Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This?

by Marion Meade

  130 IN RETROSPECT: Rosmond, p. 11—12.

  130 I’M A LATE SLEEPER: Hecht, p. 92.

  132 WE DRANK OUR HEADS OFF: Dorothy Parker interview, Columbia University Oral History Research Office.

  132 SHE THOUGHT: Cooper, p. 110.

  132 THE NEW YORK TIMES THOUGHT: New York Times, June 2, 1925, p. 9.

  133 AN ELATED ROSS: Corey Ford, The Time of Laughter, Little, Brown, 1967, p. 115.

  134 IN HER OPINION: New York Herald Tribune, October 13, 1963.

  134 AT FIRST HE SAT: Parker, “Book Reviews,” Esquire, September 1959, p. 18.

  134 WITH THIS “MONOLITH” : Ibid.

  134 ALLOWING ROSS: Grant, p. 210.

  135 POLLY ADLER: Polly Adler, A House Is Not a Home, Rinehart & Co., 1953, p. 98.

  135 THEY ONCE CHASED: Woollcott,, “The Young Monk of Siberia,” p. 229.

  136 WHENEVER YOU OPEN: Rice, p. 205.

  137 WE WERE TRAPPED: Ibid.

  137 DOROTHY, HE SAID: Orville Prescott, “A Lament for the Living,” Cue, July 10, 1937, p. 7.

  138 THAT OLD FILLING: Rice, p. 207.

  138 IT WAS “THE MOST EXCITING THING” : Writers at Work, p. 79.

  138 DESPITE EXCELLENT REVIEWS: New York Tribune, December 1, 1924.

  138 THE THIRD WEEK: Woollcott, “Our Mrs. Parker,” p. 186.

  138 AS ELMER RICE LATER WROTE: Rice, p. 207.

  138 IN YEARS TO COME: Richard Lamparski taped interview with Dorothy Parker, 1966.

  138 HE FOUND THE PLAY: Robert Benchley, “In Bad Humour,” Life, December 18, 1924, p. 18.

  139 OH I SHOULD LIKE: Parker, “Song of Perfect Propriety,” Life, January 22, 1925; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 103.

  Eight: “Yessir, the Whaddyecall’em Blues”

  140 THEIR NAMES WERE EVER: Parker, “Rosemary,” Life, August 14, 1924.

  140 SHE FELL IN LOVE: Author’s interview with Marc Connelly.

  141 SHE DEDICATED: Rosmond, pp. 11—12.

  141 BECAUSE YOUR EYES: Parker, “Prophetic Soul,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 102.

  142 ONE CHRISTMAS: James Gaines taped interview with Frank Sullivan, Columbia University Oral History Research Office.

  142 THEN SHE TURNED: James Gaines taped interview with Dr. Alvan Barach.

  142 DONALD STEWART THOUGHT: John Keats, You Might as Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker, Simon and Schuster, 1970, p. 61.

  142 ALL YOUR LIFE: Parker, “Chant for Dark Hours,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 95.

  143 BY THE TIME YOU SWEAR: Parker, “Unfortunate Coincidence,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 96.

  144 COLLINS WAS STRICTLY: Author’s interview with Marc Connelly.

  144 HE SEEMED EXACTLY: Parker, “Experience,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 117.

  144 IT WAS ON THE HEAD: The Bookman , July 1925, p. 617.

  145 JANE GRANT ADMITTED: Grant, p. 220.

  145 F.P.A. EXPRESSED: Adams, p. 505.

  145 JAMES THURBER CALLED IT: Thurber, p. 26.

  145 DESPITE THE PSEUDONYM: Parker [“Last Night,” pseud.], “The Theatre,” The New Yorker, February 21, 1925, p. 13.

  145 AND WHAT DO YOU DO: Parker, Life, September 12, 1926.

  146 SHE WAS IGNORANT: Author’s interview with Allen Saalburg.

  146 DOTTIE NEEDED: Ibid.

  148 I UNDERSTAND FERBER: Writers at Work, p. 77.

  149 DURING THE WAR: Jane Anderson supported Hitler and Mussolini during World War II. In 1943, after broadcasting propaganda against the Allies from Germany and Italy, she was one of several Americans indicted for treason, but later the charge was dropped for insufficient evidence. Katherine Anne Porter based her La Condesa character in Ship of Fools on Anderson, who eventually married a Spanish nobleman.

