Corey Ford

Who was Corey Ford?

Corey Ford was an American humorist, author, outdoorsman, and screenwriter. He was also friendly with several members of the Algonquin Round Table and occasionally ate lunch there.

Ford was a member of the Class of 1923 at Columbia College of Columbia University, where he edited the humor magazine Jester of Columbia and wrote the Varsity Show Half Moon Inn. He also joined, and was expelled from, the Philolexian Society. Failing to graduate, he embarked on a career as a freelance writer and humorist. In the 1930s he was noted for satirical sketches of books and authors penned under the name "John Riddell". Richard Wright's "Black Boy" was lampooned as "Hollywood Boy" contrasting the author's celebrity with the raw story portrayed in the book. Theodore Dreiser was shown adopting the guise of a common workman building his newest and biggest novel from bricks and mortar. A forgotten book, "Dead Lovers are Good Lovers," was reviewed as "Dead Novelists are Good Novelists." Ford's series of "Impossible Interviews" for Vanity Fair magazine featured ill-assorted celebrities, among them Stalin vs. John D. Rockefeller, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes vs. Al Capone, Sigmund Freud vs. Jean Harlow, Sally Rand vs. Martha Graham, Gertrude Stein vs. Gracie Allen, Adolf Hitler vs. Huey Long.