The Ten-Year Lunch; Wits & Legends of the Algonquin Round Table (Complete)
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- čas přidán 5. 03. 2013
- The Algonquin Round Table set the standard for literary style and wit beyond its ten-year duration.
After World War I, Vanity Fair writers and Algonquin regulars Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Robert E. Sherwood began lunching at The Algonquin. In 1919, they gathered in the Rose Room with some literary friends to welcome back acerbic critic Alexander Woollcott from his service as a war correspondent. It proved so enjoyable that someone suggested it become a daily event. This led to a near-quotidian exchange of ideas, opinions, and often-savage wit that has enriched the world's literary life. George S. Kaufman, Heywood Broun, and Edna Ferber were also in this august assembly, which strongly influenced writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Perhaps their greatest contribution, however, was the founding of The New Yorker.
"The Ten-Year Lunch," which won Aviva Slesin an Academy Award in 1987 for best documentary, offers a vivid introduction to the Round Table and its unparalleled wit.
Favorite Algonquin story: Alexander Woolcott flounces in like a dirigible that has escaped it's mooring, holding aloft a copy of his latest book. Says Woolcott: "Ah! A Woolcott first edition! WHAT is more rare? Franklin P. Adams, without looking up from his lunch, responds: "A Woolcott SECOND edition."
It is possible that this joke (as good as it is), is not original. I read it in a book about one of Max Beerbohm's best friends, the brilliant with and atrocious writer, Reggie Turner ("Reggie, A Portrait of Reginald Turner," Stanley Weintraub), all of whose novels went into instant oblivion the day they were published.
🙄😐😬..😆😂😅😍
George S. Kaufman: Thank you so much for your manuscript. I shall waste no time in reading it.
Thank you😂😂😂😂
Wow... wit! Genuine wit....a long lost commodity in today's illiterate, hostile world. Thank you!
I'd been searching for this for years and had resigned to the idea I was never going to see it. Thank you. I am forever in your debt.
Me too
@@michaeldougherty8344 As my aunt would say: "I'm so glad you met me."
How fortunate this was made while a few members were still alive to contribute their reminiscences.
instablaster...
What a joy to find this gem of a time capsule. Oh to be at that table for just one lunch ... or maybe two
The animated take on the Al Hirschfeld caricature of the Round Table is just adorable. 🥰
Monumental. Probably his most famous work.
This has been the best hour I've had in a while.
I couldn't agree more.
So good I must watch it again!
WE SHOULD ALL FORM A GROUP AND HAVE LUNCH
Absolutely special and absolutely grateful to the gentleman (Mr. Impropaganda) who had the wisdom (and generosity) to upload this gem. Thank you...
Amazing upload. I have loved Dorothy Parker ever since I was introduced to her writing twenty years ago. To have so much history from that period is really good. Although the 1994 film about her life and the round table had some bad reviews, I liked it very much, some of the quotes from the film are in this programme. Thank you for the upload.
Mrs Parker and the vicious circle was great
me too love Dorthy
Oh my gosh. How wonderful for those who had the opportunity to be with them.
I think this was made in 1987, been waiting that long to see the whole thing again, I only taped half on my VHS tape. 😊 Can’t believe it took 9 years to find it on YT.
It's so great to stay at The Algonquin! I'm so happy that I have been able to many times... It's a special place.
I'm jealous!
I'd love to stay at the Algonquin! Describe what it was like!
I had always looked for this documentary. It was worth the wait!
During my "Fawlty Towers" years, I had a Bed and Breakfast guest who shared a Robert Benchley story from her 1930's years as a young New York City actress. At a party that was getting out of control one night, she felt obliged to tell the crowd downstairs to quiet down.
"Imagine," she said to me, "telling the great humorist Robert Benchley to stop laughing!"
Oh I love that story! Thanks for sharing!!
I could go on and on, so I'll be careful. When Benchley traveled to Venice, he sent a cable back to his friends, "Streets under water! Please advise!"@@lindavernon8051
@@lindavernon8051 Thank you!
