin goes on to provide a vivid portrait of what this lede brought to mind.
*****
📓 This Story Just Won't Write (2013)
In this piece, Calvin explains that he was a 'floater' in the early days of Time Magazine, when Time was designed 'to present the week's news succinctly to busy men.' A floater was essentially a pinch-hitter brought in when, say, the Sports writer was home with the flu, or the World writer was away on vacation. So Calvin felt he could puff up his reputation by calling himself "the former Art editor of Time, or the former Medicine editor, or the former Education editor, etc."
Calvin Trillin
Trillin goes on to explain how he had to edit pieces ad infinitum to fit Time's space restraints when 70 lines was the goal.
*****
📓 Show and Tell All (2000)
When a memoir about the New Yorker was written, Trillin (and all other staff members) would go to the bookstore, and without buying the book, look in the index for their name. Memoirists had no boundaries, and Calvin writes, "Even if your name in the index turned out to be unconnected to an indictable offense, it usually meant in the author's memory you had said something stupid or embarassing and he had come back with a wickedly apt rejoinder."
Trillin himself didn't write a memoir about the New Yorker, and his speculations about the skeptical comments from his (fictional) grandchildren are hilarious.
*****
📓 Covering the Cops (1986)
In this piece Trillin lauds Edna Buchanon, the renowned crime reporter for the Miami Herald. Calvin describes how Edna, who was relentless, got her stories. Crime journalism was especially difficult for a woman in a 'man's field,' and Trillin's admiration for Edna comes through loud and clear.
Edna Buchanon
*****
📓 Newshound (2003)
In this portrait of R.W. Apple, Jr. (Johnny Apple) of the New York Times, Trillin notes that Apple was a political reporter; a war reporter; a foreign correspondent; and a wide-ranging writer on culture, travel, and food.
R.W. Apple, Jr.
Apple was famous for his cultural interests and his high-flying lifestyle, largely paid for by the New York Times. Trillin observes that, while out on a story, Apple checked into "a hotel so staggeringly expensive that no other reporter would dare mention it on his expense account." Trillin also notes that Johnny was known as "Three Lunches Apple" and observes, "In an effort to find the perfect dining spot [Apple] had eaten in sixty French restaurants in London within a few months"....which was reflected in his girth.
Apple was a true character, and Trillin writes about Johnny'a life and his gifts as a reporter. In a half-compliment, a Times editor said Apple had "the best mind and the worst body in American journalism."
*****
📓 Molly Ivins (2007)
Molly Ivins was a columnist who wrote about Texas politics, and Trillin notes, "Those of us who adored her adored her not for her formidable talents but for the sort of person she was." Trillin goes on to say, "Her interest in helping the powerless was as genuine as her contempt for the public officials who concentrated on helping the powerful."
Molly Ivins
Molly was also funny, and it was she who wrote "if a certain congressman's IQ dropped any further he'd have to be watered twice a day." (Some things never change, right? 🙂)
*****
📓 The Life and Times of Joe Bob Briggs, So Far (1986)
When the Dallas Times Herald faced the dilemma of reviewing trashy drive-in movies like 'Mother Riley Meets the Vampire', movie reviewer John Bloom had a solution. Bloom would review these exploitation movies in the persona of a young redneck named Joe Bob Briggs.
John Bloom
In his column called 'Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In', the reviewer would summarize movies with comments like: "Sixty-four dead bodies. Bimbos in cages. Bimbos in chains. Arms roll. Thirty-nine breasts. Two beasts (giant lizard, octopus). Leprosy. Kung fu. Bimbo fu. Sword fu. Lizard fu. Knife fu. Seven battles. Three quarts of blood. A 39 on the vomit meter....Joe Bob says check it out."
John Bloom as Joe Bob Briggs
Joe Bob's column became a cultural phenomenon and Trillin tells the tale of Joe Bob's rise and fall and rise again.
*****
📓 The Truth Will Out (1978)
Trillin writes, "As a lover of truth, I am naturally pleased to see the facts emerging about H.L. Mencken's prediction concerning the first president from the Deep South." Mencken's forecast seemed prescient about the Carter First Family: "The President's brother, a prime specimen of Boobus Collunus Rubericus, will gather his loutish companions on the porch of the White House to swill beer from the bottle and snigger over whispered barnyard jokes....."
President Jimmy Carter (right) with his brother Billy
Billy Carter
There's some controversy about whether Mencken actually said this (and other things) about the first Southern president, and Trillin covers the topic in his article.
*****
📓 Sabbath Gasbags, Speak Up (2013)
Newscaster Tom Brokaw created the expression "the greatest generation" when speaking about WWII veterans. Afterwards, the phrase became part of the English lexicon.
Tom Brokaw
Trillin also hoped to slip a phrase into the language, and tried the following:
'Sabbath Gasbags' for people who pontificate on Sunday morning talk shows.
'R.N.A.' (Reply Not Anticipated) at the end of letters.
'Rubaphobia' for fear of being thought a rube.
'D.T.S.' (Disappearing Tush Syndrome) for the tendency of older men's butts to flatten out.
None of them worked.
*****
📓 Back on the Bus (2011)
Trillin's last piece is about the year he spent in the Atlanta bureau of Time, from 1960 to 1961. Calvin observes that a lot happened in that twelve month span, including desegregation of public schools in New Orleans and Atlanta; sit-in movements at lunch counters; Freedom Riders heading South to protest segregated bus terminals; etc.
To prepare for the assignment in Atlanta Trillin did some reading, and he writes, 'I knew that the picture of the antebellum south where a plantation owner composes poetry at his desk while his slaves sing in the cotton fields was drawn from Hollywood rather than from history, even if most white Southerners accepted it as gospel.'
Calvin goes on to describe observations he made during his stint in Atlanta, where white folks thought Yankee reporters were unwelcome meddlers....and where the press was targeted with violence.
Of course, things have changed since then, as evidenced by the commemorations of the Freedom Rides on their 50th anniversary.
*****
Trillin's writing ventures high and wide, and the book also includes articles about LGBTQ issues in journalism; male chauvinism in journalism; BBQ restaurants; tributes to deceased journalists; Al Gore's weight; alternative newspapers; out-of-the-way eateries; and more.
Chinese Street Food
*****
For the most part, Calvin Trillin's writing is new to me, but I enjoyed the book for the historical perspective; the people Calvin profiles; and the laughs.
Thanks to Netgalley, Calvin Trillin, and Random House for a copy of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
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