"
If you haven't got anything good to say about someone.............then come sit by me." - Dorothy Parker
When asked to use the word "horticulture" correctly in a sentence, Dorothy replied "
You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think."
One of her more famous lines was in a review of a play starring Katherine Hepburn. Of Miss Hepburn's performance she said "
She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B."
"
If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised." - Dorothy Parker.
Though I think many of the members of the Algonquin Round Table were very troubled, unhappy people (Parker, Benchley, etc.), and though I'm not sure I would have actually approved of their outrageously funny antics, their talent and wit was undeniable. At a party attended by many of the Round Table members, a young Helen Hayes (famous actress), unused to alcohol (she'd only had one drink) and feeling she just had to try to say something witty to fit in, blurted out something like "
Anyone who wants my piano is grateful to it." Their was a short, pregnant moment of silence, then playwright George S. Kaufman dryly replied "
That's very seldom of you, Helen." I would happily sacrifice many years of my life to have been a fly on the wall at the Algonquin Round Table.
I just finished reading, for about the 4th the time,
Harpo Speaks, Harpo Marks' autobiography (brilliantly ghost written by Rowland Barber). I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Easy to read, eminently entertaining, and a complete delight.
