Thursday, April 30, 2015

Gene Markey: Heywood Broun's Blight

Sportswriter, columnist, and Algonquin Round Table diner Heywood Broun is the subject of a published caricature by Gene Markey. The drawing is dated 1922, and it was collected in Markey's book Literary Lights: A Book of Caricatures the following year. Harvard graduate Broun is here shown working at his desk, quill pen in hand. He is writing unfavorable book reviews, or "blighting an entire crop of spring novels" as the caption reads. Meanwhile his son, Heywood Hale Broun (his nightshirt is monogrammed H2), is being reared happily on Aeschylus. Not bad for a four year old.

Gene Markey, Heywood Broun, blighting an entire crop of spring novels.
From Literary Lights:  A Book of Caricatures, Alfred A. Knopf, 1923.


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Heywood Broun shuffling papers.  Note the name of fellow Algonquin Round Table member Deems Taylor on the poster.
Gene Markey, Heywood Broun, blighting an entire crop of spring novels.
From Literary Lights:  A Book of Caricatures, Alfred A. Knopf, 1923.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Gene Markey: Three New York Dramatic Critics

In 1923, Gene Markey caricatured three well-known New York drama critics, two of whom regularly sat at the Algonquin Round Table. The critics are Robert Benchley, Percy Hammond, and Alexander Woollcott. Hammond, here at center, is the one who does not dine at the Algonquin round Table. Come 1925, Alexander Woollcott would become an advisory editor to the fledgling New Yorker.

Gene Markey, Three New York Dramatic Critics
Robert C. Benchley, Percy Hammond and Alexander Woollcott

From Literary Lights:  A Book of Caricatures, Alfred A. Knopf, 1923.

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Gene Markey, Three New York Dramatic Critics
Robert C. Benchley, Percy Hammond and Alexander Woollcott

From Literary Lights:  A Book of Caricatures, Alfred A. Knopf, 1923.

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Monday, April 27, 2015

"Bills" by Lunch Money Lewis

Welcome to another back-to-work Monday. Lunch Money Lewis reminds us why we put up with all our hard work in his song "Bills." It's what the kids are listening to.

"Bills"

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Sunday, April 26, 2015

Zito's Caricature of Marc Connelly

Playwright Marc Connelly was a member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table. Here he inscribes a caricature portrait by Vincent Zito to the artist. Zito, who usually goes by his last name only, is known for his caricatures of celebrities.

Zito, Caricature of Marc Connelly inscribed "To Zito/Fabulously quick/and impossibly/accurate/Marc Connelly"













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Marc Connelly
Image added April 27, 2015

Zito, Caricature of Marc Connelly inscribed "To Zito/Fabulously quick/and impossibly/accurate/Marc Connelly"

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Al Hirshfeld: The Algonquin Round Table

If you'd like to glimpse some of New York's literary lights of the 1920's you can't do better than this. Al Hirschfeld's famous lithograph of the Algonquin Round Table is a classic image of the celebrated literary lunchtime crowd. Present are Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Broadway stars seated at the back, Frank Crowninshield, standing, and host Frank Case, also standing. Seated clockwise from the left are Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, Heywood Broun, Marc Connelly, Franklin P. Adams, Edna Ferber, George S. Kaufman, and Robert Sherwood. The original drawing is similar, but it had a different background. The name of Hirschfeld's daughter Nina is hidden once in the image.

People came and went at the Round Table, so not all of the members are depicted. Not present here, sadly, is Harold Ross, founding editor of the New Yorker. Neither is Harpo Marx, Broadway star along with his brothers before they became movie stars. Writer Frank Sullivan isn't around either. Neither are Deems Taylor or Tallulah Bankhead. Still, it's probably as good a lunchtime crowd as you're going to find anywhere. The original lithograph is available from the Margo Feiden Galleries.

Me, I eat alone at my desk.

Al Hirschfeld, The Algonquin Round Table, lithograph, edition of 110

Al Hirschfeld, The Algonquin Round Table, lithograph, edition of 110

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The original drawing differs from the lithograph in some of the background details. 
Al Hirschfeld, The Algonquin Round Table, drawing


Al Hirschfeld, The Algonquin Round Table, lithograph, edition of 110

Note:  There's more here about the great Al Hirschfeld, a legend in his own right.

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