Tour Dorothy Parker's House on July 22

Dorothy Parker only had one retreat during her writing career, a beautiful old stone farmhouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Now her former home is for sale, and will be the scene for a one-day open house and tour, sponsored by the Dorothy Parker Society. A small reception will be held at the twenty-acre estate in Pipersville on Saturday, July 22, at 2 p.m.

The party will be organized by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, president of the DPS and author of "A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York" (Roaring Forties Press). Fitzpatrick will give a talk about the house and the importance of it to Parker's career. The famous writer and wit owned the home with her husband, Alan Campbell, from the late 1930s to the late 1940s. The property recently went on the market and listed for $3,850,000 with Dee Dee Bowman of Coldwell Banker Hearthside - New Hope.

Parker's former property Fox House (also called Fox Farm and later Stoneleigh) is a magnificent home. She and Campbell used the house while they were a successful screenwriting team. Parker also used the house while she wrote freelance magazine articles, some for The New Yorker.

Attendance at the house tour and reception is strictly limited, tickets are $10 each. If you wish to attend, RSVP by July 20 to Kevin Fitzpatrick, kevin@dorothyparker.com or call 917-432-1270. For those interested in the property, contact Dee Dee Bowman, 215-862-0300, ext. 114.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

New Shirt Designs Debut

Summer is here, what will you be wearing? A new Dorothy Parker Tee! Have you visited the t-shirt selection yet? We have added some new designs, including new black and colorful shirts. The online store has many types of t-shirts, along with a messenger bag and some other items. Dottie would love you to wear this stuff!

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

Radio Story Airs Update on Dorothy Parker's Ashes

As we learned in a Baltimore Sun article last month, the future of Dorothy Parker and her Memorial Garden is in doubt. What happens if the NAACP leaves Baltimore? Today, National Public Radio aired a short feature story on this matter.

Weekend Edition -- Saturday, June 17, 2006 -- The remains of writer Dorothy Parker reside at NAACP headquarters in Baltimore. (She donated her estate to the civil-rights group.) Now the NAACP may move to Washington, D.C. Will Parker's ashes make the trip? Parker biographer Marion Meade and John Ydstie discuss the possibilities.

You can listen to the story here (you need to have installed either Windows Media Player or RealAudio).

If you want to follow this story, and learn what the Dorothy Parker Society wants to do, keep checking the News Page, and sign up for the newsletter.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Saturday, June 17, 2006 at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments

Will Copyright Case Ever End?

I called it the "Dorothy Parker Book Battle" and it never looks like it will end. I just posted an update to the proceeding between Stuart Silverstein vs. Penguin Books over "Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker" (Silverstein's book) and Penguin's book "Dorothy Parker Complete Poems" which used the material from his collection.

From today's update:

After winning one round in court, the creator of a compilation of "lost" poems by author Dorothy Parker was unable to convince a federal court that the work was sufficiently creative to warrant copyright protection as a matter of law.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said questions of fact remained that precluded it from granting summary judgment to either party.

I've read the story twice, and I don't know if it means the case is over or not, or if the parties have to go to trial.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Thursday, June 01, 2006 at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments