Autograph Action Sets Record

Online auction fever is driving up the price of signed first editions. This isn't news. But the record-breaking price for a signed Dorothy Parker first edition on Ebay was set this month.

On March 14, an Oklahoma collector auctioned off a signed edition of Parker's 1936 greatest hits package Not So Deep As A Well for $570. This was the highest price paid on Ebay in the two years I've been following the market. (See the Gallery Page for other Parker autographs).

What drives the collectibles market? Supply and demand. However, Dorothy Parker signed many, many items in her life. Her signed books and memorabilia are for sale almost monthly. What made this auction so unusual was both the poor quality of the book itself, click and see it here -- and that Not So Deep As A Well is essentially a reprint book. It is the first collection of her three volumes from the 1920s, Enough Rope, Sunset Gun and Death and Taxes. If it was a signed first edition of Rope, I could see that. But this book isn't that rare, or special. This one has peeling cellophane on the cover, and it looks like the slipcase was kept in the sun since 1936. This particular book does come from a group of 485 signed and numbered copies.

However, these come up a couple times a year, and the last one went for under $300. (To be honest, I paid $225 for a hotel card Dottie signed in 1947, but I'm crazy). What makes an autograph so valuable? I used to work in the collectibles business. It is scarcity. It is uniqueness.

I looked at other autograph dealers to see if this going price for authors and literary figures was "market value" -- and was fairly stunned by what I found. Steven. S. Raab Autographs is one of the most respected in the country. In checking for what he was selling online, I compared the Dorothy Parker $570 price. Here is a sample of a few other famous writers: Harriet Beecher Stowe ($450); Steven Vincent Benet ($95); George Bernard Shaw ($425); Carl Sandberg ($150); Alexander Dumas ($195); Charles Dickens ($995); Samuel Clemens ($550); Nathaniel Hawthorne ($795) and John Steinbeck ($250). In my opinion, paying this much for such a book is too much. I would love your feedback on this one.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Sunday, March 26, 2000 at 10:50 AM | Permalink

Weekend of Words in May

If it wasn't for Dorothy Parker and her friends, there may not even be a New Yorker magazine today. That is why the publication shouldn't ever forget the contributions of the original founders of the magazine, which in now celebrating its 75th anniversary.

To mark the occasion, there is going to be The New Yorker Festival, May 5-7 in Manhattan (of course). How do you celebrate 75 years of publishing short stories, essays and doctor/lawyer cartoons? With a literary and arts festival (the arts being cartoons, it appears). This is a good chance to see in person and listen to some of the biggest names in print these days. Among the people attending are Calvin Trillin, Richard Ford, Stephen King, Annie Proulx, Alice Munro, Ricky Jay, Paul Simon, Robin Williams (!) and Edna O'Brien.

There are readings around town at several venues, from clubs to ballrooms, on Friday night. There are daytime speakers and tours on Saturday, with a big Saturday Night "Humor Revue" at Town Hall starring Wendy Wasserstein. She is presenting a lot of New Yorker greats, so Dorothy Parker better be in the mix with S.J. Perelman and Steve Martin. Sunday is the biggest day: brunches around town (crime, architecture, health, and fiction), to be followed by a giant FREE poetry reading in Bryant Park at 4 p.m. A dozen New Yorker poets will read from their own work and the poems of past contributors. Again, another chance for Mrs. Parker to get some attention.

Tickets for each event are sold separately; they range from $15 for the readings, to $25 and $35 for the humor revue. See the current issue of the New Yorker for a whole schedule, and also Barnes and Noble has a booklet because it is a sponsor. Call 1-877-847-TNYF for more information. You can get tickets on www.ticketmaster.com. Looks like an incredible weekend, and another reason to be a New Yorker. If anyone is planning to attend these, let me know, and maybe we can hook up. The Dorothy Parker Society of New York will be handing out flyers to spread the URL too.

Daly and Dottie

There are a few new products on the market now to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the New Yorker. Dorothy Parker's classic story "Arrangement in Black and White" is included in "Wonderful Town" a hardcover book and the accompanying audio CD and abridged audiobook cassettes.

Tyne Daly reads the story on the CD and cassette. You can take a look at the details (and order too) on our What the Hell Book Shop page. In addition, Random House Audiobooks and MP3Lit.com are co-promoting audio content from the New Yorker Anthologies online.

There is a 10-week promotion on MP3Lit.com. To listen to the audio excerpts, go to mp3lit.com/newyorker.com. For more details visit www.mp3lit.com or www.randomhouse.com/audio. The Tyne Daly piece is due online.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on at 10:41 AM | Permalink

Dottie in death

If you are a Dothead you may also have a fascination with death. That is why we're really happy for sites like Scott Michaels' Findadeath.com, the best Internet guide to celebrities who are six feet under.

When I first started visiting Scott's site last month, I really wanted Dorothy Parker to be on the list. The mix-up over her ashes is one of the more unusual footnotes in her life, and I felt it should be part of Findadeath.com. So I sent Scott a story and photos, and now Dottie is part of his pantheon with Elizabeth Montgomery, Judy Garland and Aunt Bee. Check out his site. Thanks, Scott!

