Art Hoppe

Arthur Watterson Hoppe (April 23, 1925 – February 1, 2000) was a popular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for more than 40 years. He was known for satirical and allegorical columns that skewered the self-important. Many columns featured whimsical characters such as expert-in-all-things Homer T. Pettibone and a presidential candidate named Nobody. Occasionally, Hoppe reined in his humor for poignant columns on serious topics, such as "To Root Against Your Country," a noted 1971 column against the Vietnam War.

Art Hoppe
Hoppe in 1994
Born
Arthur Watterson Hoppe

(1925-04-23)April 23, 1925
Honolulu
DiedFebruary 1, 2000(2000-02-01) (aged 74)
San Francisco
NationalityAmerican
Occupationnewspaper columnist

Career

Hoppe began at the Chronicle as a copy boy in 1949 and was promoted to reporter before beginning his own column. As a reporter, he scooped other papers by skiing out with a photographer to the City of San Francisco train when it became snowbound in the Sierra in January 1952.[1] At the peak of its popularity, Hoppe's column appeared in the Chronicle five days a week and was syndicated in more than 100 newspapers nationwide. His close friends included fellow columnists Russell Baker and Art Buchwald.

Hoppe received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in 1996. On his own initiative, he released fellow Chronicle columnist Herb Caen from a mutual vow to accept a special 1996 Pulitzer Prize.[2] He died from complications of lung cancer in February 2000, aged 74, survived by his wife Gloria and four children.

Publications
  • The Love Everybody* Crusade (* Except Antarcticans) (Doubleday, 1963)
  • Dreamboat, novel (Doubleday, 1964)
  • Our San Francisco, contributor with Kenneth Rexroth & others (Diablo Press 1964)
  • The Perfect Solution to Absolutely Everything (Doubleday, 1968)
  • Mr Nixon, and My Other Problems (Chronicle Books, 1971)
  • Miss Lollipop and the Doom Machine, novel (Doubleday, 1973)
  • Tiddling Tennis (Viking, 1977)
  • The Marital Arts (Arbor House, 1985)
  • Humor, Hope, and Humanity's Future (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 1987)
  • Having a Wonderful Time: My First Half Century as a News Paper Man, memoir (Chronicle Books 1995)
  • Above San Francisco, photography by Robert Cameron (Cameron & Co., 1998)

According to an obituary he also wrote two plays, including The Endless Autumn.[3]

References
  1. Hartlaub, Peter (December 3, 2022). "1952 Sierra blizzard turned snowbound luxury train into frigid hell". San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. Caen Column, SF Chronicle / SFGate, April 10, 1996.
  3. White, Melvin Robert (1993). Mel White's Readers Theatre Anthology: Twenty-eight All-Occasion Readings for Storytellers. ISBN 9780916260866.

Further reading
  • Hoppe, Art (November 20, 1964). "Our Man Hoppe". Carlsbad Current-Argus. p. 13
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