This is a documentary done for the "American Masters" series on PBS. There will be spoilers ahead:
On the face of it, this looks to be another "talking heads" documentary, where people discuss events long gone, trying to give them weight and significance and, truth be told, there is an element of that here. But when three of the most prominent people reminiscing are Marc Connelly, Ruth Gordon and Helen Hayes and they're talking about the likes of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, Harpo Marx, Alexander Woolcott and the other minds and wits gathered around a table at the Algonquin Hotel, at least the stories are likely to be interesting and often amusing.
The interviews are interspersed with film of various of the aforementioned and others, with stills, clippings and drawings of them and the newspapers and magazines in which they appeared and all brought together by the affable narration of Heywood Hale Broun, the son of Heywood Broun, one of the Algonquin regulars.
The documentary covers a period of time from 1919 to 1929, with a bit of spillover on either side of those dates, which explains the title. Between the end of World War One and the Great Crash, there was a party, one which looked as though it would never end, though, of course, parties generally do. A group of fascinating and somewhat desperate people of like minds and in similar professions found each other almost by chance. They wrote plays, novels, screenplays, columns, reviews, made wisecracks until the world began to crack. Then play time ended and most of them moved on to other things. Some to better things, a very few to obscurity.
Among the things which sprang from the lunches at the Algonquin were the New Yorker magazine and various writing collaborations. Some of the best of the Marx Brothers material came from George S. Kaufman's typewriter. That Harpo was part of the anointed and Groucho was not, comments in this documentary notwithstanding, was apparently a sore point for Groucho who, from what I've read on Groucho, felt slighted.
Perhaps the most interesting point, almost a question, made/raised here in this documentary is just what riding on a merry-go-round gained and lost for the various luminaries here. Edna Ferber and Kaufman seemingly managed to keep producing even while having fun. James Thurber, somewhere on the fringes here and mentioned more or less in passing, similarly kept his work going. Others, like Dorothy Parker, slowed down by and by, until the end of the party pushed them elsewhere, such as Hollywood. In any case, the best of their work (and there's quite a lot of that between them) is still known and available, even now, some 80-90+ years later.
This really should be in print and available. Well worth seeing. Recommended.
On the face of it, this looks to be another "talking heads" documentary, where people discuss events long gone, trying to give them weight and significance and, truth be told, there is an element of that here. But when three of the most prominent people reminiscing are Marc Connelly, Ruth Gordon and Helen Hayes and they're talking about the likes of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, Harpo Marx, Alexander Woolcott and the other minds and wits gathered around a table at the Algonquin Hotel, at least the stories are likely to be interesting and often amusing.
The interviews are interspersed with film of various of the aforementioned and others, with stills, clippings and drawings of them and the newspapers and magazines in which they appeared and all brought together by the affable narration of Heywood Hale Broun, the son of Heywood Broun, one of the Algonquin regulars.
The documentary covers a period of time from 1919 to 1929, with a bit of spillover on either side of those dates, which explains the title. Between the end of World War One and the Great Crash, there was a party, one which looked as though it would never end, though, of course, parties generally do. A group of fascinating and somewhat desperate people of like minds and in similar professions found each other almost by chance. They wrote plays, novels, screenplays, columns, reviews, made wisecracks until the world began to crack. Then play time ended and most of them moved on to other things. Some to better things, a very few to obscurity.
Among the things which sprang from the lunches at the Algonquin were the New Yorker magazine and various writing collaborations. Some of the best of the Marx Brothers material came from George S. Kaufman's typewriter. That Harpo was part of the anointed and Groucho was not, comments in this documentary notwithstanding, was apparently a sore point for Groucho who, from what I've read on Groucho, felt slighted.
Perhaps the most interesting point, almost a question, made/raised here in this documentary is just what riding on a merry-go-round gained and lost for the various luminaries here. Edna Ferber and Kaufman seemingly managed to keep producing even while having fun. James Thurber, somewhere on the fringes here and mentioned more or less in passing, similarly kept his work going. Others, like Dorothy Parker, slowed down by and by, until the end of the party pushed them elsewhere, such as Hollywood. In any case, the best of their work (and there's quite a lot of that between them) is still known and available, even now, some 80-90+ years later.
This really should be in print and available. Well worth seeing. Recommended.