  151 THE FIRST TIME I DIED: Parker, “Epitaph,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 79.

  152 AS LARDNER ADMITTED: Ring Lardner letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, August 8, 1925, Bruccoli et al., p. 176.

  154 SABINE FARM, RECALLED: Broun, p. 41.

  155 DOES ANYONE BUT MYSELF: Ibid., p. 47.

  155 ROSS SAID : Thurber, pp. 27—8.

  155 IF YOU CAN’T USE THESE: Frank Sullivan letter to Ann Honeycutt, June 13, 1967, in Frank Sullivan, Well, There’s No Harm in Laughing, edited by George Oppenheimer, Doubleday & Co., 1972, p. 215.

  156 CHARLIE, AS BENCHLEY LATER TOLD HIS WIFE: Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley, July 31, 1925, Mugar Library, Boston University.

  156 DON’T WORRY: Adams, p. 540.

  Nine: Global Disasters

  157 WHAT ARE YOU HAVING: Quoted in Keats, p. 85.

  157 DRINK AND DANCE: Parker, “The Flaw in Paganism,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 298.

  157 WHEN JOHNNY WEAVER REMARKED: James Gaines taped interview with Peggy Wood.

  157 PEOPLE, SHE WROTE: Parker, “Dialogue at Three in the Morning,” The New Yorker, February 13, 1926, p. 13.

  158 WHEN SHE WOULD BE: Author’s interview with Allen Saalburg.

  159 BARACH DECIDED: James Gaines taped interview with Dr. Alvan Barach.

  159 SHE FELT MISERY: Parker, “Big Blonde,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 209.

  159 DOROTHY CALLED HIM: Parker, “Toward the Dog Days,” McCall’s, May 1928, p. 8.

  160 THEN THE TEARS: Parker, “Big Blonde,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 208.

  160 INVESTIGATION REVEALED: Round Tablers treated by Dr. Barach included Heywood Broun, Frank Sullivan, and Herbert Swope. Aleck Woollcott also consulted him but did not enter treatment.

  160 WHEN FRANK SULLIVAN STOPPED BY: Sullivan, p. 215.

  161 THE HOSPITAL, SHE JOKED: Wilson, The Twenties, p. 346.

  163 HIS STARK PROSE: Parker [Constant Reader, pseud.], “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, October 29, 1927, p. 92.

  164 SHE WOULD NOT HAVE AGREED: Milford, p. 156.

  164 IN LATER YEARS: Richard Lamparski taped interview with Dorothy Parker.

  165 SHE THOUGHT HER POEMS: Brooklyn Eagle, November 18, 1928.

  166 HE JOKED ABOUT: Wilson, The Twenties, p. 346.

  166 BENCHLEY WROTE TO GERTRUDE: Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley, February 24, 1926, Mugar Library.

  168 AT HENDAYE: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, July 25, 1931, p. 55.

  169 DOROTHY MOCKINGLY DESCRIBED PARIS: Parker, “The Paris That Keeps Out of the Papers,” Vanity Fair, January 1927, p. 71.

  170 MEN SELDOM MAKE PASSES: Parker, “News Item,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 109.

  171 I GUESS: Rice, p. 217.

  171 SHE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, July 25, 1931, p. 55.

  171 SO I WENT: Parker, “The Garter,” The New Yorker, September 8, 1927, p. 17.

  172 WHY, THAT DOG: Parker, “Toward The Dog Days,” McCall’s, May 1928, p. 8.

  173 SPANIARDS PINCHED: Ernest Hemingway, 88 Poems, edited by Nicholas Gerogiannis, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979, p. 87.

