Tue, June 29 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1715 Gelett Burgess claimed to have invented the word 'Blurb' back in 1907, and we are reading that very first Blurb from the back cover of the book that featured it. Then we will concentrate on stories from his 1901 collection 'The Burgess Nonsense Book.' Today's is a short piece with a long title -- 'McGurry and the Yellow Sunday Editor - Or, How a Pirate Found a Fair Competitor.' Time: approx five minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be f...
Jun 30, 2010•5 min
Mon, June 28 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1714 Our Monday book serialization continues with Metta Victoria Victor's 1859 novel 'Miss Slimmens's Window.' In Chapter Ten, Alvira Slimmens's reputation is at stake in 'She Is Accused of Scandal.' As always, your comments are welcome! Mail to: revry@panix.com Time: approx twelve and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue...
Jun 29, 2010•13 min
Fri, June 25 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1713 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! One of those favorite authors is James M. Bailey, The Danbury Newsman, who has written some of the funniest stories of all time back in the ...
Jun 26, 2010•11 min
Thur, June 24 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1712 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! Today's piece is by H. T. White of the Chicago Tribune, and it concerns a jaded editor who has heard the same submitted story way too many ...
Jun 25, 2010•7 min
Wed, June 23 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1710 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! Once again, we offer a George W. Peck story from this booklet -- one of the funniest we've ever presented. It is called 'A Single Hair.' Tim...
Jun 24, 2010•10 min
Tue, June 22 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1710 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! In the past we have featured funny stories by Sweet and Knox, the editors of 'Texas Siftings.' Today's hilarious piece is by these guys. It'...
Jun 23, 2010•9 min
Mon, June 21 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1709 Our Monday book serialization continues with Metta Victoria Victor's 1859 novel 'Miss Slimmens's Window.' In Chapter Nine, hope springs eternal for Miss Slimmens in 'Wanted, a Wife: Miss Slimmens Answers the Advertisement.' As always, your comments are welcome! Mail to: revry@panix.com Time: approx sixteen and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty inte...
Jun 22, 2010•16 min
Sat, June 19 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1708 Our Saturday Night Special piece is a short poem about the 'best young man in town,' by the elusive C. H. Hoyt from 1883 -- it's called 'The Consequence.' Time: approx two and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Thomas L. Masson Index of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/masson.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue #59 iProng Magazine ( now kno...
Jun 20, 2010•3 min
Fri, June 18 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1707 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! We are wrapping up the week with a George W. Peck tale of a Mad, Mad, woman -- It is called 'Death of a Servant-Girl.' Time: approx four min...
Jun 19, 2010•4 min
Thur, June 17 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1706 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! We have discovered a great, truly funny author, who wrote a column for the Boston Post from 1879 to 1883, then went on to become one of Ame...
Jun 18, 2010•8 min
Wed, June 16 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1705 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! Today we bring back one of our favorite authors, M. Quad (C. B. Lewis), with an 1882 'Waiting for Godot'-type story called 'Waiting at the J...
Jun 16, 2010•10 min
Tue, June 15 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1704 Back in Episode #1418, we read 'Spoopendyke at Death's Door,' which was obligingly photocopied by a fan from the 1883-84 edition of 'St. Jacob's Oil Family Calendar and Book of Health and Humor for the Million.' We now have the entire booklet and it is chock full of great stories by some of our favorite authors! Today's tale is called 'Bill Nye's Cat.' Frederick Opper Time: approx seven and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be...
Jun 15, 2010•7 min
Mon, June 14 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1703 Our Monday book serialization continues with Metta Victoria Victor's 1859 novel 'Miss Slimmens's Window.' In Chapter Eight, Miss Slimmens sees some seemingly scandalous things out her window, and passes it on to the town gossip in 'An Argos-Eyed Spider Weaves a Web for a Fly.' As always, your comments are welcome! Mail to: revry@panix.com Time: approx twelve minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Ron...
Jun 15, 2010•12 min
Sun, June 13 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1702 SUNDAY SALAD features a very short but fun piece from 1881 about how to get a nice piece of fish in the winter. It's called 'Explanatory.' Time: approx two and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Stanley Huntley and Spoopendyke Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/Spoopendyke_Stories.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue #59 iProng Maga...
Jun 14, 2010•3 min
Sat, June 12 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1701 Our Saturday Night Special story is a truly unique set of lessons from 1922 by Thomas L. Masson, 'How I Wrote 50,000 Jokes.' Time: approx twenty-eight and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Thomas L. Masson Index of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/masson.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue #59 iProng Magazine ( now known as Beatweek Magazi...
Jun 12, 2010•28 min
Fri, June 11 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1700 This is the 1700th Episode of Mister Ron's Basement! 'Walt Mason's little sermonettes in rhyme are gospels, and they are going about doing good.' -- Robert J. Burdette This week we are offering more of Walt's 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' In our era of online Flame Wars and angry people expressing themselves violently, Walt Mason offers some great advice -- 'Put It On Ice.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The ...
