THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

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                                                   Three Short Stories

On February 22, 1930 publication of "Mr. Cleary Misses a Party." The New Yorker. "Well, Mr. Cleary, it's too bad you couldn't come with us last night." This is part of his famous at the time "Hagedorn & Brownmiller monologues" - comic story-telling, a satire of capitalism as the stock market faltered. Lee, Judith Yaross, Defining 'New Yorker' Humor (2000). These stories are accessible online at the magazine's website.

On February 22, 1947 publication of "Pardner." The New Yorker. Hellbox. "'Pardner' tells an anecdote about Malloy on his way to California in his new Duesenberg, encountering an obnoxious teenager who owns a restaurant in the Midwest. Malloy invents a cliched identity, that of a rich Texas oilman, and foists it on the gullible youth, who desperately tries to assert his equal status with Malloy. Malloy is having none of it, which is why he is playing the mean trick on the youth."
Steven Goldleaf, John O'Hara - A Study of the Short Fiction, page 52. I did not recognize the John O'Hara Jim Malloy.

On February 22, 1964 publication of "At the Window." The New Yorker. The Horse Knows the Way. Gibbsville, Pa. An older marred couple in a farmhouse having a dialogue during a snow storm. Takes place in The Region.
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These three stories were each written fifteen years apart. To me they reveal the evolution of the writer's skill, although I suspect that if John O'Hara ever read this comment here he'd be angry.