Books Relevant to Dorothy Parker & the Round Table
	Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies by Lauren Redniss Hardcover: 208 pages; Publisher: Regan Books (November 2006) A one-of-a-kind book. If you recall the TV news stories about Doris Eaton Travis, who joined the Ziegfeld Follies when she was 14 and is apparently the only one still alive (102 when the book came out), you have heard of the book's subject. But that is only part of the story. Doris has lived through two world wars, the Depression, and all the fads and changes in society since 1904. She met Babe Ruth and President Woodrow Wilson -- among scores of others. However, what makes this book so unique is what author-illustrator-photographer Lauren Redniss has created. She turned the story into a scrapbook, illustrated and lively. Dozens of newspaper clippings, archival photos, and just amazing junk make this book special. The large size and full-color pages make this a book not to miss. Here was a woman who was running in the same circles as the Algonquin Round Table -- she worked for Flo Ziegfeld -- and is still alive (and dancing) in the 21st Century. Listen to Lauren Redniss' audio interview about the book. [Click Here]
	A House Is Not a Home by Polly Adler (author), Rachel Rubin (Introduction) Paperback: 374 pages; Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press (January 2007) This is a new paperback that reprints Polly Adler's bestseller from 1953. In it, New York's most notorious brothel owner reveals the history of her life as a madam. She was friendly with Round Table members George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley, and Dorothy Parker, among many, many men, gangsters, and celebrities. She operated in the 1920s and 1930s, and this account, while not exactly naming names, gives a good picture of what life was like back then. Polly was arrested numerous times, but never served more than 30 days in jail. After she "retired" during WWII, she moved to Los Angeles and went to college. The book was a hit when it came out, and spawned a musicial and a movie. Now it is back again with a new introducion. If you want to find out what "the life" was like during Prohibition, get this book.
	Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens by Liz Goldwyn Hardcover: 304 pages; Publisher: Regan Books (October 2006) Although this era is slighly later than the Round Table's time period, roughly just after the Second World War, this book would be treasured by anyone that likes New York, history, fashion, sex, and nightlife. Liz Goldwyn has put together an enchanting coffee table book, packed with photos of the stars of old-time burlesque. In the days before pole-dancing and lap dances, these were the "queens" of the burlesque circuit. Goldwyn, a documentary director, interviews many of the people of the era. She bought up a huge quantity of their outfits, and the photos of the burlesque fashions is quite unique. But so is the entire book, which makes you really want to go back to 1950 and drop a few bucks at a smoke-filled cabaret. Listen to Liz Goldwyn's audio interview with Kevin Fitzpatrick. [Click Here]
	The World on Sunday: Graphic Art in Joseph Pulitzer's Newspaper by Margaret Brentano & Nicholson Baker Hardcover: 144 pages; Publisher: Bulfinch (September 2005) The most amazing book about one of the nation's greatest newspapers. This book presents The New York World from 1898-1911. Joseph Pulitzer had the world's first four-color printing press and what he had his editors produce is stunning. Maps, illustrations, comics, ads, graphs, maps... the list goes on and on. The editors did an amazing job of digging out the best of the samples from the Sunday papers. This is the newspaper that many of the Round Table members worked for.
	The Jazz Age in France by Charles A. Riley II Hardcover: 176 pages; Publisher: Harry N Abrams (November 2004) The cofee table book "The Jazz Age in Paris" is wonderful. It is packed with photos and illustrations, many never seen before, of the expats and friends in Paris in the 1920s. It features Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Benchley, Parker, Picasso, Stein, the Murphys and many others. A good addition to any collection of Round Table related books.
	Speakeasies of 1932 by Gordon Kahn and Al Hirschfeld; Introduction by Pete Hamill Applause Books, 2003, Paperback: 96 pages With the repeal of the 18th Amendment -- the speakeasies vanished. But we have Al Hirschfeld's The Speakeasies of 1932. This long-lost book has been brought out again 70 years after Prohibition ended. Hirschfeld, with his pen and brush, visited dozens of underground watering holes. You get the speakeasy, and the recipe for each of the speakeasy's cocktail claim to fame. Also with a new introduction by Pete Hamill.
	Hirschfeld's New York by Clare Bell, Al Hirschfeld; Introduction by Frank Rich Museum of the City of New York, 2002, Paperback: 96 pages Al Hirschfeld's classic drawing of the Round Table on the cover sets the tone for this marvelous paperback. It accompanied a 2002 Hirschfeld retrospective at the Museum of the City of New York and showcases more than 100 drawings spanning his career. Ranging from the 1920s through the '90s, it's all here. No one and no place is safe from his gaze: Greenwich Village denizens in 1941 imitating "movie folks in dress and manner"; wartime Broadway on a Saturday night; Upper West Side intelligentsia (including Irving Howe and Jason Epstein) thronging Zabar's in the '70s. This is also an affordable book, under $15 isn't bad. If you love his drawings in the Sunday Times, get this. And start counting the Ninas...
	Here is New York By E.B. White, 1949, 1999, 56 pps, hardcover. Highly Recommended. Not a Parker book, but a timeless tribute to New York City. White, a contemporary of Dorothy's, wrote this as an essay and it is so relevant for today's New Yorker. In the days of Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Disney-like Times Square, Here is New York is just as good read at the beginning of the 21st Century as it was in post-war New York. I read this every year, or whenever The City gets to me. This lovely new edition marks the 100th anniversary of E.B. White's birth — cause for celebration indeed. With new forward by Roger Angell.