Line #33 Creator/DorothyParker


1	[[quoteright:271:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DorothyParker_3915.jpg]]
2
3	->''"You can drag a horticulture, but you can't make her think."''
4	-->-- '''Dorothy Parker''', after being asked to use "horticulture" in a sentence.
5
6	Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, [[{{Review}} critic]], and satirist, known for her [[DeadpanSnarker biting wit]]. Her written works specialized in cynicism related to love and romance, how they don't seem to work in practice as they do in idealistic works, and how even people who know this still want love and romance. Some of her shorter works are flat-out memorized in certain circles, and her influence remains in the PopCulturalOsmosis for tropes about non-ideal love.
7
8	She also collaborated with various people on occasional plays and screenplays, most often her husband, Alan Campbell (with whom she would have a quite tempestuous relationship until his death in 1963), sharing an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for the screenplay of the original ''Film/{{A Star Is Born\|1937}}''. She also co-wrote the screenplay to the Creator/AlfredHitchcock film ''Film/{{Saboteur}}''.
9
10
11	A staunch believer in left-wing politics and social justice causes, Parker's screenwriter career was effectively ended when her political views got her placed on UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist in 1950. While Parker had avoided ending up on the list during the 1940s, she had been a frequent outspoken critic of the House Committee on Un-American Activities for their persecution of suspected Communists throughout the decade, and she evidently knew that it was really only a matter of time before she would be picked as a target by them. The event ultimately didn't do anything to dissuade her from her activism and dedication to left-wing causes; in fact, following her death, her will bequeathed most of her fortune and entire estate to UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr despite never having met him in person. (To this day, the rights to her works still under copyright are held by the NAACP, to which they went after Dr. King's assassination.)
12
13	!!Works by Dorothy Parker with pages:
14	* "Literature/BigBlonde"
15
16	----
17	!!Works by Dorothy Parker provide examples of:
18	%%
19	%%
20	%% Zero-Context Examples are not allowed on this wiki. All such entries have been commented out. Please add context to them before uncommenting them.
21	%%
22	%%
23
24	* AndImTheQueenOfSheba:
25	-->Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,\
26	A medley of extemporanea,\
27	And love is a thing that can never go wrong,\
28	And I am Marie of Romania.
29	** Also in a review of Aimee Semple [=McPherson's=] rather self-aggrandizing autobiography:
30	--->It may be that this autobiography is set down in sincerity, frankness, and simple effort. It may be, too, that the Art/StatueOfLiberty is situated in Lake Ontario.
31	* ApplianceDefenestration: From a review of ''Beauty and the Beast'' by Kathleen Norris: "I wish you could have heard that pretty crash ''Beauty and the Beast'' made when, with one sweeping, liquid gesture, I tossed it out of my twelfth-story window."
32	* BabyTalk: Reviewing ''[[Literature/WinnieThePooh The House at Pooh Corner]]'' under the ''nom de plume'' "Constant Reader":
33	-->It is that word "hummy," my darlings, that marks the first place in ''The House at Pooh Corner'' at which Tonstant Weader Fwowed up.
34	* BaitAndSwitchComment: Regarding ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'': "This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."
35	* ButLiquorIsQuicker: One of her famous quotes: "One more drink and I'd have been under the host."
36	* CausticCritic: She was famous for this. In 1920, she was fired from ''Vanity Fair'', because her savage theater reviews offended powerful producers too often.
37	* DullSurprise: Described Creator/KatharineHepburn's performance in an early role, the notorious flop ''The Lake'', as having "run the gamut of emotions from A to B".
38	* KeepTheHomeFiresBurning: The poem "Penelope", a tribute to [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus's wife]].
39	* PungeonMaster: She was ''absolutely'' one of these. The "horticulture" page quote is a good example.
40	* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: "The Choice" is a poem about a woman who has a choice between a man who offers her lands and fine things and a man who charms her with his singing alone. She chooses the latter without a second thought -- and then wonders afterward if there's something wrong with her head.
41	* RussianReversal: A possibly apocryphal story has it that her editor was bugging her for work while she was on her honeymoon. After yet another telegram, she sent a reply.
42	-->'''Dorothy:''' TOO FUCKING BUSY. AND VICE VERSA.

Context Creator / DorothyParker