1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 3 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, and this is 4 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: stuff you should know. Yeah, all right, what are you 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: laughing at? Chuck? You made your first joke right out 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: of the gate. What was it? You know? You just 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: did it. I'm not gonna do it. Oh the little 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: jazz hands, Yeah, that's what I pictured. That was not 9 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: a joke. I was dead serious, all right, speaking of jazz, Chuck, 10 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:44,279 Speaker 1: how about that jazz age? Oh, look at you don't 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: anti paca. So you requested this when Livia helped us 12 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: out with it? What? What? What? Why? What? I have 13 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: no idea why. Dorothy Parker popped into my brain. There 14 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: wasn't anything. I had seen the movie a long time 15 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: ago with the arth Dorothy Parker story. Yeah, Dorothy Parker 16 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: in the Vicious Circle was the name of the movie. 17 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: Great Alan Rudolph film starring Jennifer Jason Lee, j J. 18 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: L as Uh, Dorothy Parker. Great cast rounded it out, 19 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: Cambell Scott, Matthew Broderick, others. Campbell Scott was this. It 20 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: was not quite that old, but it was. I think 21 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: it was late nineties or early odds, although he was 22 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: just in something I saw recently. Yeah, he's in like 23 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: a Marvel movie or something. I think. Okay, is he 24 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: a good guy or a bad guy? I don't think 25 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: he's a bad guy. Um, I like Campbell Scott though 26 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: you know that's Georgeie Scott's son, right, I did not 27 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: know that for real. Yeah, he's one of those I 28 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: think that somehow that's not the most common knowledge despite 29 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: having the name in profession. If I didn't know, it's 30 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: not common knowledge. He doesn't really look like him, so 31 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: not at all. Uh. Yeah, I have no idea why 32 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: Dorothy Parker popped into my head. I really don't. So 33 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: it's kind of it's kind of understandable because I'm trying 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: to figure out how to describe her. Dorothy Parker is 35 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: one of those very rare people who was so witty 36 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: that that is what she's remembered for. She worked prolifically 37 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: through the through Prohibition, basically through the twenties to the 38 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: early thirties, um, and apparently like basically in step with it, 39 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: and then that was it. Like her, her her writing 40 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: really fell off after that. She did some screenwriting but 41 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: her body of work is not super extensive. If you 42 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,359 Speaker 1: asked her, it wasn't that great. But she was so 43 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: witty and so she's sharp and funny. Um that that 44 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: she's still she just became a literary legend because of it. Yeah, 45 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: I think this quote from the New York Times kind 46 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: of says it all. Uh. Most writers are known for 47 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,959 Speaker 1: the works they lead on. Dorothy Parker is best known 48 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: for having lunch and this was I resist. I'm not 49 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: going to say that. I'm not going to compare her 50 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: to people these days that are famous without really having 51 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: done much, because that's a different category. She was a writer, 52 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,639 Speaker 1: and she was a very talented writer. She just wasn't 53 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: extraordinarily prolific. Um. I don't think she loved to write 54 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:28,839 Speaker 1: from what I've gathered, Like I can't crawl into her head, 55 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: but all the stuff I've read, it didn't seem like 56 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: it was like her favorite thing in the world. Like 57 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: she you know, she was a poet, but she wouldn't 58 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: even call them poems. She called them versus. She didn't 59 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: know it. Yeah, she was always she's always kind of 60 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: undercutting her own work, and I think in a self 61 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: deprecating way, which was maybe just sort of part of 62 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: the stick of being Dorothy Parker. Well, I said, I 63 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: read a Esquire article from written by Wyatt Cooper, who's 64 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: Anderson Cooper's dad. Oh okay, called, um, I think whatever 65 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: you know about Dorothy Parker is wrong. Something along those 66 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: lines anyways on the internet. Really good. Yeah, there's like 67 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: a bunch of ellipses in there, uh in the title 68 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: um but he he kind of pegged it as she 69 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: had that same kind of um uh fear of inadequacy 70 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: that any writer has, but hers just got worse and 71 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: worse to the point where it paralyzed her and she 72 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: just couldn't write any longer. Yeah. She also was quoted 73 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: as saying she, um, she would write five words and 74 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,039 Speaker 1: then change seven, which in and of itself is a 75 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: great line, which is what she's known for, Yeah, known 76 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: for hum Dinger's zingers one liners. Um. Yeah. And that 77 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: whole quote about having lunch is a reference to her 78 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: membership in the Algonquin Roundtable, which was basically basically a 79 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: lunch bunch of these great literary minds all coming together 80 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: in the Algonquin Hotel that have lunch, and it became 81 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: really famous and really beloved, and she's probably the most 82 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: famous of that whole group. Right, And that is the 83 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: vicious circle of the movie title. It was also called 84 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: the Vicious Circle, Yeah, the Algonquin roundtable was right. Yeah. 85 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: And it was named because they were all having lunch 86 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: one day and I'm sure someone nearby said, look at them, 87 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: that is a vicious circle. That was great. Hopefully we'll 88 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: be able to get across kind of what we're trying 89 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 1: to stay here, because this is going to be one 90 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: of the most challenging episodes ever because we have to 91 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: get across why she was so why she's worth doing 92 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: an episode on. You know, It's it's more like other 93 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: people could be like, oh, well they figured out the 94 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: double helix of DNA, or you know, they they invented 95 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 1: the race car something like that. She was as kind 96 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: of a short lived writer who had a really great 97 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: way in like, we have to flesh it out more 98 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: than that. All Right, you seem doubtful. You're not saying, 99 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: what does she ever do that was so great? Right? No, 100 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: I'm I'm questioning our ability to get across why she 101 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: was so great. That's my that's that's my trepidation. Okay, Well, 102 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: I mean, she would like if she was alive today, 103 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: she would be the person that was most well known 104 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: for like Twitter. Oh yeah, she would be good at that. 105 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: She'd be really good at that. All right, So let's 106 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: jump back in her life. Um her. She was born 107 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: in down the Shore in New Jersey too. She was 108 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: born Dorothy Rothschild. Uh. This makes me immediately sidetrack quickly. 