a reporter at large ·
Joseph Mitchell writes about New York’s rats, whose population increased during the Second World War, and speaks to various experts about the creatures’ habits and the difficulties of exterminating them.
Joseph Mitchell
Joseph Mitchell, who died in 1996, began writing for the magazine in 1933.
Read more on The New Yorker →33 picks · 1933–2023
Featured Picks
profiles ·
Part 2 of Joseph Mitchell’s classic Profile of the Greenwich Village bohemian Joe Gould, who claimed to have authored the longest book ever written.
profiles ·
Joseph Mitchell’s classic profile of the Greenwich Village bohemian Joe Gould.
profiles ·
PROFILE of Harry Lyons, a "riverman" of Edgewater, a former fireman who, even during his tenure as a firefighter was permitted to take time out for …
profiles ·
Joseph Mitchell’s 1956 Profile of George H. Hunter, the chairman of the board of the African Methodist church in Sandy Ground, Staten Island.
profiles ·
PROFILE of Capt. Daniel J. Campion, former Acting Captain of the Pickpocket & Confidence Squad, and an authority on gypsies. There are two breeds of …
profiles ·
Joseph Mitchell’s 1952 piece about the seafood restaurant Sloppy Louie’s and its contemplative proprietor, Louis Morino.
profiles ·
PROFILE of N. Y. Harbor and what's in, and on and under the water; marine life in the harbor, bays and inlets; species of fish that enter the harbor, …
profiles ·
PROFILE of dragger captain Ellery Franklin Thompson tells about Old Chrissy, an old rascal of a woman that was the head of a gang of Block Island wreckers.…
profiles ·
Profile of Ellery Franklin Thompson, a dragger captain of Stonington, Connecticut. Stonington and Fulton Fish Market are closely linked. Several of the …
a reporter at large ·
REPORTER AT LARGE about Hugh G. Flood, a retired house-wrecking contractor, an amateur ichtyologist, and honorary Mayor of the Fulton Fish Market. Mr. …
a reporter at large ·
Joseph Mitchell’s 1944 Profile of Hugh G. Flood, the unofficial mayor of the Fulton Fish Market.
a reporter at large ·
Joseph Mitchell writes about New York’s rats, whose population increased during the Second World War, and speaks to various experts about the creatures’ habits and the difficulties of exterminating them.
profiles ·
PROFILE of Hugh G. Flood, a retired house-wrecking contractor, aged ninety-three who is determined to live until the afternoon of July 27, 1965, when he …
profiles ·
Profile of Joseph Ferdinand Gould, Harvard graduate, hobo panhandler and writer of "An Oral History of Our Time." Gould is a Yankee. His branch of the …
profiles ·
PROFILE of Johnny Nikanov, who claims that he is the head- king of all the Russian, Serbian, Rumanian, Syrian, Turkish, Bulgarian, German & English gypsies…
profiles ·
PROFILE of Commodore Dutch who mas made a living for the last forty years by giving an annual ball for the benefit of himself. On big showcards, which he …
a reporter at large ·
REPORTER AT LARGE about the Union League of the Deaf, a society club exclusively for deafmutes. It was founded in 1886 and has 400 members. The address is …
profiles ·
PROFILE of Mr. A. S. Colborne, founder and president of the Anti-Profanity League. In 1908 he founded and Safe and Sane Fourth of July Movement. He used to…
profiles ·
Joseph Mitchell’s 1940 Profile of the local celebrity with a “genuine fondness for bums.”
a reporter at large ·
Joseph Mitchell on the nine-year-old pianist and composer Philippa Duke Schuyler—a prodigy who reads Plutarch on train trips, eats steaks raw, plays poker, and writes poems in honor of her dolls.
profiles ·
PROFILE of Jane Barnell, the Bearded Lady, billed in the sideshows as Lady Olga. Miss Barnell is 69 years old and was first put on exhibition shortly after…
profiles ·
Joseph Mitchell’s classic 1940 story about McSorley’s Old Ale House, which opened in 1854 and remains one of the oldest bars in the city.
a reporter at large ·
REPORTER AT LARGE about John S. Smith, of Riga, etc., a ragged, white-bearded old man who has been roaming the highways of the U.S. since 1934. In return …
a reporter at large ·
REPORTER AT LARGE about the turtle & terrapin business. Visit to Will Barbee's diamond-back terrapin farm on the Isle of Hope. The terrapin market in …
a reporter at large ·
Visit to the Long Island bay clam bed to watch the clamming. The most abundant beds are in Great South Bay and are owned by the towns of Islip and Babylon.…
a reporter at large ·
Reporter at Large about religious goods stores on Barclay Street. St. Peter's in the heart of the street has put an indelible stamp on Barclay. …
a reporter at large ·
Joseph Mitchell on how New York State liquor laws transformed Dick’s Bar and Grill, from 1939: “The old place was dirty and it smelled like the zoo, but it was genuine.”
a reporter at large ·
Joseph Mitchell on the winter of 1933, when he was a newspaper reporter during the Great Depression and wrote a story about a couple who lived in a cave in Central Park for a year.
a reporter at large ·
Personal history of Captain Charles Eugene Cassell told in his own words. He is the owner of Captain Charley's Museum for Intelligent People, located …
a reporter at large ·
REPORTER AT LARGE. Mr. Whalen, president of the World's Fair has banned the American word "Midway," he appears to prefer "Amusement Area." He has also …
a reporter at large ·
Joseph Mitchell on Dick’s Bar and Grill—a saloon with a twitchy neon sign, a cranky, sad-eyed proprietor, and a bar that sags, possibly from being moved in and out of speakeasies during Prohibition.
a reporter at large ·
Visit to Elkton, Md., where runaway people wishing to get married in a hurry go. It became famous as a marriage center in 1920, one year after the arrival …