Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? (75 page)

107 WHAT’S THE MATTER: Jane Grant,
Ross, the New Yorker and Me
, Reynal and Co., 1968, pp. 120—1.

108 SHE WAS, NEYSA DECLARED: Neysa McMein, “The Woman Who Is a Design,”
Arts and Decoration
, October 1923, p. 14.

109 SOMETIMES SHE FELT: Parker, “Epitaph,”
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 79.

109 LIKE YOUR PIE: Parker, “Too Bad,”
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 179.

110 WHO WAS THERE: Parker, “The Dark Girl’s Rhyme,”
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 78.

III A FEW MILLION: Parker,
Ainslee
’
s.
June 1923.

111 I DON’T SAY: Parker, “What a Man’s Hat Means to Me,” advertising brochure for John B. Stetson Co., Philadelphia, 1923. Robert Benchley Collection, Mugar Library, Boston University.

111 “EVERYONE,” MRS. FORD: Mercedes de Acosta,
Here Lies the Heart,
Reynal & Co., 1960, p. 140.

112 AMID CRIES OF GENERAL HORROR: Wilson,
The Twenties
, p. 115.

112 ONCE, THE STORY GOES: Joan Givner,
Katherine Anne Porter: A Life
, Simon and Schuster, 1982, p. 176.

113 THE WORLD AND ITS MISTRESS: F. Scott Fitzgerald,
The Great Gatsby
, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925, p. 61.

113 HE SEEMED IRKED: Jonathon Yardley,
Ring: A Biography of Ring Lardner
, Random House, 1977, p. 261.

114 MAGGIE SWOPE: E. J. Kahn, Jr.,
The World of Swope
, Simon and Schuster, 1965, p. 292.

114 SCOTT FITZRERALD: Matthew J. Bruccoli, Margaret M. Duggan, and Susan Walker, eds.
Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Random House, 1980, p. 135.

114 A SOCIAL SEWER : Andre Le Vot,
F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography
, Doubleday & Co., p. 122.

115 ADDIE KAHN: Mary Jane Matz,
The Many Lives of Otto Kahn,
Macmillan, 1963, p. 235.

116 I KNEW IT WOULD BE TERRIBLE: Parker,
Life,
July 21, 1927, p. 7.

116 NO MATTER WHERE I GO: Ibid.

116 JESUS CHRIST : Ring Larder, Jr.,
The Lardners: My Family Remembered,
Harper & Row, 1976, p. 171.

117 I WAS CHEATED: Parker, “My Home Town,”
McCall’s
, January 1928, p. 4.

117 FIRPO’S HOUSE: Neysa McMein as told to Dorothy Parker, “When I Painted Luis Firpo,”
New York World
, September 9, 1923, p. 10.

117 IT WAS “A HORRIBLE DUMP”: Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley, August 27, 1923, Robert Benchley Collection, Mugar Library, Boston University.

118 COMPELLED TO OFFER: Woollcott,, “Our Mrs. Parker,” p. 191.

Seven: Laughter and Hope and a Sock in the Eye

119 THINK HOW FRIGHTENED: Cooper, p. 61.

119 DECENT PEOPLE: Parker, “Such A Pretty Little Picture,”
Smart Set
, December 1922, p. 77.

120 GOOD LORD: Ibid.

120 DOROTHY THOUGHT: Wilson,
The Twenties
, p. 47.

121 SHE HAD MAJESTY: Ibid.

121 HE DESCRIBED HER: Ibid., p. 345.

121 LADY, LADY: Parker, “Social Note,”
The Portable Dorothy Parker,
p. 104.

122 THREE BE THE THINGS : Parker, “Inventory,”
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 96.

122 AFTER A PERFORMANCE: Stewart, p. 126.

123 THE DISTANCE: Case, p. 351.

123 I WAS SITTING: Author’s interview with Ruth Goodman Goetz.

124 HER CHARACTERS: Elmer Rice,
Minority Report: An Autobiography
, Simon and Schuster, 1963, p. 203.

124 SHE FELT “SO PROUD” : Dorothy Parker interview, Columbia University Oral History Research Office, June 1959.

125 RICE FOUND HER: Rice, p. 204.

125 WITHOUT QUESTION: Author’s interview with a source who does not wish to be named.

126 THIS, NO SONG: Parker, “Ballade at Thirty-five,”
Life
, June 26, 1924;
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 105.

126 IT WAS A SIMPLE TALE: Rice, p. 203.

127 DON’T YOU WORRY: Elmer L. Rice and Dorothy Parker,
Close Harmony
, (Copyright 1924 under title
Soft Music
.) Samuel French, 1929.

128 GERTRUDE LATER ADMITTED: Rosmond, p. 9.

128 BENCHLEY HIMSELF LATER: James Thurber,
The Years with Ross
, Signet Books, 1962, p. 173.

129 WHICH SHOWS now MUCH: Benchley, p. xv.

129 LIFE COMES A-HURRYINC: Parker, “For R.C.B.,”
The New Yorker
, January 7, 1928, p. 21.

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: Adams, 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.