Deadline to Enter the Competition for the 2013 Robert Benchley Society Humor Award

The deadline to enter the 2013 competition for the Robert Benchley Society Humor Award is August 30, 2013. The award ceremony will in Boston, November 22 - 24, 2013. For more details or to enter click here.

Save the Dates!

The Robert Benchley Society Annual Humor Writing Competition and Annual Gathering will be announced shortly. The deadline for submitting entries to in the competition will be August 30th. The Annual Gathering and Awards Dinner will be held in Boston, Friday through Sunday, November 22 through 24. Watch for details to come out shortly.

Downtown Santa Monica Photo Tour: Sat. July 27 with Benchley Fan Helen Garber

Emerging Focus Photo Nomad Tours:  Historic Downtown Santa Monica Saturday, July 27, 2013  6:00 - 8:00 pm   Join internationally renowned photographer and 30 year Santa Monica resident Helen K. Garber for a fun and informative photo tour through historic downtown Santa Monica. Joining Helen will be a historic preservation specialist from the Santa Monica Conservancy who will provide a detailed history of the city that will inspire your images beyond the click of your shutter! Beginning with a drink at Michael’s, the acclaimed, award winning restaurant where chef Michael McCarty created California Cuisine in 1979, the tour takes in historic art deco buildings, the view of the Santa Monica Bay from the top of the California Incline at Palisades Park, south through famous historic hotels like the Fairmont Miramar and the Shangri-La. From there the tour will stroll through the Promenade shopping district, stopping along the way at various landmark buildings and then back up to Michael's Restaurant where we encourage the group to share a post adventure meal! Tour notes: A wide angle lens 28mm and wider is encouraged. Students should have a working knowledge of their equipment which can range from a point and shoot to a DSLR. Comfortable shoes, hat, layered causual elegant clothing (for restaurant), and a bottle of water is encouraged. All food and beverages during our time at Michael’s are extra.     Date/Time: Saturday July 27, 2013 6:00pm - 8:00pm Meeting Point: Michael's Restaurant, 1147 3rd Street, Santa Monica CA 90403 To Register:   $125.00 (Student $100.00)    Helen K. Garber Studio 801 Ocean Front Walk, Studio 9 Venice, CA  90291 Tel: 310 344 7883 Facebook Twitter

Every Night She Would Teach Me How to Play Her Mandolin

From the mailbag --

Thanks for naming the [chapter] "We've Come for the Davenport". One of the most elegant practical jokes ever played. But I will not be able to attend.

A friend is working on documenting the mandolin-club fad in the U.S., and Benchley was a part of that early in his writing career. I have lodged in the dusty recesses of my brain a Gluyas Williams drawing of Benchley trying very hard to play one, I think with someone trying to use a radio in the same room. Know which story that would be, which collection?

All the best,
Nick B.

The illustration accompanies Mr. Benchley's essay "My Own Arrangement," which is found in Chips Off the Old Benchley (1949), beginning at page 240. The essay pokes fun at radio performers whose arrangement of popular tunes of the time bear little resemblance to the original compositions. While discoursing on this topic of "Hide the Melody," Mr. Benchley writes, "I used to practice the second-mandolin part at home alone. If you have ever heard a second-mandolin part being played alone without the air, you will understand why my mother felt that I wasn't getting along as fast as I might."

Speaking of mandolins, enjoy this in this popular song of 1920 (music by James V. Monaco and words by Edgar Leslie and Pete Wendling), as performed by Al Jolson.

Join the Boston Chapter for Cocktails this Thursday, July 18th

The Boston "We've Come for the Davenport" Chapter of the Robert Benchley Society will hold its monthly Roundup at the Downtown Harvard Club, high above Boston town on the 38th floor of One Federal Street, in the Financial District. We'll gather at the Crimson Pub on Thursday, July 18th, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Dress code is informal or business casual. For more information, contact David Trumbull at david@robertbenchley.org.

NSNC '13 Lifestyles and the Writing Life

By Rose A. Valenta

The annual National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) Conference was held in Hartford, CT, last weekend. It was a remarkable and exciting event with stellar headliners.

Featured guests included Pulitzer Prize winner, Dave Barry, who has also served as the final judge in previous Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor Writing competitions; Emmy Award-winning TV writer, original SNL writer, Thurber Prize for American Humor winner and novelist, Alan Zweibel; women’s humorist, UConn professor of English and essayist, Gina Barreca; CNN contributor, John Avlon; bestselling author and previous Robert Benchley Society Humor Award winner, W. Bruce Cameron; Heloise; bestselling author, Tracy Beckerman; and popular radio personality, Mike Morin.

Among the highlights of the event: Dave Barry won the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award; Mike Morin of WZID-FM in Manchester, NH, won the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award; the late film critic, Roger Ebert, posthumously won one of the column contests; Blake Seitz of the University of Georgia won the Jeff Zazlow scholarship award; and Bob Haught and Stacey Hatton won the exciting “Columnists’ Got Talent” contest on Saturday night.”

The NSNC comments about Dave Barry:

For more than two decades, Dave Barry was a syndicated newspaper columnist, based at The Miami Herald, whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. His career at the Herald brought him worldwide acclaim as a humorist with a distinctive style and a best-selling author of 31 books of humor and parody, as well as 13 novels and children’s books.

In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary “for his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns.” He retired from the grueling demands of weekly column writing in 2005, but still contributes special projects.

The theme at NSNC ’13 was “Lifestyles and the Writing Life,” which was impeccably demonstrated in the various sessions and panel discussions. You can click here for the entire NSNC Conference Program.

Note: The grand tour of Mark Twain's home on Friday, unveiled the world's first "Man Cave" on the third floor of his house complete with pipe stands, pool table, bar and balcony. It was built in 1873. Legend has it that when uninvited guests arrived at the house, he would step out onto the balcony, so the person answering the door could truthfully say that he was "not in residence."

If you are on Facebook and Twitter, you can follow post-Conference discussions and photo sharing by searching the hashtag #NSNC13 on both social media sites. You can follow @NSNCGroup on Twitter and “like” the NSNC page on Facebook.

I must warn you that “What happens in the hospitality suite, stays in the hospitality suite.” I know, I was there - only I can’t seem to remember anything.

You just have to be there next year!

Photo source: Dave Barry, Gina Barreca and Alan Zweibel Photo copyright: Teri Rizvi, Director of the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop

Boston Chapter Roundup Set for July 18th

The Boston "We've Come for the Davenport" Chapter of the Robert Benchley Society will hold its monthly Roundup at the Downtown Harvard Club, high above Boston town on the 38th floor of One Federal Street, in the Financial District. We'll gather at the Crimson Pub on Thursday, July 18th, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Dress code is informal or business casual. For more information, contact David Trumbull at david@robertbenchley.org.