Storytellers to the Nation: A History of American Television Writing - Tom Stempel - Hardcover Book

Well, that was fun. I first heard about this out-of-print book through a rec on my chat list.

66 close parodies of English law-case reports -- so close is the satire, in some cases, that they were sometimes subsequently mistaken for the real thing. Most of them apparently appeared as short humorous articles in Punch in the 1920s and 1930s -- social, legal, and technological issues and attitudes of the day are both consciously and unconsciously showcased. It is interesting, for example, to see the comments and side-comments as that society struggles to come to grips with this new technology of the motor-car, when the new rules of the road were just being worked out -- as usual for law, the hard way.

The "negotiable cow" may be the most famous of these "66 Misleading Cases" (that subtitle itself is a send-up of a real law tome titled Leading Cases), but I was also quite fond of the argument about right-of-way on a flooded road between a motor-car and a rowboat -- one of which is required to keep to its left, the other to its right, by their respective codes. Mr Albert Haddock is well on his way to becoming a small hero of mine, as well as a day-brightener to some of the bewigged and beleaguered judges before whom he repeatedly brings his conundrums.

There is a huge amount I don't know about the intricacies of British law -- not to mention American law -- but for brief faux-dry writings, a deal of illuminating characterization, and on-going accumulating characterization as certain names appeared repeatedly, also comes through.

Very good bedtime reading, due to the short episodic structure and mostly unharrowing content. Recommended.

Ta, L.