HowardsPoem

My Aunt Lynn, in her eighties, has been subscribing to The New Yorker forever (this past year marked the seventy-fifth anniversary for the magazine.) She has always talked about the very special group of lost generation, acid-tongued humorists, writers, critics and theatricals known as the Algonquin Club or Circle. Its members included but were not limited to Franklin P. Adams, Tallulah Bankhead, Robert Benchley, Heywood Broun, Marc Connelly, Noel Coward, Frank Croninshield, Russell Crouse, William Faulkner, Edna Ferber, Lynn Fontanne, Helen Hayes, George F. (or is it S.) Kaufman, Ring Lardner, Sinclair Lewis, Harold Lindsay, Alfred Lunt, Charles MacArthur, Herman Mankiewicz, Harpo Marx, Brock Pemberton, S. J. Perelman, Ezra Pound, Paul Robeson, Harold Ross, Art Samuels, Robert Sherwood, Gertrude Stein, James Thurber, Alice B. Toklas, Thomas Wolfe, Peggy Wood and Alexander Woollcott. Between 1919 and the early 1940's, members of the Circle gathered, on and off, at the Algonquin Hotel, in New York City, to drink, play poker and trade barbs. Apparently, their primary goal was to cynically eviscerate the rest of the world. What do you think they would have had to say about today's life and times?

The first three images are of Dorothy Parker. In response to an enquiry from a friend as to why she hadn't attended a particular play, Parker said," I've been too f...... busy, and vice versa." The next group shows Robert Benchley with one of his book covers. One of my favorite Benchley quotes is, "The free-lance writer is the person who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps." The next three photos are studies of Alexander Woollcott, the quintessential, pompous, narcissistic curmudgeon. Of course, there's Woollcott's quote,"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal or fattening." The eleventh image is Harpo Marx whose famous quote was"! ? !"; the twelfth is a New Yorker Magazine cover illustration; the thirteenth is Gertrude Stein who said, "It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing really doing nothing.” followed by Tallulah Bankhead, who said,“If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.” The fifteenth image is a caricature of Woollcott followed by a self-portrait of James Thurber. My favorite Thurber quote is, "Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?" The next two are caricatures of Benchley and Parker and George S. Kaufman (and my favorite Kaufman quote is, “I understand your play is full of single entendres!” ) The sixteenth image is an Al Hirschfeld cartoon of the infamous circle. The Natalie Ascencios caricature painting was commissioned in 1998 by the Algonquin Hotel. It is followed by Will Cotton's 1929 caricature painting of the illustrious group. The last two photos show the entrance facade of the Gonk and a Bronze Tablet mounted in 1996 on the wall of the Algonquin Hotel declaring it a Literary Landmark.

The Vicious Circle

            Oh Gertrude Stein so shrewd, renowned,
            Brewed Toklas Cookies, Cakes, Hash browned;
            Dot Parker spewed an acid Sound,
            Rude Barbs persist; Bons Mots abound;
            Woollcott reviewed, dismissed or crowned,
            When stressed, Croquet, his Days unwound;
            Bob Benchley pressed, the Phrase profound,
            In Jest, Communiqués resound;
            James Thurber drew tight Ships aground,
            Lest mighty Mitty might have drowned;
            George Kaufman's witty Plays astound,
            Vain Whiteside's waned Clichés compound;
            Fontanne, at Night, reigned, strapless, Gowned,
            Still, Lunt restrained her hapless Hound;
            Bill Faulkner, blessed, 'A Fable' found;
            Tom Wolfe, depressed, looked homeward bound,
            Then Thanatopsis Spirits downed;
            If Sinclair Lewis messed around,
            He'd, Babbitt Virtue, dare expound;
            Ring Lardner did Tales, wild, propound,
            Tallulah, red-tressed, smiled or frowned;
            While Harpo dressed, high-styled, still clowned,
            Then mimed Debate in Ultrasound.

            Bold, Cards displayed; each Pot, a Mound;
            They'd trade hot Insults by the Pound,
            Time Repartees; restate, confound,
            Bait, take a Shot; negate, rebound;
            And diss amidst themselves, surround,
            Till all the Grist, sublime, got ground;
            'Behold Algonquin's Table Round!'

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