What a journey I’ve been on!
I wanted to post this picture of Dorothy Parker from the New York Public Library. And it led me down a path that ended in the discovery of a long-lost and very famous relation!
NYPL
The metadata says, “Dorothy Parker in backyard of residence at 412 West 47th Street, New York City.” That’s some backyard!
I was curious if the place still exists and it turns out it does! It’s in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. You have to hand it to New Yorkers. They’re good at making things memorable.
The origins of this name are obscure but the Internet’s favorite explanation is that two policemen were patrolling the streets of a rough area, crowded with tenements. The rookie cop surveyed the place and said, “This place is hell itself.”
“Hell’s got a mild climate,” his partner said. “This is hell’s kitchen.”
Well anyway. The building was built in 1901 and doesn’t look so bad, does it?
412 West 47th Street
Dorothy Parker never lived there. She spent copious amounts of time there drinking and talking with the residents of the apartment she affectionately(?) called “Wit’s End.”
Those residents were Harold Ross and Jane Grant, and Alexander Woollcott. Their names may be familiar to you as the founders of The New Yorker.
Dorothy Parker helped to edit early editions of the magazine. This is the first cover of The New Yorker.
wikimedia
I liked the fellow on the cover but I nearly fainted when I investigated and learned his name is Eustace Tilley! It all came together then. He looks exactly like the men in my family, right down to the top hat and monocle. Our family reunions are something else, let me tell you.
You know writing true stories, I was bound to stumble on one of my ancestors at some point. I figured it would be some ornery fellow who was part of a shoot-out at the O.K. Corral or something of that kind, but turns out Uncle Eustace was a cosmopolitan male model.
Check out this picture of Hell’s Kitchen taken by Jacob Riis in 1890.
ephemeralnewyork
I imagine our modern way of clearing and leveling the ground before building anything on it would’ve struck the denizens of Hell’s Kitchen as something only a sissy would do.
old spirituals 
uncle eustace 😂
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Dorothy Parker was precious in many ways. There is a photo of her on commons.wikipedia.org that appears to have been taken at the same time as the New York Public Library file photo. I base that on her attire. It is exactly the same in both photos.
In the photo on wikipedia.org she is with the other members of the Algonquin Round Table: Art Samuels, Charlie MacArthur, Harpo Marx, Dorothy Parker and Alexander Woollcott.
That Harpo Marx was among the group is surprising, but Marx was a very refined man, despite leaving school in after failing the second time to pass second grade. (Today he likely would be classified as having a learning disorder.) He was not mute, though many fans believed he was because he never spoke in any of his films. Harpo taught himself to play by emulating a harp-playing angel in a picture he saw in a five-and-dime store. Initially, he could not read music; he eventually did learned. Yet he never played the harp in the proper manner; he derived his own way to tune his harp using less tension.
Harpo’s association in the Algonquin Round Table was due to his closed friendship with Alexander Woolcott, the theatre critic. Marx once said about his involvement in the Algonquin Round Table, “. . . his main contribution was to be the audience for the quips of other members.”
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That’s very interesting indeed. what is a closed friendship?
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“Closed relationship” is when the commenter creates a typo. It should be “close.”
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😂😂 sorry! I really thought that was one of those curiosities you sometimes bring us from your wishing pool of knowledge!
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I should be the one apologizing. Sometimes my dexterity and my brain do not work in sync.
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I can just imagine the family reunions!!! At least you haven’t found a cold case involving family!!! That magazine cover reminds me of a Thin Man movie where Nick Charles,(William Powell), and his wife, ( Myrna Loy), are visiting her wealthy family. The family is full of such interesting people.
Dorothy Parker is lovely. The property at that address is pretty good for being well over one hundred years old. The bars on the windows, though, indicate caution in that neighborhood.
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Do you know, as far as family goes, Dave Edwards looks eerily similar to how one of my cousins looked when he was younger. Even he thinks so! And he’s from Kentucky. At one time, Dave lived very close to where he grew up.
It’s funny I got caught up in Hell’s Kitchen and the New Yorker but before that had planned to post the picture on its own. She’s got such a big reputation yet how slight and refined she looked! The stockings are very 1920s.
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