Volume 16 Number 039 The Algonquin Roundtable -II Lead: The years that followed World War I were optimistic and happy times, a new era of creativity in culture and letters. Leading the way were the members of the Algonquin Roundtable. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: They changed the face of American humor. “A hard-bitten crew,” said Edna Ferber, author of Giant, of her fellows at the Roundtable which met daily for lunch at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, “but if they liked your work they said so publicly and whole-heartedly.” They were fluent, fresh, acerbic, and tough. And could they make you laugh. Ferber insisted that, “being an old maid is like death by drowning, a really delightful sensation, after you cease to struggle.” Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist: “Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.” “The trouble with this country is that there are too many politicians who believe, with a conviction based on experience, that you can fool all of the people, all of the time.” Robert Benchley, author: “As for me, except for an occasional heart attack, I feel as young as I ever did.” “The free-lance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word,” or perhaps.” “Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.” Playwright and director, George S. Kaufman: “At dramatic rehearsals, the only author that’s better than an absent one is a dead one.” “Epitaph for a dead waiter – God finally caught his eye.” “When I invite a woman to dinner, I expect her to look at my face. That’s the price she has to pay.” And the greatest wit of them all, essayist Dorothy Parker: “A little bad taste is like a nice dash of paprika.” “Brevity is the soul of lingerie.” “If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.” “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.” “The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant – and let the air out of the tires.” ‘Of the actor Katharine Hepburn, “She runs the gamut of emotions, from A to B.” Finally, revealing the generally skeptical attitude of her Roundtable compatriots about all things universal, much less divine, she wrote, “It would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone, ‘Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment.’” From Richmond, Virginia this is Dan Roberts. Resources Grant, Jane C. Ross, The New Yorker, and Me. New York: Reynal, 1968. Harriman, Margaret Case. The Vicious Circle: The Story of the Algonquin Round Table. New York: Rinehard and Company, 1951. The New Yorker, Various issues. Parker, Dorothy. The Collected Dorothy Parker. London: Duckworth Press, 1973. Yates, Norris Wilson. Robert Benchley. New York: Twayne, 1968. www.algonquinroundtable.org Copyright by Dan Roberts Enterprises, Inc. .