Irvin S. Cobb
Encyclopedia
Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and authored more than 60 books and 300 short stories.
. His grandfather Reuben Saunders, M.D., is credited with discovering in 1873 that hypodermic use of morphine
-atropine
halted cholera
. Cobb was raised in Paducah, where the events and people of his childhood became the basis for much of his later works.
Cobb was educated in public and private elementary schools and then entered William A. Cade's Academy intending to pursue a law career. When he was 16, his grandfather died and his father became an alcoholic. Forced to quit school and find work, he began his writing career.
His anecdotal memoir "Exit Laughing," includes a firsthand account of the assassination of Kentucky Governor William Goebel
in 1900 and the trials of his killers.
Moving to New York in 1904, Cobb was hired by the Evening Sun. It sent him to Portsmouth, New Hampshire
to cover the Russian-Japanese peace conference
. His dispatches from the negotiations, focusing on the personalities involved (including President Theodore Roosevelt
) were published across the country under the title "Making Peace at Portsmouth". They earned him a job offer from Joseph Pulitzer
's New York World
that made him the highest-paid staff reporter in the United States.
Cobb covered World War I
for the Saturday Evening Post, and wrote a book in 1915 about his experiences called Paths of Glory. He wrote numerous series in periodicals and also collaborated on dramatic productions.
vehicle Peck's Bad Boy (1921). When sound came in, more of his stories were adapted into films, including The Woman Accused (1933), starring a young Cary Grant
.
John Ford
twice made films based on Cobb's Judge Priest stories: Judge Priest
(1934), featuring Will Rogers
in the title role, and The Sun Shines Bright
(1953), based on the short stories "The Sun Shines Bright", "The Mob from Massac", and "The Lord Provides".
Cobb also had an acting career, appearing in 10 films between 1932 and 1938, with starring roles in such movies as Pepper and Everybody's Old Man (1936). He was host of the 6th Academy Awards
in 1935.
He married Laura Spencer Baker of Savannah, Georgia
.
His daughter Elizabeth Cobb (born 1902) was an author in her own right. She published the novel She Was a Lady and My Wayward Parent (1945), a book about her father. Her first husband was Frank Michler Chapman, Jr., son of the ornithologist Frank Michler Chapman.
Cobb's granddaughter was Buff Cobb
, a TV personality of the early 1950s, and second wife of journalist Mike Wallace
. Cobb was honored in 1915 with the march "The War Correspondent" by G.E. Holmes, published by the John Church Company.
When Cobb died in New York City
in 1944, his body was sent to Paducah for cremation. His ashes were placed under a dogwood tree. The granite boulder marking his remains is inscribed "Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb 1876-1944 Back Home".
Cobb wrote a letter detailing his desired funeral arrangements. The document reads in part:
"Above all I want no long faces and no show of grief at the burying ground.
Kindly observe the final wishes of the undersigned and avoid reading the so-called
Christian burial service which, in view of the language employed in it, I regard as one
of the most cruel and paganish things inherited by our forebears from our remote pagan
ancestors. In deference to the faith of our dear mother who was through her lifetime a
loyal though never bigoted communicant of that congregation, perhaps the current
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church would consent to read the Twenty-third Psalm,
which was her favorite passage in the Scriptures and is mine since it contains no charnel
words, no morbid mouthings about corruption and decay and, being mercifully
without creed or dogma, carries no threat of eternal hell-fire for those parties we do not
like, no direct promise of a heaven which, if one may judge by the people who are
surest of going there, must be a powerfully dull place, populated to a considerable and
uncomfortable degree by prigs, time-servers and unpleasantly aggressive individuals.
Hell may have a worse climate but undoubtedly the company is sprightlier. The
Catholics, with their genius for stage-management, handle this detail better. The
officiating clergyman speaks in Latin and the parishioners, being unacquainted with
that language are impressed by the majesty of the rolling, sonorous periods without
being shocked by tressing allusions and harrowing references."
