The Algonquin Wits [Hardcover]

Robert E. Drennan (Editor), Heywood Hale Broun (Introduction)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Replica Books (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735101167
• ISBN-13: 978-0735101166
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,288,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what i expected, January 9, 2007

By 

jachorn (Venice, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Algonquin Wits: Bon Mots, Wisecracks, Epigrams and Gags (Paperback)

I was hoping for something a little more substantial from the description of this book, which turned out to be a slim volume at best. I was searching for some compendium of the Algonquin wits, and this was I'm afraid, about it! It is not without some merit, however dissappointing the selections are (small snippets - more anecdotal than anything else - representing the range of most of the members of the Round Table). It does offer a decent over-view of the prime members of the club with some literary tastes of their various and varying works. The playwrights are not that well represented, but some of the lesser know news reporters are. An appetizer waiting for a delicious feast to be compiled someday.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully witty!, November 27, 2008

By 

Keith Connes (Goleta, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Algonquin Wits: Bon Mots, Wisecracks, Epigrams and Gags (Paperback)

If you are acquainted with the writings and personalities of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woolcott and other distinguished wits who lunched in the '30s and early '40s at their special table in New York's Algonquin Hotel, you will especially relish this small but golden collection of their sophisticated one-liners - mostly barbed put-downs. But even if those names are unfamiliar to you, I think you'll enjoy this book if you appreciate sophisticated repartee. Incidentally, one member of the select group was Harpo Marx, who never uttered a word while performing as the zaniest of the Marx Brothers. A couple of Harpo's sallies are included in this delightful compilation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Algonquin Wits, August 29, 2011

By 

Virginia Kersey (DANVILLE, CA, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Algonquin Wits: Bon Mots, Wisecracks, Epigrams and Gags (Paperback)

The Algonquin Wits: Bon Mots, Wisecracks, Epigrams and GagsI have had a copy of this book for many, may years and bought more for friends...We sit and read excerpts and howl...what a classic group of wits all of the table occupants were. Dorothy Parker was the best of all.