author
Bart Haley
b. 1876
Best remembered as the co-author of a witty 1919 satire written on the eve of Prohibition, this little-known writer moved in the lively newspaper and literary world around Christopher Morley. His surviving record is slim, which only adds to the curiosity around him.
1 Audiobook
In the Sweet Dry and Dry
by Christopher Morley, Bart Haley
About the author
Bart Haley is a fairly obscure figure today, but he is reliably credited as the co-author of In the Sweet Dry and Dry (1919), a comic novel about Prohibition written with Christopher Morley. Contemporary editions and library records also connect him with illustration work, including Samantha vs. Josiah, suggesting he worked across both writing and visual storytelling.
What can be confirmed points to Haley as part of the Philadelphia literary-journalistic circle around the Evening Public Ledger. Morley dedicated Travels in Philadelphia to him, and later commentary on Haley describes him as a reporter who covered the first Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle trial for the Evening Public Ledger. Beyond that, biographical details are scarce, so many basics of his life remain uncertain in readily available sources.
Because the record is so thin, Haley stands out less for a long documented career than for the sharp, period charm of the work that survives under his name. For readers of early 20th-century humor, he offers a glimpse of the newspaper wit and collaborative literary culture of his time.