Show Life otyle Mit fi4a1t f: alit Ztibunt 1988 Monday Morning—June 27 Page 12 Section A d shines light On Dorothy ' By Jocelyn McClurg The Hartford Courant Conn — During the halcyon literary days of the 1920s Dprothy Parker jauntily wore the label of "America's wittiest woman" Queen of the bon mot the wicked '7itticism the cutting quip Parker held court at the famed Algonquin Round Table and made brilliant conérsation with Robert Benchley Alexander Woollcott and George S Kaufman ' 'Ent beneath the glamour and glibness Parker battled dark demons: She was an alcoholic who attempted shicide four times and lived through two broken marriages and numerous unhappy love affairs The schism between public glory and private hell is at the heart of a new biography Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? by Marion Meade (Villard Books $2250) While the disclosures of Parker's wanton may come as something of a surprise no one was more startled to discover them than the biographer herself Drawn to Parker by her image as "a very strong independent woman a very talented woman" Meade fOund herself "very turned off" when she realized that her subject "was an alcoholic and had all sorts of I I I 4 -- ' - S e I f e ' t I t : ' i 'e"NT' i 000 4 mid-1930- $ doe i k ' ege''' other problems" "There was a time when I disliked 54 said during a recent interview "I have always written about women who were role models very strong admirable women" said 'Meade New York writer and author oî the biography Eleanor of Aqui- N : Nt During the 1920s Dorothy Parker was labeled "America's wittiest woman" She battled demons including alcoholism taine "I had to put those two sides (of Parker) together Your attitude (as a Frank Crowninshield kept an eye on in 1917 he brought her un board In a daring move he dubbed her drama critic when PG Wodehouse took a leave of absence She was 24: the Parker bad-bo- y legend was born She was always one of the boys a woman in a man's world who said exactly what she wanted to say and did just what she wanted to do That included drinking with the rest of the fellas: and as Meade points out in her biography many members of the Round Table were alcoholics Parker learned to drink during Prohibition and both of her husbands were alcoholics Her first husband Edwin Pond Parker II came from a family of clergymen in Hartford (Parker hated Hartford and no love was lost between her and her husband's family) Edwin Parker was of a type Dorothy Parker was drawn to all her life: boyish blonds who were her intellectual inferior "She always wanted too much from men and was consistently disappointed" Meade says "I think she wanted a lot more than they could give her She had dreadful relation her and Wographer) has to be a kind of rtign affection You have to be accepting but you can't dismiss the It person's frailties or faults t8ok me awhile to get to the point where I could feel very accepting and loving of her even things that were really distressing" Ddrothy Parker was born Dorothy Rothschild Aug 22 1893 and was forever annoyed that she came into this world prematurely at the New Jersey shore rather than in her beloved New York City From the beginning she said she was "just a little Jewish girl trying to be cute" IAS an adult Parker portrayed her chilsThood as unhappy and "in fact she interpreted herself as an orphan" Meade says Her mother died when Parker was 4 and a reviled stepmother died when she was 9 And yet Parker had a loving father With whom she exchanged charming letters in verse When she grew up she sold some "very nice light verse" to Vanity Fair and snared a job at its sister publication Vogue where she tried to sneak subversive photo captions ihto print Vanity Fair's editor Parker that she bequeathed her literary estate to the Rev Martin Luther King Jr upon her death June 7 1967 When he died the estate passed to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored prcperty" People It was the NAACP that closed a macabre chapter in Parker's story when the organization recently assumed possession of her ashes In her biography Meade writes that Parker's ashes had been kept in a filing cabinet in the New York law offices of O'Dwyer and Bernstien for more than 20 years where Parker's friend Lillian Hellman had instructed that they be sent after her cremation About a month ago Paul O'Dwyer called a gathering at the Algonquin Hotel to finally determine the disposition of the ashes Meade who attended the meeting said she had a "queer personal reaction" when the NAACP was given Parker's remains (The NAACP says it plans to erect a memorial garden to the writer) "It was as if my person there had And yet Meade who spent nearly seven years gathering personal reminiscences and writing her biography clearly still has those protective instincts She expresses dismay — even irritation — that critics have found Parker's life depressing "I think she had a fabulous life" Meade asserts "She knew everyone: she had a good time She loved to in laugh She wrote a poem which she said 'Three be the things I'll have till I die — laughter and That hope and a sock in the eye' was her approach to life She hoped for the best but really she probably always thought she was going to get the worst like (saying) 'What fresh hell is this?' when the doorbell rang But she put laughter first Parker loved to laugh she had en- joyment for life even when she was crying" Memorable family vacations e her" Meade been taken away and in fact I don't own her" Meade says "After you spend so many years with (a subject) you have the feeling that you're very protective — it's almost like a child You have to let go and you have to realize that she's not or he's