Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? (77 page)

Twelve: You Might as Well Live

227 SINCE SHE AND JOHN: Parker, “Reading and Writing,”
The New Yorker
, March 18, 1933, p. 64;
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 548.

227 COME ON UP: Keats
,
p. 160.

227 LONG I FOUGHT: Parker,
“
Prisoner,”
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 316.

228 SHE’D PICK UP: Author’s interview with Clara Lester.

229 J. CLIFFORD MILLER, JR.: J. Clifford Miller letter to author, March 22, 1983.

229 ALL AT ONCE: Author’s interview with Roy Eichel.

230 HE SAID YEARS LATER: William Engle
,
“Dorothy Parker’s Rebounding Quips,”
The American Weekly
, June 15, 1947, p. 14.

230 AND WHERE DOES SHE FIND THEM: Author’s interview with Dorothy Rodgers.

230 ALAN
WAS:
Author’s interview with Ruth Goetz.

230
SUNK
DEEP:
O’Hara,
p. 88.

230 COME ALONG
AT
ONCE: Bryan, pp.
101-102.

231 HOW CAN THEY TELL: Ibid., p. 106.

231 SHE REFUSED TO TALK:
New York Herald Tribune
,
October 27, 1933.

232 WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE ELECTION
:
New York Evening Post
, October 27, 1933.

232 AN EXCITED EDMUND WILSON
:
Edmund Wilson letter to Louise Bogan, December 12, 1933, in Wilson,
Letters in Literature and Politics
, p. 234.

232 I DON’T KNOW WHY
:
Emily Hahn letter to author, February 18, 1983.

233 HER FAMILY, SHE GRUMBLED: Dorothy Parker letter to Morris Ernst, ca. February /March 1936, Humanities Research Center, University of Texas.

233 WHEN HOWARD DIETZ: Howard Dietz,
Dancing in the Dark
, Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co., 1974, p. 77.

233 THAT SAME MONTH:
Sullivan,
p. 204.

234 I PICKED HIM OUT: Unidentified newspaper clipping, Dorothy Parker Scrapbook (courtesy of Susan Cotton).

234 I HAD THE PLEASURE: John O’Hara letter to Ernest Hemingway, May 1935, O’
-
Hara, p. 107.

234 o’hara IRRITATED HER: John O’
-
Hara letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, October 14-15, 1933, in Matthew J. Bruccoli
,
The O’Hara Concern
, Random House, 1975, p. 95.

234 WRITING IN WHAT APPEARS: Dorothy Parker letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, undated, F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, Princeton University Library.

235 HE’S AWFUL: John O’Hara letter to William Maxwell, May 16,
.1963,
in O’Hara, p. 429.

236 IN
ORDER TO MAKE:
Author’s interview with Sally Foster.

236 OTHER
FRIENDS:
Author’s interview with Ruth Goetz.

236 WHEN DOTTIE FELL IN LOVE: Author’s interview with Marc Connelly.

236 MY DEAR, SHE SAID: Cooper, p.
110.

237 AMONG THOSE: Author’s interview with Marc Connelly.

237 THIS IS TO REPORT: Dorothy Parker telegram to Sara and Gerald Murphy, June 8, 1934.

238 WE ARE IN JULESBURG
:
New York Evening Journal,
June 16, 1934.

238 so WE GOT OUT: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott, ca. June 1934, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

238
EYEBROWS:
Author’s interview with Marc
Connelly.

238 COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN: Dorothy Parker telegram to Helen Grimwood, June 19, 1934.

239
OH,
THIS IS THE FIRST: Engle, p. 14.

239 OTHERWISE
SHE WAS:
Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander
Woollcott,
June 1934, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

239 DEAR SCOTT: Dorothy Parker telegram to F. Scott Fitzgerald, July 6, 1934, F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, Princeton University Library.

240 BLAMING THE ALTITUDE: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott
,
June 1934, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

240 PROBABLY THIS WAS A WISE DECISION
:
Ibid.

240 THAT BIRD ONLY SINGS
:
Samuel Hopkins Adams,
A
.
Woollcott: His Life and His World
, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1945, p. 296.

240 GENTLEMEN: Ibid
.,
p. 305.

241 HEARING ROSALIE STEWART’S IDEA: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott, August 1934, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

242 WHEN DOROTHY CONTINUED
:
Ibid.

242 ONCE I WAS COMING:
Writers at Work
, p. 81.

242 WHEN THEY GATHERED: Dorothy Herrmann,
S. J. Perelman: A Life
, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1986, p. 71.