  173 DON STEWART: Stewart, p. 157.

  174 THE TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING: Author’s interview with Mildred Gilman Wohlforth.

  174 WELL, I DON’T KNOW: Adams, The Diary of Our Own Samuel Pepys, vol. 2, p. 675.

  174 WHAT WOULD LINCOLN HAVE DONE: Wilson, The Twenties, p. 346.

  174 SHE KEPT “EXPECTING” : Ibid., p. 347.

  174 SHE SPENT THE DAY: Elinor Wylie letter to Anne Hoyt, November 22, 1926, The Berg Collection, The Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations, The New York Public Library.

  175 CITING THE ELEVEN-YEAR ANALYSIS: Guiles, p. 18.

  175 WHY DONTCHA: Wilson, The Twenties , pp. 344-6.

  176 IT TOOK ONLY A SHORT TIME: Parker, “Reading And Writing,” The New Yorker, December 31, 1927, p. 51.

  176 IT WAS DEDICATED: Arthur F. Kinney, Dorothy Parker, Twayne Publishers, 1978, p. 113.

  Ten: Big Blonde

  177 SUDDENLY, DOROTHY: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, February 11, 1928, p. 78.

  177 SHE WAS HORRIFIED: Ada
ms, vol. 2, p. 706.

  177 ENOUGH ROPE REVIEWS : The Nation , May 25, 1927; New York Herald Tribune, March 27, 1927; Poetry, April 1927.

  178 BY FAR THE MOST THOUGHTFUL: Edmund Wilson, The New Republic, January 19, May 11, 1927.

  178 DOROTHY HAD EMERGED: Wilson, ibid.; John Farrar, The Bookman, March 1928.

  178 THERE IS POETRY: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, January 7, 1928, p. 77.

  179 IF HAD A SHINY GUN: Parker, “Frustration,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 231.

  181 IT’S AGAINST THE LAW: Parker’s arrest is based on reports in the New York World, New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, New York Telegraph, and Boston Evening Transcript for August 11, 1927. Also Jeanette Marks, Thirteen Days, Albert Boni, 1929, p. 9.

  183 DOROTHY PERSUADED A NEWSPAPER REPORTER: Upton Sinclair, Boston, vol. 2, Albert and Charles Boni, 1928, pp. 637, 648-50.

  183 THEY WERE WATCHING: Ibid., p. 650.

  184 THOSE PEOPLE AT THE ROUND TABLE: Richard Lamparski taped interview with Dorothy Parker.

  185 THESE ADORING BUSINESSES: Gardner Jackson taped interview, Columbia University Oral History Research Office.

  185 AS JACKSON REMEMBERED IT: Ibid.

  185 NO FEATURES: Sinclair, p. 743.

  186 MY HEART AND SOUL: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, December 10, 1927, p. 122.

  187 FINALLY, AS AN INDIGNANT LOVETT: Gaines, p. 235.

  187 THERE WAS A WONDERFUL: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, January 14, 1928, p. 69.

  187 GARRETT WAS THE SAME AGE: Parker, “Dusk Before Fireworks,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 135; “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, January 14, 1928, p. 69.

  187 DOROTHY BROKE OFF: Parker, “Dusk Before Fireworks,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 135.

  188 “LADY,” DOROTHY WAS DYING: Parker, “Recent Books,” The New Yorker, October 15, 1927, p. 105; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 452.

  188 CRUDE IS THE NAME: Ibid., October 22, 1927, p. 98; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 455.

  188 MARGOT ASQUITH’S LATEST BOOK: lbid.

  188 CONFRONTED WITH A WORK: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, November 5, 1927, p. 90; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 461. Beginning with the October 29, 1927, issue, the name of the column was changed from “Recent Books” to “Reading and Writing.”

  188 AND IT IS THAT WORD: Ibid., October 20, 1928, p. 98; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 517.

  189 THE WHISTLES MEANT: Ibid., March 31, 1928, p. 97.

  189 MOST OF THE TIME: Parker, “You Were Perfectly Fine,” The New Yorker, February 23, 1929, p. 17; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 151.

  190 SHE ADORED “HIS BOYISHNESS” : Dorothy Parker letter to Robert Benchley, November 7, 1929.

  190 LATER, TRYING TO REMEMBER: Ibid.

  190 SHE HAD A FRIEND: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, April 7, 1928, p. 106; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 508.

