Newman Levy (Nov. 30, 1888 - March, 1966) was a former Assistant District Attorney of NYC, trial lawyer, writer of light verse, opera and theater fan. He wrote for the New Yorker Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, and other periodicals, and published several books of light verse including OPERA GUYED, THEATRE GUYED, SATURDAY TO MONDAY, and GAY BUT WISTFUL. He wrote an autobiography, MY DOUBLE LIFE, in 1958. He is said to have replied to George Gershwin's question, "I wonder if my music will be played a hundred years from now?" with the answer, "Yes, if you're around to play it!" Quite a wit, he deserves to be better known to a later generation.
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Eva Garshon Levy |
"I awoke one morning with four lines of verse jingling in my head:
Jack Spink was fond of drink,
His wife, she liked to eat.
For eats is eats and wets is wets,
And never the twain shall meet.
"It was not precisely KubIa Khan, which I believe was composed under somewhat similar circumstances, but Bob Sherwood at Life paid me five dollars for it. This experience opened up new and alluring possibilities. If I could train my subconscious to work while I slept I could practice law in the daytime and turn out deathless literature at night -a most enchanting prospect"- which is one of the milestones in..." My Double Life
Bluebeard (not by Newman Levy, but often attributed to him, this was actually written by Guy Wetmore Carryl. It is from his book Grimm Tales Made Gay, and the full title of the poem is "How the Helpmate of Blue-Beard Made Free with a Door". )