I don’t know that anyone really thinks about him any more, but Gene Fowler was a journalist and Hollywood writer in the 1930’s and 40’s who was famous for his wit. The other day I was trying to remember a poem he wrote about himself becoming rich. I couldn’t find a copy of it online, so I took it upon myself to transcribe it.
It’s found in H. Allen Smith’s book Lost in the Horse Latitudes. I present it here with Smith’s introduction.
The poem that follows is about Gene Fowler and was written by Gene Fowler and it treats of the attitude of Mr. Fowler’s friends on learning that he had hit the Hollywood jackpot. It was written some years ago just after Mr. Fowler had gone to work for Darryl Zanuck. Mr. Zanuck got it in the mail one day just as it is here:
HOLLYWOOD HORST WESSEL
The boys are not speaking to Fowler
Since he’s been the wine of the rich;
The boys are not speaking to Fowler–
That plutocrat son of a bitch.Continue reading “Gene Fowler’s Lost Poem”