Wolcott Gibbs

Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (March 15, 1902 - August 16, 1958) was an American editor, humorist, theatre critic, playwright and author of short stories, who worked for The New Yorker magazine from 1927 until his death. He is best remembered for his 1936 parody of Time magazine, which skewered the magazine's inverted narrative structure. Gibbs wrote, "Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind"; he concluded the piece, "Where it all will end, knows God!" He also wrote a comedy, Season in the Sun, which ran on Broadway for 10 months in 1950-51 and was based on a series of stories that originally appeared in The New Yorker.

He was a good friend and frequent editor of John O'Hara, who named his fictional town of "Gibbsville, Pa." for him.

Biography

Career

Although not a regular member of the Algonquin Round Table, Gibbs was closely associated with many of its leading names, inheriting the job of theatre critic at The New Yorker from Robert Benchley in 1938. Because his years at the magazine largely overlapped with those of the better-known Alexander Woollcott, many people have confused them or assumed they were related. In fact, Gibbs was a cousin of Alice Duer Miller – yet another member of the Algonquin set – but he was not a relative of Woollcott's. On numerous occasions, in print and in person, Gibbs expressed an intense dislike for Woollcott as both an author and as a person. In a letter to James Thurber, in fact, Gibbs wrote that he thought Woollcott was "about the most dreadful writer who ever existed." Thomas Kunkel aserts in his biography of New Yorker founder Harold Ross, "Genius in Disguise", that a Gibbs authored profile of Alexander Wollcott sparked the disassociation of Wollcott and the magazine.

Personal life

Gibbs was born to Angelica Singleton (née Duer) and Lucius Tuckerman Gibbs. He was the great-nephew of the chemist Oliver Wolcott Gibbs with whom he shared a first name. Gibbs, however, disdained the "Oliver" and never used it. Gibbs was married three times, on the last occasion to Elinor Mead Sherwin of the Sherwin-Williams paint family. An alcoholic and heavy smoker, he died on Fire Island of a heart attack while reading proofs of his upcoming book, More In Sorrow. His son, Wolcott Gibbs Jr., known as "Tony," has written extensively about yachting and was an editor at The New Yorker for several years in the 1980s.

Gibbs was a direct descendant of U.S. President Martin Van Buren.

Bibliography

Incomplete - to be updated

Articles

• Gibbs, Wolcott (1 January 1949). "Theatre: Well, Happy New Year Anyway". The New Yorker 24 (45): 34–37. 

Reviews John van Druten's "Make Way for Lucia"; "Oh, Mr. Middlebrook!" at the John Golden Theatre; Jean Kerr's "Jenny Kissed Me" at the Hudson Theatre.

• Gibbs, Wolcott (8 January 1949). "Theatre: Giraudoux, Porter, and Guitry". The New Yorker 24 (46): 48–53. 

Reviews Jean Giraudoux's "The Madwoman of Chaillot" at the Belasco Theatre; Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate" at the New Century Theatre; Sacha Guitry's "Don't Listen, Ladies" at the Booth Theatre.

• Gibbs, Wolcott (7 January 1950). "Theatre: Miss George, Master White, and Dr. Goldsmith". The New Yorker 25 (46): 44–46. 

Reviews Rosemary Casey's "The Velvet Glove"; Sarett and Herbert Rudley's "How Long Till Summer?"; Oliver Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer".

• Gibbs, Wolcott (21 January 1950). "Theatre: Eliot and others". The New Yorker 25 (48): 47–50. 

Reviews T. S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party".

• Gibbs, Wolcott (4 February 1950). "Theatre: Miss Hepburn in Arden". The New Yorker 25 (50): 48–52. 

Reviews The Theatre Guild's production of "As You Like It" at the Cort Theatre; Samuel A. Taylor's "The Happy Time" at the Plymouth Theatre; William Berney and Howard Richardson's "Design for a Stained Glass Window" at the Mansfield Theatre.

Fiction

• Gibbs, Wolcott (15 January 1949). "The Life and Death and Life of George Whitehouse". The New Yorker 24 (47): 24–26. 

References

• James Thurber, The Years With Ross, 1959
• Brendan Gill, Here at The New Yorker, 1975
• Thomas Kunkel, Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross and The New Yorker, 1994
• "Whirlwind Gibbs" by Thomas Vinciguerra, The Weekly Standard.