Don Marquis was born July 29, 1878, in Walnut, Illinois, a small, dusty town 40 miles from the Mississippi River. He was the eighth child of Dr. James Marquis, the town doctor, and Virginia Whitmore Marquis.
Don claimed that he was born during a solar eclipse — not just the same day, but during the actual eclipse — a fact that he believed carried mystical significance, though to what end he was never quite sure.
Don was named Robert Perry Marquis at birth, but the story goes that an older brother declared that the infant bore a striking resemblance to the family dog, Don Pedro. By the time of the 1880 U.S. Census, and forever after, his name was “Don.”
This is a High Holy Day of the Don Marquis Double Scotch and Prohibition Society, of course, and you members of the Society — and if you’re reading this, you are a member — know what to do: Celebrate the day in suitable fashion as you see fit, whether with Scotch, Irish whiskey, gin, or lemonaid. (See the link above for the DS&P.)
Cheerio my deario!
(The drawing accompanying this post is by Tony Sarg, a popular artist a hundred years ago who drew the illustrations for “Noah an’ Jonah an’ Cap’n John Smith.” Sarg was a skilled puppeteer, too, and he built the balloons for the very first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.)
For more tall tales and clippings from Don’s columns, see his page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DonMarquisAuthor.