Joel Harris wrote of these tales, "Cobb created a South peopled with honorable citizens, charming eccentrics, and loyal, subservient blacks, but at their best the Judge Priest stories are dramatic and compelling, using a wealth of precisely rendered detail to evoke a powerful mood."
Cobb also wrote short stories in a horror vein, such as "Fishhead" (1911) and "The Unbroken Chain" (1923). "Fishhead" has been cited as an inspiration for H. P. Lovecraft
's The Shadow Over Innsmouth
, while "The Unbroken Chain" was a model for Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls
". The former was described by Lovecraft as "banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake" in his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature
.
Biography
Cobb was the second of four children born to Kentucky natives in Paducah, KentuckyPaducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...
. His grandfather Reuben Saunders, M.D., is credited with discovering in 1873 that hypodermic use of morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
-atropine
Atropine
Atropine is a naturally occurring tropane alkaloid extracted from deadly nightshade , Jimson weed , mandrake and other plants of the family Solanaceae. It is a secondary metabolite of these plants and serves as a drug with a wide variety of effects...
halted cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
. Cobb was raised in Paducah, where the events and people of his childhood became the basis for much of his later works.
Cobb was educated in public and private elementary schools and then entered William A. Cade's Academy intending to pursue a law career. When he was 16, his grandfather died and his father became an alcoholic. Forced to quit school and find work, he began his writing career.
Writing career
He started in journalism on the Paducah Daily News at age seventeen, and became the nation's youngest managing news editor at nineteen. He later worked at the Louisville Evening Post for a year and a half.His anecdotal memoir "Exit Laughing," includes a firsthand account of the assassination of Kentucky Governor William Goebel
William Goebel
William Justus Goebel was an American politician who served as the 34th Governor of Kentucky for a few days in 1900 after having been mortally wounded by an assassin the day before he was sworn in...
in 1900 and the trials of his killers.
Moving to New York in 1904, Cobb was hired by the Evening Sun. It sent him to Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
to cover the Russian-Japanese peace conference
Treaty of Portsmouth
The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905 after negotiations at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine in the USA.-Negotiations:...
. His dispatches from the negotiations, focusing on the personalities involved (including President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
) were published across the country under the title "Making Peace at Portsmouth". They earned him a job offer from Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911), born Politzer József, was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Pulitzer introduced the techniques of "new journalism" to the newspapers he acquired in the 1880s and became a leading...
's New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
that made him the highest-paid staff reporter in the United States.
Cobb covered World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
for the Saturday Evening Post, and wrote a book in 1915 about his experiences called Paths of Glory. He wrote numerous series in periodicals and also collaborated on dramatic productions.
Hollywood
Several of Cobb's stories were made into silent films. He also wrote the screen titles for a couple more, including the Jackie CooganJackie Coogan
John Leslie Coogan , known professionally as Jackie Coogan, was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family...
vehicle Peck's Bad Boy (1921). When sound came in, more of his stories were adapted into films, including The Woman Accused (1933), starring a young Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
.
John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
twice made films based on Cobb's Judge Priest stories: Judge Priest
Judge Priest
Judge Priest is a 1934 American comedy film. The film was based on humorist Irvin S. Cobb's character Judge Priest. The film was directed by John Ford and produced by Sol M. Wurtzel in association with Fox Film...
(1934), featuring Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
in the title role, and The Sun Shines Bright
The Sun Shines Bright
The Sun Shines Bright is a 1953 comedy film directed by John Ford, based on material taken from a series of Irvin S. Cobb stories. Ford had adapted some of the same material in 1934 in his film Judge Priest. That film originally had a scene depicting the lynching of Stepin Fetchit’s character , but...
(1953), based on the short stories "The Sun Shines Bright", "The Mob from Massac", and "The Lord Provides".
Cobb also had an acting career, appearing in 10 films between 1932 and 1938, with starring roles in such movies as Pepper and Everybody's Old Man (1936). He was host of the 6th Academy Awards
6th Academy Awards
The 6th Academy Awards were held on March 16, 1934 at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Will Rogers and Rogers also presented all of the awards....
in 1935.
