The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits that met from 1919 until about 1929, though its legacy endured long afterward. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

They met for lunch every day at a round table at the Algonquin Hotel and traded quips; many of these sayings are still repeated today. The group began meeting in June 1919 when several of its members returned from World War I where they met on the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes. The Algonquin Hotel opened in 1902. ... Wit is a form of intellectual humour, based on manipulation of concepts; a wit is someone who excels in witty remarks, typically in conversation and spontaneously, since wit carries the connotation of speed of thought. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Flag ratio: 10:19; nicknames: Stars and Stripes, Old Glory The flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars...

There was no formal membership, so people came and went, but the primary members included:

• Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist
• Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
• Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Hale)
• Marc Connelly, playwright
• Edna Ferber, author and playwright
• Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Ross)
• Ruth Hale, journalist and feminist
• Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)
• George S. Kaufman, playwright and director
• Harpo Marx, actor, comedian, and musician
• Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator
• Dorothy Parker , critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
• Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor
• Robert Sherwood, author and playwright
• Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter
• Deems Taylor, composer
• John Peter Toohey, publicist
• Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist

Others from the theatre and publishing world visited. Since some of the members were popular newspaper columnists who repeated some of the conversations in their columns, the quips got wide circulation. Sometimes they were unkind. One story is that when Dorothy Parker was informed about the death of President Calvin Coolidge, she replied, "How can they tell?" Franklin Pierce Adams (November 15, 1881 – March 23, 1960), was an American columnist (under the pen name F.P.A.), writer, and wit, part of the famous Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s and 1930s. ... Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. ... Heywood Broun was a reporter, sportswriter and newspaper columnist in New York City. ... Marc Connelly photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 - December 21, 1980) was a member of the Algonquin roundtable and composed several musicals with playwright George S. Kaufman: 1921 Dulcy 1922 Merton of the Movies 1925 Beggar on Horseback Categories: 1890 births | 1980 deaths ... Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 - April 16, 1968), Jewish-American novelist, author, and playwright. ... Jane Grant (1892-1972) was a New York City journalist who co-founded The New Yorker with her first husband, Harold Ross. ... Ruth Hale (1887-1934) was a feminist leader in New York City who worked for women’s rights in the era before and after World War I. She was married to journalist Heywood Broun and was an associate of the Algonquin Round Table. ... George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889 - June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, director, producer, humorist, and drama critic noted for his many collaborations with other writers and his contributions to 20th century American comedy. ... George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889 - June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, director, producer, humorist, and drama critic noted for his many collaborations with other writers and his contributions to 20th century American comedy. ... Adolph Arthur Marx, popularly known as Harpo Marx, (November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964) was one of the Marx Brothers, a group of Vaudeville entertainers who later achieved fame as comedians in the Motion Picture industry. ... Neysa at her artists easel in the early 1920s Neysa McMein (1888-1949) was an American artist. ... Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. ... Harold Wallace Ross (November 6, 1892 - December 6, 1951) was an American journalist and founder of The New Yorker magazine, which he edited from 1925 to his death. ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ... Robert Emmet Sherwood (4 April 1896–14 November 1955) American playwright, editor, and screenwriter. ... Donald Ogden Stewart (1894-1980) an American author and screenwriter, member of the Algonquin Round Table. ... Deems Taylor (born Joseph Taylor) (1885 - 1966) was a U.S. composer and music critic. ... John Peter Toohey (b. ... Alexander Woollcott, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was a critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. ... John Calvin Coolidge Jr. ...

Members often visited Neshobe, a private island owned by Alexander Woollcott, located on eight acres in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. An offshoot of the Algonquin Round Table was a poker club called the Thanatopsis Pleasure and Inside Straight Club, which also met at the hotel.

The Algonquin Hotel leaves their table set with namecards of the famous people who sat there. There is also a painting depicting the Round Table, painted by Natalie Ascencios, that hangs in the hotel dining room. Natalie Ascencios: Painter, Sculptor and Marionette Maker. ...

A film about the members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A 1995 movie about the group was entitled Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. There is also a musical about it called "The Talk of the Town" that is performed in the Algonquin's Oak Room cabaret. The Ten-Year Lunch (also known in full as the Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table) is a documentary film about the Algonquin Round Table, a floating group of writers and actors in the Roaring Twenties in New York City, which included great names... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... Mrs. ...

External links

• Algonquin Round Table online history
• Page at PBS's American Masters website
• The Dorothy Parker Society
• The Robert Benchley Society