John Kendrick Bangs

John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922), American humorist and editor, born in Yonkers, New York. Bangs is best known for his volumes of humor and verse. He graduated in 1883 from Columbia College, New York, and studied law for one year. His first professional editorial position was that of associate editor of Life magazine, a post he held from 1884 to 1888. For the next 11 years he was humor editor of Harper's Magazine, where he was later a contributing writer. In 1899, Bangs became editor of Harper's Weekly magazine and of the periodical Literature, and in 1903, he became editor of the New Metropolitan Magazine. In 1904 Bangs became editor of the weekly Puck.

Between 1886 and 1910, Bangs wrote more than 30 volumes of humor and verse, including Tiddledywink Tales (1891), Coffee and Repartee (1893), The Idiot (1895), and A Houseboat on the Styx (1896). Defeated as Democratic candidate for mayor of Yonkers in 1894, Bangs subsequently wrote his amusing Three Weeks in Politics. After a visit to Cuba in 1901 he wrote Uncle Sam, Trustee. In 1904, he published Lady Teazle, a comedy based on British dramatist Richard Sheridan's The School for Scandal. Bangs moved to Ogunquit, Maine, in 1907, and for the remainder of his life was in great demand as a lecturer, after-dinner speaker, and reader. During World War I (1914-1918), his work overseas for the American Committee for Devastated France gained him the award of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.