Snappy the Clam

Excellent article in the Morning News about Joseph Mitchell, a New Yorker profile writer who wrote stories about the quirky New York eccentrics who inhabited the city before it became a mere playground for the rich and uninteresting. Any of his work serves as a gentle, affectionate antidote to the kind of looka-me snark of oh, Gawker f'r instance. Good article, and even better if it gets you to read Up in the Old Hotel.

Incidentally, I got to meet Joe Mitchell. He did a signing at Coliseum Books, where I then worked, and he signed my copy of Up in the Old Hotel. A wonderful classy man.

One other thing: I could have sworn I saw another article somewhere on Mitchell entitled Joe Mitchell's Secret. Can't remember where though.