Don’t Miss Magazine

There is a Dorothy Parker speech reprinted in the current issue of Written By magazine.

Dorothy Parker is together with John Irving this month. How’d that happen? Scour the newsstands for the February 2000 issue of Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild of America. There is a two-page spread that reprints Mrs. Parker’s 1941 speech as a labor organizer in Hollywood. Many don’t know she was a tireless supporter of unionized workers, and was a founding member of the Screen Writers Guild. She helped write the contract that broke screenwriters out of the studio system that abused their talents and took advantage of them. She said, “I think that when fellow human beings stand firm together for a common cause, they have taken the greatest stride toward civilization. And our common cause is a pretty darn good one. It’s the assertion of our decent and honorable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of bread!”

Written By isn’t easy to locate, I found my copy at Tower Books, so look on the Guild web site, www.wga.org for a list of bookshops that carry it. It is a good issue, you also get great interviews with Irving (my favorite contemporary writer) and filmmaker Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley). Special thanks to Caro for the tip!

Waltz Music on Web

There is also a Parker music site too that is worth a visit.
Music from The Waltz is musical theater composer Darin Patrick Goulet’s MP3 site that features his original music from his 1998 production. The show is based on and adapted from stories and poems by Mrs. Parker. Visit the site to learn more, and to hear three excellent songs that use her lyrics. Music is for sale too. We need more new Parker sites like this!