The Ziegfeld name is back in the news in New York. It is for a small item—that is only important to a few people—the few souls who like going to a movie theater in a cavernous space of more than 1,000 seats. Newspapers and bloggers in New York are probably writing about the Ziegfeld name for one of the last times, and that is sad. It is because the movie theater that was built in Continue Reading →
I was really surprised and honored today to hear from the Guides Association of New York City (GANYC) that my book The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide has been nominated for an Apple Award. I’ve been nominated in the Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Book Writing category. The 2nd annual awards ceremony will be held March 7 at Symphony Space, which is nice, because I can walk to it and won’t need to Continue Reading →
I’m happy to announce I will be signing and selling copies of all 5 of my books: A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York, The Lost Algonquin Round Table: Humor, Fiction, Journalism, Criticism and Poetry From America’s Most Famous Literary Circle, Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide, Dorothy Parker Complete Broadway, 1918-1923, The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide. Do your holiday shopping in one place. Come to the Princeton Club Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
This is a book trailer for my new one, The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide. And since I made it about Jane Grant, Harold Ross, and Alexander Woollcott, I thought I’d post this recipe. It’s from my earlier work, Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide. It’s the recipe Jane Grant used to make her own bathtub gin. The video was made outside their former duplex, the landmark 412 West Forty-seventh Continue Reading →
I was very happy to see Sam Roberts include my new book in his Bookshelf column in the Sunday New York Times. The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide shares space with The Ramones and Weegee, both are favorites of mine. Roberts also wrote about my 2006 book, A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York. Of the new book, he writes: This delightful illustrated reminiscence profiles the full cast of wits who defined cosmopolitan Continue Reading →
Letter from Harold Ross of The New Yorker to Frank Sullivan, both were Vicious Circle members. What I find ironic is now The New Yorker will use this language regularly. He also mentions John O’Hara.
This is some of the research from my new book The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide (Lyons Press).
Now that my book is out, I am looking at what went right and what went wrong with The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide. Today I was in a file of letters, and I came across one that I never got a response to. In 2010, I wrote to the director of the Castleton Free Library, in Castleton, Vermont. This is not far from where Alexander Woollcott and his friends had a vacation house Continue Reading →
Take a video tour of Colts Neck, New Jersey, the birthplace of writer Alexander Woollcott. A founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, Woollcott was a writer, critic, and broadcaster, who also dabbled in acting.