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William Hughes Mearns
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William Hughes Mearns (1875-1965) was an English teacher and poet.
An English teacher, Mearns wrote two books, Creative Youth 1925, and Creative Power 1929. He also served for a time (starting in 1920 as head of the Lincoln School Teachers' College at Columbia University, He was also a proponent of John Dewey's work in progressive education. He is considered to be the first teacher of creative writing (as specific class title). His poems are often cited as Hugh Mearns.
Mearns is credited with the relatively well-known rhyme:
Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
I wish that man would go away.
Antigonish, 1899
Another:
As I was sitting in my chair,
I knew the bottom wasn't there,
Nor legs nor back, but I just sat,
Ignoring little things like that.
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Other works
I Ride in My Coach (illustrated by W.T. Schwarz) 1923
Lions in the Way 1927
Richard Richard (illustrated by Ralph L. Boyer) 1916
Vinegar Saint (illustrated by Ralph L. Boyer) 1919
Known for the poem:
As I was walking up the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd stay away.
More often reprinted in various Sci-Fi/fantasy magazines as:
Yesterday upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish that man would go away.
And yet another version was used as the opening words in the 2003 movie Identity with John Cusack and Ray Liotta:
As I was going up the stair
I met a man, who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away.
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1939 news report
Bard Who Penned Man Who Wasn't There Revealed
As I was walking up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd stay away.
For a good many years, people have puckishly tossed off those lines, with occasional variations. There seems to be something fascinating about their pleasant inanity, a good deal like the fascination which dwells in Burgess' quote
I've never seen a purple cow,
I hope never to see one, etc.
It has been generally assumed that the creator of the little man who wasn't there is anonymous. It took the composition of a song whose lyric is based on the jingle to bring to light its creator, surprised Prof. Hughes Mearns of New York university. Dr. Mearns holds the impressive title of chairman of the department of creative education, but even now he has his lighter moments.
The little professor conceived The Man Who Wasn't There in 1910, eight years after his graduation from Harvard. The ditty was first intoned publicly in The Psyco-ed, a play written for a group of theatrical amateurs. It so happens that both Harold Adamson who wrote a complete lyric with the non-existent man for the chorus, and Bernard Hanighen who wrote the music currently popular, are also Harvard men. They originally thought the jingle was in public domain. Now they split their royalties with Dr. Meams."