{"id":4616,"date":"2006-03-14T14:49:56","date_gmt":"2006-03-14T19:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=4616"},"modified":"2022-10-09T22:56:46","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T02:56:46","slug":"the-creator-of-loadstone-otoole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=4616","title":{"rendered":"The creator of Loadstone O\u2019Toole"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Max Shulman’s birthday. Who the hell is Max Shulman, you may ask? Or some of you may ask? Hahaha He was one of the most popular humorists of his day<\/a> – who reached his peak of popularity in the 1950s. He’s the dude who created the Dobie Gillis character, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis<\/a>\"\"<\/i>. He was VERY successful – and is now kind of a forgotten artist. Strange. He also was a screenwriter.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now I somehow tripped over his book I Was A teen-age Dwarf<\/a>\"\"<\/i> when I was a teenager myself. This is the chronicle of Dobie Gillis’ crazy “woman”izing when he was in high school (the shortest boy in town. Hence – the title.)<\/p>\n

It was in the library where I worked as a page (my first job). I have no idea why I would have picked it up – it’s kind of an old-fashioned looking book – It LOOKS older than the more recent titles -but also, let’s remember – this was at the height of the whole Happy Days craze – so maybe something in the 1950s-ish cover appealed to me.<\/p>\n

Also, I DO know that my parents both LOVED Max Shulman. So when I brought the book home they recognized his name immediately, and told me: “You HAVE to read Rally Round the Flag Boys!<\/a>\"\"<\/i>”<\/p>\n

I remember vividly my mother TRYING to tell me what the name of one of the lead characters in Rally round the flag<\/i> was – and completely not being able to get the name out because she started guffawing with laughter. The character’s name was: Loadstone O’Toole. Even now – just typing that – I started laughing.<\/p>\n

Max Shulman is one of the funniest writers I have ever read in my life. In fact, I was asked to leave my high school library because it was study period, and I was reading that book, and I started laughing so loudly that I could not control myself. Basically, I was GUFFAWING into the studious silence. Tears literally streamed down my face, despite the fact that I was being “Sh”ed left and right. I finally had to just gather up my book bag and stagger out into the hall, where I stood, and literally HOWLED with laughter, by myself, for a good 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

I can count the writers on one hand who are that funny.<\/p>\n

Over the last couple years, it became my mission in life to find all of his old books again – so I could own them. Many of them are long out of print, and really hard to find. So strange. It’s not that long ago – the 1950s and 60s – but his reputation has not survived. It’s a shame. I have rarely come across such fanTAStically funny books. Member the famous Christmas pageant scene in Owen Meany<\/i>? Max Shulman’s books are that funny all the way through<\/i>. The Strand sometimes had copies of his books – I always checked whenever I was there. I got some of his lesser known titles – but the holy grail eluded me. (I Was a Teenage Dwarf<\/i>) I was dying to know if the book would be as funny to me as an adult as it was when I was a kid. I let my dad know, librarian that he is, what I was looking for – so he could keep his eyes open if he came across copies.<\/p>\n

Eventually – a box arrived on my doorstep. I opened it. And took out two books: Rally Round the Flag, Boys<\/i> starring the marvelously named Loadstone O’Toole (LOADSTONE O’TOOLE????) – and oh. my. God: I Was a Teenage Dwarf<\/i>. Yay!!!!<\/p>\n

I immediately took Teenage Dwarf<\/i> up to my roof, with a thermos of coffee, and sat there in the autumn sun – tearing through my old childhood favorite. I finished it in a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

And for the record? It was even funnier than I remembered. It’s MEANER than I remembered. It’s more biting, bitchy, merciless … But I sat up there on my roof, the memories were just flooding back (Dobie Gillis at one point has a girlfriend who is a tomboy – and she is constantly playing stickball and climbing trees – and always falling down – so she always has cuts on her knees – her nickname is Red Knees. I was like: “Oh my God! I remember Red Knees!!”) – but the sheer ridiculousness of it all was JUST as delightful, JUST as absurd. Like … Dobie Gillis has a girlfriend whose accepted nickname is RED KNEES. Like, he’s having a romantic makeout session with her, and he calls her “Red Knees” as he leans in to kiss her. “Oh, Red Knees …” I mean – I just snort with laughter reading this stuff.<\/p>\n

Writers who make me cry are great. I love them. But writers who make me laugh have my heart forever.<\/p>\n

Max Shulman: a witty madcap man with a ridiculous and yet somehow very HUMAN sense of humor … hugely successful in his day … now mostly forgotten. If you ever come across his books in a used bookstore, I highly recommend you give them a read. They are laugh-out-loud funny.<\/p>\n

Happy birthday, Mr. Shulman!!<\/p>\n

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