On this day in 1885 Ring Lardner was born in Niles Michigan

Ring Lardner, like many authors in the 1920s, began his career writing for a newspaper. Lardner toiled at his hometown newspaper the Niles Sun covering sporting events and then later moved to the big city to write for newspapers in Chicago and New York City. Lardner was born in 1885 and died in 1933. During his writing career he was known for using a down home vernacular much like Mark Twain and “You Know Me Al”, a piece of his work using the language of the common person may be his best known work.

For writing purposes, Lardner had changed his name to a pseudonym more in keeping with sports writing by shortening his middle name Ringgold and adopting that for his signature. His home in Niles Michigan is designated with a historical marker. He also carried on extensive correspondence with his  noted editor, Max Perkins, which is collected in “Ring Around the Max”. Lardner was close friends with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway adopted his name for his high school newspaper.

 His short story “What I Ought to of Learnt in High School” was based on his Niles schooldays. In addition to his short stories and novels, Lardner also was a Hollywood script writer. His son Ring Lardner Jr. was blacklisted for refusing to answer question before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Ring Lardner is a member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. Read his obituary in the New York Times by clicking here.