Irene Wilde
22-Jul-2008, 21:58
Dorothy Parker was born Dorothy Rothchild in New Jersey in 1893. In 1917, she married stockbroker Edwin Parker, and though the relationship ended long before the marriage, even after the divorce, ?Dottie? kept the name. Mrs. Parker?s first regular job in the publishing business was writing photo captions for Vogue magazine. She had sold a poem and on the strength of that and what would become her chronic need for cash, she brazenly asked for the job and got it. A short time later, Vanity Fair?s resident drama critic, the esteemed PG Wodehouse, quit the magazine and Mrs. Parker was asked to fill his considerable shoes. Mrs. Parker had no demur ladylike shyness when it came to criticism, and also no sense of protecting her own paycheck. When producers, who were also advertisers, expressed their continued displeasure with her negative reviews to the publisher, instead of dampening her enthusiasm, Mrs. Parker sharpened her pencil and wrote a scathing review of a play starring, reportedly, Producer Florenz Zeigfeld?s wife, Billie Burke. Vanity Fair fired her for her trouble. In a show of solidarity, fellow writers Robert Benchley and Robert Sherwood followed Mrs. Parker out the door. It was a gesture she never forgot.
During her Vanity Fair days, writers, critics, and columnists began gathering at the nearby Algonquin Hotel for the daily lunch special. Though Mrs. Parker was not as frequent a member of the Algonquin Round Table as people today presume (she couldn?t afford it), her wit and personality helped shaped the group, which, in various incarnations, met for lunch five days a week for nearly a decade.
Ever needing to make money, Mrs. Parker was submitting light verse and short fiction to various publications. She despaired over these ?lady-like? pursuits. But in her verse and stories, a voice was emerging unlike any traditional ?lady writer.? Mrs. Parker was a product of 20th Century New York City. She was tough, smart, outspoken, funny, and honest. Over time, these works were collected in the books ?With Enough Rope? and ?Death and Taxes.? Her reputation as a ?wit? grew, but Mrs. Parker?s keen observations, precise prose, and ear for dialogue also produced dramatic works, illustrating hypocrisy, prejudice, and emotional turmoil, frequently through dialogues and conversations, sometimes through internal monologues.
Beyond her rapier wit, Mrs. Parker was a sad and often lonesome woman. During and after her marriage to Mr. Parker, she floundered along in a string of unsuccessful affairs. This combined with her frustrations with her writing and forever being behind in the rent, resulted in at least three suicide attempts during her life. Mrs. Parker was pre-occupied with death, which showed in her writings, frequently alluding to a desire to die on a rainy night.
The most positive experience to come from lunch at the Algonquin was a professional relationship with Harold Ross, who was developing the idea for a new magazine, a magazine that he hoped would capture the pace and energy of New York itself. The magazine became The New Yorker, which was hardly a financial success at the start. To keep the magazine going Ross would frequently beg Mrs. Parker for copy, printing nearly anything and everything she would contribute, for which she was rarely paid.
In the mid-20s, Mrs. Parker began work on what she hoped would finally be her novel, her proof that she really was a good writer. To work on the novel uninterrupted by needs for cash inflows, distractions from lovers, and visits to her favorite speakeasy, Tony?s, Mrs. Parker left New York for the Villa American in France, the home of Sarah and Gerald Murphy which was open to writers and artists from the States. At first the work progressed, but over time the story about an aging good-time girl failed to stretch into a novel. In the meantime, the Murphy?s son contracted tuberculosis and the family relocated to a sanitorium in Switzerland, taking Mrs. Parker, who had by then become a close friend, with them. In the Alps, surrounded by the increasingly worried Murphys (their son eventually died), and a hospital full of sick people, Mrs. Parker found she couldn?t write at all. When she was sure she could leave without abandoning friends who had done so much for her, Mrs. Parker returned to New York, sad, exhausted, and frustrated. The press meeting her plane complained because, despite her reputation, that day Dorothy Parker wasn?t funny for them. She repackaged her thwarted novel as ?The Big Blonde.? It is considered her best work.
To supplement her income, Mrs. Parker tried various stints at screen-writing for Hollywood. Despite two Academy Award nominations (including co-authoring the screenplay for ?A Star is Born?), she hated it and would always return to New York. Over the years she married and then remarried writer Alan Campbell, who eventually took his own life.
