Ogden Nash (1902-1971). One of the most widely appreciated and imitated writers of light verse, Frediric Ogden Nash was born in Rye, New York in 1902. Nash's first published poems began to appear in the New Yorker around 1930. His first collection of poems, Hard Lines, was published in 1931. Nash considered himself a "worsifier." Among his best known lines are "Candy / Is dandy, / But liquor / Is quicker" and "If called by a panther / Don't anther." His poems also had an intensely anti-establishment quality that resounded with many Americans, particularly during the Depression. Nash was a keen observer of American social life, and frequently mocked religious moralizing and conservative politicians. His work is often compared with other satirists of the time, including Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and H. L. Mencken. Nash appeared regularly on radio and on television, and he drew huge audiences for his readings and lectures. Nash was also the author of three screenplays for MGM, and with S.J. Perelmen, he wrote the 1943 Broadway hit, One Touch of Venus. In the 1950s, Nash focused on writing poems for children, including the collections The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus (1957) and Girls are Silly (1962). Ogden Nash died on May 19, 1971.