  190 SHE WOULD SIT : Parker, “A Telephone Call,” The Bookman, January 1928, p. 501, The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 119.

  191 SUNK I AM: Parker, “Reading and Writing.” The New Yorker, January 7, 1928, p. 77.

  191 IT WAS A SCREAMING MATCH: Author’s interview with Rebecca Bernstien.

  J91 A DIFFERENT CAUSE: Hartford Cou. rant, January 8, 1933, p. 6.

  192 THE OTHER WAS: Ibid.

  192 GILMAN RECALLS: Author’s interview with Mildred Gilman Wohlforth.

  192 THAT SPRING: Parker, “Just a Little One,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 241.

  192 BONYAND LIVERLIGHT: In its fall 1928 catalogue, Boni and Liveright announced the October publication of The Sexes, described as a collection of satirical prose pieces that had appeared in Life, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair. This book did not materialize.

  192 REVIEWS WERE: William Rose Benét, “New Moon Madness,” Saturday Review , June 9, 1928, p. 943.

  193 THE SUN’S GONE DIM: Parker, “Two-Volume Novel,” The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 238.

  193 SHE IS QUITE GIVEN: Robert Benchley letter to Mildred Gilman, May 25, 1928.

  194 ALLEN SAALBURG REMEMBERED: Author’s interview with Allen Saalburg.

  194 INSTEAD OF REPORTING: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, March 24, 1928, p. 93; The Portable Dorothy Parker, p. 504.

  194 I FOUND HER: Woollcott, “Our Mrs. Parker,” p. 186.

  195 NO RICH PEOPLE: Keats, p. 159. Dorothy repaid the loan shortly before John Gilbert’s death in 1936. He acknowledged the payment with a telegram, THANK YOU MISS FINLAND, a reference to the only country in Europe that repaid its World War I debt to the United States.

  195 HELL, WHILE I’M UP: Parker, “Reading and Writing,” The New Yorker, August 25, 1928, p. 60.

  196 F.P.A.S’S REACTION: Adams, p. 866.

  196 I DON’T SEE: Edmund Wilson, The Thirties: From Notebooks and Diaries of the Period, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1980, p. 361.

  196 SHE NEVER LEARNED: Parker, “Reading And Writing,” The New Yorker, December 31, 1927, p. 51.

  196 A MOTION PICTURE THEATER: Ibid., November 26, 1927, p. 104.

  197 SHE ALSO ENJOYED: Parker, “Out of the Silence,” The New Yorker, September 1, 1928, p. 28.

  197 SHE REMEMBERED THINKING: Parker, “To Richard—with Love,” The Screen Guild’s Magazine, May 1936, p. 8.

  197 A TELEGRAM ARRIVED: John Gilbert telegram to Dorothy Parker, October 19, 1928.

  197 IT ALWAYS TAKES: Brooklyn Eagle, November 18, 1928.

  197 THE JOB GOT OFF: New York Telegraph , January 28, 1929.

  197 NOW LET’S SEE: Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley, December 7, 1928, Mugar Library.

  197 IT WAS A LOVELY OFFICE: Dorothy Parker speech, “Hollywood, the Land I Won’t Return To,” Seven Arts, No.3, 1955, p.130.

  198 A NEWSPAPER REPORTED: New Haven Register, January 4, 1929.

  198 SHE HOPED THAT: Dorothy Parker letter to Robert Benchley, November 7, 1929.

  198 DOTTIE IS so LOW: Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley, ca. December 20, 1928, Mugar Library.

  199 EVENTUALLY, THE PAGES CAME BACK: New York Telegraph, January 28, 1929.

  199 AT HER WIT’S END: Parker speech, Seven Arts.

  200 WHEN IT WAS ACCEPTED: “How Am I to Know?” was sung by Russ Colombo with a guitar accompaniment. This scene, using two sound tracks, proved to be one of the best in the film.

  200 IN CONTRAST, GEORGIE OPP: Years later, in Hollywood, Dorothy stayed at the Chateau Marmont in a suite directly below Oppenheimer’s. She was entertaining friends when suddenly a tremendous crash came from upstairs. Pay no attention, she said, “It’s only George Oppenheimer dropping another name.”