Mrs. Parker, in addition to writing, was involved in numerous social causes, from marching for women?s voting rights, to protesting the Sacco-Venzetti verdict, to reporting on the Spanish Civil War, to helping to form the Writer?s Guild of America. Her political ideas caused her name to become part of Hollywood?s infamous ?Black List.? Mrs. Parker died at the age of 73 in 1967. Upon her death, her estate was left to the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation. Upon Dr. King?s death, her estate was transferred to the NAACP.
During her Vanity Fair days, writers, critics, and columnists began gathering at the nearby Algonquin Hotel for the daily lunch special. Though Mrs. Parker was not as frequent a member of the Algonquin Round Table as people today presume (she couldn?t afford it), her wit and personality helped shaped the group, which, in various incarnations, met for lunch five days a week for nearly a decade.
Ever needing to make money, Mrs. Parker was submitting light verse and short fiction to various publications. She despaired over these ?lady-like? pursuits. But in her verse and stories, a voice was emerging unlike any traditional ?lady writer.? Mrs. Parker was a product of 20th Century New York City. She was tough, smart, outspoken, funny, and honest. Over time, these works were collected in the books ?With Enough Rope? and ?Death and Taxes.? Her reputation as a ?wit? grew, but Mrs. Parker?s keen observations, precise prose, and ear for dialogue also produced dramatic works, illustrating hypocrisy, prejudice, and emotional turmoil, frequently through dialogues and conversations, sometimes through internal monologues.
Beyond her rapier wit, Mrs. Parker was a sad and often lonesome woman. During and after her marriage to Mr. Parker, she floundered along in a string of unsuccessful affairs. This combined with her frustrations with her writing and forever being behind in the rent, resulted in at least three suicide attempts during her life. Mrs. Parker was pre-occupied with death, which showed in her writings, frequently alluding to a desire to die on a rainy night.
The most positive experience to come from lunch at the Algonquin was a professional relationship with Harold Ross, who was developing the idea for a new magazine, a magazine that he hoped would capture the pace and energy of New York itself. The magazine became The New Yorker, which was hardly a financial success at the start. To keep the magazine going Ross would frequently beg Mrs. Parker for copy, printing nearly anything and everything she would contribute, for which she was rarely paid.
In the mid-20s, Mrs. Parker began work on what she hoped would finally be her novel, her proof that she really was a good writer. To work on the novel uninterrupted by needs for cash inflows, distractions from lovers, and visits to her favorite speakeasy, Tony?s, Mrs. Parker left New York for the Villa American in France, the home of Sarah and Gerald Murphy which was open to writers and artists from the States. At first the work progressed, but over time the story about an aging good-time girl failed to stretch into a novel. In the meantime, the Murphy?s son contracted tuberculosis and the family relocated to a sanitorium in Switzerland, taking Mrs. Parker, who had by then become a close friend, with them. In the Alps, surrounded by the increasingly worried Murphys (their son eventually died), and a hospital full of sick people, Mrs. Parker found she couldn?t write at all. When she was sure she could leave without abandoning friends who had done so much for her, Mrs. Parker returned to New York, sad, exhausted, and frustrated. The press meeting her plane complained because, despite her reputation, that day Dorothy Parker wasn?t funny for them. She repackaged her thwarted novel as ?The Big Blonde.? It is considered her best work.
To supplement her income, Mrs. Parker tried various stints at screen-writing for Hollywood. Despite two Academy Award nominations (including co-authoring the screenplay for ?A Star is Born?), she hated it and would always return to New York. Over the years she married and then remarried writer Alan Campbell, who eventually took his own life.
Mrs. Parker, in addition to writing, was involved in numerous social causes, from marching for women?s voting rights, to protesting the Sacco-Venzetti verdict, to reporting on the Spanish Civil War, to helping to form the Writer?s Guild of America. Her political ideas caused her name to become part of Hollywood?s infamous ?Black List.? Mrs. Parker died at the age of 73 in 1967. Upon her death, her estate was left to the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation. Upon Dr. King?s death, her estate was transferred to the NAACP.