John Kendrick Bangs


John Kendrick Bangs[A. J. Raffles|] was an American author, humorist, editor and satirist.

Biography

He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father Francis N. Bangs was a lawyer in New York City, as was his brother, Francis S. Bangs.
He went to Columbia College from 1880 to 1883 where he became editor of Columbia's literary magazine, Acta Columbia, and contributed short anonymous pieces to humor magazines. After graduation in 1883 with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Political Science, Bangs entered Columbia Law School but left in 1884 to become Associate Editor of Life under Edward S. Martin. Bangs contributed many articles and poems to the magazine between 1884 and 1888. During this period, Bangs published his first books.
In 1888 Bangs left Life to work at Harper's Magazine, Harper's Bazaar and Harper's Young People, though he continued to contribute to Life. From 1889 to 1900 he held the title of Editor of the Departments of Humor for all three Harper's magazines and from 1899 to 1901 served as active editor of Harper's Weekly. Bangs also served for a short time as the first editor of Munsey's Magazine and became editor of the American edition of the Harper-owned Literature from January to November 1899.
In 1894, Bangs ran for the office of mayor of Yonkers, New York, but was defeated. He also was a member of the Board of Education in Yonkers.
He left Harper & Brothers in 1901 and became editor of the New Metropolitan magazine in 1903. In 1904 he was appointed editor of Puck, perhaps the foremost American humor magazine of its day. In this period, he revived his earlier interest in drama. In 1906 he switched his focus to the lecture circuit.
During the period between 1901 and 1906 Bangs was known to have spent at least parts of his summers at the Profile House in Franconia, New Hampshire. He owned one of the 20 connected cottages adjacent to the large hotel, which he sold to Cornelius Newton Bliss in August 1906. As a satirical writer, he was also known in the "Profile Cottage" circles as a jokester and prankster and was frequently the jovial topic of hotel guests and cottage owners alike.
In 1918, he lectured for YMCA and allied troops on the battle front in France during World War I.
In 1886, he married Agnes L. Hyde, with whom he had three sons. Agnes died in 1903. Bangs then married Mary Blakeney Gray of New York in 1904. In 1907 they moved from Yonkers to Ogunquit, Maine. John Kendrick Bangs died from stomach cancer in 1922 at age fifty-nine, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Works

Books published in three story series are listed separately : Associated Shades, The Idiot, and Raffles.
;The Idiot
There were 1899 editions of both Coffee and Repartee, copyright 1893, and Coffee and Repartee and the Idiot, copyright 1893, 1895, 1899. Perhaps one or both works were revised.
Illustrations in Coffee and Repartee, unsigned, and The Idiot, clearly signed "F. T. Richards", were not credited. The Library of Congress reports "F.T. Richards" credited on the title page of The Idiot at Home, 1900.
;Associated Shades
Originally the Associated Shades is an exclusive men's club in Hades, whose members are the shades of famous people, including Adam and Baron Munchausen but primarily historical writers: Homer, Confucius, Shakespeare, president Walter Raleigh, Johnson and Boswell, and many others.
All four books were illustrated by Peter Newell.
;Raffles series
These two short story collections are sequels to the
Raffles books by E. W. Hornung.