109 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,719 Speaker 1: Her nickname was dot or Dottie. Uh. And I cannot 110 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: hear the name Dotty without thinking of one of my 111 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 1: favorite comedy bits of all time, stand up bits, which 112 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: is Gary Goldman's bit on abbreviating the states. Have you 113 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: ever seen that? No, I don't know who carry Goldman 114 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: is Goldman g L M A N. He he's really tall, 115 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: he's like six six. He's a comedian. But just everyone should, 116 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: but you, especially because you like stand up, just go 117 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: go after this and and find Gary Goldman's state abbreviations 118 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,119 Speaker 1: bit because it was fan fantastic. And there's a character 119 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: in the bit named Dotties. I always think of that. 120 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: But she was born in to a father who was Jewish. 121 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: He was in the garment district. He worked in the 122 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: garment district. Henry rothschild and her mother was Scottish American. 123 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: Her name was Eliza, And like I said, she was 124 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: born down the shore of New Jersey, but mainly I 125 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: grew up on the upper West side of Manhattan, right. Um. 126 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: And she had a lot of tragedy surrounding her. Yeah, 127 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: I saw, I saw her missing thropy was chalked up 128 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: to this early just about of tragedy. Yeah, okay, what 129 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: would you say, missanthropy? No, alright, so, um, she she 130 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: is kind of adopted this persona which is you would 131 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: call it kind of emo today a little bit, but 132 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: like a really funny, sharp emo person maybe a little bit, 133 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 1: especially when she was young. She described herself as um, 134 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: a plain, disagreeable child with stringy hair and agenda write poetry. Um. 135 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: And that tragedy began when she was four years old 136 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: when her mom died. Apparently that was just that just 137 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: shaped her immediately, which something like that will. She also 138 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: said that her father was terrible to her, possibly physically abusive, 139 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: although some of the biographers of her aren't sure if 140 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: that's true, and Olivia points out that that's an uh 141 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: long running ongoing thing about whether stuff she said about 142 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: herself was true or not, and then the converse of that, 143 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: she frequently denied saying some of the quips that were 144 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 1: attributed to her. Yeah, it's pretty interesting, like uh. She 145 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: seemed like the kind of person that would she loved 146 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: to spin a yarn and if the facts were fudged 147 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:03,959 Speaker 1: because it made for a better story, then that's fine. 148 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: But it kind of makes it difficult to parse out 149 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: the person from the persona and that was certainly the case. 150 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: Like you said, some people aren't so sure about the dad. Uh. 151 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: She apparently also had a pretty evil stepmother situation. She 152 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: referred to her stepmother as the housekeeper, which I think 153 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: it's pretty funny. I also saw she would call her 154 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 1: hey you, hey you. Uh. Stepmom died in nineteen o three, 155 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,319 Speaker 1: so Dorothy was still just nine years old, and also 156 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: had an uncle um that was apparently pretty close to 157 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,960 Speaker 1: the family that died on the Titanic. Her dad died 158 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: shortly thereafter, and if I do the math right, I 159 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: think she was like nineteen or twenty when she was 160 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: basically kind of she seems like left alone in the 161 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: world for the most part, although she did have a sister, 162 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: but I didn't I didn't see much about how close 163 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: they were. I didn't even see that she had a sister. Yeah, 164 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: that was a sister in there somewhere. So when her 165 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: dad died, her dad was very prosperous um as a 166 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 1: garment in the garment industry. So it was her uncle. Apparently, Um, 167 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,120 Speaker 1: he did not invest wisely and so when he died, 168 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: he didn't leave much for her. So that was the 169 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: first time that she had to go get a job. 170 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: And her first job was um playing piano in a 171 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: dance school, which is kind of a cool first job, 172 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,439 Speaker 1: but apparently she hated it because it was like actual work. Yeah. 173 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 1: That's the one thing that maybe a through line here 174 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: is that I don't think she loved to work super hard. 175 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: She did not. She said she doesn't like rich people, 176 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,200 Speaker 1: but she she thought she'd be a darling at it 177 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 1: right exactly, Um, things changed for her. Nineteen fourteen, she 178 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: sold her first poem to Vanity Fair magazine. It was 179 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 1: called any Porch, and this sort of began her career 180 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: as kind of a high society satirist. UH paid twelve 181 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 1: bucks for that poem, which is about three hundred bucks today, 182 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: which was a lot of money for a poem even today. 183 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: I mean good luck at three for a poem. Uh. 184 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: And then a gentleman came into her life name a 185 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: very formative figure named Frank Crown and Shield, and he said, Hey, 186 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: I like to cut of your jib, pretty talented writer. 187 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a full time staff job here 188 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,320 Speaker 1: at Vogue Magazine, and I'm gonna pay ten bucks a week, 189 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: which is not bad pay at the time, even though 190 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: apparently Parker said she spent most of that on her housing, 191 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 1: like eight of ten right to her room and board. Yeah. 192 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: So Crown and Shield he was the editor of Vanity Fair, 193 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: but Vogue was like a sister magazine to Vanity Fair, 194 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: I believe. Yeah, they were all Conde Nast publications, so 195 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: he was or she was Crowning Shields protege from what 196 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,679 Speaker 1: I understand. And she went to work for a woman 197 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: named Edna W. Woodman or woman. Uh yeah, woman Chase. 198 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,559 Speaker 1: She was a female editor in chief, which was very 199 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: rare at the time. Um and uh, Dorothy Parker got 200 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: her first job writing captions, and she would get bored 201 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,680 Speaker 1: easily because captions are supposed to be pretty normal and 202 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: boring is prosaic the correct word. Uh, I don't know Okay, 203 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: let's just go with prosaic because it seems like it's 204 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: the right word. But um, so she very quickly started 205 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 1: to trust try to slip in Remember when we used 206 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: to write for house stuff work, so we try to 207 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: slip in hilarious things into into um, like cut lines, 208 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: the captions under photos. Dude. I thought of us a 209 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: lot during this because that's all. We did that all 210 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,440 Speaker 1: the time, to try and make things a little more interesting. 211 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: And I think both of us had editors that were 212 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:41,559 Speaker 1: constantly saying, like, what are you doing? You can't do that? 213 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: So so she would she was doing basically the same thing. 