THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

On June 1, 1929, publication of "Fun for the Kiddies." The New Yorker.
The Afternoon Delphian Society: "The Rotary Club has guaranteed the salary of a playground instructor for the whole season, which is splendid, but do you know who the playground instructor is to be? None other than Forrest Inness, Mrs. Inness' son whom we all know and is quite a football star at Yale."

On June 1, 1963, publication of "The Flatted Saxophone." The New Yorker. The Hat on the Bed. A late middle-aged man and woman, each married to someone else, while at a wedding reception, discuss their romance some forty years ago and speculate about divorcing their spouses and marrying (It doesn't happen; instead they get up and dance).

The story's title is in its first paragraph:

Something happens to the tone of a tenor saxophone when it is played out-of-doors; they always sound flat, especially at wedding receptions, when the guests are queued up for the exchange of mutterings with the bridal party. The dancing has not begun, and the orchestra seems neglected and lonely and the tenor saxophone is expressing musicians' self-pity. Later, when the bride and groom have done their turn .... and general dancing under way, the flatness of the tenor sax is not so noticeable. It gets lost in the babble of human voices, especially the women's voices, and the musicians have stopped felling sorry for themselves, the tenor sax therefore has nothing to express, the orchestra plays "From This Moment On" at the cadence of he Society Bounce, and if the tenor sax is flat, so too may be the champagne, but it does not matter much.

On June 1, 1961, publication of "Exterior: with Figure." The Saturday Evening Post. The Hat on the Bed. Gibbsville, PA.

Jim Malloy narrates this sad Gibbsville story about the wealthy Armour family, whose children succumb to alcoholism, insanity and dishonesty.

"There are, most definitely, such things as hard-luck-people, hard-luck families; at least it is a working thesis that misfortune is repeatedly attracted to certain families like the Armours."