Post #653195 by bigbrotiki on Mon, Sep 24, 2012 1:17 PM

Interesting article by Perry, I did not see his Don comparison before! While the Bitner biography is full of fascinating, unknown history about Don, some of it should be taken with a grain of salt. Don might have wanted to obscure the simple copycat way of choosing his name with a more personal story.

My simple deduction (apparently shared by Perry) is based on the fact that the CONCEPT of "Vagabond's House" is very similar to that of a Beachcomber's hideaway.

Even good ol' Wikipedia says:

"He (Blanding) published his long poem "Vagabond's House" several times. (It was in the first, private, printing of Leaves from a Grass-House in 1923; the commercially published edition of the same book, later that year, included it with the title changed to "Aloha House". In 1928 he restored the original "Vagabond's House" title, making it the title poem of another collection.) Its detailed fantasy begins:

When I have a house – as I sometime may –I'll suit my fancy in every way...