A small town man inherits a significant fortune and takes his family to New York City. Urban culture shock takes the form of strange ways and colorful oddball characters the likes of which have not been seen back home in idyllic South Bend. 'The Big Town' is Ring Lardner's hilarious satire of big city life. KATE. a small-town girl with big league ideas. and $75,000 And these are some of the characters Katie met in the big city. Francis Griffin. a bachelor who cleaned up on Wall Street.

Trumbull. no matter how old you'd guess he was, he was older. Ritchey. a chauffeur with looks, a limousine, and lots of free time. Lady Perkins. a society dame who could really put on the dog. Bob Codd. a famous aviator, until a little something went wrong.

Herbert Daley. he owned a string of race horses and developed a taste for women. Sid Mercer. a good-looking jockey who didn't have much strength of character. Jimmy Ralston. a comedian who didn't think too much of himself. And here are some of the REAL characters you'll meet. William Jennings Bryan.

he always looked like somebody was tickling his feet. Ziggy. he ran a little show. Ed Wynn. he borrowed a couple of ideas, just to get a flop off his hands. Man o' War. he could run, too. Burleigh Grimes.

the Dodgers' spitball pitcher was just a prop in a play. Ringgold Wilmer "Ring" Lardner (1885-1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings about sports, marriage, and the theatre. He was a contemporary of Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald, all of whom professed strong admiration for Lardner's writing. Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.