214 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 1: So she became kind of a a thorn and Edna 215 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: Chase's side. Um, but not enough that she was fired 216 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: at this point. She actually was um. Uh. She was 217 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: promoted basically after P. G. Woodhouse Um, the humorists stopped 218 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: being the drama critic for Vanity Fair. They turned to 219 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: Dorothy Parker to become that to fill that role to 220 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: review plays. And she was only twenty four at the time. Uh. 221 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: And by that time she'd been married a year to 222 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: a guy named ed Edwin Pond Parker, the second stockbroker. Yeah, 223 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: he was. He enlisted in the army, as a lot 224 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,040 Speaker 1: of guys did back then. What fault in World War One? Um? 225 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:23,840 Speaker 1: And like you said, when she was twenty four, she 226 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: was this play uh or theater reviewer and was was 227 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: known sort of for doing the same thing in the 228 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: reviews of making sort of biting, cutting remarks about high society. 229 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: Uh one kind of funny one she was writing about 230 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: a play and she said, not even the presence in 231 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: the first night audience of Mr William Randolph Hurst could 232 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,560 Speaker 1: spoil my evening. So a lot of great punch lines. 233 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: She she was pretty good at, like setting someone up 234 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,200 Speaker 1: to think they may be getting a compliment and then 235 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: cutting their legs up from under them. That was actually 236 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: her whole thing. Like she was supposedly fairly soft spoken, 237 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: kind of quiet, you might even callers shy at first, 238 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:06,600 Speaker 1: but also really complimentary, like really kind, and then she 239 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: would kind of build you up until you weren't even 240 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 1: paying attention to anymore because you were just so drunk 241 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 1: on the praise she was giving you, and then bam, 242 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,679 Speaker 1: she cut your legs out. You probably didn't even notice, 243 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: but everyone else in the conversation and listening in is 244 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: having a good laugh. That was her her whole jam. 245 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: And it's really important to say her purpose wasn't to 246 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: be mean. There was a real purpose to her um 247 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: her like biting criticism, and it was usually um a 248 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: bullying self gratification, acceptance of praise, um worshiped from the 249 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 1: lower classes. Like that's why she didn't like high society types. 250 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: She also didn't like feign graciousness, like high society types 251 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: who were so nice that they they gave their housekeeper 252 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: an extra hour, u to go home early one one 253 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: week and now they feel really great about the selves. 254 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 1: Those kind of things, like just all the stuff that 255 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: just kind of makes somebody gross that she was surrounded 256 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,960 Speaker 1: by in her life. That is what really kind of 257 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: drove her the craziest. And that is what she would attack. 258 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: And it didn't matter who you were, didn't matter what 259 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: your station in life. Although I don't believe she punched 260 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: down very often. Um, you were, you were subject to 261 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: that criticism if you kind of allowed yourself to behave 262 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: that way. Yeah, she probably would have been a stand 263 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: up comedian today now that I think about it, Like 264 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: there's a little bit of mis maasl in this, you know, 265 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: But that wasn't really a job that women had back then. 266 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: It wasn't a job period, I don't think at the time. No. 267 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: And there was one other criticism I want to point 268 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: out that she wrote in I don't remember where she 269 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: wrote it, but she was criticizing I think an actress 270 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: in a play and she said that um, as a 271 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: source of entertainment, she ranks somewhere between a sprig of 272 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: parsley and a single ice skate. That's just good stuff, 273 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: that's not even it's is smart, you know, like who 274 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 1: would think of a single ice skate is conveying like 275 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: just how not fun something is? Like, it's just brilliant stuff. 276 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: And she was full of that. Yeah, she pushed too 277 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: far though, as people like that often do, lost her 278 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: job in nineteen twenty. I think it was sort of 279 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: a you insulted the wrong person kind of thing. There 280 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: was a column where she was reviewing a play. She 281 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:30,120 Speaker 1: accused the playwright basically of plagiarizing himself. And then what 282 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: the real deal was though, the real sort of last 283 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: straw was that was an actor, an actress named Billy 284 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,880 Speaker 1: Burke in there, who was criticized and sort of likened 285 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: to this risque vaudeville star, which was not like a 286 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: good you know, comparison to make at the time. But 287 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: that actress was the wife of Florence Zigfield, who put 288 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: a lot of money into advertisements with Vanity Fair, and 289 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: a good friend of Nast of Conde Nast, and that 290 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: was kind of it. So apparently she got the new 291 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 1: news at the Plaza hotel, and a legend has it 292 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,239 Speaker 1: she ordered the most expensive dessert on the menu, then 293 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: left and took it with her. Right. So, oh, I 294 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: don't even think she took it with her. I think 295 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: she left before it came, just long enough to to 296 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: waste it. Oh I saw that she took it with her. 297 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: Oh did she awesome? Um? So uh, let's even even better. Um. 298 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,479 Speaker 1: There's one other thing I want to point out about 299 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: her criticism, or two other things, chuck. First of all, 300 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: after she was fired from Vanity Fair, she that was 301 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,199 Speaker 1: not the end of her critic critic career, like she 302 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: went onto to be a book reviewer for The New Yorker. Um, 303 00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: but her her criticism, her columns, she had no training whatsoever. 304 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:46,240 Speaker 1: She didn't she didn't like take any kind of classes 305 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: or education on criticism like technique in theory and all 306 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,720 Speaker 1: that stuff. All of her reviews were just totally subjective. 307 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 1: But she was so funny and so entertaining and so 308 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,680 Speaker 1: insightful that she became like an instant sensation. And then 309 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: the other thing I want to say about it, from 310 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 1: what I can tell, is that her criticism was not 311 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,120 Speaker 1: always negative. That if you actually produced like a really 312 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,360 Speaker 1: good or a really good book or something like that, 313 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: she could use that same wit too for praise as well. 314 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 1: And I read that there was there's some book that 315 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: she reviewed. Um, she was saying, to say of it 316 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,120 Speaker 1: here as a magnificent novel is rather like gazing into 317 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: the Grand Canyon and saying, well, well, well, quite a slice. Yeah. 318 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:30,440 Speaker 1: I mean she was a legitimate uh critique or she 319 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: put she put forth legitimate critique, right, And if it 320 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: was praise, it was praise. If it was negative, which 321 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: I think it more often was, it was negative. She 322 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,000 Speaker 1: didn't like crud. Well, I don't even think it more 323 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,159 Speaker 1: often was negative even. I think that's the stuff that 324 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,199 Speaker 1: gets pulled because she's Dorothy Parker. I see that's a 325 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:48,919 Speaker 1: really good point, Chuck. I think you might be right. 