Jun 12, 2010•4 min
Thur, June 10 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1699 William Dean Howells -- 'I began to read, skeptically at first, but more and more persuaded, and at last could not break away from those fascinating rhymes masking as prose, in a carnival concourse of pathos, and fun, and satire, and aspiration, but, above all, sense, sense, sense.' This week we are offering more of Walt's 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' Today we explore the results of 'Bad Cooking.' Time: approx thr...
Jun 11, 2010•4 min
Wed, June 9 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1698 'Walt Mason has entertained me on many a dreary railway journey.' -- Theodore Dreiser This week we are offering more of Walt's 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' Today's prose poem is a moody one -- 'A Rainy Night.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue #59 iProng Ma...
Jun 09, 2010•3 min
Tue, June 8 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1697 'The facetious, capricious, delicious poems of Walt Mason.' -- James Whitcomb Rile y This week we are offering more of Walt's 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' Today we feature Walt's prose poem concerning a very, very old man, and how he got that way -- 'Methuselah.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a ...
Jun 09, 2010•3 min
Mon, June 7 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1696 Our Monday book serialization continues with Metta Victoria Victor's 1859 novel 'Miss Slimmens's Window.' In Chapter Seven, Miss Slimmens plays a 'harmless' practical joke in 'Josh Stebbins's Wife's First Tea Party.' As always, your comments are welcome! Mail to: revry@panix.com Time: approx twenty-five minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mist...
Jun 08, 2010•25 min
Sun, June 6 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1695 SUNDAY SALAD has a great Stanley Huntley story from exactly 130 years ago to the day (June 6, 1880) about a newly arrived rich Denver miner at a snooty Eastern spot, 'In Search of the Aristocracy.' Time: approx eight minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The Stanley Huntley and Spoopendyke Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/Spoopendyke_Stories.html *There is a nifty i...
Jun 07, 2010•8 min
Sat, June 5 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1694 Our Saturday Night Special story from 1900 by W. L. Alden, concerns a great hobby for anyone -- in the episode, we mistakenly call the story 'Needles' -- it really ought to be called 'Pins.' Time: approx six minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html The W. L. Alden Catalog of Stories is at: http://ronevry.com/alden.html There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue #59 iProng...
Jun 06, 2010•6 min
Fri, June 4 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1693 'Walt Mason is a better tonic than anything that ever was bottled.' -- Elbert Hubbard This week we are offering some of Walt's 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' Today we learn the secret of how to get writing published in 'Unappreciated.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ro...
Jun 05, 2010•4 min
Thur, June 3 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1692 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- 'Walt Mason is delightful -- true humor is so rare a commodity.' This week we are offering some of Walt's 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' We continue from yesterday's theme with some advice from a doctor in 'Eating Too Much.' Time: approx three minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mist...
Jun 03, 2010•3 min
Wed, June 2 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1691 Mary Roberts Rinehart - 'I have Walt Mason and coffee every morning, and one is as necessary as the other, but Walt doesn't give me heartburn, and coffee does.' This week we are offering some of Walt's 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' Today we examine the concept of 'Progressive Doctoring.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_C...
Jun 03, 2010•4 min
Tue, June 1 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1690 We have a returned from a three day hiatus, and should be on a regular schedule again! Walt Mason was called 'The high priest of horse sense' by George Ade. This week we will feature some of his 'prose poems' from the 1911 collection, 'Walt Mason - His Book.' Today's piece concerns a 'Toothache.' Time: approx three and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a ni...
Jun 02, 2010•3 min
Fri, May 28 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1689 This week, we are reading extremely short but fun stories found in the pages of Puck Magazine. Today we feature a somewhat longer, but very funny tale, especially if you've ever been to Boston. From 1880, we present 'The Lay (Out) of the Last Puritan - A Boston Legend.' Time: approx ten and a half minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron...
May 28, 2010•10 min
Thur, May 27 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1688 This week, we are reading extremely short but fun stories found in the pages of Puck Magazine. From 1911, today we discover the difference between 'Lunch and Luncheon.' Time: approx three minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue #59 iProng Magazine ( now known as Beatweek Magazine ) which can be downloaded as a free pdf file he...
May 27, 2010•3 min
Wed, May 26 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1687 This week, we are reading extremely short but fun stories found in the pages of Puck Magazine. Perhaps you may have noticed that some people get a bit queasy trying to dine while on a boat. This, of course, is the point of today's tale 'At the Captain's Table' from 1905. Time: approx three minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issu...
May 26, 2010•3 min
Tue, May 25 2010 Mister Ron's Basement #1686 This week, we are reading extremely short but fun stories found in the pages of Puck Magazine. Our first piece is a business letter about a misdirected package, addressed to A. Q. Stork, Esq. This 1915 tale is called 'A Business Affair.' Time: approx three minutes The Mister Ron's Basement Full Catalog can be found at: http://ronevry.com/Mister_Rons_Full_Catalog.html *There is a nifty interview with Mister Ron in issue #59 iProng Magazine ( now known ...
May 26, 2010•3 min
