John North Editor & Publisher

“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”
— Dorothy Parker
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Imagine sitting in on the lively discussions and witticisms of Dorothy Parker and her fellow Jazz Age artists and thinkers of the Algonquin Round Table.

Having experienced a longing for such eclectic fellowship at times in my adult life, I literally raced to attend a one-woman play titled “The World and Wit of Dorothy Parker” this past Sunday afternoon at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center.

Rose Lynn Katz, who portrayed Parker (1893-1967) in her later years, entertained an audience of about 150 people in two 30-minute performances, punctuated by an intermission. Katz received a standing ovation from  many in the crowd.

Katz’s performance showed a wide knowledge of, and sensitivity to, Parker and her world. The first half of her performance struck me as intensely depressing, as she depicted a whiny, suicidal woman at the end of her years, reviewing the decline and fall of a promising writer and thinker decimated by alcoholism.

Because of her age, Katz was limited to depicting Parker in her twilight, which she did more than capably. However, when most people think of Parker, she is remembered as younger — at the top of her game. For me, that Parker — sexy, sassy and still in full possession of her wit — would be especially intriguing to see depicted in the flesh.

Still, Katz, who I thought came on stronger in the second half of her show, showed good judgment in her choice of classic Parker witticisms, which she sprinkled throughout the show.

Some famous Parker quotes include:

• “Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.”

• “I’m never going to be famous. I don’t do anything, not one single thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don’t even do that any more.”

• “I don’t care what is written about me so long as it isn’t true.”

• “Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.”

So who was Dorothy Parker? (The question is apt because, even though the play was presented at a university, few people under age 50 appeared to be in attendance at Katz’s performance.)

Parker was a writer and critic for magazines that included Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. She also wrote a number of screenplays, poetry and short fiction.

Perhaps most importantly, Parker was among the founders of the Algonquin Round Table. The celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits gathered for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929.

“The Vicious Circle,” as the members called themselves, engaged in wisecracks, wordplay and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were spread across the country.

Parker was known for her pointed verbal wit and satire, often focused on the life of middle-class young women, newly “liberated” from Victorian restrictions.

To her credit, Parker rose from a difficult and conflicted childhood to international fame. However, she was never able to shake the dark phantom inside her.

Compounding her problems with drinking and depression were her left-leaning political activities, which led to her getting blacklisted from Hollywood. She survived several suicide attempts and three marriages — two to the same man.

Dorothy Parker was an icon — a woman ahead of her time in her caustic wit and free-thinking ways.

And, as Katz put it in her show, “King Arthur had his roundtable — and we had ours ... I was their Guinevere.”
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John North, publisher and editor of the Daily Planet, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .