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The Algonquin Hotel

“When I was growing up, I had three wishes – I wanted to be a Lindbergh-type hero, learn Chinese and become a member of the Algonquin Round Table.”

-- President John F. Kennedy

Staying at the Algonquin was a time-traveling experience. When the Uber pulled up, it wasn't an Uber SUV anymore. It was a yellow-taxi cab from the 1920s and 30s. As I stepped out from under the iconic green awning and into the main dining room and bar, it wasn't 9:00 am. It was lunchtime. And, I was not Hallie from the 21st century. I was Hallie the actress, poet, short-story writer, or columnist. I was whatever I wanted to be because I was at the Algonquin. 

THE VICIOUS CIRCLE

The Algonquin Roundtable wasn't always The Algonquin Roundtable. Like a lot of things that originated around the 1920s, it began as a practical joke carried out by press agent John Peter Toohey. It's 1919, and Toohey is annoyed at New York Times columnist, Alexander Woollcott for refusing to write about one of his clients (Eugene O'Neill). So, Toohey arranges a "luncheon" to welcome Woollcott back from WWI where he was a correspondent for the Stars and Stripes (yep, that's the real name). This was no "welcome back to the States" lunch. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to make jokes about Woollcott, who enjoyed the joke and the lunch so much that Toohey considered the event a success. The group met again, and again, and thus, the Algonquin Round Table was born. The Algonquin Hotel, where the group met between 1919 and 1929, is the oldest hotel in New York City. I had the immense opportunity to be a small part of its long history this summer. 

"The wattage of ribaldry and verbal dexterity around the table was enough to electrify all of Manhattan." -- By Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, Opinions contributor for the New York Times

When they weren't at lunch, members of the group worked together outside of Restuarant Row in New York City. They wrote together, talked together, and played games together. Their particular favorites were poker and cribbage; however, they often played charades right there in the restaurant which the group simply called "The Game." Also, they made up a game of their own. Straightforward as ever, they called it the "I can give you a sentence" game, which spawned Dorothy Parker's famous one-liner using the word horticulture: "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think." The group was founded on a practical joke, and that never stopped. Often the group's jokes on one another were long and elaborate including one where the members tampered with a prized portrait of Woollcott. They made copies of the portrait but changed a little something every time they secretly swapped it out. They would ask Woollcott, "What on earth is wrong with your portrait?" until Woollcott just went absolutely crazy. Eventually, they returned the original. 

The group wasn't all fun and games, though. It was formed during an extremely transitional time for writing, acting, politics, language, and even existance. In a post-World War society, the group's witticisms weren't the surface-level, catch-phrase conversations they seemed to be. Instead, they were changing the trajectory of writing not just as a profession but as an identity. What does it mean to be a writer in a post-war world? What does it mean to "live" and "love"? Where is the morality in writing or acting or, simply, existing? What do I mean to society? What does it mean to be American? Pull up a chair at the Round Table. You'll find out. 

THE NAME

At first, the group gathered in the Algonquin Pergola Room at a long, rectangular table. When the group grew, they were moved to a large, round table in the hotel's Rose Room by the manager Frank Case. Originally, they called themselves "The Board," and their daily luncheons were "Board meetings." However, when a new server named Luigi was assigned to The Board, they changed their name to the "Luigi Board." Finally, they officially re-christened themselves "The Vicious Circle." "The Round Table" is the group's widely circulated name because of cartoonist, Edmund Duffy's caricature published in the Brooklyn Eagle of the group around their large, round table wearing suits of armor. 

MEET THE ALGONKS: key members

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While the famous Round Table was closed, here is a picture of me standing at a table that is round in the Algonquin Hotel's restaurant. That was certainly enough for me to be star-struck. I realized that I, too, struggle to feel relevant as a writer. I am constantly trying to find my specific and unique writing persona and voice. While I am not a serviceman that just came back from the trenches in Europe, I do know what it feels like to want to contribute meaningful writing so badly. I, too, get caught in the vicious circle that most writers get dragged into: write, edit, write, edit, write, edit. But it's the Vicious Circle that I want to be a part of. Hopefully, somewhere in there, I can produce something meaningful and relevant. It is in this hope that I could feel Parker, Woollcott, Broun, Mankiewicz, and Benchley sitting with me at the Algonquin. 



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