Lucius Beebe (1902–1966)
Author of Highball: A Pageant of Trains
About the Author
Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
Works by Lucius Beebe
The Big Spenders: The Epic Story of the Rich Rich, the Grandees of America and the Magnificoes, and How They Spent… (1900) 97 copies
Steamcars to the Comstock: The Virginia & Truckee Railroad and the Carson & Colorado Railroad (1957) 36 copies
Mr. Pullman's Elegant Palace Car: The Railway Carriage that Established a New Dimension of Luxury and Entered the… (1961) 20 copies
Comstock Commotion : the Story of the Territorial Enterprise and Virginia City News (1954) 16 copies
The Savoy of London 3 copies
Two Trains to Remember 1 copy
Associated Works
The American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating & Drinking Part 1 — Contributor — 8 copies
Great Railroad Stories of the World — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Beebe, Lucius
- Legal name
- Beebe, Lucius Morris
- Birthdate
- 1902-12-09
- Date of death
- 1966-02-04
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Wakefield, Massachusetts, USA
- Place of death
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Places of residence
- Wakefield, Massachusetts, USA (birth)
New York, New York, USA
Virginia City, Nevada, USA
San Francisco, California, USA - Education
- Harvard University (1926)
Yale University - Occupations
- author
photographer
journalist
railroad historian
poet
columnist - Relationships
- Zerbe, Jerome (partner)
Clegg, Charles M. (partner) - Organizations
- New York Herald Tribune
San Francisco Examiner
Boston Evening Transcript
Territorial Enterprise
Gourmet
Members
Reviews
Mansions on Rails: the Folklore of the Private… by Lucius Beebe
The one, the only Lucius Beebe brings his expertise to bear on the history of the private railroad car (being an owner himself). He obviously loves his topic, and lavishes rococo language and a plethora of detail on the topic. Lavishly illustrated, like all his works. Good fun.
Collection of Beebe's material, probably taken largely from his New York Herald-Tribune columns. A lot of the stories (like the one about the very expensive asparagus can) are well known, and the examination of cafe society does tend to pall after a time. Still, there are some highlights in the collection. Rea Irvin's illustrations are excellent.
Pretty much what you'd expect from one of the foremost gossip columnists and chronicler (as well as participant) in cafe society. Beebe makes no bones about being wholly in favour of the rich and notorious that he describes in the book, but it's done in his usual tongue-in-cheek manner. Certain vocabulary words (faubourg, refulgent) appear regularly. The only mark against the book is that it is a bit of recycling of some of his other work. This book came out in the year of his death, and might have been planned to capitalize on that. I doubt he would have had an issue with that.… (more)
Entertaining and acerbic collection of writings by Lucius Beebe from his early 1960s stint at the San Francisco Chronicle. Material that, in spite of his LGBTQ status, wouldn't be published today.
Lists
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 43
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 1,452
- Popularity
- #17,699
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 12
- ISBNs
- 42
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 1
