James Thurber: The Life and Hard Times

Plot Summary

The first major documentary film on James Thurber's life and work, James Thurber: The Life and Hard Times looks at the humorist's accomplishments as a journalist, playwright, cartoonist and social critic. Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio, but headed East and became part of the sophisticated Algonquin Roundtable of writers and wits. For three decades, he created drawings for The New Yorker magazine gently satirizing modern life. Sightless in one eye since childhood, he was legally blind for the last 20 years of his life. George Plimpton narrates the hour-long film, with remarks from Edward Albee, John Updike, Fran Lebowitz, Alistair Cooke, Rosemary Thurber, Roger Angell and Roy Blount Jr., among others.