While in jail, he published fourteen short stories with his pen name, O. Henry, to hide his identity. He was released for his good conduct after three years of service at the Prison hospital. A 1957 television series The O. Henry Playhouse was syndicated in 39 episodes to 188 markets. [14] Actor Thomas Mitchell portrayed O. Henry in each episode as he interacted with his characters or related his latest story to his publisher or a friend. [15] Pig’s face, is it?’ said Mrs. McCaskey, and hurled a stewpan full of bacon and turnips at her lord. The award itself is called the O. Henry Award, [5] not the O. Henry Prize, though until recently there were first, second, and third prize winners; the collection is called The O. Henry Prize Stories, and the original collection was called Prize Stories 1919: The O. Henry Memorial Awards. Excuse me, Mr. Skidder,’ said Mrs. Parker, with her demon’s smile at his pale looks. ‘I didn’t know you were in. I asked the lady to have a look at your lambrequins.’

You’ve cut off your hair?’ asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labour.All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publishers. Porter has elementary schools named for him in Greensboro, North Carolina (William Sydney Porter Elementary) [16] and Garland, Texas (O. Henry Elementary), as well as a middle school in Austin, Texas (O. Henry Middle School). [17] The O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro is also named for Porter, as is US 29, which is O. Henry Boulevard.

In 1962, the Soviet Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating O. Henry's 100th birthday. On September 11, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of O. Henry's birth. [19] Major Grigg, who sat by his fat wife on the top step, arose and buttoned his coat. ‘The little one lost?’ he exclaimed. ‘I will scour the city.’ His wife never allowed him out after dark. But now she said: ‘Go, Ludovic!’ in a baritone voice. ‘Whoever can look upon that mother’s grief without springing to her relief has a heart of stone.’ ‘Give me some thirty or – sixty cents, my love,’ said the Major. ‘Lost children sometimes stray far. I may need car-fares.’ According to J. F. Clarke, it is from the name of the French pharmacist Etienne Ossian Henry, whose name is in the U.S. Dispensary which Porter used working in the prison pharmacy. [12]

O. Henry (1862–1910) was born William Sydney Porter in North Carolina. His schooling was rudimentary, and after working in a drug store, he went to Texas in 1882; he became a rancher for a time, then a bank teller and journalist, founding a comic weekly magazine, The Rolling Stone (1894–5) before being employed by the Houston Post to write a humorous daily column.