People in a Magazine: The Selected Letters of S.N. Behrman and His Editors at the ‘New Yorker’

In order to rescue longtime New Yorker contributor S.N. Behrman from obscurity, playwright Goodrich (Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947–1950, editor) has dusted off and assembled a generous cache of the playwright-turned-essayist’s personal correspondence with his editors:. These include Harold Ross, William Shawn, and Katharine White, all legendary figures in their own right. Although Behrman spent over four decades at the magazine, from 1929 to 1972, higher-profile colleagues have long overshadowed his understated contributions, which notably included profiles of such luminaries as Max Beerbohm, Eddie Cantor, and Ira Gershwin as well as a popular, long-running series about his Worcester, Mass., upbringing. Though one might expect Behrman’s own letters to be the standout attraction, his mild-mannered writings are consistently upstaged by Ross’s playful wit, which can make even a rejection letter sound genial. White’s polite, New England–flavored sensibility makes for an amusing foil to Ross’s alpha-male banter. Inevitably, a number of documents included here read more like completist filler than key biographical insights. But as a whole, this collection succeeds as a trip back in time to a long-lost literary era, as well as a tribute to an undervalued player in the New Yorker’s early years. (Oct.)