326 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: I don't think they were like, hey, this is supposed 327 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: to be a real turd. Let's put Parker on it, 328 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: because like she'll just she'll prop a new and it'll 329 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:01,360 Speaker 1: be great. I hate that word so much. Yes, it's terrible. 330 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:04,200 Speaker 1: It's terrible. It's even worse because it's spelled with to you. 331 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:09,440 Speaker 1: It looks bad on paper print and it even evokes 332 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:13,960 Speaker 1: the color brown somehow, somehow. Uh yeah, I think we 333 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: should take a break. We should revisit that word. M hm, no, okay, 334 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 1: all right, we'll be right back. Learn it's stuff with Joshua, alright, 335 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 1: Mr turd. So when when she got fired from Vanity Fair, 336 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: there were two employees, Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood, 337 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,120 Speaker 1: who were such friends with her that they actually quit 338 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 1: and protest because apparently she wasn't wrong with her with 339 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: her um her criticism that got her fired and she 340 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,199 Speaker 1: was just fired because she insulted a very high ranking 341 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: friend of the publisher. So um, they actually quit and protesting. 342 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: I mean that is to inspire a couple of people 343 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: to quit because you were fired, is really saying something 344 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: like it's almost like a trope, you know, but if 345 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: you stop and think about it in reality, somebody being 346 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,199 Speaker 1: like so long paycheck, so long, steady works. I'm I like, 347 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,360 Speaker 1: this person should not have been fired, and I'm I'm 348 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: taking my talents away from you because you don't deserve 349 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: them because you fired this person. That's a really big deal. 350 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: If someone fired you, I would quit. Thank you, same 351 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: to you. Okay, you hear that, everybody you hear that bosses? Yeah, 352 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: hopefully that we don't. We don't get tested, but yeah, 353 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: we have been fired by this point. If we were 354 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: going to at all, you would think so. But hey, 355 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: there's always the future. Uh So, now we get to 356 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,119 Speaker 1: the point where we can talk about the vicious circle again, 357 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,360 Speaker 1: which was the round table. Generally lunches, although they lunched 358 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: for many hours at the Algonquin Hotel, which is I 359 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: believe it's still there in New York, right, and still 360 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: the Algonquin. Yeah, I want to stay there sometime. I 361 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: gotta check out. But it's it's now the Algonquin by Hyatt. 362 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: That's funny and probably true. Uh So, this was a 363 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 1: period of time over about a decade or so that 364 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: first started in June of nineteen nineteen, when they all 365 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: got together for lunch to welcome home their friend Alexander 366 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:51,640 Speaker 1: Woolcott from his World War One correspondence job. They roasted him, 367 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:55,479 Speaker 1: they got drunk. Uh, they had a good time, and 368 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: they said, hey, let's come back tomorrow and we don't 369 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: have to have a special occasion to get together and 370 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,439 Speaker 1: drink scotch at lunch. And it kind of became like 371 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: sort of a a Studio fifty four uh booth scene 372 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: where you know, where you see Mick Jagger with uh 373 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: Andy Warhol and like Mickey Dolan's from the Monkeys and 374 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: like a painter, you know. It was people from all 375 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: different walks of life, like Harpo Marx might be there. 376 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,199 Speaker 1: There might be a fiction writer like Edna Ferber, or 377 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: a sportswriter like Heywood Brown, or columnists or screenwriters or playwrights, 378 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:36,639 Speaker 1: and it was just like it kind of became the cool, 379 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:40,880 Speaker 1: like a certain kind of cool crowd was hanging out 380 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,920 Speaker 1: at this round table. Yeah. Especially it was especially considered 381 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: cool among the intelligentsia, right, smart and literary types generally, 382 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: So it became like a worshipful gathering um. And people 383 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: knew about it because a lot of these people were 384 00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:59,200 Speaker 1: columnists and like you know, the New York Times and 385 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,440 Speaker 1: later on the New York Parker and like these big publications, 386 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: and they would write about like equip that that Dorothy 387 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: Parker said apparently like um, she would say something at 388 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: lunch one day and to be in the New York 389 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 1: Times the next day. I think why Cooper was the 390 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 1: one that said she was probably the most quoted woman 391 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: of the nineteen twenties. Um because she was so funny, 392 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: but also because she was in a position to be 393 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: so exposed. Um. But that the Algonquin roundtable, the fact 394 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,400 Speaker 1: that it became the stuff of legend, the more legendary came, 395 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: the I think the more um kind of disgruntled by 396 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,159 Speaker 1: the whole idea Dorothy Parker became. I think if Dorothy 397 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: Parker heard that, she would say, name one other woman 398 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: who was even quoted in the nineteen twenties, dear oh man, 399 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 1: and I go uh her uh uh. They became so 400 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: sort of popular and famous just for these lunches in 401 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:55,360 Speaker 1: this round table that the manager of the hotel, Mr 402 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: Frank Case started seating them in a very sort of 403 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,399 Speaker 1: public area in the rose room, so people could just 404 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,640 Speaker 1: kind of come by and watch them have lunch and 405 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: talk smack to each other. Yes, so, um, they like 406 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: you said, like, these lunches would also go by the way, 407 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, Greta Garbo, how about that? Okay, Um, 408 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: these lunches would turn into dinner and in very short 409 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: order after Um there the initial meeting in June Prohibition 410 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: started so that scotch they were sipping turned into bootleg 411 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: scotch that they had to kind of surreptitiously drink. But 412 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: they were all super drunk from lunch onward, and they 413 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:37,399 Speaker 1: would go to people's houses and have cocktails. Afterward, they 414 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 1: would vacation together. They became like really good friends. It 415 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:44,080 Speaker 1: sounds fantastic. It does sound fun, for sure, Um. But 416 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: even more um important I would say, is that a 417 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: lot of them came to collaborate. It was like a 418 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: really productive group. And so not only did some like 419 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: get together and write like screenplays together or plays, they 420 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: would actually use one another characters in their books or 421 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 1: their plays. Like Um, Alexander Walcott. He was like the 422 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: stock acerbic, um course, um character who was kind of 423 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: the center of the man who came to dinner. It 424 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: was based on him. There are plenty of characters in 425 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,600 Speaker 1: different plays that you never heard of that were based 426 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,639 Speaker 1: on Dorothy Parker, Um, they just used each other as 427 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:26,160 Speaker 1: inspiration in addition to collaborating with one another directly. And 428 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 1: as you would think, Dorothy Parker also sort of undercut 429 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: the importance of the whole algonquin vicious circle. She was 430 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 1: quoted as saying that round table thing was greatly overrated, 431 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,440 Speaker 1: full of businessmen and publicity people and hangers on and 432 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: a lot of second rate writers, saying did you hear 433 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: what I said the other day? So I get the 434 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,679 Speaker 1: impression that it's a little bit of both. It may 435 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,919 Speaker 1: have been a little over played, but I think she 436 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,919 Speaker 1: also sort of vastly underplayed what was going on in 437 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: that sort of self deprecating way. Again, well, I I 438 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: also saw that she said it was just a bunch 439 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 1: of loudmouth showing off save being their gags for days, 440 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,159 Speaker 1: waiting for a chance to spring them. So um, I that, 441 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: and I think it kind of ties into that idea 442 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: of like, you know, just being grossed out by people 443 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: heaping praise onto other people and then those people accepting 444 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,199 Speaker 1: all that praise and basking in it. And then the 445 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 1: more that that happened, the more she was like forget this. 446 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: So um, yeah, I'm sure it's like you said, it 447 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: was both, but I feel like that was the reason 448 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,360 Speaker 1: she kind of distanced herself from it through criticism. Yeah, 449 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,520 Speaker 1: I get the impression, and this is I may just 450 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: be reading too much into this that she she didn't 451 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,000 Speaker 1: love the Spotlight, uh, and she was sort of in 452 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: it because she was just so smart and funny. I 453 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: think she definitely hated phonies, yes, and that sort of 454 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: you know, ties into the upper crust thing. Um. She 455 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: probably would have loved Catcher in the Rye. When was 456 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:55,080 Speaker 1: that written the fifties. She's I'm sure she was alive 457 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: while it was published. She died in nineteen sixty eight. 458 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: Spoiler alert, yeah, sixty seven. She also it wasn't just 459 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: the round table. I think Livia took great pains to 460 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: sort of talk about other people in nonliterary people that 461 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,880 Speaker 1: she hung out with, um, as well as other writers 462 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:15,880 Speaker 1: that just didn't you know, like she was a friend 463 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: of Ernest Hemingway. But I don't think Ernest Hemingway was 464 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:20,439 Speaker 1: one to like sit around a round table and like 465 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,240 Speaker 1: crack jokes and stuff like that. He had like elephants 466 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: to shoot, So Hemingway was a buddy. Um. I think 467 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: he supposedly, uh at Scott Fitzgerald ended up basing a 468 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,199 Speaker 1: lot of the Great Gatsby parties after what happened in 469 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,359 Speaker 1: the social circle at the Algonquin. So you know, I 470 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: think she had an influence on other writers as well, 471 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: you know, for sure, um yeah. And she was very 472 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: quoted and also misquoted. Uh, And I think she inspired 473 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,879 Speaker 1: a lot of people, for sure. Let's talk should we 474 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,959 Speaker 1: talk about some of the great quotes? Sure? Al right, 475 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: Well one of them was someone said a aparently like 476 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 1: used the word horticulture in a sentence, and she said, 477 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: you can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think. 478 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: And I think that's off the dome. Like she was 479 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: known for just being that quick, you know, right, Yeah, 480 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 1: that's a big part of it. And that's why she 481 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: was saying, like people would be saving their gags for days, 482 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: just waiting for a chance to spring him. She did 483 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:20,919 Speaker 1: not do that. It just came into her head, like 484 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,439 Speaker 1: she was just that sharp. Um my favorite is this? 485 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,200 Speaker 1: You're ready? So Calvin Coolidge, the president, apparently he was 486 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: very famously quiet and um she uh, she was told 487 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,680 Speaker 1: about the death of Calvin Coolidge, and she whispered, how 488 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: do they know. Yeah, it actually took me a second 489 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: to figure that one out, and then once I got it, 490 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 1: it was that's a really good one. Yeah, I like 491 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,400 Speaker 1: that one too. But she was also, like you said, 492 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: misquoted or not only misquoted, but I think other quotes 493 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: were attributed to her that she said that she never said. Um, 494 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: a very famous one, uh from iron Rand's Atlas Shrugged. 495 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: Supposedly she said it is not a novel to be 496 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force, 497 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: which is a great quote. But she said that she 498 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,719 Speaker 1: never said that. Nor did she say the first thing 499 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 1: I do in the morning is brush my teeth and 500 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: sharpened my tongue. Yeah, that's a little too, like she's 501 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 1: joining in the celebration of yeah. And she wouldn't do that. 502 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: I could. I could have spotted that a mile away 503 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: and been like nay, yeah. And and it seems like 504 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: she got very annoyed at being having things attributed to her, 505 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: because that's part of the phoniness. Yeah, which is why 506 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 1: I think she would just deny saying stuff a lot 507 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 1: of times too, even if she did, Yes, so, um, 508 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: what the other And also, like you said, too, I 509 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: think she was kind of creating this um fiction that 510 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 1: was more entertaining than reality in some cases, like a 511 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: character like I still think there's probably a lot of 512 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: people who don't really understand who or maybe every no 513 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 1: one knows who the real Dorothy Parker was. Even Dorothy 514 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: Parker might not have known, but she probably did, although 515 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: I'll tell you who really did know? Again? Is um 516 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: Whyatt Cooper Anderson Cooper of sixty Minutes in CNN and 517 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 1: New Year's Fame. Um His dad wrote that Esquire article 518 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: I mentioned, I'm finally prepared to share the title. It's 519 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: whatever you think Dorothy Cooper was, like she wasn't, and 520 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,960 Speaker 1: it is what did I say? Cooper? Oh my god, 521 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: I got it wrong? Okay, and I even have it 522 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,040 Speaker 1: written down as Cooper. That's why I got it wrong. 