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(From the December 18, 1950 edition)

The early work of writers–juvenalia, if you will–has always fascinated me for many reasons. What secrets do they hold in terms of how good the writer will be in the future? Are there clues to what style he or she will adopt, what influences permeate their work? Or to be blunt, is there any evidence of talent? In Shel’s case, there is plenty of evidence. As stated before, his cartoons were of considerably higher quality than his peers at the Torch and certainly are an indicator of what was to come. Luckily, he was able to find an outlet and an audience (even if his written humor was not quite as well received by the public as the cartoon humor.) And thankfully, they are now available to be viewed, analyzed, and scrutinized.


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