243 THE DEVASTATING DOROTHY PARKER: Newspaper clippings, unidentified sources, Dorothy Parker Scrapbook.

243 DOUBLY FAMOUS: Caption accompanying Paramount publicity photograph.

244 SHE TOLD THE MURPHYS: Dorothy Parker letter to Sara and Gerald Murphy, ca. January 1935.

244 IT IS NOW CALLED: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott, ca. January 1935, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

244 BUT WOULD THEY: Ibid.

244 DOROTHY AND ALAN: Ibid.

244 DOROTHY EXPLAINED: Dorothy Parker letter to Harold Guinzburg
,
August 21, 1934.

245 SHE DISCOVERED
:
Writers at Work,
p. 81.

245 ASIDE FROM THE WORK
:
Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott
,
ca. January 1935, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

245 MISS PARKER, MISS PARKER: Author’s interview with Joseph Schrank.

246 IN MAY MY HEART: Parker, “Autumn Valentine,”
The Portable Dorothy Parker
, p. 318.

246 UPON MY HONOR: Verse attributed to Dorothy Parker, in Norman Zierold,
The Moguls
, Coward-McCann, Inc., 1969, p. 283.

247 AFTER CHRISTMAS: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott
,
ca. January 1935, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

247 WHILE REVIEWING
THE GLASS KEY
: Parker, “Reading and Writing,”
The New Yorker
, April 25, 1931, p. 91.

248 A HARD MAN: Hellman,
An Unfinished Woman
, p. 186.

248 HER HABIT
:
Ibid., p. 187.

248 DOTTIE ADMIRED LILLIAN: Author’s interview with Ruth Goetz.

249 TO INDICATE THE EMOTIONS: Author’s interview with Heywood Hale Broun.

249 DESPITE HER OPPOSING
:
Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott, ca. January 1935, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

249 WHEN SHE HEARD HIS VOICE: Ibid.

250 OH, GOODY: Wilson,
The Thirties,
p. 360.

250 GARBAGE THOUGH THEY TURN OUT:
Writers at Work
, p. 81.

251 DEAR HAROLD: Dorothy Parker letter to Harold Guinzburg, ca. 1935.

251 TWO YEARS EARLIER:
New York Evening Post
, October 27, 1933.

Thirteen: Good Fights

252 THEY HAVE, HE RECOUNTED: John O’Hara letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, April 1936, O’Hara
,
pp. 116-17.

253 DOTTIE AND ALAN: Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley
,
April 27, 1936, Mugar Library, Boston University.

253 HER AMBIVALENCE: Cooper, p. 57.

253 DON STEWART RECALLED: Stewart, p. 226.

254 DOROTHY BEGAN MOVING AWAY: Parker, “Not Enough,”
New Masses
, March 14, 1939, pp. 3-4
.

254 SHE FLATTERED DOROTHY: Stewart, p. 234.

255 I CANNOT TELL YOU: Parker, “Not Enough,”
New Masses
, March 14, 1939, pp. 3-4.

255 WITH MORE GENEROSITY: Stewart,
p. 228.

256 ALAN WAS: Author’s interview with Budd Schulberg.

256 AS ROBERT BENCHLEY WOULD
:
Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley, August 13, 1938, Mugar Library, Boston University.

256 DOROTHY MEANWHILE
:
Parker, “Not Enough,”
New Masses
, March 14, 1939, pp. 3-4.

256 WHEN THE TRAIN
:
Norman Corwin, “Corwin on Media,”
Westways
,
November 1980, p. 64.

256 HE PAID TWENTY DOLLARS: Robert Benchley letter to Gertrude Benchley, April 27, 1936, Mugar Library, Boston University.

256 HE REACTED: Robert Benchley letter to Sara and Gerald Murphy, July 1, 1937.

257 I saw SOME: Dorothy Parker speech, February 6, 1941, to Disney Unit of Screen Cartoon Guild.

257 EXPECTING STUDIOS
:
Nancy Lynn Schwartz,
The Hollywood Writers’ War
, Alfred A. Knopf, 1982, p. 13.

257 AT A MEETING: Ibid., 69.

258 I DO NOT FEEL: Parker, “To Richard
—
with Love,”
The Screen Guilds’ Magazine
, May 1936, p. 8.

258 HER ANGER: Parker, Screen Cartoon Guild speech.

258 THAT SONOFABITCH: Schwartz
,
p. 124.

258 NOW, LOOK, BABY: Parker, Screen Cartoon Guild speech.

259 WE HAVEN’T ANY
ROOTS:
Perelman, p. 173.

260 THERE WAS NO CELLAR: Dorothy Parker, “Destructive Decoration,” in
20th Century Decorating, Architecture, and Gardens: 80 Years of Ideas and Pleasure from House and Garden,
Mary Jane Pool, ed., Holt, Rinehart and Winston
,
1980, pp. 178-9.

