Round Table Revue, Doc and Wyatt Hearing Strategy

This Week
Upstairs and downstairs at the Algonquin
Tombstone – Spicer Hearing Strategy
Writers Notebook: Katharine Hepburn

Round Table Potpourri:
Those known as the Round Table regulars were an outgoing lot and never made the occasional visitor feel unwanted. Something that made the group function well for so many years was the fact that the people involved respected and liked one another. Anyone that came to the table with any consistency was a professional and for the most part were at the top of their game.
Alexander Woollcott could be domineering at times, but at least two of the regulars Edna Ferber and F.P. Adams generally kept him in check. Woollcott did have one constant theme that eventually became annoying. He served in Europe during World War I working for Stars and Stripes and many an opening to one of his stories would begin with a bellicose, 'When I was in the theater of war' and go on and on and on. He also had a tendency to brag. One afternoon he was feeling a little high on himself and his brag lines getting a little thick when he announced, 'What is so rare as a Woollcott first edition.'
Franklin Adams shot back, 'A Woollcott second edition.'
Frank Case was the owner of the Algonquin as well as host and benevolent godfather to the group. Frank was no dummy as he realized the free publicity he got from this cast of characters.
To give you an idea about his benevolence; here’s an account that happened to, and was told by John Barrymore.
Barrymore was walking across Time Square and ran into a fellow actor. They struck up a conversation and John’s friend asked where he was staying?
'The Algonquin.'
'Isn’t that a little rich for your pocketbook?'
'Sure is, but the owner Frank Case is one heck of a good guy. To say he is generous is shortchanging him. Let’s put it this way, Frank Case would give you-' Barrymore looked down at his own torso. 'He'd give you the...¦ my God, I’m wearing one of his shirts.'

The Round Table was the foundation for this group, but they crossed paths during other social activities and settings. For example Frank Case arranged to have a room set aside for poker games and there was a regular group of players, which usually included Heywood Broun, F.P. Adams, Marc Connelly, George S. Kaufman and Harold Ross. Heywood Broun, the columnist, sports writer might have been the most consistent looser with Harold Ross the ultimate winner. In Ross's case it wasn't just in cash winnings, it was something quite different. It was during those poker games when Ross hatched the idea for the New Yorker magazine. He talked about his idea with the group, got positive feedback, found a backer and once he got far enough along he hit up the group to contribute articles for his around the town magazine. Everyone agreed to donate a few articles and eventually with the help of a very small staff Harold Ross published the first edition of the New Yorker on February 21, 1925. The magazine featured great art work, E.B. White's simple but complicated essays, a number of guest columnists', a report from Paris on Hemingway and Fitzgerald. James Thurber wrote humor and did pen drawings of his Thurber people. When Ross complained that Thurber's women had no sex appeal Marc Connelly quipped, 'They do to Thurber men.'
Ross hired Dorothy Parker to review books and he knew before he hired her that she pulled no punches when it came to her opinion. Here are a few choice words she had to say in several reviews:
'It was written without fear and without research.'
'It must be a gift, as no one would take it on any other terms.'
'This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.'
Frank Case also kept typewriter and paper handy in a small mezzanine room for Alexander Woollcott's convenience to write his play reviews. There was usually a gathering of people interested in the New York Times review. They waited in the lobby and watched Alex Woollcott sprint through on his way to the New York Times newsroom, which was just down the street. Speculation would begin based on Woollcott's demeanor as he crossed the lobby, but nobody knew. All they could do was wait for the paper to hit the street.
Another member of the group was the popular and talented magazine illustrator Neysa McMein. Her paintings ranged from portraits of famous people, baby food ads, beauties on popular magazine covers and a Lucky Strike cigarette ad. Marc Connelly said that at time you couldn't pass a news stand without seeing one of Neysa's pretty girls staring back at you.
McMein's studio was known as a regular gathering place for celebrities, Round Table people and you might see Irving Berlin sitting at a piano playing a medley of his own tunes.
Helen Hayes ran into Marc Connelly on 5th Avenue and he dragged her along to Neysa's Studio. Helen knew a number of people at the gathering, but she was shy and sat on a sofa in the corner and told the story on herself. 'I sat there and no one paid any attention to me. The room was full of celebrities and I just watched them all going around like butterflies. The music was going and I was happy just watching, sitting there but scared to death.' Alex Woollcott stepped in and served her a brandy Alexander and it went right to her head. 'I sat there like a mouse and I was thinking they're going to know I'm drunk if I don't say anything. I have to say something fast. There was a pause and I said, If anyone wants my piano, they're willing to it.'
'There was another heavier pause and George Kaufman said, 'That's very seldom of you, Helen.'
The Round Table group staged their own revue called No Sirree, a take off on a European touring revue Le Chauve-Souris. To play one night only in April 1922. A sample of some of the acts were Kaufman, Woollcott, Connelly, Adams and Benchley doing the Opening Chorus to Jascha Heifetz off stage, off key violin accompaniment.
He Who Gets Flapped performed by Robert Sherwood and written by Dorothy Parker.
The Greasy Hag, an O'Neil one act play featuring Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott. Some of the stars recruited to perform a background chorus line were Helen Hayes, Tallulah Bankhead and Margalo Gilmore. The enthusiasm for the show was palpable as they rehearsed their routines along with their all star chorus line.
Robert Benchley did his Treasurer's Report for the first time and launched his career as a comic actor and later short film personality.
The Chorus Line reviewers gave the show an enthusiastic thumbs up rating and Ruth Gordon said it was fantastic as did the full house audience.
Two more notables that should be mentioned were Round Table irregulars: Ruth Gordon had a long and successful career with a Tony for 'The Matchmaker,' a Golden Globe for her work on 'Inside Daisy Clover' and an Oscar for Best Supporting actress in 'Rosemary's Baby.'
Donald Ogden Stewart earned a long string of writing credits which included the Oscar winning screenplay for 'The Philadelphia Story.'

Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone
Excerpt: Judge Spicer's Court Hearing – Defense strategy meeting.
At the close of that first court session the defense team gathered their papers and hustled down Fremont Street for a meeting at Col. Herring's office. The colonel and Hill Howard, of Howard and Street joined them there.
Colonel Herring greeted everyone and then abruptly asked, "Are any of you gentlemen acquainted with William Allen?"
Doc was in the process of making a cigarette, furrowed his brow and nodded. "Yeah. I know him. I first saw him up north in mining camps around Cheyenne and Deadwood.”
Colonel Herring stared at Doc. "Anything else?"
"Yes there is," Doc said as he struck a match and lit his cigarette. "He was there the other day. I saw him in the construction site on Fremont, just prior to the fight."
Wyatt added, "He's a ring hanger-on. I'm sure of that."
Colonel Herring polished his monocle on the sleeve of his coat. "We have it from a pretty good source, they're making Allen their key witness."
Tom Fitch scratched his chin. "Then we need to pay close attention to his testimony. I suspect if we stay sharp and listen to every word spoken between the prosecutor and his first witness they are likely to give us a hint into the prosecution’s strategy."
Writers Notebook:
Several years ago Paula Zahn was interviewing Katharine Hepburn on the CBS morning show. Paula asked about the main difference in films today versus earlier motion pictures. Miss Hepburn’s answer was, “Writers, Writers, Writers. Wit… Humor… You see when I started out there was great wit and humor, there isn’t now.”
Miss Hepburn’s words are as true today as they were when she said them.
Lighten up writers and laugh at yourself once in a while.
Robert Benchley once said, “It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.”

Tom's Books and Blogs:
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
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