The Algonquin Round Table

"Silly of me to blame it on dates, but so it happened to be. Dammit, it was the Twenties, and we had to be smarty." — Dorothy Parker

Welcome to the online history of the Round Table

The Algonquin Round Table was a group of thirty writers, editors, actors, and publicists that met on a regular basis at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. The group began lunching together in June 1919 and continued on a regular basis for about eight years. There has never been another group quite like them in American popular culture or entertainment.

The group contributed to hit Broadway plays, bestselling books, and popular newspaper columns. Their impact is still felt today. This site is a testament to that. Many today have heard of the core group—Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, Dorothy Parker, and Alexander Woollcott—however, there were about thirty members of the Round Table. You will learn more about the entire group here, including writers Jane Grant and Margaret Leech, actresses Margalo Gillmore and Peggy Wood, screenwriters Herman Mankiewicz and Laurence Stallings, and composer Deems Taylor.

A lot of the material was collected for the book The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide (Lyons Press, December 2014), by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick. The foreword is by Anthony Melchiorri, creator and host of "Hotel Impossible" on the Travel Channel, and former general manager of the Algonquin Hotel. If you want to contribute or ask questions, please contact the table.

About this site: AlgonquinRoundTable.org is written and produced by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, author of The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide, A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York, and Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide. He is the editor of Dorothy Parker Complete Broadway, 1918-1923 and co-editor of The Lost Algonquin Round Table. He is the president of the Dorothy Parker Society. Since 1999 he has led walking tours from the Algonquin Hotel.

AlgonquinRoundTable.org is supported by the ads you see on the site. It is not affiliated with the Algonquin Hotel.