What do you think?
Rate this book
The Algonquin Wits
A collection of quips of the members of the renowned Algonquin Round Table, including those of Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woolcott, Robert Benchley and other sparkling wits.
- GenresHumorNonfiction
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
4 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 5, 2017
Super fast read. Enjoyed the brief historical bios of all the wits and of the Algonquin itself. I've seen a lot of these quotes before in other joke books or collections of wit, insults, and so forth. Well worth your time! Gotta say, Dorothy Parker towered over all the others at the Algonquin Round Table, or more to their liking, The Vicious Circle!
November 27, 2017
Like a rich box of bonbons, or, if you will, bon-mots. Tasty.
January 21, 2012
Too Clever for Words!!!
Is THAT a bon mot????????????????
Or a Mangled Circuituity ????
This is such an easy and enjoyable read!!!
Generally...whoops!!
(Here is the Big Nose of Mr Qualification to totally disparage
"an easy and enjoyable read".)
Well, it was good while it lasted...all one line of it .
And now it's History!!!
....and THAT is exactly where for me this book often failed.
Some of the humour depended on knowing who the wits, or what event or which place or whatever it was they were referring to, they were referring to.
MMMmmm...I'm beginning to sound like...I wish I had the gall to say "like Dorothy Parker", since she was the one whose humour I enjoyed most because it seems to have survived more than 80 years without History dating it. But generally History has well and truly intervened even a little and will continue to do so.
All I can say to you is : DEFY HISTORY !!!
I was (and still am) going to transcribe one Witty Whatever from the Main Members of the Algonquin Group. A Whatever that I understood, that is. And I did understand most and recognise the Member, perhaps because I've watched a lot of old films.
Here goes:
"Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory."
- Franklin Pierce Adams
"Coming out of a midtown restaurant, Benchley spotted a uniformed man at the door."Would you get us a taxi, please," he asked the man."I'm sorry," the man said coldly, "I happen to be a rear admirsl in the United States Navy." "All right, then," said Benchley, "get us a battleship."
- Robert Benchley
Feeling guilty about his occasional hobby of fishing, Broun once wrote, "It is not fair that that I should thwart and crush great eagerness for existence for the sake of the extremely mild diversion which I get from fishing. They told me that fish care very little and that they were cold-blooded and felt no pain. But they were not fish who told me."
- Heywood Broun
"Kaufman once visited the office of Jed Harris, the theatre producer, and was received by the unpredictable tycoon stark naked. Accustomed to Harris' flights of pretentious fancy, Kaufman addressed him calmly:
"Mr Harris, your fly is open."
- George S. Kaufman
Seated at the bar in a theatre district nightclub, Ring was approached by an ostentatious actor-type with a wild flowing mane. Lardner asked the man, "How do you look when I'm sober?"
- Ring Lardner.
Reporting on a Yale prom, Mrs Parker said,"If all those sweet, young things present were laid end to end, I wouldn't be at all surprised."
- Dorothy Parker
Harpo Marx once arrived at Woollcott's Lake Bomoseen home in a broken-down Model-T Ford. "What do you call that?" Woollcott exclaimed as he regarded the automobile.
"This is my town car," Harpo explained.
"What was the town?" asked Woollcott. "Pompeii?"
- Alexander Woollocott
Is THAT a bon mot????????????????
Or a Mangled Circuituity ????
This is such an easy and enjoyable read!!!
Generally...whoops!!
(Here is the Big Nose of Mr Qualification to totally disparage
"an easy and enjoyable read".)
Well, it was good while it lasted...all one line of it .
And now it's History!!!
....and THAT is exactly where for me this book often failed.
Some of the humour depended on knowing who the wits, or what event or which place or whatever it was they were referring to, they were referring to.
MMMmmm...I'm beginning to sound like...I wish I had the gall to say "like Dorothy Parker", since she was the one whose humour I enjoyed most because it seems to have survived more than 80 years without History dating it. But generally History has well and truly intervened even a little and will continue to do so.
All I can say to you is : DEFY HISTORY !!!
I was (and still am) going to transcribe one Witty Whatever from the Main Members of the Algonquin Group. A Whatever that I understood, that is. And I did understand most and recognise the Member, perhaps because I've watched a lot of old films.
Here goes:
"Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory."
- Franklin Pierce Adams
"Coming out of a midtown restaurant, Benchley spotted a uniformed man at the door."Would you get us a taxi, please," he asked the man."I'm sorry," the man said coldly, "I happen to be a rear admirsl in the United States Navy." "All right, then," said Benchley, "get us a battleship."
- Robert Benchley
Feeling guilty about his occasional hobby of fishing, Broun once wrote, "It is not fair that that I should thwart and crush great eagerness for existence for the sake of the extremely mild diversion which I get from fishing. They told me that fish care very little and that they were cold-blooded and felt no pain. But they were not fish who told me."
- Heywood Broun
"Kaufman once visited the office of Jed Harris, the theatre producer, and was received by the unpredictable tycoon stark naked. Accustomed to Harris' flights of pretentious fancy, Kaufman addressed him calmly:
"Mr Harris, your fly is open."
- George S. Kaufman
Seated at the bar in a theatre district nightclub, Ring was approached by an ostentatious actor-type with a wild flowing mane. Lardner asked the man, "How do you look when I'm sober?"
