Damon Runyon on Broadway: More Than Somewhat. Furthermore. Take It Easy

It only took three and a half years but I have finally finished this A+++ collection of stories.

Runyon's evocative style renders up a forgotten world of seedy Broadway, populated with loquacious, and sometimes charismatic, criminals who are always as eager for an easy buck as they are to spin you a yarn of their latest adventures. He is so good at evoking the dialect and almost circular style of speaking that believably conjures up the sort of characters who would inhabit this world.

Each story is tightly planned, with an entire world of characters and events fully realised and resolved within ten to twenty pages. They're slick, hilarious, and villainously sentimental, full of the kind of characters who patronise those 1920s New York show more speakeasies and racecourses. They are liberally peppered with the small time crooks and gamblers of some bygone Broadway era, who all speak in that particular Runyon old-timey gangster slang and participate in the storytelling tradition. A cross between Raymond Chandler and Dorothy Parker.

More Than Somewhat was like that fairground ride which does those sudden drops, no fuss no muss, just a straightforward ride, you know all the set-up is going to pay off and they sure do in the most satisfyingly heartwarming way that lets you romanticise the rough 20s Broadway life.

Furthermore and Take It Easy were bumpier ride, a more janky and lurching rollercoaster with unexpected and uneven ups and downs, sometimes veering into very dark humour (death is definitely more liberally dished out than before), with its last lines still delivering its usual pithy repartees to the reader and only slightly lacking the heart that was so satisfying previously. show less

2026 reread: I love the style of Runyon's Broadway stories and the occasional interconnectedness of the tales adds to the appeal. Might be the only short story collection where I am happy to keep reading after I finish an individual story. There are a small handful that go too dark to still be considered funny but overall it is a classic.

Original review: How to describe Runyon's stories? Let's start with the simple part - On Broadway is three collections of short stories brought together, housing 47 (I think) stories within its voluminous pages. Despite being an easy read, this is such a large book that you can't really carry it around with you.

I'm not usually a fan of short stories, mainly because they are just whetting my appetite show more when they stop. But Runyon's short stories are interconnected, each one told by the same narrator and often featuring or mentioning familiar characters, so even though the story itself may be over, you never have to leave the world in which it lives. I've twice started making a list of all the recurring characters, but I always get distracted.

The stories are set across the twenties and thirties, during and after prohibition, and follow the unnamed narrator, who can usually be found gambling on the horses, eating in Mindy's restaurant or drinking in Good Time Charley's speakeasy. Most of the stories take place around Broadway in New York but there are a fair few that cover Miami and even some European countries. Our narrator doesn't have a job, never has any money and despite claiming to have little morality or compassion, he is seen as harmless and helpful by absolutely every gambler, thief, bootlegger, hitman and stripper on Broadway, who will either drag him along on an adventure, or dump their life story on him.

The stories are mostly tales of romance or revenge (sometimes both) and always have a twist, or punchline, some little kick at the end. So obviously if you read 47 of these in a row, you pretty quickly pick up on the pattern. Although that's not to say that I can guess how each story will end, just that I know there will be some kind of turnaround. Sometimes Runyon gives you pretty clear clues early on by mentioning a gun or something for no reason. It's kind of like listening to a really long joke and looking forward to the payoff. There are a few stories in this collection that are very similar to each other, almost like 'whoops' similar, but on the whole they all bring their own enjoyment. There's a theme of honour in most of the stories, which is weird considering that the characters are mostly lowlives and murderers, and the events are often horrific, yet you're left feeling satisfied at the end.

As for the style, that's where Runyon lights up. His narrator and therefore all the other bums on Broadway speak in this bizarrely formal, polite and euphemistic manner, making the stories of mob wars etc become delightfully quaint. Added to his use of the present tense, no contractions and endless slang, the dialogue is always hilarious.

