Statement on the Death of S. J. Perelman

S. J. Perelman was one of the best writers of comic prose our country has ever produced. His playground was the American language, and whether he was writing the screenplay for a Marx brothers movie or a short essay for the New Yorker, his verbal gymnastics were sometimes surprising, often breathtaking, and always funny. Like Mark Twain, George Ade, Ring Lardnor, and James Thurber, S. J. Perelman made a permanent contribution not only to American humor but to American literature as well.