He bit his lip in a manner which immediately awakened my maternal sympathy, and I helped him bite it.

Perelman chose to describe these pieces as feuilletons — a French literary term meaning "literary or scientific articles; serial stories" (literally "large leaves") — and he defined himself as a feuilletoniste. It is largely considered juvenilia and its pieces were never included in future Perelman collections. His play The Beauty Part (1962) which starred Bert Lahr in multiple roles fared less well its short run attributed at least in part to the accompanying 114-day 1962 New York City newspaper strike.

J. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for The New Yorker.