One of my favorite documentaries! This should be watched by everyone, especially those who love New York City.
The wonderful combination of insecurity, love and brilliance.
I loved this! Thank you. The wit and playful snark of Dorothy Parker has always made me smile.
The Roundtable embodied the carefree and vivacious spirit the whole country was undergoing during the Roaring 20s, what a great time to be alive.
Thanks for posting this for it is impossible to find on VHS or DVD.
LOL "We called her Mary, after Ethel Barrymore."
This was FUN. What witty people they were!
That Dorothy Parker thing of 'use horticulture in a sentence.' ahahaha
I don't get it though. Lol
@@stephj505 "You can lead a 'whore to culture' but you can't make her think." Dorothy Parker.
It's a play on the phrase "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" 😁
Thanks so much for posting. I've always been intrigued by the folks at the Round Table… and this was just wonderful to watch.
culture and wit that never will be matched
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ thanks for this!
Bless your heart! I've been looking for this for ages.
Thank you for this enlightening look at those interesting times and people. How much fun to have been if only an spectator then.
Ruth Gordon was a genius too.
genius is a big word to be used sparingly. she was great, but...a genius is einstein
There was a film made a few years ago entitled “Mrs. Parker and The Vicious Circle.” It sparked my interest in these people.
Wow I love the illustrations in this!
Thank you for posting this marvelous documentary! Loved it! Love the Algonquin Round Table Wits! Love the "Roaring 20s"!
Too bad the 1930s sucked.
love this, I always adored Dorothy Parker....there are some cute mystery books featuring the "Vicious Circle"....funny books, In the books, she was secretly in love with Robert Benchley...
I'd feel for her husband though. XD
Omg i loved every minute, thank you.
My favorite people.
What a treat! Thank you!
Recommended (04-29-21): Wit's End, by James Gaines (1977). Easily the best, most-in-depth, and most critical of all the RT and RT-related books. Plenty of used copies are available on Amazon (I have no connection to Amazon. In fact, I loathe them).
I'm an ebay girl myself. I just went there and there are plenty for me to choose from.
Thanks for the upload. Loved it!
Fascinating:thanks for putting this up!
Wonderful! Thank you.
Some good books on the subject-
Wit's End- Gaines
What Fresh Hell Is This? and Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin- Meade
George S Kaufman and His Friends- Meredith
Robert Benchley- Rosmund
Meredith should be famous for forgetting (or intentionally omitting) the entry of "Kaufman, George S." in the BOTB Index. Still in all an excellent book, although much much too long.
Harpo tells quite a few good tales in his autobiography of the figures of the table, and remained friends with Woollcott the rest of Woollcott's life.
The Garden of Allah by Sheila Graham is a good one too.
Had to pop back on here for a second. Just after I watched this video, Edna Ferber's Cimarron with Glenn Ford started playing on #gritTV. Talk about serendipity!!
I wonder what these writers would think of The New York Times, The New Yorker & the second incarnation of Vanity Fair magazine today? So many newspapers of their day are history now. And much of what those publications write about today is a cross between Mad Magazine, National Lampoon & The National Enquirer circa 1965. There are no writers today with the panache, humor, and cleverness of the writers of the 1920's. None.
Some from The Algonquin Round Table are still mentioned today. Writers today don't wield that power and influence -- it won't be of any consequence 100 years from now. But they will still be talking about the Beat Generation writers (perhaps more about their exploits at The Beat Hotel in Paris than there stories and that's fine). The writers who were nurtured by Gertrude Stein will be remembered because they wrote for newsstand publications -- but they wrote classics. They all made what they did -- matter.
