Voting Station

Franklin Pierce Adams

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Commentator

The Resume

    (November 15, 1881-March 23, 1960)
    Born in Chicago, Illinois
    Birth name was Franklin Leopold Adams
    Newspaper columnist, author of light verse, and humorist
    Wrote the column 'The Conning Tower' for the New York Tribune, New York World, New York Herald Tribune and New York Post (1914-41)
    Usually known as 'FPA'
    Panelist on the radio show 'Information Please' (1938-48)
    Member of the Algonquin Round Table

Why he might be annoying:

    He sold insurance before becoming a columnist.
    Frequently the best items in his column were other authors' contributions.
    He described himself as 'the cigar smoking, pool playing little gargoyle with the long neck and big nose and bushy mustache.'
    One of his running gags on 'Information Please' was attributing any quote he could not identify to Shakespeare.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His poem 'Baseball's Sad Lexicon' immortalized Tinker to Evers to Chance.
    After Vice President Thomas Marshall said 'What this country really needs is a good five-cent cigar,' he replied, 'There are plenty of good five-cent cigars in this country. The trouble is they cost a quarter. What this country needs is a good five-cent nickel.'
    He was said to have 'the most famous non-presidential initials' in the country.
    By featuring their work in his column, he launched the careers of James Thurber and Dorothy Parker (who quipped, 'He raised me from a couplet').

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 17 Votes: 5.88% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying