A bevy of James Thurber

Join the great Peter Ustinov as he reads some of the tales from the great James Thurber. The .au format is downloadable (just right click) with the .gsm format and .ra (Real Audio) are streaming only.

town.hall.org: Actor Peter Ustinov reads the fables of humorist James Thurber. James Thurber contributed cartoons, stories, and humorous sketches to the New Yorker from 1927 until his death in 1961. Thurber, an original American humorist, follows the pattern of the Greek fabulist Aesop in illustrating human moral dilemmas by using animal characters. Ustinov's rich voice brings these brief stories alive.

James Thurber, Part 1 .au format (4.7 Mb), .gsm format (0.9 Mb), .ra format (0.5 Mb).
Fables in this segment include "The Unicorn in the Garden," perhaps the most famous of these fables, "The Tiger who Understood People," and "The Lion who Wanted to Zoom." James Thurber, Part 2 .au format (4.7 Mb), .gsm format (1 Mb), .ra format (0.6 Mb).
Fables in this section include "The Shrike and the Chipmunks," "The Seal who Became Famous," "The Bear who Let It Alone," and a tale illustrating the very human yearning for the unattainable, "The Moth And The Star."
James Thurber, Part 3 .au format (4.2 Mb), .gsm format (0.9 Mb), .ra format (0.6 Mb).
Fables in this segment, some of which have a distinctly misogynistic tendency, include "The Scotty who Knew Too Much," "The Stork who Married a Dumb Wife," and a parable about the danger of looking outside one's own natural sphere, "The Crow and the Oriole."
James Thurber, Part 4 .au format (4 Mb), .gsm format (0.8 Mb), .ra format (0.5 Mb).
These selections include "The Courtship of Arthur and Al," a retelling of "The Tortoise and the Hare," "The Patient Bloodhound," and "The Little Girl and the Wolf," which puts a new twist on the well-known fairy tale.