260 ALAN, LITHE
:
Author’s interview with Lester Trauch.

260 IT WAS AUGUST WEATHER: Parker, “Destructive Decoration.”

261 THAT’S THEIR PROBLEM: Perelman, p. 176.

261 IT WAS THE DEPRESSION
:
Author’s interview with Lester Trauch.

262 SOME YEARS LATER: David O. Selznick,
Memo from David 0. Selznick
,
Rudy Behlmer, ed., The Viking Press, 1972, p. 96.

262 THEY WOULD SPRING: Parker interview, Columbia University Oral History Research Office
.

262 SHE SAID HAPPILY: Newspaper clipping, April 24, 1937, unidentified source.

263 SHE ALSO LIKED TO PRETEND: Parker interview, Columbia University Oral History Research Office.

263 AT THE OSCAR PRESENTATIONS: Ronald Bowers,
The Selznick Players
, A.S. Barnes and Co., 1976, p. 27.

263 OVER THE YEARS: Author’s interview with Frances Goodrich.

263 HOW DID YOU KNOW
:
New York American
, December 15, 1936.

263 GOODRICH FOUND
:
Author’s interview with Frances Goodrich.

264 SHE WAS GREAT: Author’s interview with Ruth Goetz.

264 ANOTHER SKEPTIC: Author’s interview with Allen Saalburg.

264 HE WOULD BE WITH us: Thomas Guinzburg taped interview with Columbia University Oral History Research Office.

264 DICK MYERS WROTE: Richard E. Myers letter to Alice Lee Myers, January 14, 1937.

265 THEY DECIDED IT WOULD BE: Parker, “Destructive Decoration.”

266 NEAR THE HOUSE: Ibid.

266 WRITER JOSEPH SCHRANK OBSERVED: Author’s interview with Joseph Schrank
.

266 FIFTY-SECOND STREET: Parker, “Destructive Decoration.”

266 SID PERELMAN GAZED: Author’s interview with Allen Saalburg.

267 HE WAS, JOSEPH SCHRANK RECALLED: Author’s interview with Joseph Schrank
.

267 I’M AWFULLY LAZY
:
Dorothy Parker letter to Fred B. Millett, May 27, 1937, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

267 RUTH GOETZ NOTICED: Author’s interview with Ruth Goetz.

267 WHEN THE CAMPBELLS: Ibid
.

268 IT WAS THE WEIRD HOURS: Author’s interview with Roy Eichel.

268 AS MARC CONNELLY REMEMBERED: Author’s interview with Marc Connelly.

268 THROUGHOUT THE VISIT
:
Dorothy Parker letter to Morris Ernst, ca. February/ March 1936, Humanities Research Center, University of Texas.

268 THE OTHER MRS. CAMPBELL: Author’s interview with Marc Connelly.

268 SHE FIRED OURFARMER: Dorothy Parker letter to Alexander Woollcott
,
September 2, 1942, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

268 HORTE FELT: Ibid.

269 IT’S AS HOT AS HELL: Hellman,
An Unfinished Woman,
p. 188.

269 FROM NOW ON: Author’s interview with Ruth Goetz.

269 USUALLY THE GROUP: Ibid.

270 IN APRIL 1938:
Daily Worker
, April 28, 1938, p. 4. The list of signatories supporting the Soviet trial verdict included Nelson Algren, Langston Hughes, Harold Clurman, Lillian Hellman
,
Malcolm Cowley, and Irwin Shaw.

270 IT WAS QUITE BRIEF: Author’s interview with Ring Lardner, Jr.

270 EVERYONE AT THAT TIME: Author’s interview with Budd Schulberg.

271 THE FOLLOWING SIX PIECES OF EVIDENCE : Federal Bureau of Investigation, files.

272 OF THIS NUMBER: The Hollywood Nineteen included writers Bertolt Brecht, Richard Collins, Gordon Kahn, Howard Koch, and Waldo Salt; actor Larry Parks; actor-director Irving Pichel; directors Lewis Milestone and Robert Rossen; along with the Hollywood Ten: writers Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, and Dalton Trumbo, writer-producer Adrian Scott, and directors Herbert Biberman and Edward Dmytryk.

272 DOROTHY LOOKED PUZZLED: Hellman,
An Unfinished Woman
, pp. 190-1.

272 IN 1937 SHE WROTE: Dorothy Parker, “Incredible, Fantastic ... and True,”
New Masses
, November 23, 1937, pp. 15-16.

274 SHE SUSPECTED : Lillian Hellman,
Scoundrel Time
, Little, Brown, 1976 (Bantam edition), p. 41.

274 A MEMBER AT LARGE: U.S. Congress, House Committee on Un-American Activities,
Communist Infiltration
of Hollywood
Motion Picture Industry
, Hearings, Eighty second Congress, Part 4, September 19, 1951. Lillian Hellman was the only one of the five writers named by Martin Berkeley to respond to his charges. She denied knowing him and being present at the meeting.