Alexander King (1) (–1965)

A series of ill-natured, but amusing rants on facets of the process of life. He is funnier to my mind than Perelman, but not so good as the ordinary output of James Thurber.

Alexander King was a Jewish writer, illustrator, and wit who was a frequent guest on the Jack Paar Show. His life proceeded from accident [329], and he tries to write about it, hoping for a "moral" or meaningful pattern to emerge. [364] His enemy is drug addiction; or maybe just excessive worrying.

S. Lazarus's surreal cover deeply impressed me as a child; it impresses me still. My introduction as a lad to drug addiction and, for that matter, homosexuality ("Huh...?") in print. Published the year I was born, so it's a real cultural fossil; King was self-absorbed, self-destructive, went through women like Kleenex, and was a regular on the Jack Parr Show back in the day. Great yarns and a rant or two, or three, from a curmurdgeon. (Lenny Bruce called him the Mark Twain of dope!)