Alfred Damon Runyon (1880-1946) was an American newspaperman and short story writer best known for his stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde.

He spun humorous and sentimental tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Good Time Charley", "Dave the Dude", or "The Seldom Seen Kid".