Personal life
Cobb has been described as having a round shape, bushy eyebrows, full lips, a triple chin, and always having a cigar in his mouth.He married Laura Spencer Baker of Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
.
His daughter Elizabeth Cobb (born 1902) was an author in her own right. She published the novel She Was a Lady and My Wayward Parent (1945), a book about her father. Her first husband was Frank Michler Chapman, Jr., son of the ornithologist Frank Michler Chapman.
Cobb's granddaughter was Buff Cobb
Buff Cobb
Buff Cobb was an American actress and, with then-husband Mike Wallace, host of one of television's first talk shows.-Early life and career:...
, a TV personality of the early 1950s, and second wife of journalist Mike Wallace
Mike Wallace (journalist)
Myron Leon "Mike" Wallace is an American journalist, former game show host, actor and media personality. During his 60+ year career, he has interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers....
. Cobb was honored in 1915 with the march "The War Correspondent" by G.E. Holmes, published by the John Church Company.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1944, his body was sent to Paducah for cremation. His ashes were placed under a dogwood tree. The granite boulder marking his remains is inscribed "Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb 1876-1944 Back Home".
Cobb wrote a letter detailing his desired funeral arrangements. The document reads in part:
"Above all I want no long faces and no show of grief at the burying ground.
Kindly observe the final wishes of the undersigned and avoid reading the so-called
Christian burial service which, in view of the language employed in it, I regard as one
of the most cruel and paganish things inherited by our forebears from our remote pagan
ancestors. In deference to the faith of our dear mother who was through her lifetime a
loyal though never bigoted communicant of that congregation, perhaps the current
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church would consent to read the Twenty-third Psalm,
which was her favorite passage in the Scriptures and is mine since it contains no charnel
words, no morbid mouthings about corruption and decay and, being mercifully
without creed or dogma, carries no threat of eternal hell-fire for those parties we do not
like, no direct promise of a heaven which, if one may judge by the people who are
surest of going there, must be a powerfully dull place, populated to a considerable and
uncomfortable degree by prigs, time-servers and unpleasantly aggressive individuals.
Hell may have a worse climate but undoubtedly the company is sprightlier. The
Catholics, with their genius for stage-management, handle this detail better. The
officiating clergyman speaks in Latin and the parishioners, being unacquainted with
that language are impressed by the majesty of the rolling, sonorous periods without
being shocked by tressing allusions and harrowing references."
Fiction
Cobb is best remembered for his humorous stories of Kentucky local color. These stories were first collected in the book Old Judge Priest (1915), whose title character was based on a prominent West Kentucky judge named William Pitman Bishop. Among his other books of humor are Speaking of Operations (1916) and Red Likker (1929).Joel Harris wrote of these tales, "Cobb created a South peopled with honorable citizens, charming eccentrics, and loyal, subservient blacks, but at their best the Judge Priest stories are dramatic and compelling, using a wealth of precisely rendered detail to evoke a powerful mood."
Cobb also wrote short stories in a horror vein, such as "Fishhead" (1911) and "The Unbroken Chain" (1923). "Fishhead" has been cited as an inspiration for H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
's The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
, while "The Unbroken Chain" was a model for Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls
The Rats in the Walls
"The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in Weird Tales, March 1924.-Plot summary:...
". The former was described by Lovecraft as "banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake" in his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature
Supernatural Horror in Literature
"Supernatural Horror in Literature" is a long essay by the celebrated horror writer H. P. Lovecraft surveying the field of horror fiction. It was written between November 1925 and May 1927 and revised in 1933-1934. It was first published in 1927 in the one-shot magazine The Recluse...
.
External links
- "Irvin S. Cobb" by Kelly Walters, KYLIT
- "In Aachen and Fort Loncin", from Paths of Glory, by Irvin S. Cobb; illustrated
- "www.IrvinSCobb.com - Tribute to the Life and Works of Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb" website in progress as of 07/01/2008 by Remington Guy