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Saturday, March 18, 2000 at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments

West Coast Shows Us Love

Good news comes in surprising ways. We got a message from Roger Yim, the "Best of the Web coordinator" of the San Francisco Chronicle. The newspaper tabbed DOT CITY as one of the best sites around for book lovers. For some reason we got thrown in with Jane Austen, which is kind of like having a martini with a hot dog, but you take what you can get. We were told: "The San Francisco Chronicle is pleased to inform you that your Web site has been chosen as among the Best of the Web in a special section of our March 7, 2000, print edition. Our writers in a variety of specialties, including technology, education and entertainment, selected 133 sites they found the most useful and enjoyable."

Let's say you're nuts for Dorothy Parker. Then gather with like- minded folk at Dot City: Dorothy Parker's New York. Regularly updated by the Dorothy Parker Society of New York, Dot City has everything from audio files of Parker reading her poems to guides of where she hung out in Manhattan and Los Angeles when she wasn't at the Algonquin.

Have a look at our entry here. Thanks SF Chronicle!

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Sunday, March 12, 2000 at 8:52 AM | Permalink

Excellent Evening

I've now attended four productions based on Dorothy Parker material. The way to judge a Parker play is on the acting. Because the source material is always excellent, and always the same, drawing on Parker short stories or verses. So it was with some bit of prejudice that I went over to the West 42nd Street Workshop to see Parker, playing for a limited engagement.

I can tell you the acting is tops and the large cast really brings to life the five Parker short stories we are so familiar with. Generally, Parker stories are perfect for young or inexperienced actors: one can really wrap themselves in the characters, which are always the stock Parker types (flappers, jerky males, and dispirited females). The dialogue is straightforward and actors can spit it out easily: it's not Shakespeare. But in the hands of this cast of nine wonderful actors, they really breathe life into it and deliver the goods with panache. They're all excellent thespians.

The show, directed by Ted Sluberski, is a short 75-minute evening. It opens with Parker's popular tale of newlywed nervousness "Here We Are" with Tracey Lee Bell and Tony Hale as the young couple. They flit around and argue marvelously. Next up "You Were Perfectly Fine" stars Veronique Jean Marie as the lovesick girlfriend to the outrageous playboy Sidney Williams, my favorite character of the night. He's part Austin Powers smooth and comically rakish. Marie and Williams are definitely the comedy highlight of the night.

One of Parker's most famous stories, and one of her last, is her semi-autobiographical "The Lovely Leave" and it is placed at the center of the show. From the laughs of "You Were Perfectly Fine" to deep despair felt here is perfect Parker: you are high one moment, on suicide watch the next. In "The Lovely Leave" Jill Jackson is marvelous as the hand-wringing wife who is lost without her aviator husband. James McCauley cuts a fine officer and gentlemen, and portrays real compassion in his khaki army uniform. You really feel this couple's relationship straining.

Next up, a lot lighter in tone, is the 1926 New Yorker story, "The Last Tea" with Kathleen O'Grady and Michael Connors. They sparkle together and it's a fun little piece. Connors comes across like a Matthew Modine type in a big hat. Finally, the show closes with the marvelous Suzie Devoe's "Just A Little One" solo monologue. She drags on the cigarettes and the scotch with relish and is superb. It's the perfect capper to a night of good Parker, and Devoe is the standout in the cast.

A nice production touch is between the pieces Sluberski plays selected radio clips of Mrs. Parker from a 1959 interview with Studs Terkel. (And if anyone can get me a copy of this tape, please let me know. I've been trolling Ebay for a copy for two years).

It's a great show and any Parker fan in the New York area should see it. However, I am still waiting for the Parker play that takes the characters into modern day, to jump from 1920 to 2000. "The Lovely Leave" would work just as fine with a lieutenant coming home from the Persian Gulf or the Balkans as World War II. "Here We Are" doesn't have to be set 70 years ago, it's timeless, but what if the newlywed couple were on a plane to Cancun? Hey directors, if you're listening, forget the flappers; I want to see an alternative rocker and Web site designer as Parker characters, OK?

Until the next Parker production comes to town, this is an excellent addition to the legacy of Dorothy Parker.

Dorothy Parker: Short Stories, is playing at the 42nd Street Workshop. The address is 432 West 42nd St., 5th Floor. The show is running Thursday-Saturday, March 9,10,11 at 8:00 p.m. Reservations are suggested, call 212-695-4173 and tickets are a very reasonable $10.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Monday, March 06, 2000 at 7:08 PM | Permalink

New Dottie Locations

You ask, we deliver. More new pages to the Dot City guide to Dorothy Parker. There are 4 new additions to the site. Because so many members keep asking, "Where did Mrs. Parker drink?" I went out and added three places that Dottie tipped back a few.

"21" is the most famous of all, and the landmark to excess and expense account lunching is now on Dot City after much delay. A better place to have a drink is Flute, which those who attended A Parkerfest 1999 know all about. It used to be Tex Guinan's speakeasy Club Intime in the 1920s.

Also new to the site is a page for the Warwick Hotel, where Dottie socialized during WWII. Finally, the puzzle of Dottie's early residences is completed with the addition of 310 West 80th. She lived here with her father as she began her writing career. Have a look at all of these New York locales. More new pages coming soon.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments