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The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide
"That is the thing about New York," wrote Dorothy Parker in 1928. "It is always a little more than you had hoped for. Each day, there, is so definitely a new day." Now you can journey back there, in time, to a grand city teeming with hidden bars, luxurious movie palaces, and dazzling skyscrapers. In these places, Dorothy Parker and her cohorts in the Vicious Circle at the infamous Algonquin Round Table sharpened their wit, polished their writing, and captured the energy and elegance of the time. Robert Benchley, Parker’s best friend, became the first managing editor of Vanity Fair before Irving Berlin spotted him onstage in a Vicious Circle revue and helped launch his acting career. Edna Ferber, an occasional member of the group, wrote the Pulitzer-winning bestseller So Big as well as Show Boat and Cimarron. Jane Grant pressed her first husband, Harold Ross, into starting The New Yorker. Neysa McMein, reputedly “rode elephants in circus parades and dashed from her studio to follow passing fire engines.” Dorothy Parker wrote for Vanity Fair and Vogue before ascending the throne as queen of the Round Table, earning everlasting fame (but rather less fortune) for her award-winning short stories and unforgettable poems. Alexander Woollcott, the centerpiece of the group, worked as drama critic for the Times and the World, wrote profiles of his friends for The New Yorker, and lives on today as Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Explore their favorite salons and saloons, their homes and offices (most still standing), while learning about their colorful careers and private lives. Packed with archival photos, drawings, and other images--including never-before-published material--this illustrated historical guide includes current information on all locations. Use it to retrace the footsteps of the Algonquin Round Table, and you’ll discover that the golden age of Gotham still surrounds us.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 2014
25 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Kevin C. Fitzpatrick
13 books28 followersKevin C. Fitzpatrick is a New York author, public historian, and tour guide. Kevin is the author and editor of nine books that are all tied to New York history. His most recent is Dorothy Parker’s New York (Expanded Edition) from SUNY Press.
He is a fourth-generation New Yorker who launched his tour guide company Big Apple Fanatics Tours in 1999. Kevin leads city history walking tours and boat tours of Long Island.
Kevin launched the Dorothy Parker Society in 1998 and became the driving force in scores of projects around Parker’s legacy. The biggest was his campaign to bring Parker’s cremains from Baltimore to New York; he buried Parker’s urn next to her parents in 2020.
His books are always about New York: 111 Places in the Bronx That You Must Not Miss (Emons), is the first guidebook to the borough in fifty years. World War One New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War (Globe Pequot Press) was timed to the centennial of the war and is the definitive study of Great War memorials in the region.
The Governors Island Explorer’s Guide (Globe Pequot) is the first and only guidebook to the beloved island in New York Harbor. It has more than one hundred locations and a full island history from the pre-colonial era to today.
Kevin is an expert on the Jazz Age and Speakeasy Era. Among his books are The Algonquin Round Table’s New York: A Historical Guide (Lyons Press), the only book that has a full history of the famous literary group from the 1920s, with biographies of all thirty members.
Dorothy Parker Complete Broadway, 1918-1923 (Donald Books) collects 150,000 words of Dorothy Parker’s drama reviews. Kevin edited the work, wrote the introduction, extensive notes section, and the index. Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide (Lyons Press) collects seventy five drink recipes with anecdotes, stories, and references to the Prohibition Era.
A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York (Roaring Forties Press) was a hit with fans and provided a detailed overview of the writer and wit’s eventful life. The Lost Algonquin Round Table: Humor, Fiction, Journalism, Criticism and Poetry From America’s Most Famous Literary Circle (Donald Books) was co-edited with Nat Benchley, a grandson of Robert Benchley. This book is the first collection of writing by more than a dozen members of the “Vicious Circle” that met at the Algonquin Hotel.
Kevin has twice won the Apple Award for Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Book Writing by the Guides Association of New York City. He also shared in a third award with his friend Joanna Leban for their podcast.
Kevin is a graduate of Northeast Missouri State University. He worked in newspapers, television, magazines, advertising, marketing, and a myriad of other schemes for low pay. He is the Shepherd (president) of The Lambs and is affiliated with many other fine organizations.
He is a fourth-generation New Yorker who launched his tour guide company Big Apple Fanatics Tours in 1999. Kevin leads city history walking tours and boat tours of Long Island.
Kevin launched the Dorothy Parker Society in 1998 and became the driving force in scores of projects around Parker’s legacy. The biggest was his campaign to bring Parker’s cremains from Baltimore to New York; he buried Parker’s urn next to her parents in 2020.
His books are always about New York: 111 Places in the Bronx That You Must Not Miss (Emons), is the first guidebook to the borough in fifty years. World War One New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War (Globe Pequot Press) was timed to the centennial of the war and is the definitive study of Great War memorials in the region.
The Governors Island Explorer’s Guide (Globe Pequot) is the first and only guidebook to the beloved island in New York Harbor. It has more than one hundred locations and a full island history from the pre-colonial era to today.
Kevin is an expert on the Jazz Age and Speakeasy Era. Among his books are The Algonquin Round Table’s New York: A Historical Guide (Lyons Press), the only book that has a full history of the famous literary group from the 1920s, with biographies of all thirty members.
Dorothy Parker Complete Broadway, 1918-1923 (Donald Books) collects 150,000 words of Dorothy Parker’s drama reviews. Kevin edited the work, wrote the introduction, extensive notes section, and the index. Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide (Lyons Press) collects seventy five drink recipes with anecdotes, stories, and references to the Prohibition Era.
A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York (Roaring Forties Press) was a hit with fans and provided a detailed overview of the writer and wit’s eventful life. The Lost Algonquin Round Table: Humor, Fiction, Journalism, Criticism and Poetry From America’s Most Famous Literary Circle (Donald Books) was co-edited with Nat Benchley, a grandson of Robert Benchley. This book is the first collection of writing by more than a dozen members of the “Vicious Circle” that met at the Algonquin Hotel.
Kevin has twice won the Apple Award for Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Book Writing by the Guides Association of New York City. He also shared in a third award with his friend Joanna Leban for their podcast.
Kevin is a graduate of Northeast Missouri State University. He worked in newspapers, television, magazines, advertising, marketing, and a myriad of other schemes for low pay. He is the Shepherd (president) of The Lambs and is affiliated with many other fine organizations.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 10, 2016
This was a very interesting read. I've been reading lately, a fictional series based around these people. And also, I just finished reading Harpo Marx's autobiography, where he talked about Alexander Woollcott a lot and some other people at the Algonquin table. It was real neat to read about the history these people had on New York and how much of their lives, still live on there today. The photos of New York during the 20's and also the photo's of the people that sat at the table are amazing.
March 6, 2015
As if From a Magic Lamp, The Algonquin Roundtable Comes Alive Between Two Covers, March 5, 2015
By
Terin Miller "The Bull Guy"
This review is from: The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide
Did you know that the "Tony" award given for best Broadway performances is named after actress-director Antoinette Perry, longtime friend and possibly paramour of big-time Broadway producer, and Algonquin Round Table member Brock Pemberton? Or that Angelica Houston's maternal grandfather was a big-time speakeasy owner and bootlegger, Tony Soma, and that her brother, Tony Huston, is named after him? And she is named after his first wife, Angelica, whose daughter Enrica "Rikki" was a ballet dancer and Angelica Huston's mother?
These are just a few of the gems of historic information touching on events and people today contained in Kevin Fitzpatrick's excellently written, and as well researched, The Algonquin Round Table New York: a historical guide, published this year by Lyons Press.
Fitzpatrick, a long-time Dorothy Parker researcher who founded New York's Dorothy Parker Society, and who conducts walking tours of locations haunted by Round Table members, takes his penchant for research and interviews to a new level with exacting profiles of each member of "The Vicious Circle," made famous by themselves and each other in their luncheons at The Algonquin Hotel.
There are names profiled you may never have heard of, as well as names you may have heard of but never associated with the Round Table, such as comedian Harpo Marx, Deems Taylor, Neysa McMein or Frank Sullivan and actress Peggy Wood.
As Fitzpatrick aptly and deftly weaves into his history, without the now famous nearly 10 years of lunches and other activities, much of what is considered quintessential New York--the magazine The Newyorker, as well as plays, literature, poetry, radio shows and a literary celebrity culture--might never have existed.
It all happened one afternoon when two Broadway promoters decided to throw a lunch for New York Times theater critic Alexander Woollcott upon his return to New York from working for the then-new Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, which was developed to entertain and keep informed American Doughboys in France during the U.S. participation in World War I.
By the time you finish reading Fitzpatrick's book, you feel as if you've shared lunch with each and every member profiled at some point in your life, and you'll feel sad when you learn the fates of most--gone by middle age in various states of denouement from the fame they gained in their mid-to-late 20s, when having survived war (some, like Laurence Stallings, with disabling wounds), both "over there" and at home, as a group they sought fun and, because the majority worked for newspapers or magazines, not only found it but spread each others' exploits to increasingly wider audiences.
It seems fitting that, in many ways, the party ended when The Great Depression hit, much like F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose fame rose almost in tandem with that of the table filled with his friends, found it hard to write as he had at a more prosperous, hope-filled time.
Above all, Fitzpatrick's history of The Round Table is time captured between two covers, populated with people who had no idea how wide or long they'd be famous, or if they would, but who thoroughly enjoyed each others' company as good friends do. And who helped each other become famous, and inspired and challenged each others' talents, merely by sharing lunch with them every afternoon except Sundays for a decade.
To have such friends! To have such fun! And to have it all contained between the walls of the restaurant of a posh hotel!
For anyone interested in literary history, journalism history, hotel history or even history of New York, Broadway or Prohibition, I recommend this book.
By
Terin Miller "The Bull Guy"
This review is from: The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide
Did you know that the "Tony" award given for best Broadway performances is named after actress-director Antoinette Perry, longtime friend and possibly paramour of big-time Broadway producer, and Algonquin Round Table member Brock Pemberton? Or that Angelica Houston's maternal grandfather was a big-time speakeasy owner and bootlegger, Tony Soma, and that her brother, Tony Huston, is named after him? And she is named after his first wife, Angelica, whose daughter Enrica "Rikki" was a ballet dancer and Angelica Huston's mother?
These are just a few of the gems of historic information touching on events and people today contained in Kevin Fitzpatrick's excellently written, and as well researched, The Algonquin Round Table New York: a historical guide, published this year by Lyons Press.
Fitzpatrick, a long-time Dorothy Parker researcher who founded New York's Dorothy Parker Society, and who conducts walking tours of locations haunted by Round Table members, takes his penchant for research and interviews to a new level with exacting profiles of each member of "The Vicious Circle," made famous by themselves and each other in their luncheons at The Algonquin Hotel.
There are names profiled you may never have heard of, as well as names you may have heard of but never associated with the Round Table, such as comedian Harpo Marx, Deems Taylor, Neysa McMein or Frank Sullivan and actress Peggy Wood.
As Fitzpatrick aptly and deftly weaves into his history, without the now famous nearly 10 years of lunches and other activities, much of what is considered quintessential New York--the magazine The Newyorker, as well as plays, literature, poetry, radio shows and a literary celebrity culture--might never have existed.
It all happened one afternoon when two Broadway promoters decided to throw a lunch for New York Times theater critic Alexander Woollcott upon his return to New York from working for the then-new Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, which was developed to entertain and keep informed American Doughboys in France during the U.S. participation in World War I.
By the time you finish reading Fitzpatrick's book, you feel as if you've shared lunch with each and every member profiled at some point in your life, and you'll feel sad when you learn the fates of most--gone by middle age in various states of denouement from the fame they gained in their mid-to-late 20s, when having survived war (some, like Laurence Stallings, with disabling wounds), both "over there" and at home, as a group they sought fun and, because the majority worked for newspapers or magazines, not only found it but spread each others' exploits to increasingly wider audiences.
It seems fitting that, in many ways, the party ended when The Great Depression hit, much like F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose fame rose almost in tandem with that of the table filled with his friends, found it hard to write as he had at a more prosperous, hope-filled time.
Above all, Fitzpatrick's history of The Round Table is time captured between two covers, populated with people who had no idea how wide or long they'd be famous, or if they would, but who thoroughly enjoyed each others' company as good friends do. And who helped each other become famous, and inspired and challenged each others' talents, merely by sharing lunch with them every afternoon except Sundays for a decade.
To have such friends! To have such fun! And to have it all contained between the walls of the restaurant of a posh hotel!
For anyone interested in literary history, journalism history, hotel history or even history of New York, Broadway or Prohibition, I recommend this book.
December 1, 2014
On a June day in 1919, Alexander Woollcott, who was just back from the war (WW1), decided to invite some friends to have lunch at the Algonquin Hotel. Everyone had a great time and someone said, “Why don’t we do this every day?” And so they did for ten years until the ‘great depression’ spread them all over the world in an effort to make a living and later to report on WW2.
The “Round Table” was called the Vicious Circle by those who were members of this elite group that was to include the most famous newspaper columnists and reporters, writers (books and plays), and publishers (The New Yorker magazine began here). One of the most famous was Dorothy Parker, but included Edna Ferber, Herman Mankiewicz, Harpo Marx and Robert Benchley. Some, were famous for being famous, while others were to become famous, but their quips, quotes and jokes were reported in all the major New York papers and their “table” became a legend.
If I have any complaint about Fitzgerald’s book, it’s that he has this habit of giving us the addresses of everything. When he writes about the protagonists he gives us all their home addresses, and those of the newspapers and the Broadway theatres, it can get annoying after a while. The book begins with short biographies of the members in chapters for the newspaper writers, the on the Broadway peoples, those that went into the movies and radio, and the Theatres themselves.
The last three sections are on the creation of the iconic “The New Yorker” magazine, the speakeasies and brothels that were the habitue of the Table, and finally an epilogue of what happened to the most important members after WW2. In parts it reads more like and encyclopedia or reference book, but it’s never pedantic or pedestrian. The stories and anecdotes are especially worth the read.
Well worth your time, if you’re interested in “The Arts” of this time period.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
The “Round Table” was called the Vicious Circle by those who were members of this elite group that was to include the most famous newspaper columnists and reporters, writers (books and plays), and publishers (The New Yorker magazine began here). One of the most famous was Dorothy Parker, but included Edna Ferber, Herman Mankiewicz, Harpo Marx and Robert Benchley. Some, were famous for being famous, while others were to become famous, but their quips, quotes and jokes were reported in all the major New York papers and their “table” became a legend.
If I have any complaint about Fitzgerald’s book, it’s that he has this habit of giving us the addresses of everything. When he writes about the protagonists he gives us all their home addresses, and those of the newspapers and the Broadway theatres, it can get annoying after a while. The book begins with short biographies of the members in chapters for the newspaper writers, the on the Broadway peoples, those that went into the movies and radio, and the Theatres themselves.
The last three sections are on the creation of the iconic “The New Yorker” magazine, the speakeasies and brothels that were the habitue of the Table, and finally an epilogue of what happened to the most important members after WW2. In parts it reads more like and encyclopedia or reference book, but it’s never pedantic or pedestrian. The stories and anecdotes are especially worth the read.
Well worth your time, if you’re interested in “The Arts” of this time period.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
January 29, 2015
What an amazing group of people to have come together for lunch at a hotel restaurant. They were witty, intelligent, literate as well as irritating, egotistical and biting. Mr. Fitzpatrick paints a vivid picture not just of the "Vicious Circle", which is what they called their group, but of the times in which they lived. Included in the book are biographies of the Round Table participants; biographies of the Algonquin Hotel and other hotels of the day; and a portrait of the literary world of New York during the times. With some editing of some repetitious sentences and descriptions, this will be a juicy book to devour.
April 13, 2021
An in-depth account of the famous literary, artistic, cultural group who met in the 1920s for lunch at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. The management provided them with a round table for their lunch meetings and from it the "Vicious Circle" was born. Kevin Fitzpatrick provides names, addresses, biographies and photographs of these artists whose influence continues to this day.
January 2, 2015
There’s a wealth of information and anecdote in this painstakingly researched study of the famous (or infamous) Algonquin Round Table members, who met daily for many years to lunch and talk and share ideas. The roll call includes Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Edna Ferber and Harpo Marx, amongst many others. Dubbed “The Vicious Circle” they’re a Who’s Who of the New York literary scene and author Kevin Fitzpatrick is an expert on their lives and successes and, inevitably, failures. He also chronicles the many newspapers, magazines and theatres associated with the group. So yes, I did enjoy the book but it’s not really one to just sit down and read from beginning to end, more a historical and literary guide to dip into. There’s no real sustained narrative, which I would have preferred, and I was reminded of Inside the Dream Palace by Sherill Tippins, whose book about the inhabitants of the Chelsea Hotel was as gripping as any novel. Fitzpatrick is also rather too fond of making lists of all the addresses associated with a writer or publication, which is useful in a guidebook, perhaps, but feels cumbersome here and is distracting. Nevertheless, the book must surely be required reading for anyone interested in the era and the history of New York’s flourishing literary scene, and it’s a book I will no doubt refer to on any future trip to the city. I understand that the author gives guided walks. On the evidence of this book they are sure to be riveting.
January 10, 2016
A nice walking tour of a very particular history
I love reading about the Vicious Circle and the Algonquin Round Table, so I picked this up thinking it would provide some good stories. Contrary to my expectations, the book turns out to be a guide to the locales in New York associated with the Algonquin, the New Yorker magazine, and all the people who moved in and around the Vicious Circle. There are indeed anecdotes, but because of the focus on locations and buildings, it's a bit disjointed. The final section, detailing the ends of the lives of the thirty prominent men and women (and their final resting places), is sad, but I suppose if I were interested in visiting the gravest of the greats, it would be very helpful.
Having just finished another book about the heyday of The New Yorker, I found this book provided a slightly different perspective on many of the same people.
I love reading about the Vicious Circle and the Algonquin Round Table, so I picked this up thinking it would provide some good stories. Contrary to my expectations, the book turns out to be a guide to the locales in New York associated with the Algonquin, the New Yorker magazine, and all the people who moved in and around the Vicious Circle. There are indeed anecdotes, but because of the focus on locations and buildings, it's a bit disjointed. The final section, detailing the ends of the lives of the thirty prominent men and women (and their final resting places), is sad, but I suppose if I were interested in visiting the gravest of the greats, it would be very helpful.
Having just finished another book about the heyday of The New Yorker, I found this book provided a slightly different perspective on many of the same people.
March 8, 2015
An enlightening overview of the exploits of New York City's literary, theater and newspaper royalty from the end of WWI to the beginning of WWII. The Algonquin Round Table, known by the inner circle as The Vicious Circle, formed in 1919 and included such luminaries as Dorothy Parker, Harpo Marx and Robert Benchley, and the local press clamored to publish their every word.
While the story of the Table takes center stage, the books also spends time going over the beginnings of the now venerable New Yorker Magazine. Also of interest, Fitzgerald meticulously chronicles the lives and (mostly) deaths of the members after WWII. I enjoyed this look at New York's early Avant Garde, and learned a great deal about New York City during this period. Highly recommended.
While the story of the Table takes center stage, the books also spends time going over the beginnings of the now venerable New Yorker Magazine. Also of interest, Fitzgerald meticulously chronicles the lives and (mostly) deaths of the members after WWII. I enjoyed this look at New York's early Avant Garde, and learned a great deal about New York City during this period. Highly recommended.
May 31, 2015
A must read for Round Table devotees. This book gives us fun anecdotes, as well as wonderful bio's on all of the main members. It also provides readers with addresses of their homes and haunts (easy to find in their bold font) that we can seek out and see for ourselves. A true historical guide to help us feel closer to all the talent, imagination, and wit that we can never seem to get enough of. Fitzpatrick helps the magic of The Algonquin Round Table stay alive for future generations to learn about and love!
July 13, 2015
Fascinating guide to the people and places of the Algonquin Hotel's Vicious Circle. Pocket-sized, thin edition with brief entries.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews