Pricey Parker Paper

Another wacky day in the online auction world. A handbill from about 1938 or 1939 -- with Dorothy Parker's name on it -- sold on eBay Monday for $59. It is from a Greenwich Village street fair to benefit the Spanish Refugees Relief Campaign, which is probably why Dottie loaned her name to be the "Overseer of the Village Fair".

Why is this ephemera collectible? We had a big story on Parker first editions last month, but this is only a handbill. Who knows the real value of this? How many were printed? Is this original or a reprint?

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Tuesday, May 09, 2000 at 7:46 AM | Permalink

Important Addition to Site

Now you can see what is really on Dorothy Parker's epitaph. We have photos, courtesy of English teacher Kathy Gadziala, of the Dorothy Parker Memorial Garden in Baltimore. Mrs. Parker's ashes are resting here at the home of the NAACP. Take a look at this very, very important part of the site. THANK YOU to Kathy for sending these photos in. There are also photos of the funeral home and the apartment building where Mrs. Parker died in 1967.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Thursday, May 04, 2000 at 6:40 PM | Permalink

Cook This Up!

My favorite part about running a Dorothy Parker web site? Connecting with people with some tangible link to Mrs. Parker. Some have been her great-nieces, various writers, assorted researchers, or such as today's dispatch, from Ms. Lorraine Gibson.

Her grandfather, the late Warren Dixon, was a chef to the stars during the Depression. Lorraine sent us her grandfather's recipe for "Sirloin Steak ala Dorothy Parker" in his own handwriting. Wow! What a find! Before the recipe, which sounds delicious, some background provided by Lorraine.

Mr. Dixon was a master chef, and the recipes in his book date from dishes he prepared in 1934-37. Some of the others were prepared for Hollywood Golden Age actors Eddie Cantor, Miriam Hopkins, Leslie Howard and Herbert Marshall, who all, like Mrs. Parker, are tied to the Garden of Allah.

The recipe is brief, and in long swirling handwriting. "I didn't know him very well," Lorraine says, "He died in Los Angeles in the 1960s. I believe he may have either prepared these dishes in a well-known restaurant or he may have been a chef in someone's home. I wish I could tell you more. He went to school at Frank Wiggins Trade School and mentioned a "serving maid" in his writings. I have around 1,000 recipes he wrote and compiled them, along with my father's, in a cookbook." You can see it at the Stagecoach Inn Cookbook, and order a copy of the cookbook too.

"Sirloin Steak ala Dorothy Parker"

By Chef Warren Dixon

(Click Here to see the actual recipe image)
Small, thick, juicy sirloin steak
Tomatoes, halved
Mushrooms
Narrow discs of summer squash
Butter
A small, thick, juicy sirloin steak grilled along with halved tomatoes, mushrooms and narrow discs of summer squash, which have been boiled lightly in salt water and covered with pats of butter.

Thanks to Lorraine for sharing part of her family's history with Dorothy Parker fans. Now who wants to cook up some sirloin??

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Wednesday, May 03, 2000 at 9:46 PM | Permalink

Dutch Treat

Dorothy Parker has fans all over the world, as evidenced by the traffic to the site from more than 40 countries. We recently were named a site of the week (I think) by a newspaper in the Netherlands called Leeuwarder-Courant. Can't be positive because this isn't in English. But I think this is Dutch. If someone wants to translate it, please do. Here is what the Leeuwarder-Courant has to say:

Anders dan anders, deze site over de schrijfster/toneelcriticus Dorothy
Parker (1893-1967). Was berucht om haar scherpe toneelkritieken voor onder
andere Vanity Fair en The New Yorker. Was oorlogscorrespondent in de Spaanse
Burgeroorlog en schreef verhalen en gedichten. Deze ode aan haar persoon en
haar scherpe pen brengt de surfer op de plaatsen in New York en Hollywood,
waar zij graag uithing. Inclusief bookshop, waar alles van haar te koop is,
uiteraard. Voor fans van Parker en van de Amerikaanse cultuur.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on at 11:52 AM | Permalink

Parker on Radio

Do you remember that catchy tune from 1995, "I Kissed A Girl" recorded by Jill Sobule? It was kind of a modest hit, and propelled by its bisexual elements. I actually met her in 1994 or '95 when I was a producer at FX, the FOX cable station (when it used to have a music show). Anyway, Sobule has a new record out now, called Pink Pearl, and there is a very cool song on it with a Dorothy Parker reference called "Heroes". The lyrics, some of them, go like this:

Why are all our heroes so imperfect.
Why do they always bring me down.
Why are all our heroes so imperfect.
The statue in the park has lost his crown.
William Faulkner drunk and depressed
Dorothy Parker mean drunk and depressed

It gets better too; some of the other notable dead people in the song are FDR, John Lennon, Picasso and T.S. Eliot. To find out more about Jill Sobule, see her web site www.jillsobule.com, it is excellent (and you can hear the song on the site too). Call your local DJ and request "Heroes" by Jill Sobule today.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Tuesday, May 02, 2000 at 12:00 PM | Permalink