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Best New Yorker Articles of 1954

Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1954 issues.

52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: A. J. Liebling (7)

Most featured section: A Reporter at Large

Featured Picks

An Act of Solace
Cecile M. Franking · Fiction · January 2

When the writer was a little girl, she and her two brothers lived with their grandparents. Their father was dead and their mother had been in a T.B. …

A FACTORY SAILS SOUTH AND THERE WAS WHALE
R. B. Robertson · A Reporter at Large · January 9

REPORTER AT LARGE about a whaling expedition to the Southern Ocean. Author, a senior medical officer to the expedition, tells about the first leg of the …

AND THERE WAS WHALE
R. B. Robertson · A Reporter at Large · January 16

REPORTER AT LARGE. Author, senior medical officer of whaling expedition, describes South Georgia Island, the only permanently inhabited place within the …

AND THERE WAS WHALE. A Matter of Proportion.
R. B. Robertson · A Reporter at Large · January 23

REPORTER AT LARGE about life aboard a whaling factory. According to the regulations of the Int. Whaling Commission, which are enforced by a board that sits…

AND THERE WAS WHALE. Pull Up the Plan!
R. B. Robertson · A Reporter at Large · January 30

REPORTER AT LARGE about a whaling expedition to the Southern Ocean. Dr. Robertson, senior medical officer of the whaling factory ship, is trying to analyze…

A DEACON AT OAK RIDGE
Daniel Lang · A Reporter at Large · February 6

REPORTER AT LARGE about Dr. William G. Pollard, the executive director of the Oak Ridge Inst. of Nuclear Studies, in Oak Ridge, Tenn., who after 20 years …

CLOSINGS AND OPENINGS
E. J. Kahn · Profiles · February 13

PROFILE of Roger L. Stevens, a real-estate operator, who formed and headed a syndicate that bought the Empire State Bldg. Stevens, Robert W. Dowling, the …

CLOSINGS AND OPENINGS.
E. J. Kahn · Profiles · February 20

PROFILE of Roger L. Stevens, real-estate operator, tells about his idea of a business center in Boston. During his frequent trips to Boston in the interest…

NOT LIKE TAKING THE WATERS.
Robert Shaplen · Profiles · February 27

PROFILE of Bruce Smith, expert on the science of policework throughout the world, & director of the Inst. of Publ. Admin stration. He has made surveys of a…

A Consciousness of Reality
W. H. Auden · Books · March 6

W. H. Auden on how the author of “Mrs. Dalloway” left behind, in her diary, the most truthful record of what a writer’s life is actually like.

THE LAST LAP.
Berton Roueché · A Reporter at Large · March 13

REPORTER AT LARGE about a visit to the Dorchester Pottery Works. The industry was founded by a New England Scotchman named George Henderson, in 1884. After…

Out of Season
Nadine Gordimer · Fiction · March 20

In Johannesburg, Caroline Hunter invited a group of friends to her home for luncheon. The women were all in their forties and had known each other since …

Slice of Life
Peter De Vries · Fiction · March 27

The writer tells about how he was caught in an office building elevator for two hours, as he was coming back from lunch. He describes the other occupants …

THE MUSTANG BUZZERS.
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · April 3

REPORTER AT LARGE about a stay at the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch, Nev. Among the guests was an Italian journalist named Lamberti. He had come to America in …

The Five-Forty-Eight
John Cheever · Fiction · April 10

A short story by John Cheever about an affair and its surprising aftermath.

EVERY PLACE, THEY TEAR THE HOUSE DOWN.
Robert Rice · A Reporter at Large · April 17

REPORTER AT LARGE about how the Port Authority is handling the 800 families who must move out of tenements o on 9th Avenue (from 30th to 39th Sts.) to make…

TERRIFIC.
Lillian Ross · A Reporter at Large · April 24

REPORTER AT LARGE about the Junior League of the City of New York, Inc. planning its third annual Mardi Gras Ball. Mrs. Luckenbill was chairman of the …

THE LOVERS UPON THE WALLS.
Alan Moorehead · A Reporter at Large · May 1

REPORTER AT LARGE about the Ajanta Caves, in Hyderabad, Ind. which contain the loveliest & probably the most important collection of Buddhist wall …

It's The Illusion That Counts.
Robert M. Coates · A Reporter at Large · May 8

REPORTER AT LARGE about Palisades Amusement Park & outline of the history of the roller coaster & other attractions. Palisades Park is on the edge of the …

The Big Stone II.
Lillian Ross · Profiles · May 15

PROFILE of Harry Winston, owner of the jewelry firm, Harry Winston, Inc., at 7 East 51 St. He was especially fond of a diamond which had come from a South …

Better As a Kick in Za Pants
A. J. Liebling · Fiction · May 22

Writer tells about Constantin Rozanoff, a pilot in the French Armee de l'Air, who was known as Kostya. When the writer knew him in 1943, he was in …

Come, Let Me Clutch Thee.
E. J. Kahn · Profiles · May 29

PROFILE of Thomas Lamb, inventor of a distinctive type of handle called the Lamb Handle. It has a surface of curved grooves, carved with microscopic …

The Story of the First Sherpa to Climb to the Top of Mt. Everest
Christopher Rand · A Reporter at Large · June 5

Tenzing Norkay has been on more Everest expeditions than any other man, and he probably “deserved,” if anyone did, to reach the top.

Thirty Years Exactly
Louise Field Cooper · Fiction · June 12

The author owns the old walnut desk that once belonged to her grandfather. Among the many things that have been crammed into it by former owners is her …

Barney Magonagel
Joyce Cary · Fiction · June 19

The author tells about an Irishman who had been a family servant to his great-uncle, who lived on a small estate near London. As a boy, the author spent a …

The Legacy
Mavis Gallant · Fiction · June 26

A sister & her three brothers are reunited for the funeral of their mother, who had lefther small grocery store to the eldest son. He had left Montreal and…

THE GREAT PROXY FIGHT.
John Brooks · A Reporter at Large · July 3

REPORTER AT LARGE about Robert R. Young's proxy fight to get control of the N.Y. Central. His campaign began Jan. 17, 1954, when he informed Harold S. …

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MILLS,
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · July 10

REPORTER AT LARGE about the Ezzard Charles-Rocky Marciano match. It seemed to author-and so it turned out, to both judges, the referee, and all the …

DDT.
Robert Rice · A Reporter at Large · July 17

REPORTER AT LARGE about DDT. It was discovered by Othmar Zeidler in 1874 at the University of Strasbourg. Not realizing its value, he threw it away. It was…

The Bubble
Nancy Hale · Fiction · July 24

When the writer was 18 and about to have a baby, she left her husband in N.Y. and went to her mother-in-law's home in Washington, D.C. When the baby …

Dr. Perelman, I Presume, Or Small-Bore in Africa: To Count The Cats in Zanzibar
S. J. Perelman · Fiction · July 31

An account of the author's trip to Zanzibar aboard an Arab dhow, sailing on the Indian Ocean, from the coast of Kenya. He is warned by an Englishman …

Nino and a Nanimal.
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · August 7

REPORTER AT LARGE about the fight between Tommy Jackson and Nino Valdes at Madison Square Garden, which Valdes won in the first round. Gives background of …

Dr. Perelman, I Presume, Or Small-Bore in Africa: Shoot, If You Must, Past This Old Gray Head
S. J. Perelman · Fiction · August 14

The author, with a weak stomach from the beginning, joins a safari. In Garissa he meets the rest of the party, Mr. & Mrs. Forepaugh of San Diego, intent on…

DOGGY
E. J. Kahn · Profiles · August 21

PROFILE of the American Kennel Club, the governing body of organized dogdom, the ranking organization for the registration & certification of pedigrees. …

DOGGY.
E. J. Kahn · Profiles · August 28

PROFILE of the American Kennel Club. Out in Kalamazoo, ther has existed since 1898 the United Kennel Club, which registers some 15,000 dogs annually & with…

