The Breaking Up Of The Winships by James Thurber, 1936
The magic trick:
Reveling in contemporary pop culture
It’s odd to call a story that is nearly 100 years old “ephemeral.” Here we are still reading it, so clearly it managed some staying power. However, this is very much a story that existed for 1936. This is a story that is showy about its contemporary culture. This is a story built around Greta Garbo and Donald Duck references. It pokes fun at its times; about the silly ways people took their pop culture so seriously. (Because we certainly wouldn’t be guilty of such nonsense in 2024.)
And that’s quite a trick on Thurber’s part.
The selection:
They then set in moody and brooding silence for a long time, without moving a muscle, at the end of which, getting a hold on herself, Marcia asked him, quietly enough, just exactly what actor on the screen or on the stage, living or dead, he considered greater than Garbo. Gordon thought a moment and then said, as quietly as she had put the question, “Donald Duck.”
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