Bon Mots, Wisecracks, and Gags: The Wit of Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, and the Algonquin Round Table

Bon Mots, Wisecracks, and Gags: The Wit of Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, and the Algonquin Round Table

Language: English

Pages: 176

ISBN: 1616087137

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


“Stop looking at the world through rose-colored bifocals.” “His mind is so open, the wind whistles through it.” “You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.” Ever wonder where these sayings came from? For decades, the dining room of New York’s legendary Algonquin Hotel was a hub of letters and humor. Cocktails were swilled as writers, humorists, actors, and critics poked fun at culture, the arts, and one another. In this lively tribute, today’s readers will come to understand why Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, and Dorothy Parker represent the epitome of quips and comebacks—wit that still packs a punch decades later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and see if you’re prosperous.” Heywood obviously was not speaking for himself or his Round Table cronies when he stated: “Repartee is what you wish you’d said.” “Hell is paved with great granite blocks hewn from the hearts of those who said, I can do no other.’” ON HUMOR: “Humor is the coward’s livery, and there is great wisdom in the popular challenge, ‘Laugh that off.’” “Humor is grit in the evolutionary process. ‘Does it matter?’ is the underlying mood in almost every expression of humor.

outstanding exclusions. But in the early twenties the same names would scarcely have raised an eyebrow. It is important to remember that the Round Tablers sought each other out before they themselves became the sought-after celebrities of Manhattan. Generally speaking, all were young, fun-loving, and ambitious; all took a strong interest in theater, sports, politics, and social problems; and, most noteworthy, all were gregarious, loquacious, articulate. Their common bond and peculiar genius was,

Inc., 1928. The Diary of Our Own Samuel Pepys, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1935. FPA Book of Quotations, A New Collection of Famous Sayings. New York, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1952. Half a Loaf. Garden City, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1927. In Cupid’s Court (Poems). Evanston, W. S. Lord, 1902. In Other Words (Poems). Garden City, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1912. Innocent Merriment, compiled by F.P.A. New York, London, Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1942. The Melancholy Lute: Selected Songs

Aleck Woollcott, and their superior officer, Captain Franklin Pierce Adams, were indeed the prototypes of the Algonquin set, then Harold Ross was the original kibitzer, accepted by the others despite the fact that he received more than he contributed. Hard-working—it was said that Ross believed in the twenty-four-hour office-day—straightforward, nonliterary, and never one for verbal calisthentics, Ross nonetheless succeeded in creating and perpetuating a magazine whose idiom, even today, reflects

something with the Holy Roman Empire in 800. 2. By placing one paper bag inside another paper bag you can carry home a milkshake in it. 3. There is a double “l” in the middle of “parallel.” 4. Powder rubbed on the chin will take the place of a shave if the room isn’t very light. 5. French nouns ending in “aison” are feminine. 6. Almost everything you need to know about a subject is in the encyclopedia. Five days before sailing on a trip to Europe, Benchley decided to take his mother

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