5 responses to “The Free Lance 199, January 16, 1912”
“An anti-vivisectionist is one who gags at a guinea pig and
swallows a baby.”
That quotation appeared in the November 21, 1911 and January 3, 1912 “Free Lance” columns. It also appears here in the January 16th column, with the added comment, “Old, but excellent.” Does this imply that one of the epigrams most attributed to Mencken was actually an old saying which didn’t originate with him?
To add to the mystery is the following paragraph found on page 30 of “Pistols for Two” in which George Jean Nathan, in the guise of “Owen Hatteras”, says of Mencken, `He believes the following to be his best epigram: “An anti-vivisectionist is one who gags at a guinea pig and swallows a baby.” To the contrary, I believe his best to be: “The charm of a man is measured by the charm of the women who think that he is a scoundrel.”‘.
“Owen Hatteras” is a nom be guerre used by Mr Mencken, not George Jean Nathan.
A search of Google Books for the phrase “gags at a guinea pig and swallows a baby” only returns hits with attribution to Mencken. Mencken’s remark that the saying was “Old, but excellent” is likely facetious.
Oleg is almost certainly correct in saying that the baby/guinea pig quote most likely originated with Mencken. He proudly used it later in two of his books of epigrams: “A Little Book In C Major” and “A Book Of Burlesques”. His “Old, but excellent” remark therefore was, as Oleg points out, likely facetious – not the first time the Sage was known to use irony to make a point.
Actually “Owen Hatteras” was one of the pseudonyms used by BOTH Nathan and Mencken for their anonymous contributions to the “Smart Set” while they were co-editing the magazine. In 1917, apparently at the request of publisher Alfred Knopf, they co-authored a pamphlet entitled “Pistols For Two” which Fred Hobson described in his Mencken biography as “a humorous, often ridiculous short biography of himself [Mencken] and Nathan, written by the two men under their favorite pseudonym, Owen Hatteras.”
In Heathen Days, Mencken wrote that “Owen Hatteras [was] a nom de plume I used in those days whenever my monthly contributions to the Smart Set were so numerous that they could not all be published under my own name.” This is what I based my remark upon (evidently, it stuck in my mind), however, as you point out, there is more to it than that.
Marion Rodgers mentions that “Owen Hatteras” was a joint pseudonym for Mencken and Nathan in Mencken and Sara: A Life In Letters (1992) and in a note in the Library of America title H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series (1992) which she edited. You mentioned Hobson’s biography of Mencken.
A little more digging finds:
“After 1914, “Owen Hatteras” also became a “house pseudonym,” occasionally being signed to the second or third pieces in an issue by some regular contributor, often to the writer’s amazement.”—Carl Richard Dolmetsch, The Smart Set: A History and Anthology (Dial Press, 1966), p. 36.
“A far more tart and spicy department was one which was begun in the spring of [May] 1912, called “Pertinent and Impertinent.” This first brought into the Smart Set’s table of contents the by-line of “Owen Hatteras,” later written “Major Owen Hatteras, D.S.O.” as a satire on war-time “brass.” The name stood for a collaboration of Mencken and Nathan (and W. H. Wright, 1912-14). This first Hatteras department consisted of pungent commentaries on this and that—frequently on contemporary life and ideas.”—Frank L. Mott, A History of American Magazines, Volume V: 1905-1930 (Harvard University Press, 1968), p. 256.
It seems to me that the nom de plume could be used by a single author or any combination of two or more authors.
5 responses to “The Free Lance 199, January 16, 1912”
“An anti-vivisectionist is one who gags at a guinea pig and
swallows a baby.”
That quotation appeared in the November 21, 1911 and January 3, 1912 “Free Lance” columns. It also appears here in the January 16th column, with the added comment, “Old, but excellent.” Does this imply that one of the epigrams most attributed to Mencken was actually an old saying which didn’t originate with him?
To add to the mystery is the following paragraph found on page 30 of “Pistols for Two” in which George Jean Nathan, in the guise of “Owen Hatteras”, says of Mencken, `He believes the following to be his best epigram: “An anti-vivisectionist is one who gags at a guinea pig and swallows a baby.” To the contrary, I believe his best to be: “The charm of a man is measured by the charm of the women who think that he is a scoundrel.”‘.
“Owen Hatteras” is a nom be guerre used by Mr Mencken, not George Jean Nathan.
A search of Google Books for the phrase “gags at a guinea pig and swallows a baby” only returns hits with attribution to Mencken. Mencken’s remark that the saying was “Old, but excellent” is likely facetious.
Oleg is almost certainly correct in saying that the baby/guinea pig quote most likely originated with Mencken. He proudly used it later in two of his books of epigrams: “A Little Book In C Major” and “A Book Of Burlesques”. His “Old, but excellent” remark therefore was, as Oleg points out, likely facetious – not the first time the Sage was known to use irony to make a point.
Actually “Owen Hatteras” was one of the pseudonyms used by BOTH Nathan and Mencken for their anonymous contributions to the “Smart Set” while they were co-editing the magazine. In 1917, apparently at the request of publisher Alfred Knopf, they co-authored a pamphlet entitled “Pistols For Two” which Fred Hobson described in his Mencken biography as “a humorous, often ridiculous short biography of himself [Mencken] and Nathan, written by the two men under their favorite pseudonym, Owen Hatteras.”
I happily stand corrected.
In Heathen Days, Mencken wrote that “Owen Hatteras [was] a nom de plume I used in those days whenever my monthly contributions to the Smart Set were so numerous that they could not all be published under my own name.” This is what I based my remark upon (evidently, it stuck in my mind), however, as you point out, there is more to it than that.
Marion Rodgers mentions that “Owen Hatteras” was a joint pseudonym for Mencken and Nathan in Mencken and Sara: A Life In Letters (1992) and in a note in the Library of America title H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series (1992) which she edited. You mentioned Hobson’s biography of Mencken.
A little more digging finds:
“After 1914, “Owen Hatteras” also became a “house pseudonym,” occasionally being signed to the second or third pieces in an issue by some regular contributor, often to the writer’s amazement.”—Carl Richard Dolmetsch, The Smart Set: A History and Anthology (Dial Press, 1966), p. 36.
“A far more tart and spicy department was one which was begun in the spring of [May] 1912, called “Pertinent and Impertinent.” This first brought into the Smart Set’s table of contents the by-line of “Owen Hatteras,” later written “Major Owen Hatteras, D.S.O.” as a satire on war-time “brass.” The name stood for a collaboration of Mencken and Nathan (and W. H. Wright, 1912-14). This first Hatteras department consisted of pungent commentaries on this and that—frequently on contemporary life and ideas.”—Frank L. Mott, A History of American Magazines, Volume V: 1905-1930 (Harvard University Press, 1968), p. 256.
It seems to me that the nom de plume could be used by a single author or any combination of two or more authors.