James J. Montague - New York

New York

In 1902, Montague, his wife, and son moved to New York, where he began work for Hearst. His daughter Doris, born that year, stayed behind with Montague's mother, who later followed. Initially the family lived in a Manhattan boardinghouse, then moved to number of rented houses in New Rochelle where their second son, James Lee Montague, was born. They finally built their own house at 204 Drake Avenue, moving in around 1904.

In New York, Montague's work appeared in both the New York American and New York Evening Journal. He produced a poetry column six times a week, in addition to writing a wide range of articles on politics, books, and theater. During his working life he compiled many binders of his work, of which six from the 1900s survive. Of these, the vast majority are his poetry column.

The New York Times referred to Montague as a "twentieth-century bard," while W.O. McGeehan, then editor of the New York Herald Tribune, said he "took the passing laughter of the day and sent it singing through a typewriter to the presses so that millions could catch its rhythm and understand." To Montague's dislike, his work was occasionally confused with that of Edgar Guest or James Whitcomb Riley, both of whom were also popular during the same period.

While Montague was best known as the writer of "More Truth than Poetry," he also served as an editor at the Hearst papers when required. One of his tasks was completing an "autobiography" of Buffalo Bill Cody, The Great West That Was: "Buffalo Bill's" Life Story, which was serialized in Hearst's International Magazine from August 1916 to July 1917. During the time Montague was working on the manuscript, Cody was a frequent visitor to the writer's New Rochelle home, "usually just in time for lunch or dinner." This friendliness ended when an installment of the autobiography characterized Wild Bill Hickok as a "bandit," something Cody hadn't approved of and didn't appreciate. As Montague's son Richard wrote in his memoir:

"Father claimed that re-armed himself with his old six guns and was stalking our sire with intent to kill. For several weeks after that we kids lived in delicious dread half-believing that father was in deadly danger. When we went out on a walk with him he'd send us on ahead to look around corners and behind trees to see if Bill Cody was waiting in ambush. The fact that he wasn't only made it more likely that he would be there next time. But he never was."

By this time the circulation wars between the Hearst and Pulitzer papers were past their "yellow journalism" zenith of the late 1800s, but the two continued to battle for market share and talent. Montague had originally been recruited by Hearst in 1902, and now The World came calling. On June 15, 1919, the paper announced that Montague would join them, bringing with him his poetry column. In the article, Montague was referred to as the "Aladdin of the Newspaper Poets" and a "successor to James Whitcomb Riley," a characterization he may not have appreciated. While compensation may have played a role in the move, according to his son, more personal factors were also involved:

" had had enough of Hearst. In quitting, he said, he felt he had taken a Turkish bath and got clean again. He admired the publisher's brilliance, capricious generosity and many worthy activities, but he didn't like his persistent distortion of the news and lack of principles. 'He could have been a great man,' father told me once. 'The only thing he lacked was character.' "

Hearst never forgave Montague for moving to the World, yet continued to try to persuade him to return. Years later the publisher met him in the street and asked when he would come back. "Never," Montague said. "Yes, you will," Hearst replied. "Hunger will drive you back." The year after Montague left Hearst, a collection of "More Truth than Poetry" columns was published by the George H. Doran Company. The book ran 160 pages with a preface by Irvin S. Cobb, and included classic poems such as "The Sleepytown Express," "The Ouija Board" and "The Vamp Passes."

Later in Montague's career he joined the Bell Syndicate, working out of the editorial room of the New York Herald Tribune. The syndicate distributed both Montague's poems and light fiction pieces, all under his own copyright. One example is "No Appreciation for This Bard," about an out-of-work press agent, which was published in the Washington Post of the January 27, 1924. According to the New York Times, Montague wrote six poetry columns a week for nearly 25 years; at this rate, he produced more than 7,500 examples of "More Truth Than Poetry" over his career.