A Retrieved Reformation

Renowned author William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry, chose to set his short story “A Retrieved Reformation” in the community of Elmore, Arkansas. While it is not known whether Porter actually visited Arkansas, it is clear that he knew the area was serviced by trains: “One afternoon Jimmy Valentine and his suit-case climbed out of the mail-hack in Elmore, a little town five miles off the railroad down in the black-jack country of Arkansas.” Porter’s life parallels Valentine’s, as Porter spent time in prison in Ohio for embezzlement, while Valentine served time for bank robbery. Porter began his writing career while in the penitentiary, choosing a pen name to hide the fact he was an inmate. He continued to write and penned over 600 short stories—along with novels, poetry, and nonfiction—many of which are now considered classics of American literature.

The short story portrays Elmore as a charming town with a hotel, a dry goods and general store, and a bank, characterized as “a pleasant town to live in, and the people very sociable.” (There was a town called Elmore in Hot Spring County, but it was center of the local timber industry.) Mr. Valentine, who uses the alias of Ralph D. Spencer, is most interested in the bank but becomes sidetracked by the beautiful Miss Annabel Adams, the banker’s daughter: “Mr. Ralph Spencer, the phoenix that arose from Jimmy Valentine’s ashes—ashes left by the flame of a sudden and alterative attack of love—remained in Elmore, and prospered.” Thus began Jimmy’s reformation as he strove to change his ways forever to win Miss Adams.

Known for local color, humor, and surprise endings, Porter’s short stories were printed in magazines such as New York Sunday World and the Cosmopolitan magazine. The story, published under the title “A Retrieved Reform,” was published in the April 1903 issue of the Cosmopolitan. By 1906, the title had been changed to “A Retrieved Reformation.”

The story was adapted into the 1910 play Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong and also into a radio drama in the 1930s. The play was made into several different movies, dating from 1915 until 1942. The 1928 movie was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as its first partially talking film, featuring Lionel Barrymore. In 1985, the PBS American Playhouse Series released an hour-long drama titled Valentine’s Revenge, set in Elmore, framed with Porter himself being in prison at the beginning and end of the show. “A Retrieved Reformation” was included in a book titled The Best Short Stories of O. Henry, published by Penguin Random House Library in 1994, a collection of thirty-eight stories authored by Porter.

For additional information:
The Best Short Stories of O. Henry. New York: Modern Library, 1994.

Henry, O. “A Retrieved Reformation.” Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1646/pg1646-images.html#id_10 (accessed August 22, 2024).

Valerie Breck
Cave City, Arkansas