Two Wheels of Hard-Living Fun for Charlie Ahearn

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #2 Name: Charles Ahearn Act: Cyclist Born: 5 April 1886 Died: 26 April 1940 Charles Ahearn was “The Racing Man” – a comedian on a bike. His fame took him to play London’s Hippodrome in 1909, where “the smartest and most amusing wheel acts America has ever sent us.” He returned to New York and took out a full-page ad in Variety to hail his triumph. Ahearn appeared with Anna Held at Continue Reading →

April is Algonquin Round Table Month at the New York Public Library

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

I am really pleased to announce the New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan Branch is going to be celebrating the Algonquin Round Table in April during its popular Story Time for Grown-Ups series. The location is 455 Fifth Avenue, corner of 40th Street. I am going to be giving a free talk (and book signing) about the Vicious Circle on Thursday, April 16, at the same library, and these readings make the whole month more special. Continue Reading →

Condé Nast in Life and Death

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Condé Nast

Here is Condé Nast himself, the man who made Vogue & Vanity Fair a powerhouse before World War I. I’m talking about him Thursday, March 26, at the Drama Book Shop during Dorothy Parker Night.

Last summer when I was at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne–paying my respects to Algonquin Round Table members Heywood Broun and Deems Taylor–I stopped by Condé Nast’s grave. He’s buried beside his family in a simple plot, no ostentation at all. I also wrote about him for the Huffington Post and how his magazines launched Dorothy Parker’s career.

Many of the Vicious Circle collected paychecks from Nast, who I find was one of the most interesting men of Jazz Age Manhattan.

Don’t Try and Get One Over On Nettie Kelley Adams

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #1 Name: Nettie Kelley Adams Act: Singer Born: 28 Feb 1887 Died: 8 July 1934 It is appropriate that the first name to be added to the Kensico Vaudeville Project is a female singer, since women were so vital to the success of vaudeville. This is one of the graves in the National Vaudeville Association (N.V.A.) burial grounds. Nettie Adams was a star vocalist at the turn of the century. In 1901 Continue Reading →

1927 Heywood Broun Letter

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

In 1927 Heywood Broun was among the highest-paid columnists in the city. His column, “It Seems to Me” in the World ran opposite Franklin P. Adams’ “The Conning Tower” on the “Opposite Editorial” page. Broun ran afoul of World publisher Ralph Pulitzer for repeatedly writing about the Sacco-Vanzetti case. The breaking point came when Pulitzer cancelled Broun’s column and suspended him. Broun subsequently wrote to Herbert Bayard Swope, who not only was the World’s colorful Continue Reading →

New Focus on the Site

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

As I work on my next book project, I’m going to be updating my site more often and including new blog posts. The Kensico Vaudeville Project is one of them, but there will be other writing projects and walking tour events listed as well. The focus of my site, just as my books, is generally New York history. I have a strong tie to it through my five books, as well as the walking tours Continue Reading →

The Kensico Vaudeville Project Launches

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Project Updates and Biographies are posted here. Twenty-eight miles north of Forty-second Street is Kensico Cemetery. Interred there are hundreds—perhaps more than a thousand—stage performers and associates. These men and women were onstage in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. I stumbled across perhaps three hundred old vaudeville entertainers in a little-known plot, long forgotten about, laid out in neat rows in the historic cemetery. The Kensico Vaudeville Project will tell some of their stories. Continue Reading →

Rare 1952 Radio Show From Algonquin Hotel Found

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

While researching my book The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide, I uncovered a lost 1952 radio show recorded inside the Algonquin Hotel, The Tex and Jinx Show. Among the guests are owner Ben Bodne, Broadway librettist Alan Jay Lerner, and screenwriter-author Anita Loos. It’s an amazing time capsule of the hotel, at a time when Harry S. Truman was in the White House, a gallon of gas cost a quarter, and the Continue Reading →

TV Interview Tapes at Algonquin Hotel

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

I had the pleasure to be interviewed by reporter Andrew Whitman, the anchor and senior political correspondent for RNN FiOS1. We didn’t talk politics, just the legacy of the Algonquin Round Table. It was perfect to sit at the Round Table and talk about The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide. The interview aired last night on the Regional News Network in the tri-state area on the Richard French Live show. Thanks to Continue Reading →

Don’t Forget Jane Grant When Worshiping The New Yorker