There were maybe four or five stories out of the lot that I didn't enjoy as much - those with a darker tone. Quite a few of the stories are tragic but also funny, whereas a couple go for out-right heartbreaking, which isn't my scene. And then there are a couple that are downright horrible - usually Runyon's euphemisms can carry you through but some stories are a little more graphic and while the content is handled in a whimsical manner, what they are actually talking about would make Goodfellas blush.

But overall, Runyon's stories are great fun because of his absolutely crazy style. I'm pretty sure he was a genius. show less

The day I started this, I just read the introduction to the first book, 'More than Somewhat' by EC Bentley, and the first story 'Breach of Promise'. Bentley's intro is full of love for Runyon's writing, and says of the characters that 'you cannot help liking his guys and dolls', gangsters and racketeers, dancers and murderers in New York's criminal underclass during Prohibition. But 'they have a reckless, courageous vitality that makes you like hearing about them'.
You like hearing from them too. In 'Breach of Promise', Harry the Horse rounds up Spanish John, Little Isadore and his 'klob' partner Educated Edmund and they drive along the Hudson River 'and it is a very enjoyable ride for one and all on account of the scenery. It is the show more first time Educated Edmund and Spansih John and Little Isadore ever see the scenery along the Hudson although they all reside on the banks of this beautiful river for several years at Ossining. Runyon, as a ournalist, had reported electrocutions at Ossining prison. Harry the Horse's picturesque imagery and diction...oooh.. I didn't want to swallow too much of this rich diet on day one!
Runyon's stories include epithets for people. The repetition of 'ever-loving wife' reminds me of Rudyard Kipling, and someone else pointed out Homer to Bentley.
Some of the stories make me think too of Brer Rabbit, like a Deep South cousin, and I adored these stories as a kid. 'Pick the Winner' in the second book 'Furthermore' does, for example, where Miss Cutie Singleton gazes nto her crystal ball to foretell which horse will win tomorrow's race. The Professor is being set up, but he interprets her prediction as 'Mistral' rather than 'Breezing Along', wins 2Gs, Miss Cutie Singleton and his dignity. Hot Horse Herbie, and the anonymous narrator, have to look up the word 'mistral' to discover it means a cold, dry, northerly wind.
Feet Samuels, down on his luck is thinking of doing something very desperate. Our anonymous narrator remarks 'I cannot think of anything very desperate for Feet Samuels to do except maybe go to work. Feet decides to sell his body to a doctor.
The 'Lemon Drop Kid' rips off an old man in a wheelchair, then his own fate spirals down and down. When eventually the old man catches up with him, and would have been his saviour years ago, 'the Lemon Drop Kid begins to laugh in his low voice, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, but somehow there does not seem to be any laughter in the laugh, and I cannot bear to hear it.' Some of this is disturbingly dark. But then, isn't 'The Three Wise Guys' a great title! Featuring the Dutchman: 'The last I hear of the Dutchman he is in college somewhere out West for highway robbery, although afterwards he tells me it is a case of mistaken identity. It seems he mistakes a copper in plain clothes for a grocery man.'
These are fables. The baddie usually gets his come-uppance, like the terrifying Big False Face in 'The Brakeman's Daughter' with his sinister clown-like smile. And Runyon pops crack at himself now and then. Here, Big False Face plays a sick trick on 'doll-dizzy' girls, and Runyon lists 'a justice of the peace, three G-guys, eighteeen newspaper scribes, five prize-fighters' etc.
Some of the guys can love, some can't, some of the dools are loveable, some are feisty and many are just dangerous. Calvin Colby in 'Tight Shoes' is a spoilt brat with rich parents. He drives around, crashing cars with dolls in the passenger seat. 'Calvin Colby personally never experiences love, and regards dolls as only plaintiffs.' And I'd recommend 'Dream Street Rose' and 'Earthquake' for a couple of other great stories and characters.
There's so much you want to remember, reading these stories, so I'll be reading them again in a week or so. show less

All the stories from 3 collections: More Than Somewhat, Furthermore, and Take It Easy, plus a little supporting material. This book contains 47 stories. Many are familiar, many read like they are familiar. Some are sadder than the usual tone you expect.

Superb!