RBS's Digby Authors Book on Mark Twain

Mark Twain's Geographical Imagination, co-authored by Horace J. Digby, 2005 winner of the Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor. Mark Twain once wrote:
"The human imagination is much more capable than it gets credit for. This is why Niagara is always a disappointment when one sees it for the first time. One's imagination has long ago built a Niagara to which this one is a poor dribbling thing. The ocean "with its waves running mountain high" is always a disappointment at first sight; the imagination has constructed real mountains, whereas these with swelling at their very biggest and highest are not imposing. The Taj is a disappointment though people are ashamed to confess it. God will be a disappointment to most of us, at first. I wish I could see the Niagaras and Tajs which the human imagination has constructed, why then, bless you, I should see Atlantics pouring down out of the sky over cloud ranges, and I should see Tajs of a form so gracious and a spiritual expression so divine and altogether so sublime and so lovely and worshipful that—well—St. Peter's, Vesuvius, Heaven, Hell, everything that is much described is bound to be a disappointment at first."

For more information see http://www.lexingtonfilm.com/marktwain.htm

Robert Benchley Society Annual Gathering Set for July 16-18 in Boston

The Robert Benchley Society announces plans for the Seventh Anniversary Annual Gathering, Friday through Sunday, July 16-18, 2010, in Boston, Massachusetts.

2009/2010 RBS Award for Humor Winner, Ed Tasca

The highlight of the event will be the Annual Award Dinner and Ceremony, Saturday, July 17th. This year's first place winner is Ed Tasca, of Toronto, Ontario and an undisclosed location believed by the authorities to be in Mexico, for his entry Let’s Click Up the Old Gang Sometime. Of Ed's essay, final competition judge Kevin C. Fitzpatrick says "It is an original and lively writing on a new topic, social networks.”

Kevin has been a past judge of the competition. He is the president of the RBS Fascinating Crimes RBS chapter in New York. In 1999 he founded the Dorothy Parker Society and serves as president. He is the author of "A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York" and with Nat Benchley, is the co-editor of the new book "The Lost Algonquin Round Table" (Donald Books-iUniverse). Link for the book: http://www.donaldbooks.com/catalogue.html

Other winners in this competition are:

• Second place: Brenda Pontiff of Los Angeles, Calif. for A Teensy Weensy Renaissance.
  
• Third place: Con Chapman of Weston, Mass. for Foundations of Western Logic , and
  
• Fourth place: B. Elwin Sherman of Bethlehem, N.H. for A Woman At Home

Kevin Fitzpatrick

The preliminary judges of the competition were author of Robert Benchley An Annotated Bibliography, Gordon E. Ernst; writer and RBS Director, Eileen Forster Keck; puzzle designer RBS Vice Chairman, Chris Morgan; 2007 RBS Humor Award winner, Daniel Montville; radio personality and chairman of A Moderate State of Preservation Chapter (Ann Arbor, Mich.) of RBS, Tom Saunders; RBS Director Pamela Siska and Robert Benchley Society Chairman David Trumbull.

Preliminary plans for this year's gathering were set during a recent tele-conference among Horace Digby (2005 RBS Humor Award Winner), Kevin Fitzpatrick, Wiliam Goldsmith (Chairman of the "Uncle Edith Chapter" RBS Chapter in Los Angeles), Chris Morgan, Tom Saunders, David Trumbull, and Mary DiZazzo Trumbull

Save the Date - July 16-18 -- Benchley Soc. Annual Gathering

Save the date and watch for details. The Robert Benchley Society Annual Gathering and Humor Award Competition Dinner have been set for July 16-18, 2010, in Boston, Mass.

Robert Benchley Society Announces Winning Writers for 2009

Boston, August 17, 2009 -- The Robert Benchley Society announces the winners of the 2009 Robert Benchley Society Annual Humor Award Competition. In first place, for his essay Let’s Click Up the Old Gang Sometime is Ed Tasca of Toronto, Ontario for his original and lively writing on a new topic, social networks.

Second-place winner is Brenda Pontiff of Los Angeles, Calif. for her essay A Teensy Weensy Renaissance, which Society judge and director Kevin Fitzpatrick described as, "clever, has good writing and funny.”

Con Chapman of Weston, Mass. took third place for a clever and well-written piece Foundations of Western Logic

Of A Woman At Home by B. Elwin Sherman of Bethlehem, N.H. Mr. Fitzpatrick said "original and has a new take on an old subject.”

Final judge Kevin C. Fitzpatrick Kevin has been a past judge of the competition. He is the president of the RBS Fascinating Crimes chapter in New York. In 1999 he founded the Dorothy Parker Society and serves as president. He is the author of "A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York" and with Nat Benchley, is the co-editor of the new book "The Lost Algonquin Round Table" (Donald Books-iUniverse). Link for the book: http://www.donaldbooks.com/catalogue.html.

Round Table Author Kevin Fitzpatrick Named Final Judge of 2009 Benchley Writing Contest

Kevin C. Fitzpatrick Kevin has been a past judge of the competition. He is the president of the RBS Fascinating Crimes chapter in New York. In 1999 he founded the Dorothy Parker Society and serves as president. He is the author of "A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York" and with Nat Benchley, is the co-editor of the new book "The Lost Algonquin Round Table" (Donald Books-iUniverse).

Link for the book: http://www.donaldbooks.com/catalogue.html

Semi-Finalists Announced in RBS Humor Competition

The Robert Benchley Society Announces the Semi-Finalists (in alphabetical order) in the 2009 Robert Benchley Society Humor Award Competition:

• Con Chapman of Weston, Mass. for Foundations of Western Logic
  
• L.J. Diehl of Sterling Heights, Mich. for A Guide to Parenting in the 21st Century
  
• Brenda Pontiff of Los Angeles, Calif. for A Teensy Weensy Renaissance
  
• Felice Prager of Scottsdale, Arizona for How to Kill a Scorpion
  
• Laura Pryor of Clarkston, Mich. for Starbucks Amuck
  
• B. Elwin Sherman of Bethlehem, N.H. for A Woman At Home
  
• Ed Tasca of Toronto, Ontario for Let’s Click Up the Old Gang Sometime
  
• Mike Tuck of Eden Prairie, Minn. for Name That Landmark
  
• Carl Vine of Johnstown, Ohio for Simple Instructions for Completing Any Tax Form
  
• George Waters of Pasadena, Calif. for How to Build a Gate

Preliminary Judges of RBS Competition Complete Work

The preliminary judges of the 2009 Robert Benchley Society Humor Award Competition have completed their work of choosing the top ten out of 46 entries received. This year's judges were:

• Author of Robert Benchley An Annotated Bibliography, Gordon E. Ernst
  
• Writer and RBS Director, Eileen Forster Keck;
  
• puzzle designer RBS Vice Chairman, Chris Morgan;
  
• 2007 RBS Humor Award winner, Daniel Montville;
  
• Radio personality and chairman of A Moderate State of Preservation Chapter (Ann Arbor, Mich.) of RBS, Tom Saunders;
  
• RBS Director Pamela Siska and
  
• Robert Benchley Society Chairman David Trumbull

.The RBS regrets that judging of this years competition is running a bit behind schedule as the Society President has been in Washington, D.C. lobbying the Obama Administration of stimulus money for the nation's vital humor industry.