523 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: So that title I just said, but replaced Cooper with Parker. 524 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: And it's one of the most insightful articles I've ever 525 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: read about anybody. So even if Dorothy Parker didn't understand herself, 526 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: why A Cooper understood her? Like It's a really good, 527 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: interesting article that doesn't necessarily follow any timeline. It's just 528 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,719 Speaker 1: like why Cooper is kind of like oh yeah, and 529 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: one other thing about her was this, and then he 530 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: back it up with like three different stories that are 531 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: also hilarious or maybe a little sad or something like that. Um. Yeah, 532 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: it's a really really good article. I would recommend anybody 533 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,600 Speaker 1: go read it, even if you couldn't care less about 534 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 1: Dorothy Parker. Well, hopefully they will after the end of this. Uh. 535 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 1: She after she went away from Vanity Fair by getting fired, 536 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: it's a nice way to say it. She never worked 537 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: like a regular staff job again. She became a very 538 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: successful freelancer. She wrote for all kinds of magazines that 539 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: were popular at the time, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal. 540 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: When The New Yorker was founded by her friend Harold 541 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 1: ross In think you mentioned earlier, she became a regular columnist, 542 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: doing reviews, short stories, her poems again what she called versus. 543 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: Between twenty six and thirty three she did publish books 544 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 1: of poetry. She published three books of poetry and two 545 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: short story collections, and one of which was the best seller. 546 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: Enough was a poetry collection which was a best seller 547 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: and sold really well. And uh, where I'm trying to 548 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 1: find where it was. She won a couple of big 549 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: prizes to didn't she She won the Oh Henry Story 550 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: Prize in nine for one. UM. Oh, I can't remember 551 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: what it's called big Blonde about what a character I 552 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 1: saw described as a serial mistress? Uh in decline and 553 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: um she attempts suicide. Um. And apparently there was a 554 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: like one, a pretty prestigious prize. UM. She wrote very 555 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:37,200 Speaker 1: frequently about uh. Love, especially modern love in the sense 556 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,000 Speaker 1: of in the twenties, they were just starting to deal 557 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: with this idea of like, wait a minute, men and 558 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:45,920 Speaker 1: women are like working in the same places, and you know, 559 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: we're kind of interacting more now and are you might equal? No, 560 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: that doesn't seem right, But how does that translate into dating? 561 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: You know, everybody kind of moved from the farm to 562 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 1: the city and they were trying to figure it out. 563 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: And so that was one of Dorothy Parker's favorite um 564 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: topics of of writing both verse and short stories as well. Yeah, 565 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,880 Speaker 1: she eventually would get I think, kind of just leave 566 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:13,040 Speaker 1: poetry behind. She stopped because she said that she didn't 567 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:16,800 Speaker 1: think she was getting any better, which is man. That 568 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,240 Speaker 1: is admirable. Yeah. Yeah, to not just like run something 569 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: into the ground like we're doing. I think we're still 570 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: getting better here and starts yeah, man, I think I 571 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: think this has been a great year. Actually, okay. Uh. 572 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: In fifty six she talked about just again, sort of 573 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: her reputation being overblown. She said it got so bad 574 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,320 Speaker 1: that audiences began to laugh before I opened my mouth. 575 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,560 Speaker 1: So her reputation preceded her in a way that she 576 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 1: wasn't comfortable with, and I think she didn't feel like 577 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: it was earned. Um. I have a suspicion that she 578 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 1: might have been deeply uh, she's some blanking what's the 579 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:06,959 Speaker 1: word when you don't feel good about yourself? Um? Insecure? Sure. 580 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,759 Speaker 1: A lot of these things that happened with her in 581 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 1: the way she betrayed herself kind of makes me think 582 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,960 Speaker 1: she might have been insecure in her in her writing 583 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,440 Speaker 1: and with sort of getting attention as somebody who was 584 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: doing good things. If I can't if if no one 585 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: minds me. Going back to the same well of whyatt Cooper, 586 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:28,279 Speaker 1: he basically said, she seemed to prefer misery. That's why 587 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:31,319 Speaker 1: I compared to like an emo person earlier, like um. 588 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: He gave a great example where um, you'd be hanging 589 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,919 Speaker 1: out of her house and she'd get a phone call 590 00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:40,279 Speaker 1: from a friend and she'd tell the the help like, 591 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:43,319 Speaker 1: tell tell them I'm not home. And then later on 592 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,720 Speaker 1: in that same visit, she complained about how that exact 593 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: same friend never called anymore interesting, So like it was 594 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: a self imposed kind of thing, Like she seemed to 595 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: just feel more comfortable isolated, but tried to make it 596 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,560 Speaker 1: so that it wasn't her own choice. Yeah, I don't 597 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: understand why. I don't know if it was to get sympathy, 598 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: it doesn't seem to have been. It's she was just 599 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: kind of bizarre in that way. All right, should we 600 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:14,400 Speaker 1: take a second break, Yes, yes we should. All right, 601 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,040 Speaker 1: so we'll take that break and we'll be back to 602 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: talk about from this point forward. In Dorothy Parker's life 603 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: learnt with Joshua John So Chuck, one of the things 604 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 1: that she did very sensibly after she kind of abandoned 605 00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:59,400 Speaker 1: poetry and short story writing was to go to Hollywood 606 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 1: and become a screw writer. And she did that, um 607 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,399 Speaker 1: through kind of marrying a guy named Alan Campbell, an 608 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,880 Speaker 1: actor back in he was ten years younger than she was, 609 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: and um, they ended up being screenwriting partners together after 610 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: he moved her out to Hollywood. Yeah, so her just 611 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: to tie up her first husband's situation. Uh. He came 612 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: back from the war apparently was an alcoholic and drug addict, 613 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:27,960 Speaker 1: and they were separated. She had an abortion, uh, and 614 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 1: they got divorced. So he died of a drug overdose 615 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,560 Speaker 1: at the age of thirty nine. Uh. And that's when 616 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,920 Speaker 1: she met the new guy. And the new guy Alan Campbell, 617 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,960 Speaker 1: and uh, like he said, went to Hollywood to write movies. Um. 618 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 1: She was became pregnant at the uh. And it's still, 619 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:47,520 Speaker 1: you know, sort of old to get pregnant now, but 620 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 1: it's certainly at the time. Being pregnant at forty two 621 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: years old in the nineteen thirties was a tough situation, 622 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 1: and she did have a miscarriage that devastated her. UM. 623 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: But she was she sort had an on again, off 624 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: again relationship with this guy. They were the kind that 625 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:07,960 Speaker 1: would get divorced and then reconcile and then remarry and 626 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: then split up again, then move back together again. But 627 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:16,480 Speaker 1: they had a pretty prolific partnership wherein he would and 628 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 1: a lot of writing partners still kind of have this arrangement. 