The group had its own poker club, the Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club, which met at the hotel on Saturday nights. The group was devoted to games, including cribbage and poker. In addition to the daily luncheons, members of the Round Table worked and associated with each other almost constantly.

Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist.

Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter.

Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S.

Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross).

Stephen Courtleigh Broadway, radio and film actor.

Norman Bel Geddes, stage and industrial designer.

Membership A 1923 group caricature of the Round Table by Bill BreckĬharter members of the Round Table included:

Finally, they became 'The Vicious Circle' although 'The Round Table' gained wide currency after a caricature by cartoonist Edmund Duffy of the Brooklyn Eagle portrayed the group sitting at a round table and wearing armor. After being assigned a waiter named Luigi, the group re-christened itself 'Luigi Board'. Initially the group called itself 'The Board' and the luncheons 'Board meetings'. As they increased in number, Algonquin manager Frank Case moved them to the Rose Room and a round table. The group first gathered in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (later called the Oak Room) at a long rectangular table. Woollcott's enjoyment of the joke and the success of the event prompted Toohey to suggest that the group in attendance meet at the Algonquin each day for lunch. Instead, Toohey used the occasion to poke fun at Woollcott on a number of fronts. Toohey, annoyed at The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott for refusing to plug one of Toohey's clients ( Eugene O'Neill) in his column, organized a luncheon supposedly to welcome Woollcott back from World War I, where he had been a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. The group that would become the Round Table began meeting in June 1919 as the result of a practical joke carried out by theatrical press agent John Peter Toohey. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution. In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations, both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.

At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.ĭaily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of 'The Vicious Circle', as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. 1919: ( standing, left to right) Art Samuels and Harpo Marx ( sitting) Charles MacArthur, Dorothy Parker, and Alexander Woollcott Members and associates of the Algonquin Round Table ca. Group of actors, critics, wits, and writers

Childrens round end tables