Today it's more pablum and if it has vinegar it's accuracy is in question. There's fiction and there's bullshit -- publications today subscribe to the BS. It sells faster their precious ideas, scratch that, not ideas -- agendas. That's the new catchphrase. You have to write about what they agree with or you don't get published. Don't believe me. Write something and if they accept it -- watch how they edit it. By the time it reaches the internet or newsstand it won't look much like what you intended. Oh, except for Meetups -- there are no Algonquin Round Tables today. None that is spoken about in gossip columns.
Great documentary though by Aviva Slesin -- wish a higher definition updated version of this very film could be aired on PBS. They must retain those precious interviews of people no longer with us -- who witnessed it all first hand.
For the past few years, every so often, I would renew my search for this documentary. Many on-line sources would claim to have it, but every time I would try to view it, or buy it, it would suddenly be "Out of Stock". Thank you so much for finding, sharing and posting this gem of Americana. Even though I am a mid-westerner, part of me will always be citizen of the Algonquin. I have visited the hotel only once, but part of me stayed there and late at night, in my dreams, I find myself there.
Pure Delight- thanks
Favorite Woolcott tale: Woolcott strides into the room , holding a book. "Ah, what is more rare than a Woolcott first edition?!" he gushes. "A Woolcott second edition!" replies an unimpressed Franklin P. Adams.
Good to hear the wit of these writers Dorothy Parker was briliantly funny , nice to see Ruth Gordon she is so under used by Hollywood.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 great video
While it was a highly interesting period, I’ve always gotten the impression the Round Table has gotten the reputation of being more witty than they truly were. Nothing I’ve ever seen or read has blown me away with their wit or humor. I’m not saying the individual people were not generally but the Table got this overall reputation just bc they were all known writers of the day.
I think that they were very witty and it was undoubtedly a great deal of fun - but the most important American writers of the 20's - Fitzgerald and Hemingway - were not a part of that group. Parker's quips and short stories survive, but who sees Connelly's plays any more? I think they had a blast - but I also see Anita Loos' point - that they became so enamored of their celebrity that going to lunch and saying something funny became more important than actually writing. In later life, Parker herself said she thought it was superficial. Think of Warhol's Factory. I'd say the 20's crowd was more literate, wittier (and drank rather than used drugs), but the point of both was being in "the in crowd."
Thanks. I enjoyed the information re: that cohort of witticisms. In truth, I don't think they were as spectacular as they've been hyped. Talent, and nearly all journalists, who have a command of the English language, they were a group of writers in the right place at the right time. Waspish, acidic? Just a bunch of regular people using their command of language to "burn" colleagues. I had the same experiences in college and the Army, but we weren't published and quoted in 75 newspapers.
Their antics don’t really age well. I guess you had to be there. Edna Ferber was a big talent, and prolific. Robert Benchley seemed to have an idea of what personal dignity is. And Helen Hayes too. Dorothy Parker nailed it when she said they forgot to grow up.
Excellent point.
So damn glad to see this again!!!!! I had watched it countless times, and then turning to it once, I was unable to watch it because of some sort of copyright snafu.....Did anyone else have that?
Dorothy Parker, hello, Dorothy Rothschild.Thank you, for changing your name!
Sarah Lee Smith interesting 🧐
Rothschild isn't that bad of a name though.
Technically, her husband - Eddie Parker - changed it. She just kept it after they parted company.
yes, most of them were Jews
I’d have preferred a little less material about Wollcott and rather more regarding Parker, Benchley and some the others.
Éá🎉ßaeaeaeaeaeaeaeßaeaeaeaea s szs s bbrabbeaeaeßaraearaeaearae aeaeaeaaevs
Kauffman & Hart wrote the play, The Man Who Came to Dinner on the premise if Alex Woollcott came to your house and couldn't leave.
LOVE that movie!
What a treat.
Just about anyone who could string more than two sentences together seemed like a genius,
right after WWI and just before talkies came in and the stock market bowed out.
Odd to keep hearing Herman Munster pop in. Fred Gwynne's voice is so instantly identifiable. :)
He had a velvet voice. SO sad that loveable character stifled his career.