  200 NO, SHE SAID: Brooklyn Eagle, November 18, 1928.

  Eleven: Sonnets in Suicide, or the Life of John Knox

  201 DOROTHY BLAMED THE LANGUAGE: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, September 1929.

  201 FOR SIX WEEKS: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, November 28, 1929.

  201 CONFINED TO HER HOTEL: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, September 1929.

  201 WHEN SHE BEGAN TO FEEL BETTER: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, November 28, 1929.

  202 AFTERWARD, LOOKING: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, September 1929.

  202 HE SIMPLY CAN’T SPEAK: Ibld.

  202 DOROTHY LEFT HER PASSPORT: Robert Benchley diary, Mugar Library, Boston University.

  202 IHAVE A COLLECTION: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott, ca. July 1929, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  202 IT STOOD SURROUNDED: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, September 1929.

  203 WHEN THE CHICKEN TURNED OUT TO BE: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott, ca. July 1929, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  203 NUMEROUS PAGES: Ibid.

  203 THE LUCKY MAN: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, September 1929.

  204 HE RESPONDED: Ibid.

  204 SOMETIMES YVONNE ROUSSEL: Yvonne Luff-Ro
ussel letter to author, August 3,1982.

  204 I DON’TKNOW: Dorothy Parker letter to Robert Benchley, November 7, 1929.

  205 SHE FOUND HERSELF: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, September 1929.

  205 HIS REPLY: Ibid.

  205 DOROTHY PREPARED: Ibid.

  205 HE WOULD NOT PERMIT: Dorothy Parker letter to Robert Benchley, November 7,1929.

  206 DOROTHY IMMEDIATELY CABLED BENCHLEY: Ibid.

  206 SHE HAD ALWAYS CONSIDERED: Ibid.

  207 AH, OLD BOOGLES BENCHLEY: Ibid.

  207 CHRIST, THINK OF: Ibid.

  207 LIQUOR, SHE FOUND: Ibid.

  208 ON THANDISGIVING DAY: Dorothy Parker letter to Helen Droste, November 28, 1929.

  208 IN THE EVENINGS: John Dos Passos, The Best of Times: An Informal Mem. oir, New American Library, 1966, p. 203.

  208 SEE BY PARIS HERALD: Dorothy Parker cables to Robert Benchley, December 1929.

  209 CURLED UP: New York World, February 1, 1930, p. 1.

  209 WHEN SOMEBODY ASKED: New York Telegram, February 1, 1930.

  209 WHEN SHE BEGAN TO TALK: Archibald MacLeish letter to Ernest Hemingway, February 10, 1930. In Letters of Archibald MacLeish, 1907-1982, edited by R. H. Winnick, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983, p.232,

  210 WRITE NOVELS: Dorothy Parker letter to Robert Berichley, November 7, 1929.

  210 IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SENSIBLE: Richard Lamparski interview with Dorothy Parker.

  210 SUBMITTINC TO FORCE MAJEURE: According to Thomas Guinzburg, Harold Guinzburg’s son and successor at Viking Press, Dorothy’s novel remained the longest unfulfilled contract in the company’s history.

  211 GOODBYE DARLING: George Oppenheimer cable to Dorothy Parker, May 24, 1930.

  212 THE LAST TWO DAYS: Robert Benchley diary, Mugar Library.

  212 GERALD SHOPPED FOR RECORDS: Unidentified newspaper clipping.

  213 ALL THE REVIEWS: Dorothy Parker cable to George Oppenheimer, July 2, 1930.

  213 OPPENHEIMER REPLIED: George Oppenheimer letter to Dorothy Parker, July 3, 1930.

  213 ONE NIGHT AT HARRY’S: Bruccoli et al., p. 430.

  214 IT PAINED STEWART: Stewart, p. 188.

  214 LITTLE DROPS OF GRAIN ALCOHOL: Hemingway, p. 86.

  214 AM NEARLY GONE: Dorothy Parker cable to George Oppenheimer, October 13, 1930.