Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Rio de los Brazos de Dios
Posts: 3876

Most of you may never have heard of Will Cuppy. He died in September of 1949 after writing a few books and articles. Most of his books are hard to get now but there are still copies of "How to Tell Your Friends From The Apes" and of "The Decline And Fall Of Practically Everybody" around and the latter at least is still in print. Cuppy was a very unusual man. The unusual traits I list below were from a preface written by Fred Feldkamp to one of his books.

1. Cuppy was essentially a recluse. He lived in a small apartment in New York City. His apartment was filled with books from floor to ceiling in all rooms including the kitchen---and even had books stacked on the stove there.

2. Cuppy hated noise in any form. there were several babies in the apartment house where he lived in New York and when one would cry Cuppy would grab one of the New Years Eve noise makers which unrolled when you blew on it and point it in the direction of the crying baby and repeatedly blow on it.

3. His routine daily was to rise at about 2 or 3 PM , drink up to seven cups of coffee then work on his writing or research until about midnight then back to bed for a two hour nap and up at 2
AM and work until dawnj with more coffee to support him. He ordered his meals from a deli and had them delivered and they usually consisted of green oeas and hamburger steak.

4. His two most favorite places were the Bronx Zoo which he visited regularly and a shack he owned on Jones Island out in Long Island Sound which he called "Chez Cuppy" or more often
"Tottyering On The Brink".

5. When asked for a picture by a New York newspaper to use with his obit when the time came for that Cuppy forwarded a pucture of a complete stranger who bore no resemblance to him.
When Cuppy died the newspaper used the bogus photograph

He was an interesting man and his books are humorous. I recommend them.

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oxsan


Don't kick until yer spurred.

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Registered: Oct 2001
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Sounds like a nice lifestyle.

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Registered: Mar 2004
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Posts: 46

I would love to know where you found out so much about The Cuppy. The story about his photo makes me wonder how that fan of his recognized him that time with Mr. Tunney.

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