What is the music playing at 5:30? I'm wondering if it's the song called "At Sundown?"
I do not know its title but I can assure you, it is NOT "At Sundown".
By the way I have read all 46 works of Scott Fitzgerald on the Kindle. And seen the movie " The great Gatsby ", on the P.C.I am still to read any Dorothy Parker's work. But I have still to appreciate them fully because there turning to Hollywood was a bit far fetched, yet as popular writers and columnist of the 1920s 1930s, the voice of consciousness they could at least be read.
Yes, the best invention was surely The New Yorker.
Until it was no longer The New Yorker...
Does anyone remember a radio show hosted from the Algonquin during the sixties? I forgot the name of the interviewer / host. He would interview artists and literary figures.
John Gambling?
Didn't someone once say..?.."Those were the days"..😊
I read the "Big Joke" cover to cover each week. It's a chore more often than not.
The "t" in "Often" is silent.
Why is the photo of Noel Coward? Was he really a daily feature at the Algonquin? I thought he was more popular in his native London.
I think it said he was invited to lunch. Not sure if he was a regular.
The 1st podcast.
Did director Aviva Slesin finally give you permission to post this?
Very interesting documentary ☯️🕉🙀
Good entertsai
Ms. Parker was extraordinary in many ways. However, committing suicide was not one of them.
❤❤❤❤❤
So much more fun than promising to follow social rules you never thought about yet.
In the East was the Algonquin...at the same time in the west was W R Hearst's 'San Simeon'.
HARPO MARX, "A TALKER AT LUNCH"? NOT SO! HARPO NEVER SAID ANYTHING. THAT'S WHY THEY APPRECIATED HIM. EVERYONE ELSE WAS A TALKER. HE WAS THE ONLY LISTENER.
I read this also. He himself said he learned a lot just by listening (from Harpo Speaks).
Is that Fred gynne’s voice?
22:10 Did he steal Groucho's moves, did Groucho steal his, or was it mutual?
Dorothy Parker, on Calvin Coolidge's death: How can they tell?
So did they broadcast this thing on the radio or what?
Very interesting distribution here as this was one of the rare occassions resulting in an Oscar AND Emmy nomination. let alone subsequent WINS.
H. L. Mencken, who often stayed at the Algonquin,
called the group "literati of the third, fourth and fifth rate." He
loathed them. "He thought that they were silly and not true wits
and more interested in publicity than in serious artistic
accomplishment," said Jonathan Yardley, the editor of Mencken's "My Life
as Author and Editor." "And he was right."
One of Mencken's many blind spots.
@@steveweinstein3222 I think he was right.
Ring Lardner?
Part of Groucho's crowd, I believe. I don't recall him being mentioned in this documentary.
In her later years, [Dorothy Parker] denigrated the Algonquin Round Table, although it had brought her such early notoriety:
"These were no giants. Think who was writing in those days-Lardner, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Hemingway. Those were the real giants. The Round Table was just a lot of people telling jokes and telling each other how good they were. Just a bunch of loudmouths showing off, saving their gags for days, waiting for a chance to spring them ... There was no truth in anything they said. It was the terrible day of the wisecrack, so there didn't have to be any truth ..." Wiki
One thing for sure: Dorothy Parker had the cutest and most charming husband in the 1920s. No wonder Mrs. Parker married him! Lol
Alan Campbell?
@@donreed Well him too and Ed Parker. Why else did Dorothy marry him?
Dorothy Parker was married to a Campbell. Just like Tanya Tucker & Glen Campbell.
Is gaiety, still a word?
Where is America today...that proud, happy America after WW1? Where is the talent, wit and glamour? Broadway, Hollywood, the written word...all have succumbed to sleaze, vulgarity, "woke". Wouldn't those brilliant writers be stunned to hear "woke" used as it is today! Where is heard "Over There" with pride and joy in being an American? I could weep for our beloved country.
I could weep for you too. Commiserations from Scotland 😥
Greed killed it as well as all individual accomplishments.