not your So devoted to political causes was d t : Meade says) but never house-trainethem she would sweet-tal- k people and then "verbally garrotc- - them behind their backs Parker had "a thumb of the nose (quality)" Meade says "Really for someone who drank a lot she had a lot of energy and a lot of feistiness" Parker's irreverent sense of humor endeared her to friends and readers alike When she remarried Campbell three years after their divorce a guest observed that many of the people at the wedding had not spoken in years "Including the bride and groom" Parker quipped During the heady days of Hollywood in the '30s Campbell and Parker were making up to 435200 a week money she never had seen before or was ever to see again By the s leftist politics had become an passion and during the McCarthy Era she was blacklisted in Hollywood "I applied through the Freedom of Information Act for her FBI records and over a period of four or five years I got some 900 pages" Meade says "And it's still coming" good-lookin- g ships with a lot of men — romantic relationships and sexual relationships — but she had wonderful platonic relationships with Bench ley John O'Hara Scott Fitzgerald" Her second marriage to screenwriter Alan Campbell began promisingly and then succumbed to multiple disasters: They were married and divorced twice But for a while Campbell playing the wife to the famous mate fulfilled all of Parker's needs When they went to Hollywood as a screenwriting team it was Campbell who forced his wife to be productive (Writing was an excruciating process for Parker who produced about 40 short stories during her lifetime but never pulled off the novel she longed to write "Everything that isn't writing is fun" she once said) As the marriage crumbled Parker cruelly taunted Campbell in front of their friends calling him homosexual "She was wonderful and she was perverse" Meade says by way of explaining Parker's public ridicule of her husband She was decidedly eccentric: Parker lavished affection on her many dogs ("They were her babies" By Judy Magid Tribune Lifestyle Writer I talked with someone last week who had just returned from a vacation with his family They had planned a leisurely drive to California stopping to smell the flowers along the way A week's camping in Yosemite National Park would be the highlight "I'll bet you had a wonderful time" I said with a little envy After one night under the stars earlier this year I'm a big camping enthusiast "As a matter of fact it was terrible" he replied "We got as far as Lovelock Nev and the can broke down" Deja vu I've been in Lovelock I was 7 We were there because our car broke down There was only one motel It definitely was not the Hilton My mother made us sleep on top of the bedspreads because she didn't trust the sheets As I think back that whole trip was not the Hilton Being a roadie with Uncle Jake and his cigar and Aunt Dora and her picnic basket should have been enough to cure me of car travel for life And that's before the car broke down But no Every summer I watch people get ready to go on vacation by car and I get the urge to go too My family and I have the routine down pat " and we'll have such a good time all of us driving down the open road" I say can see the country" I explained "Another is that we can keep to our own time schedule If we want to stop to fish we can If we see a nice place to stay along the road we can do that too" We saw many wonders There was the world's largest Western cedar tree ("Boy would the dogs enjoy this") We traveled many roads ("I know this is the highest road in the country That's why I'm carsick") Mostly I think we have pleasant memories of those trips And when two of my daughters the eldest and the youngest made a road trip last week I wished I could have gone too When they got home I greeted them with hugs kisses ("We were only gone five days Mom") and a zillion questions "Where did you stop? Did you have fun on the road? Was the car OK?" I had to wait for answers until they came out of the bathroom They took a long time I suppose that should have been a clue "We drove straight through Mom With the new freeways you have to make a big effort to stop anywhere" the eldest explained "She only stopped twice each way But there was nothing to see anyway" the other said Progress is progress I guess "And the car? Any problems?" "Funny you should ask I had to buy a new battery" At least they made it past Judy Magid "Mom just doesn't understand the situation" one daughter shrugs "When you get older you forget things" says another "Tell me again about traveling by committee" someone else says OK So I admit that when I see a car zip by me on the freeway loaded with vacation equipment suitcases and little children it makes me laugh I can't help it I remember the trip we took where 20 miles from home the was carsick and his 4- sister had to go to the bathyear-ol- d room now (Their father was all for returning home immedi tely Actually we should have Ile left his clothes there) Through the years our car trips became easier because our goals were better defined My idea was that the vacation started not when we got to our ultimate destination but when we sat down in the car and put on our seat belts "One reason we're driving is so we ( SUMMER 0 0 0: ( 0 i 11 n Now at Spa Fitness Center for a short time only 2 can join for the price of 1 or get 50 offal! regular Facilities for Men & Women Nutritional Guidance Aerobics & Exercise Classes : Modem Conditioning Equipment Individual Lockers r 'Private Showers Steam Room -Soothing Sauna Pool Swimming Relaxing Whirlpool :: Olympic Free Weights And so much more! 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