The Dorothy Parker Society gathered again to mark the anniversary of Mrs. Parker’s death. About a dozen DPSNY members enjoyed discount cocktails at the Dead Poet, 450 Amsterdam Avenue.
As always, the group was diverse and fun to socialize with. As usual, we didn’t have any minutes to read, dues to collect, reports to read, or any parlimentary procedures. We were lucky to meet Glenn Young, publisher of Applause Books. He brought along a color proof of the upcoming book Al Hirschfeld’s Speakeasies of 1932. Glenn showed us this gorgeous new book that every Parker fan will want to own. It is packed with dozens and dozens of drawings of speakeasies, bartenders, and other New York icons of the 1930s. The forward is by Pete Hamill. It will be an instant classic and we can’t wait to get this in August!
The prize for the member who traveled the greatest distance is Niki Lee, from Baltimore. She is the singer-songwriter who put together her own Parker show, here lies dorothy parker; she wrote Mrs. Parker’s diary and constructed a story as to how it’s come into her possession. (The site has samples of her music and photos). We hope to get Niki to NYC to perform her show for us.
The other guests that turned out were all fabulous Parker fans. We made up or minds for Parkerfest 2003 (Aug. 22-24) that we’ll have on the site. The bar bills weren’t as epic as in year’s past, but we did toast Mrs. Parker and the anniversary of her death (June 7, 1967). The festivities moved from one extreme to the other, as some of cabbed down to Coyote Ugly for more mixed drinks and country western music.
