I never
saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.
-- Gelett Burgess
Biography:
b. Jan. 30, 1866, Boston, Mass., U.S.
d. Sept. 17, 1951, Carmel, Calif.
FRANK GELETT BURGESS, American humorist and illustrator, best
known for a single, early, whimsical quatrain: [The Purple
Cow]
Burgess
was educated as an engineer and worked briefly for a railroad in
that capacity. Between 1891 and 1894 he taught topographical
drawing at the University of California. In 1895 Burgess became the
founding editor of Lark, a humor magazine, and in 1897 he began to
publish books of his self-illustrated whimsical
writings.
Burgess'
humor was based upon the sudden break of ideas: a substitution of
the unexpected for the commonplace. Among his best-known works are
Goops and How to Be Them (1900) and subsequent books on Goops
(bad-mannered children). Among his many other works are Are You a
Bromide? (1906), Why Men Hate Women (1927), and Look Eleven Years
Younger (1937).
He is
credited with adding several words to the English language,
including blurb. Blurb: slang: A brief descriptive paragraph or
note of the contents or character of a book, printed as a
commendatory advertisement, on the jacket or wrapper of a newly
published book. Originated in 1907 by Gelett Burgess in a comic
book jacket embellished with a drawing of a pulchritudinous young
lady whom he facetiously dubbed Miss Blinda Blurb.
Burgess,
incidentally, grew increasingly annoyed by the fact that he was
known mainly for 'The Purple Cow', and eventually wrote the
following followup:
CONFESSION: and a Portrait, Too,
Upon a Background that I Rue!
Ah, Yes! I Wrote the "Purple Cow" --
I'm Sorry, now, I Wrote it!
But I can Tell you Anyhow,
I'll Kill you if you Quote it!
-- Gelett Burgess
