Term of the Night: Runyonesque character

Runyonesque character, Damon Runyon character--eccentric Broadway character. Damon Runyon was a 1920s and 1930's newspaper man whose short stories on the Broadway world inspired the musical "Guys and Dolls." The characters in the short stories included mobsters, showgirls, bookies and Salvation Army charity workers. Often the characters operated in the grey areas of the law, hanging out in nightclubs and bookie joints, looking for the next score. Occasionally people who work in the modern stage industry have some of these characteristics of this bygone era. I knew an alcoholic stagehand who ran book out of a Chinese restaurant. Some of the old Westies who work on Broadway have good stories, as well.

"When the musical 'Jersey Boys' opened in 2005, the son of the late Four Seasons bass player Nick Massi would show up to scalp tickets for the Broadway hit. When he kept trying to approach the cast when he was drunk, he was banned from the theater.  He was a Runyonesque character."