629 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,759 Speaker 1: Someone might be really good at nailing dialogue and the 630 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:25,720 Speaker 1: other partner might be really good at structure and character 631 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,880 Speaker 1: development stuff like that. So he would develop the structure 632 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 1: of a script and sort of sketch out scenes, and 633 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 1: she would come in with her you know, rapiers wit 634 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,200 Speaker 1: and come up with all that clever dialogue and got 635 00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: a lot of money and attention and awards or at 636 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:45,520 Speaker 1: least nominations. She was a co writer on A Star 637 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,919 Speaker 1: Is Born, the first one from and they were making 638 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: a hundred over a hundred thousand dollars a week a week. 639 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:57,200 Speaker 1: That's so much money. It's just just screenwriting. And they 640 00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:59,879 Speaker 1: were having a blast doing it. They get drunk every day, 641 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,719 Speaker 1: they were everybody. Yeah. Yeah, they were friends with everybody 642 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,360 Speaker 1: in their neighborhood and it was just it sounds like 643 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:12,960 Speaker 1: a really grand time. Um. And then unfortunately, Alan Campbell died. Um. 644 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,200 Speaker 1: They think it might be a suicide, although she apparently 645 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:19,439 Speaker 1: decided that that was not the case, so she got 646 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,759 Speaker 1: it listed as an accident on his death certificate. And 647 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: right after that, she's like, I'm I'm going back to 648 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,080 Speaker 1: New York. She said, New York is the only place 649 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:30,480 Speaker 1: to be in the whole country. Um, I'm guessing California 650 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: was a little too painful. After the death of Alan Campbell. 651 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 1: But I also think like she just preferred living in 652 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,640 Speaker 1: New York. Anyway, there was another thing that happened to 653 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:41,959 Speaker 1: her that probably prompted her to move to New York, 654 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,520 Speaker 1: and that was her activism. Like she's known for her 655 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,560 Speaker 1: quips and her sharp wit um and you kind of 656 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:50,760 Speaker 1: have to dig in a little further before you realize 657 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:54,000 Speaker 1: like she was actually like a legit died in the wool, 658 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:58,360 Speaker 1: lefty activists who really cared about things like racism and 659 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,920 Speaker 1: civil rights long before this was on the radar of 660 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:07,120 Speaker 1: most people. Yeah, she was one of the founders of 661 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:12,000 Speaker 1: the Screenwriters Guild. Very pro union, as you probably shouldn't 662 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:17,040 Speaker 1: be surprised by this point. Uh, very anti Nazi early on. 663 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,840 Speaker 1: This is like, you know, before the long before the 664 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,360 Speaker 1: Americans were involved in World War Two. Uh. She you know, 665 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:25,600 Speaker 1: she had a half Jewish father, and I think it 666 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: seems like sort of struggle over the years with her 667 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 1: Jewish heritage, but came out hard against Uh Lenni Riefenstall 668 00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 1: when she visited Hollywood and was sort of and this 669 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:40,560 Speaker 1: was in I think, uh and basically said like, no, 670 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:42,840 Speaker 1: you shouldn't take meetings with her. You shouldn't take meetings 671 00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: with any Nazis, and like all these agents need to 672 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,359 Speaker 1: just close their doors to them, basically, and I thought 673 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: I couldn't admire her anymore. She founded an anti Nazi league, 674 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,280 Speaker 1: I mean, hats off to her right. So she also 675 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,799 Speaker 1: helped raise money to defend the Scottsboro Boys, were nine 676 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: black teenagers in Alabama who were unjustly convicted and sentenced 677 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:09,319 Speaker 1: in the rape of two white women. UM and there 678 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:14,560 Speaker 1: was a really big um push by the American Communist 679 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:19,920 Speaker 1: Party to to basically rescue these boys from this unjust system. 680 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:23,799 Speaker 1: And she was at the very least Communist adjacent, if 681 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 1: not an outright sympathizer. I think a lot of her 682 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:30,200 Speaker 1: interests in viewpoints really kind of dovetailed with the Communist 683 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:33,200 Speaker 1: Party in America at the time. UM. And she was 684 00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 1: also virulently anti fascist. And for all of this, combined 685 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:41,560 Speaker 1: her anti fascism, her UM work for civil rights, her 686 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:45,399 Speaker 1: kind of sympathy for UM, the Communist Party UM got 687 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:50,759 Speaker 1: her essentially first informally blacklisted and then pretty much officially 688 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:54,600 Speaker 1: blacklisted in Hollywood starting in the forties. Yeah, so before 689 00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 1: the blacklist, there was something called the Red Channels, which 690 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,279 Speaker 1: was a pamphlet that kind of said, hey, you know, 691 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:03,160 Speaker 1: you may not want to hire these people if you're 692 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,919 Speaker 1: in broadcasting. Yeah, it was put out real quick, chuck 693 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:09,160 Speaker 1: by a right wing um publication that was um called 694 00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,919 Speaker 1: counter Attack, I believe, and it was made by three 695 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 1: former FBI agents who just basically created dossiers on everybody 696 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:19,200 Speaker 1: in Hollywood to root out who were the communists. And 697 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,520 Speaker 1: a lot of them were accused just for contributing to like, 698 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:26,000 Speaker 1: you know, civil rights causes or things like that. I 699 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,360 Speaker 1: was just about to point that out. That is again 700 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:33,040 Speaker 1: pre blacklist. It should not surprise you that she eventually 701 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:36,759 Speaker 1: was officially blacklisted for a short time. She was also 702 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:40,879 Speaker 1: on the FBI watch list Edifile honor. Uh. They called 703 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,799 Speaker 1: her a concealed communist and you know, just go back 704 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,360 Speaker 1: and listen to our McCarthy asm episode, uh if you 705 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:49,760 Speaker 1: want to learn anything else about the House of Unamerican 706 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:53,239 Speaker 1: Activities Committee. She did go before them in fifty five 707 00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:57,560 Speaker 1: and took the fifth and the FBI eventually would clear her, 708 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:01,319 Speaker 1: uh being a security threat. But I think, you know, 709 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:03,520 Speaker 1: I don't think any of those people were ever completely 710 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:05,480 Speaker 1: off the list, if you know what I mean. No, 711 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,640 Speaker 1: for sure. And if you got on that list, if 712 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: you were in that pamphlet, it doesn't matter how big 713 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,080 Speaker 1: of a starre you were, you just could not find work. 714 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:14,439 Speaker 1: All of us are you get fired from your current job? 715 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,799 Speaker 1: It was crazy, Um, but that's what happened, and it 716 00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:20,600 