He left the swamp country of southeastern North Carolina in 1929 and headed to New York City. He was 21 years old. He got gigs at The World, then The Herald Tribune, then The World-Telegram, papers when papers were PAPERS, then the New Yorker, where he worked until his death in 1996.
These, from 1938, are his words:
"I believe the most interesting human beings, so far as talk is concerned, are anthropologists, farmers, prostitutes, psychiatrists, and an occasional bartender. The best talk is artless, the talk of people trying to reassure or comfort themselves, women in the sun, grouped around baby carriages, talking about their weeks in the hospital or the way meat has gone up, or men in saloons, talking to combat the loneliness everyone feels. The talk when you interview someone for a newspaper is usually premeditated and usually artificial."
Yes sir.
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