Damon Runyon was one of the most popular journalists and writers during the first half of this century. After he died in 1946, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows adapted Runyon stories and characters into the Broadway musical hit, Guys and Dolls, which opened in 1950 and ran for 1,200 performances; five years later, the musical was made into a movie starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra. Since then, Runyon's star has dimmed considerably. During his lifetime, however, Runyon was widely regarded as an accomplished and eccentric humorist. Like Mark Twain, Ring Lardner, and James Thurber, Runyon came to comic writing from journalism and from many years spent listening attentively to "the real language of men," to recall Wordsworth. He took Twain's advice that successful storytelling in America required a writer's artful telling. He began writing in time to work the rich vein of the frontier fable, and he brought the tall...