Guest, Edgar A.

8/20/1881

Birmingham, England

In 1904, Guest was allowed to write weekly column of observations called "Blue Monday Chat" which evoloved into a daily column entitled "Breakfast Table Chat"
Guest and his brother Harry went into the publishing business

Guest appeared on the radio program for twenty-six weeks called "Theatre of the Air" during the 1920's and 30's

From 1932 to 1942 he had his own weekly national network radio show called "It Can't Be Done".

In 1925 Detroit named Edgar A. Guest Elementary School in his honor as well as a Boy's Club

Detroit Mayor Frank Couzens and Michigan governor Frank Fritzgerald proclaimed Valintine's Day in 1936 as Edgar A. Guest Day.

Mayor Albert Cobo and Michigan legislature proclaimed another Eddie Guest Day On August 20, 1951

Michigan legislature made Guest the Poest Laureate of Michigan in March 1952. He was the first and only person ever to be given that distinction

Formal education ended in eight grade due to father's unemployment and failing health.
Received honorary degress from: Wayne State University, 1936; Michigan State University, 1952 and the University of Michigan, 1955

Immigrated to Detroit in May 1891 after father's business failed.
In 1955 Guest suffered from a heart condition and underwent a long hospitalization

Began working a succession of odd jobs and had his big break in 1895, when he took a job as an office boy in the accounting department at the Detroit Free Press.

Guest became a copy boy and eventually a reproter.

Speaking career began when a Detroit Rotary club invited him to read from "A Heap of Livin" at one of their meetings. Similiar request from other service clubs, churches, schools, and business organizations across the country followed.

Sometime before 1923, a Boston company made three films based on Guest poems.

(1)"Home Rymes" was published in 1909, there were 136 pages in the book and 800 copies were printed.
(2)"Just Glad Things"
(3)"Breakfast Chat" was made of versus collected from his daily column of the same name. The entire edtion was sold out in two Christmas seasons.
(4) "A Heap O' Livin" was published by the Rielly and Lee Company of Chicago. The first printing was for 3,500 copies. It eventually sold one million copies--left Guest a houshold name throughout the United States.

Guest had written more than thirty books of poems. Sales ran into the millions.The first edition of a new Guest book was seldom a run of less than 50,000 copies.

Edwin Guest

Julia Wayne

Nellie Crossman Guest, m. 6/28/1906

Florence Dorothy
Marjorie Ellen
Edgar A. (b. 1913)
Janet (b. 1922)

English