Happy Birthday, Dorothy Parker. Parker is best known for her writing and her sharp wit. I think I probably became a fan of Parker’s back when I learned that her leftist politics caused her to be blacklisted; she had to appear before the House on Un-American Activities in the 1950s.
Before moving to Hollywood to become a screenwriter, Parker was a Broadway critic for the New Yorker. The original A Star is Born is one of her most famous screenplays, which was nominated for an Academy Award. She was also a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. She once described her early writing as, “following in the exquisite footsteps of Edna St. Vincent Millay, unhappily in my own horrible sneakers.”
As with many witty talented people, Parker’s personal life was fraught with struggles, not the least of which were three marriages and being blacklisted–not a small wonder she had a problem with the drink. Another reason why TSM wanted to celebrate Parker was for her commitment to social justice. Parker helped found the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League in 1936 and served as chair of the Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue Committee. While Hollywood and others have tried to bury the ugly history of how in 1936 Third Reich politics anti-semitism were en vogue, it was brave people like Parker that put a spotlight on this nastiness.
Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.–Dorothy Parker