(The collected columns of San Francisco columnist (and hum...)
The collected columns of San Francisco columnist (and humorist) Art Hoppe, mid-1960's, with satirical looks at the culture and politics of the period, notably the foibles of the politician Hoppe called El Beejay.
Having a Wonderful Time: My First Half Century As a Newspaperman
(In this sly memoir, Arthur Hoppe, syndicated columnist fo...)
In this sly memoir, Arthur Hoppe, syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, reveals the stories behind the stories he wrote for almost fifty years.
Art Hoppe was an American journalist, author and columnist, who served for the San Francisco Chronicle for more than 40 years.
Background
Art Hoppe was born on April 23, 1925, in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. He was a son of Arthur Scrivner Hoppe, a lawyer, and Margaret Elizabeth (Watterson) Hoppe, a social worker. When Art was five years old, his family settled down in San Francisco.
Education
In 1942, Art finished Lowell High School in San Francisco. Later, in 1949, Hoppe graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude.
During the period from 1942 till 1946, Hoppe served in the United States Naval Reserve (present-day United States Navy Reserve). He was a cum laude graduate of Harvard, when he joined the staff of the San Francisco Chronicle in 1949. He started as a copy boy there, but he was promoted to a reporter in 1950. Holding a post of a reporter, Hoppe's assignments included a week spent as a vagrant and a trip to Europe to explain to readers the foreign policy of Liechtenstein and Monaco. Also, during the race with the Soviet Union to put a man in space, Hoppe went to Zambia to write an eyewitness account of astronaut training, which included airmen, being rolled down hills in barrels. In addition, Hope covered the 1960 presidential race between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.
Art carried out general assignments until 1960, when he began his column "The Innocent Bystander" at the same newspaper - the San Francisco Chronicle. Although the column was known for its political humor, Hoppe tackled any subject, that interested him, and featured a regular cast of characters, that included Private Oliver Drab, the Heavenly Landlord and Joe Sixpak. The column was eventually syndicated to nearly one hundred newspapers in the United States.
Hoppe's humour was interspersed with occasional serious columns, which had a wide impact. His most famous was his turn against the Vietnam war in 1971, when he wrote: "The radio this morning said the allied invasion of Laos had bogged down. Without thinking, I nodded and said, 'Good'. And having said it, I realized the bitter truth. Now I root against my own country. This is how far we have come in this hated and endless war. This is the nadir I have reached in this winter of my discontent. This is how close I border on treason."
Hoppe continued writing for the San Francisco Chronicle to the end of his days. Toward the end of his lifetime, he shared something more personal with his readers - his struggle with lung cancer.
Throughout his career, Hoppe also contributed pieces to such periodicals, as Playboy, Nation and New Yorker. His books include "The Love Everybody Crusade" and "Mr. Nixon and My Other Problems", among others. In addition, Art wrote three novels: "Dreamboat", "Miss Lollipop and the Doomsday Machine" and "The Tiddling Tennis Theorem".
Quotations:
"I read through the newspaper very carefully each morning until I find an item I don’t understand and then sit in front of the word processor to explain it to everybody."
"We ought to change the legend on our money from "In God We Trust" to "In Money We Trust." Because, as a nation, we've got far more faith in money these days than we do in God."
"Who knows? Maybe my life belongs to God. Maybe it belongs to me. But I do know one thing: I'm damned if it belongs to the government."
"If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex?"
"Old men declare war because they have failed to solve complex political and economic problems."
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
Art suffered from lung cancer.
Interests
Sport & Clubs
tennis, golf
Connections
Art married Gloria Mary (Nichols) Hoppe on April 27, 1946. Their marriage produced four children - Leslie, Andrea, Arthur and Prentiss.