Damon Runyon

Damon Runyon
1880-1946
(source: NewsOK)
no copyright infringement intended

a great bard of the Broadway universe (that unique world that grew up during the Prohibition years, a world of its own, unique even within Manhattan); his stories, be them sentimental or humorous, depicted all kind of hustlers, gamblers, smaller and bigger gangsters, also - that's funny - actors; all of them known only by their nicks (Good Time Charley, Benny Southstreet, Harry the Horse, that kind of stuff); all these guys got in turn a common nick (from the readers) - Runyonesque characters; his vernacular language was a mixture of formal and slang, almost always in present tense, and - interesting - almost always devoid of contractions; his readers found a special name for this language - the Runyonese; all this being said, it's time to look for some of his books.

(info source: wiki)

(A Life in Books)