Burgess, Gelett

Burgess, (Frank) Gelett

(1866–1951) writer, humorist; born in Boston, Mass. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S. 1887), and moved to San Francisco (1888), where he worked as a draftsman for the Southern Pacific Railroad (1888–91). He moved to New York City (1897), where he worked as an editor, and, after his marriage to an actress, lived in France to sample bohemian life (1914–18). He is known for publishing The Lark (1895–97), a humorous magazine, which carried his famous quatrain, "The Purple Cow." He continued to write, but with little success, and retired to California (1949).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.