Debut of a Seasoned Artist
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · September 4

REPORTER AT LARGE about a prizefight between Archie Moore and Harold Johnson at Madison Square Garden. Moore's manager, Charley Johnston, told the …

POOR ANN!
Daniel Lang · A Reporter at Large · September 11

REPORTER AT LARGE about the descendants of Ann Greenslade Pudeator trying to clear her of the charge of being a witch for which she was tried & executed …

My Solution of the Grant's Tomb Cipher
John Sack · Fiction · September 18

A Life article on Ib Melchoir, who broke down the code on Shakespeare's tomb & the Life search party who followed the clue, finding nothing, prompted …

WELL CAUGHT, MR. HOLDER.
J. M. Flagler · A Reporter at Large · September 25

REPORTER AT LARGE about cricket & about a match played in Van Cortlandt Park betw. the Inter-State League, of Bklyn, & the N. Y. League of Harlem, both …

DOWN THERE.
Joseph Wechsberg · Profiles · October 2

PROFILE of Leopold Ludwig, now director & conductor of the Hamburg State Opera. A few days after V. E. Day, the Russians ordered Ludwig to round up an …

A Charmed Life
Mary McCarthy · Fiction · October 9

John and Martha have bought a house in New Leeds, an "artistic community" beyond commuting distance. They invested all their capital, so that they could …

THE COMMUNICATOR.
Thomas Whiteside · Profiles · October 16

PROFILE of Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., the young dynamic president of the NBC radio & TV network, a former radio executive of Young & Rubricam, & of American…

THE COMMUNICATOR.
Thomas Whiteside · Profiles · October 23

PROFILE of Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., president of the NBC TV & radio network, who at one time worked as radio executive with American Tobacco Co., during …

BACCHUS IN LONDINIUM!
Mollie Panter-Downes · A Reporter at Large · October 30

REPORTER AT LARGE about the remains of a Roman Temple of Mithras discovered some months ago in London during excavations by a team working for the Roman …

The State of Grace
Harold Brodkey · Fiction · November 6

Fiction, from 1954: There was going to come a moment when, like an acrobat, I was going to have to climb on her shoulders and leap out into a life she couldn’t imagine.

From Sarah Bernhardt to Yukon Eric.
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · November 13

REPORTER AT LARGE about wrestling. In the thirties, wrestling hit a peak of prosperity under Jack Curley. The world's championship was held by a …

I-YOU'RE LUCKY IF YOU CAN COME CLOSE
Herbert Warren Wind · Profiles · November 20

PROFILE of Wallace K. Harrison, architect, chairman of the board of design & director of planning for the U.N. headquarters. Mr. H. was born in Worchester,…

THE SQUARE THAT BECAME A CENTER
Herbert Warren Wind · Profiles · November 27

PROFILE of Wallace K. Harrison, the architect, speaks of the first skyscrapers, mentioned the first skyscrapers. Since there has never been any real …

Eretz Yisrael.
Edmund Wilson · A Reporter at Large · December 4

REPORTER AT LARGE about visit to Israel in late March & early April and random observations on many things. Writer attended a Samaritan Passover …

JUST GIVE US PEACE IN OUR HOME.
Katharine T. Kinkead · A Reporter at Large · December 11

REPORTER AT LARGE about Home Term Court, which deals mainly with family problems, and came into being largely thru the efforts of Judge Anna Kross. She had…

THE NEUTRAL CORNER ART GROUP.
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · December 18

REPORTER AT LARGE about a prizefight betw. Ernie Roberts & Earl Dennis, at Sunnyside Gardens, & about a restaurant, Neutral Corner Cocktail Lounge & …

PHILOSOPHY AND FIGURE EIGHTS.
Robert Lewis Taylor · Profiles · December 25

PROFILE of Pierre Brunet, an instructor at the N.Y. Skating Club. His record as a competitor is among the most formidable ever established. Together with …

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