Speaker 1: was part of that McCarthy era. So she moved back 717 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,360 Speaker 1: to New York and um, she I saw that. She 718 00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:26,799 Speaker 1: basically lived out the last act of her life in 719 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:31,560 Speaker 1: a very surprising manner as a little old lady. Basically, Yeah, 720 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:36,839 Speaker 1: she died at a seventy three and uh, I think 721 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,319 Speaker 1: she left all her her money to Reverend Martin Luther 722 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,520 Speaker 1: King and then once he died, that went to the 723 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,280 Speaker 1: Inn Double a c p. Uh. There's a New Yorker 724 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:49,200 Speaker 1: article that um kind of indicates like, no one knows 725 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,600 Speaker 1: exactly how much money that ended up being for the 726 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:53,880 Speaker 1: Double a CP, but I think it was a lot. 727 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:58,439 Speaker 1: And um, this is sort of a not so fun 728 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:00,920 Speaker 1: way to end this. But one of her good friends, 729 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 1: Lilian Hellman, was a playwright some when she knew for 730 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,840 Speaker 1: a long long time was designated as her executor for 731 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,200 Speaker 1: her will in a state but was mad because she 732 00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:14,640 Speaker 1: wasn't left any money and so she basically threw all 733 00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:17,560 Speaker 1: her stuff away the way, all her papers, all of 734 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:19,839 Speaker 1: the you know, manuscripts that she had been working on 735 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:23,479 Speaker 1: in her life. And uh, Dorothy Parker did not want 736 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:25,880 Speaker 1: to have a big deal made about her death, wanted 737 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:30,200 Speaker 1: a quiet cremation, and she, against her wishes, organized a 738 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:34,279 Speaker 1: big public memorial. It's it seems like just in defiance 739 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,320 Speaker 1: of her wishes because she was mad about being h 740 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:41,400 Speaker 1: I guess left out of her will slightly. In Hellman's defense, 741 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:45,800 Speaker 1: she largely supported Dorothy Parker during her old age years 742 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,960 Speaker 1: from nineteen to sixty seven, so I think she expected 743 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:51,680 Speaker 1: to kind of be repaid. But still, it's definitely not 744 00:43:51,719 --> 00:43:56,160 Speaker 1: worth going against somebody's wishes, you know. So Dorothy Parker's 745 00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,280 Speaker 1: ashes had a really interesting afterlife. She had no heirs, 746 00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:02,960 Speaker 1: no family, so um, they were left at the crematorium 747 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:06,840 Speaker 1: from nineteen sixty seven to nineteen seventy three, when the 748 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:09,680 Speaker 1: crematorium finally got fed up of storing it and just 749 00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:13,799 Speaker 1: mailed them to the address of her former lawyer. But 750 00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:17,280 Speaker 1: her lawyer had retired, but his partner was still in business. 751 00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:19,719 Speaker 1: Her partner didn't know anything about this, didn't know what 752 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,640 Speaker 1: to do with the ashes, didn't know who to contact, 753 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:24,520 Speaker 1: so he just put her in his desk drawer, and 754 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:29,680 Speaker 1: from nineteen seventy three to Dorothy Parker spent uh in 755 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:33,440 Speaker 1: a desk drawer in her former lawyer's office. She'd probably 756 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:36,359 Speaker 1: think that's funny. I think so, But if she were 757 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,319 Speaker 1: in there, she would have been really bored too. Yeah. Uh. 758 00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:41,719 Speaker 1: They would eventually move though. If you go to New 759 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:44,400 Speaker 1: York now you can go up to the Bronx to 760 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:48,640 Speaker 1: Woodlawn Cemetery, where a tour guide and big fan of 761 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:51,719 Speaker 1: hers eventually put her ashes. Was given her ashes. He 762 00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:56,239 Speaker 1: didn't steal them. And there's a little small plaque with 763 00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,719 Speaker 1: a phrase that she apparently proposed for her epitat, which is, 764 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:05,239 Speaker 1: excuse my dust, it's just beautiful. It beat Shakespeare's epitaph, right, 765 00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,800 Speaker 1: what was Shakespeare's? It was some clumsy, ham fisted curse 766 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:13,600 Speaker 1: that people are like. Shakespeare wouldn't have written that gas grass? 767 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:17,560 Speaker 1: Or what was it that no one rides for free? 768 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:21,680 Speaker 1: Oh man, Chuck. Since Chuck said that hilarious quip, that 769 00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:23,839 Speaker 1: means this is the end of the Dorothy Parker ep 770 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:25,239 Speaker 1: So if you want to know more about her, go 771 00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:28,879 Speaker 1: reader stuff. It's really good and uh fun. And since 772 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:30,719 Speaker 1: I said it's really good and fun, that means it's 773 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:34,840 Speaker 1: time for a listener mail. I'm gonna call this a 774 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:38,399 Speaker 1: counterpoint to another listener mail. We got the email from 775 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:40,520 Speaker 1: the teacher that talked about p b i S positive 776 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:46,359 Speaker 1: behavioral Interventions in support. Oh yeah, and uh apparently there's 777 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:51,319 Speaker 1: a lot of controversy surrounding that, because Jennifer here says this, Hey, 778 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,440 Speaker 1: guys have been listening for years. I learned so many 779 00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,520 Speaker 1: cool things after the Casino bombing episode. However, you read 780 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:59,080 Speaker 1: a letter from a gentleman who wrote about using p 781 00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:02,160 Speaker 1: b i S and classroom. I taught school for thirty 782 00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:05,800 Speaker 1: years and finally left, as did hundreds of my colleagues 783 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:09,840 Speaker 1: because p b i S has destroyed public education. Teachers 784 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,960 Speaker 1: can be kind of students without a PBS program in place. 785 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:17,160 Speaker 1: My co teacher was permanently disabled by a student. It's 786 00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:20,640 Speaker 1: my feeling that once you're an adult in society, uh, 787 00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:23,959 Speaker 1: society while hand you consequences, and students may not be 788 00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:27,000 Speaker 1: taught how to be prepared for that with p b 789 00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 1: i S schools. Thanks for stating that it may or 790 00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:32,080 Speaker 1: may not work in your own home, Chuck, I was 791 00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,640 Speaker 1: required to take two college classes on this, so it's 792 00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,239 Speaker 1: not that I don't understand it. Keep giving us great 793 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:42,520 Speaker 1: knowledge of millions of topics, and that is from Jennifer. Awesome. 794 00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:44,880 Speaker 1: Thank you Jennifer for the counterpoint. There may be a 795 00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,560 Speaker 1: good episode in there, now that I see this, Yeah, 796 00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:49,520 Speaker 1: I think you might be right, Chuck. Anytime it was 797 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,960 Speaker 1: controversy like that, we're on let's do it. Every time 798 00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:57,640 Speaker 1: I hear point or counterpoint, I'm reminded of that that. Um, 799 00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:02,000 Speaker 1: apart from Airplane where there they're debating the whole thing 800 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:04,680 Speaker 1: where the I think it's airplane too maybe where the 801 00:47:04,719 --> 00:47:08,360 Speaker 1: guy goes let them crash, I don't remember that line. 802 00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:12,160 Speaker 1: That's good. Um, Yeah, it's way funnier in the movie 803 00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:14,359 Speaker 1: than what I just did. If you want to get 804 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:16,920 Speaker 1: in touch with this, like Jennifer didn't offer a counterpoint, 805 00:47:17,719 --> 00:47:20,840 Speaker 1: you can send it to Stuff podcast at iHeart radio 806 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:26,080 Speaker 1: dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a production of 807 00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:29,439 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 808 00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 809 00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:33,640 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.