Lower was born in
Dubbo,
New South Wales. His father was a pharmacist and his mother was Florence McInerney. Educated in Sydney, Lower joined the army for a brief time before turning to journalism, where his talents as a humorist soon gained him a legion of dedicated fans and a place in Australian history. He wrote up to eight columns each week for a variety of newspapers in Sydney during the Depression and
World War II. Lennie Lower wrote the novel ''Here's Luck'' in 1929 (it was published in 1930). It deals with the twists and turns of
fate befalling Jack Gudgeon and his
feckless son Stanley. After Jack's wife Agatha suddenly leaves them both go it on a wild rampage through Sydney's racecourses, gambling dens, pubs and cafes.
Cyril Pearl, a noted Sydney journalist and Lower's editor, described ''Here's Luck'' in the following terms: "It remains pre-eminently Australia's funniest book, as ageless as
Pickwick or
Tom Sawyer, a work of 'weird genius', as one reviewer put it, written by a '
Chaplin of words'." Lower's
drinking was "legendary". hence the titles of his two best-known books. "Here's luck!" is a well-known Australian drinking
toast, as is "Here's another!" In a column headed "Must Drink Beer" Lower announced that the "perfect job has been found":
beer tasting for a research institute. Lower's description of the domestic consequences of drunkenness and
hangover have the ring of long experience about them. Lennie Lower wrote for many Australian newspapers and magazines, including
The Daily Telegraph,
The Sunday Telegraph, The
Labor Daily and ''
Smith's Weekly'', until his death from cancer in Sydney in 1947 at the age of 43. ==Books by Lennie Lower==