In my previous post, , I posted some photos of the obituary of A. J. Llebling — the namesake of this blog — written by Tom Wolfe. Now a famed novelist and writer, Wolfe was then — in late 1963 — a young reporter for the New York Herald Tribune.

I just revisited this post, and on viewing the photos I posted of Wolfe’s work I noticed the name St. Clair McKelway!

Aside from A.J. himself, Mr McKelway was among my favorite writers from the New Yorker.

I suspect that not one in 10,000 or so working journalists would know his name.

I knew that Tom Wolfe was good, but I didn’t appreciate that Wolfe – or his editors at the Trib — were that good.

To include St. Clair in Liebling’s obituary was both an act of brilliance and a demonstration of profound understanding.

If you have ever read St. Clair’s work then please post a comment.

I’ll pay the bar tab if we ever meet, and I do hope we do so as soon as possible, so we can jointly pay tribute to Colonel Stingo.

Fun is fun, but this is serious business.

Good writers deserve recognition.