- Ring Lardner.
Reporting on a Yale prom, Mrs Parker said,"If all those sweet, young things present were laid end to end, I wouldn't be at all surprised."
- Dorothy Parker
Harpo Marx once arrived at Woollcott's Lake Bomoseen home in a broken-down Model-T Ford. "What do you call that?" Woollcott exclaimed as he regarded the automobile.
"This is my town car," Harpo explained.
"What was the town?" asked Woollcott. "Pompeii?"
- Alexander Woollocott
September 17, 2010
In a book of this nature, the best way to review it is to write my favorite anecdotes.
One day, Aleck Woollcott made a remark which George Kaufman felt was anti-Semitic. Kaufman got up and said "I am now walking away from this table, out of this dining room, and out of this hotel." Then spotting Dorothy Parker-who was of both Jewish and Gentile parentage, he added, "And I hope Mrs. Parker will walk out with me-half way."
Harold Ross asked Ring Lardner how he wrote his short stories, and he said, "I write a few widely separated words or phrases on a piece of paper and then go back and fill in the spaces."
At a Hamilton College reunion, Aleck Woollcott was approached by a man who said to him, "Hello Alex! You remember me, don't you?"
"I can't remember your name," Woollcott said, "But don't tell me."
And of course, my very favorite Dorothy Parker-Mrs. Parker once collided with Clare Booth Luce in a doorway. "Age before beauty," cracked Luce.
"Pearls before swine," said Mrs. Parker, gliding through the door.
One day, Aleck Woollcott made a remark which George Kaufman felt was anti-Semitic. Kaufman got up and said "I am now walking away from this table, out of this dining room, and out of this hotel." Then spotting Dorothy Parker-who was of both Jewish and Gentile parentage, he added, "And I hope Mrs. Parker will walk out with me-half way."
Harold Ross asked Ring Lardner how he wrote his short stories, and he said, "I write a few widely separated words or phrases on a piece of paper and then go back and fill in the spaces."
At a Hamilton College reunion, Aleck Woollcott was approached by a man who said to him, "Hello Alex! You remember me, don't you?"
"I can't remember your name," Woollcott said, "But don't tell me."
And of course, my very favorite Dorothy Parker-Mrs. Parker once collided with Clare Booth Luce in a doorway. "Age before beauty," cracked Luce.
"Pearls before swine," said Mrs. Parker, gliding through the door.
July 24, 2014
Fun to read, though about a quarter of the content was probably more humorous in its day. Book includes a short bio of the major "Wits" and includes humorous anecdotes from some "sideliners" as well. Chances are, if you enjoy old black and white movies with witty, caustic humor, you'll enjoy reading this book.
November 22, 2009
Many people remember Dorothy Parker, and if you are a Marx Brothers fan you may remember George S. Kaufman, but few remember the likes of Robert Benchley or Heywood Broun. This book does a fine job of reminding readers of the writers and wits who frequented the Algonquin Hotel in the 1920's.
February 18, 2016
The best quotes in this collection belong to Dorothy Parker, and you could easily skip this volume and just look up some of her quotes. But this collection does give some background on the famous Algonquin Round Table, aka the "Vicious Circle", and introduces its lesser known characters.
May 6, 2015
For one reason or another, the Algonquin Table has always fascinated me, particularly the often vicious quips of Dorothy Parker. The idea of so many brilliant minds gathering in one place enthralled me; you don't see the kind of sharp wit today that was so apparently on display in the 1920s.
For its part, this book is a collection of the famous quips of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Franklin Pierce Adams, Alexander Woollcott, George Kaufman, and others. All of the quips were gems, but it was also interesting to see the style of each, from Kaufman's love of puns to the drawling wit of Ring Lardner.
Most of the quips were fairly well-known, with only a few that I hadn't heard of before thrown in, so if you're pretty familiar with the Vicious Circle, there might not be much that is new in this collection. It's also only the quips - these are given in short, three-sentence-at-most bursts, with no background or detail other than what might be absolutely necessary to explain the joke.
As a collection of one-liners, zingers, and bon mots, it's great, but as anything more than that, not so much.
For its part, this book is a collection of the famous quips of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Franklin Pierce Adams, Alexander Woollcott, George Kaufman, and others. All of the quips were gems, but it was also interesting to see the style of each, from Kaufman's love of puns to the drawling wit of Ring Lardner.
Most of the quips were fairly well-known, with only a few that I hadn't heard of before thrown in, so if you're pretty familiar with the Vicious Circle, there might not be much that is new in this collection. It's also only the quips - these are given in short, three-sentence-at-most bursts, with no background or detail other than what might be absolutely necessary to explain the joke.
As a collection of one-liners, zingers, and bon mots, it's great, but as anything more than that, not so much.
December 22, 2020
A collection of quips of the members of the renowned Algonquin Round Table, including those of Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woolcott, Robert Benchley and other sparkling wits.
I thought I would find it more humorous than I did, and abandoned the book for greener pastures.
I thought I would find it more humorous than I did, and abandoned the book for greener pastures.
March 10, 2018
Many very funny quips.
February 3, 2021
Amusing. Nothing to write home about.
April 17, 2023
Interesting to see the not very veiled homophobia in comments re Ferber and Woollcott. Dorothy Parker is, regardless, immortal
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews