There is a great video now on sale in the Book Shop that captures on film three of the key members of the Algonquin Round Table: Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott and Donald Ogden Stewart. Robert Benchley and the Knights of the Algonquin is a must-have for fans of the Gonk. The video is a compilation of nine short films, each one under 10 minutes in length. Benchley's infamous "The Treasurer's Report" (1928) and Woollcott's "Mr. W's Little Game" (1934) are true comedic gems that haven't lost anything in seven decades. There is a longer description in the What the Hell Book Shop. It is quite a week for new material about Mrs. Parker. Jeremy McCarter from The New Republic Online dropped us a note to tell us about a very cool addition to their site. The staff just pulled from the magazine's archives a 1927 review of Dorothy Parker's first collection of verse, "Enough Rope" written by Edmund Wilson, who was TNR's literary editor. In typical Round Table back scratching, Wilson was a friend of Dottie's. He writes, "Dorothy Parker's unprecedented feat has been to raise to the dignity of poetry the "wise-cracking" humor of New York: she has thus almost invented a new kind of epigram: she has made the comic anti-climax tragic. With the publication of this volume, her figure becomes distinct and her voice unmistakable: in her satires, in her short stories, in her play, we had long been aware of her as somebody and something in particular; and from now on, she must command our attention." TNR is an excellent read, and there are many literary treasures to be mined on its site. Check it out.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Tuesday, February 29, 2000 at 11:20 PM | Permalink  
![[PHOTO OF COVER]](http://www.dorothyparker.com/images/bycover.JPG) There is a Dorothy Parker speech reprinted in the current issue of Written By magazine.Dorothy Parker is together with John Irving this month. How'd that happen? Scour the newsstands for the February 2000 issue of Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild of America. There is a two-page spread that reprints Mrs. Parker's 1941 speech as a labor organizer in Hollywood. Many don't know she was a tireless supporter of unionized workers, and was a founding member of the Screen Writers Guild. She helped write the contract that broke screenwriters out of the studio system that abused their talents and took advantage of them. She said, "I think that when fellow human beings stand firm together for a common cause, they have taken the greatest stride toward civilization. And our common cause is a pretty darn good one. It's the assertion of our decent and honorable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of bread!" Written By isn't easy to locate, I found my copy at Tower Books, so look on the Guild web site, www.wga.org for a list of bookshops that carry it. It is a good issue, you also get great interviews with Irving (my favorite contemporary writer) and filmmaker Anthony Minghella ( The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley). Special thanks to Caro for the tip! Waltz Music on WebThere is also a Parker music site too that is worth a visit.
Music from The Waltz is musical theater composer Darin Patrick Goulet's MP3 site that features his original music from his 1998 production. The show is based on and adapted from stories and poems by Mrs. Parker. Visit the site to learn more, and to hear three excellent songs that use her lyrics. Music is for sale too. We need more new Parker sites like this!
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Saturday, February 19, 2000 at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments
Someone said that Angelina Jolie quotes "Resume" in the new movie Girl, Interrupted . Has anyone seen this Winona Ryder vehicle, and care to comment? Annie Hall, Meet MarionMarion Meade will always hold a special place in all our hearts for her definitive biography 10 years ago of Dorothy Parker, What Fresh Hell Is This. As her follow-up, she has chosen another infamous New Yorker, Woody Allen. The scintillating-titled The Unruly Life of Woody Allen (Scribner) is out now. The book is getting decent reviews too, although one says a full third of the book is about Woody's scandal with Mia Farrow.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Friday, February 18, 2000 at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments
It's been a slow month for Dorothy Parker news, but this came over the transom, courtesy of the Utica Drop Forge and Tool Company. It looks like the first Parker play of the Millenium in New York is about to open. We don't know much about this play, except for the pertinent information. Perhaps someone in the show will send us a note and tell us more about the production? Dorothy Parker: Short Stories, directed by Ted Sluberski, is playing at the 42nd Street Workshop next month. The address is 432 West 42nd St., 5th Floor. The show is running Thursday-Saturday, March 2,3,4 and 9,10,11 at 8:00 p.m. The stories to be performed are some of Parker's most famous: Just a Little One, The Last Tea, Here We Are, The Lovely Leave and You Were Perfectly Fine. The cast includes Tracy Lee Bell, Michael Conners, Suzie Devoe, Tony Hale, Jill Jackson, Jim Macauley, Veronique JeanMarie and Kathleen O'Grady. Reservations are suggested, call 212-695-4173 and tickets are a very reasonable $10. Also note, there is no elevator, so you have to be able to walk up those five flights of stairs. We may organize a DPSNY night out to see the show.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 5:29 PM | Permalink
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