Wall Street now owns your idea before you even get it off the ground.
Many thanks for this, Impropaganda.
All is vanity.
I'm sure this is an ignorant question, but is Alexander Woollcott the inspiration for The Man Who Came to Dinner?
Wikipedia thinks so:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Woollcott
R.O. Despain
Thanx, I'll check it out.
I read somewhere that they wanted Woollcott to play the character in the movie, he passed it up and later regretted it.
Interesting. Thanks fpr the info.
Yes what they're saying it's all true from what I know. Also the character banjo in the place based on Harpo Marx. If you ever have free time on CZcams, which in the asked about replying to a reply of yours is self evident, you should check out Nathan Lane's interpretation of the role it was put out by PBS. Yours theatrically
The actor
Whose here after watching Gilmore Girls?
Yes, I'm late to the rodeo with both.
Have known about this story for years. 10 years EVERY day? No One is that funny or fresh. One of those legions that gets bigger than it ever was and actually ran out of gas about 3 years into it?
AS FAR AS ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT BEING HETEROSEXUAL, THAT IS NONSENSE. HE WAS IN LOVE WITH HARPO FROM THE MOMENT HE SAW HIM. I DON'T THINK THAT ALEC WAS SEXUAL AT ALL. HE HAD HOMOSEXUAL TENDENCIES, BUT HE WAS NOT IN THE POSITION TO ACT UPON THEM AFTER HAVING A BAD CASE OF THE MUMPS. BESIDES, HE LIVED THROUGH HIS WORK. I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE KNOWN ALEC & HARPO. IF I WERE TO LIVE MY LIFE ALL OVER AGAIN, I WOULD CHOOSE TO BE HARPO MARX.
+unclejuniorsoprano
what?
Mumps can make you sterile. It has no effect on sexual performance.
unclejuniorsoprano Did Harpo respond?
I'm in love with Harpo too.
Oh, yea, Woollcott was in love with Harpo. He put it in writing. Harpo did respond back in writing, I remember seeing their letters in one of the many Marx Bros. books I have read. Harpo named two of his ADOPTED sons after Woollcott and his brother William. First son is William Woollcott Marx, another son is Alexander Marx. Sometimes I wonder about Harpo........there are signs. But I couldn't care less, I, too, love Harpo. But, Chico is my favorite. Be still my heart!
a somber reminder that even the greatest stars of society and tastemakers will all be forgotten within 2 generations
In the end, just a bunch of high society snobs.
You need to be reminded a generation is considered 20-25yrs and this is now a century later.
And what the hell is a tastemaker?
Please stop the music
The simpsons made homage to the round table.
Sigh. Never to be again.
Are you sure? ;)
Radio wounded the newspaper trade and television wounded wounded radio.
The internet killed newspapers. With each fall they scrape off the unnecessary and opinionated columnists on "the arts" are easily expendable. The true artists found work elsewhere and the rest moulded away.
Poor Dorothy. Libido ,with or without alcohol, is tough on a girl in her thirties in a crowd of interesting and horrible men laughing at all her jokes. Imagine an illegal abortion back then with them all in attendance advising her to stop trying to kill herself. Funny not funny, guys.
Dying is overated!
A group of queers and closeted queers. Those were the days.
Shuddup
I'm a Chicago boy. The 1920s were the period of Al Capone. This was a New York sideshow, not important and not really interesting. Just like New York.
Robert Benchley was sent to Venice on assignment and he telegraphed his editor with this message - "Arrived Venice, streets full of water - please advise."
Once I sent my sister a text message with a picture of her cat gnawing on my finger with the message “am being eaten by cat, please advise”
While it was a highly interesting period, I’ve always gotten the impression the Round Table has gotten the reputation of being more witty than they truly were. Nothing I’ve ever seen or read has blown me away with their wit or humor. I’m not saying the individual people were not generally but the Table got this overall reputation just bc they were all known writers of the day.