The life and times of archy and mehitable

  

 

 

 

 

Remember when you wanted a car 

In kindergarten?  An actual car.

"Archy and Mehitabel (styled as archy and mehitabel) are fictional characters created in 1916 by Don Marquis, a columnist for The Evening Sun newspaper in New York City. 

 Archy, a cockroach, and Mehitabel, an alley cat, appeared in hundreds of humorous verses and short stories in Marquis's daily column, "The Sun Dial". 

 Their exploits were first collected in the 1927 book archy and mehitabel, which remains in print today, and in two later volumes, archys life of mehitabel (1933) and archy does his part (1935). 

 Many editions are recognized by their distinctive illustrations by George Herriman, the creator of Krazy Kat." 

"American singer-songwriter Jolie Holland included a song titled "Mehitabel's Blues" on her 2006 album Springtime Can Kill You." 

"On August 23, 1943, the United States Navy christened a Liberty ship, the USS Don Marquis (IX-215), in his honor. " 

"USS Don Marquis (IX-215), an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for that writer, poet, and artist. Her keel was laid down by the California Shipbuilding Corporation, in Los Angeles, California, as a Type EC2-S-C1 hull under Maritime Commission contract number 1874.  She was launched on 23 August 1943. She was acquired and placed in service by the Navy on 31 May 1945. She was employed as 

 dry floating storage 

 in the Pacific until returned to the War Shipping Administration on 28 November 1945. Don Marquis was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 June 1946. 

 Displacement

4,023 long tons (4,088 t) light

14,250 long tons (14,479 t) full

Length

441 ft 7 in (134.59 m)"