Walking Tour is Sunday, 5/23

As we previously announced, the Round Table walking tour is this Sunday. It begins at Noon at the Algonquin, 59 W. 44th Street. All the info is here.

We are walking rain or shine. We will wrap up about 2 pm back in the Round Table for lunch. Bring some friends, there is unlimited space available. If you can't make it this weekend, we're doing it again. The schedule is here.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Friday, May 21, 2004 at 4:46 PM | Permalink

"Bobbed Hair" Out Today; Reading Wednesday 5/19

As we told you last month, author Marion Meade has scheduled two readings/book signings to promote her new work Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin. The book, about Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, Zelda Fitzgerald and Edna St. Vincent Millay during the Twenties, came out today from Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. Read a story about it here.

The first reading is Wednesday, May 19, 6 pm at The Corner Bookstore (Madison and 93rd). The next is Thursday, June 10, 7:30 pm at Barnes & Noble (Broadway and 82nd, near Dottie's old house).

We are arranging a cocktail party after the reading for those in DPSNY. Following the June 10 reading we'll be going to The Dead Poet (Amsterdam and 81st Street).

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Tuesday, May 18, 2004 at 9:56 AM | Permalink

Boop-Boop-A-Doop in June

On Tuesdays June 1st and 8th at 9:00pm, Cindy Ball returns to Don't Tell Mama as Helen Kane in Boop-Boop-A-Doop Girl! This musical romp through the “Era of Wonderful Nonsense� pays tribute to Helen Kane, the baby-voiced vaudevillian who booped her way to stardom in 1927 and later inspired the cartoon character Betty Boop. Ms. Ball is accompanied by musical director Paul Greenwood. Guests are invited to don their flapper attire and experience the spirited revelry of the 1920s. There is a $12 cover plus a two drink minimum. Don't Tell Mama is a cash only establishment. Seating begins 30 minutes prior to the show, and reservations are recommended (212-757-0788).

Show:
Boop-Boop-A-Doop Girl!
Dates:
Tuesday June 1 and Tuesday June 8
Time: 9:00 pm
Location: Don't Tell Mama
343 W 46th Street
Between 8th and 9th Ave
Subway: ACENRQW12379 to 42nd Street
Reservations: 212-757-0788

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Monday, May 17, 2004 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

Princess Leia and Mrs. Parker

Finally a Star Wars connection to Dorothy Parker. Carrie Fisher is taking part in a reading of Parker work on June 8 in Los Angeles. It took Liz Smith to break the news that the Drama Dept., a New York-based organization that launches Broadway shows, is holding the event. The group had a similar fundraiser February 9 at the Prada store in Soho, and a dinner at the Algonquin in March. Edie Falco (The Sopranos) and Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers, Frasier) were among the readers. (Hey Drama Dept, thanks for forgetting to invite the DPSNY...)

If you want to attend the LA event, dig deep, tickets are $500 each. Info here. It is at the home of pundit Arianna Huffington. Also reading are Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), Colleen Camp (Wayne's World), Sprague Grayden (Law & Order: SVU), Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Huffington's sister, Agapi Stassinopolis (author of Conversations with the Goddesses). Peter Gallagher is also supposed to be there, he played Alan Campbell in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.

Hopefully someone in our "West Coast Chapter" will attend and send us a report (and pix). Mrs. Parker had a love-hate relationship with her Hollywood years. As a founding member of the Screewriters Guild -- and hostess of many fundraisers in her Beverly Hills home -- this sounds like a good time and something Dottie would enjoy.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Thursday, May 13, 2004 at 11:16 AM | Permalink

New Parker Site for Book

It isn't every day a new Dorothy Parker website comes along. A new one from Nan A. Talese is tied into the May 18 release of Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties by Marion Meade. If you've been under a rock and haven't read about the book yet, see the official site, or read our mini-review.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Monday, May 10, 2004 at 1:53 PM | Permalink

Penguin Group wins ruling

We have been following this case since 1999. Now the case is back in the news:

Penguin Group wins ruling

Appeals court reverses judgment that blocked sales of Parker poems

By Bloomberg News

An appeals court reversed a judge's ruling that blocked Penguin Group USA from selling a collection of Dorothy Parker poems because of a copyright violation alleged by a man who assembled them in an earlier compilation.

The decision overturns an injunction handed down in 2003 by U.S. District Judge John Keenan, who said Penguin's "Dorothy Parker: Complete Poems" violated a copyright held by Stuart Silverstein for a 1996 collection, "Not Much Fun: the Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker."

Pearson Plc, the world's largest textbook publisher and owner of the Financial Times, also owns Penguin, which publishes books by Tom Clancy and the Dalai Lama.

The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said the copyright asserted by Silverstein "is too slight" to support an injunction.

The court said the case hinges on how much creative work he did in his "selection and categorization of some works as 'poems' that were written by Mrs. Parker."

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Sunday, May 09, 2004 at 9:48 AM | Permalink