The man was thought funny in his day, but tastes have greatly changed, and Perelman hasn't held up well. ( )

Really enjoyed these old essays from the New Yorker (mostly, I think). Lots about talkies and going to the movies in the 20s in Providence, R.I. Perelman is hilariously and manages to use vocabulary words I don't know in almost every essay, a quality I appreciate in a writer. The title is never explained or even alluded to. If Perelman can see how far the atrophy has spread I'll bet he's spinning in his grave. But maybe I'm confusing atrophy with apathy? Oh wait, they aren't that different are they? ( )