Saturday, November 12, 2011

Benchley's "Of All Things" Available Free Online

Thank you, Chris Morgan of the Boston, "We've Come for the Davenport" Chapter of the Robert Benchley Society for alerting us that the complete text and illustrations of Benchley's 1921 book Of All Things was, last month, made available on Project Gutenberg. This is the second Benchley book, after Love Conquers All, to be scanned and uploaded to Project Gutenberg which make books in the public domain available free online.

Of All Things and Love Conquers All are also now available on the Robert Benchley Society website at http://www.robertbenchley.org/sob/index.htm

Sunday Sudoku

Complete the grid so that each row, column, and 3-by-3 framed block contains the letters P A R K B E N C H (only once) RATED DIFFICULT

Photo Captioning Contest at RBS Annual Gathering

WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 12 -- Last evening the Eighth Annual International Gathering of the Robert Benchley Society was kicked off in Washington, D.C. In keeping with the group's tradition, the first evening's dinner was a casual affair. This time it was held at Buca di Beppo in the "Pope Room" where Benchleyites gathered at a round table with a bust of the Pope in the center.
Above and below -- Robert Benchley Society Annual Gathering Friday Dinner.
For entertainment the group competed in writing captions to go along with still photos from La Fea Más Bella, a Mexican telenovela (a sort of "soap opera").

Winning caption: "You just ate my hearing aid." By Jean Keleher of the Washington, D.C. "Lost Locomotive" Chapter.
Winning caption: "Why, yes, I am the minister of silly mustaches." By Matthew Hahn of the Washington, D.C. "Lost Locomotive" Chapter.
Winning caption: "Man, she really let that one rip." By Tim French, member at large from Alabama.
Winning caption: "I don't know! Who should be American idol?" By Christine McCarthy of the Boston "We've Come for the Davenport" Chapter.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

New York City Benchley-Parker Round-up

David Trumbull, chairman of the Robert Benchley Society, and Kevin Fitzpatrick, president of the New York City "Fascinating Crimes" Chapter of the RBS and president of the Dorothy Parker Society plan to meet tomorrow. Wednesday, November 3rd, at 5:15 p.m. for drinks at the Lambs Club / Chatwal Hotel (http://www.thelambsclub.com/), 132 West 44th Street (btwn 6th Ave and Broadway) New York, N.Y. 10036 and welcome Benchley and Parker fans in Midtown / Theatre District to join them for a brief, informal Robert Benchley Round-up.

A History of the Lambs Club

Before becoming The Chatwal New York and The Lambs Club Restaurant and Bar, this iconic Stanford White-designed building was the epicenter of American for the 20th century. The building originally opened in 1905 as home to the prestigious Lambs, America's first professional theatrical club. Organized in 1874 by a group of actors and enthusiasts, The Lambs occupied a series of rented quarters before settling at 44th Street. The American club took their name from a similar group in London, which flourished from 1869-1879, in the name of drama critic and essayist Charles Lamb.

Stanford White, a partner at prominent architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, was the original architect of The Lambs clubhouse. His design principles embodied the "American Renaissance," as seen in his work on summer homes for the Astor and Vanderbilt families and such formidable structures as The Washington Square Arch, Madison Square Garden and the New York Herald Building. For The Lambs, he designed a six-story, neo-Georgian brick building featuring a facade ornamented with ram heads. A boisterous grill room and billiard room were on the first floor, a banquet hall on the second floor and a theater on the third floor. The top floors provided space for offices and sleeping quarters, often utilized by members traveling to The Great White Way from Hollywood. The size of the building was doubled in 1915 when an addition was constructed on the west end of the building, a virtual copy of the original. In 1974, the building was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks and Preservation Commission.

Since the club's founding, there have been more than 6,000 Lambs, with an elite roster reading like a Who's Who of American theater and film: Maurice, Lionel and John Barrymore, Irving Berlin, Cecil B. DeMille, David Belasco, Charlie Chaplin, George M. Cohan, Douglas Fairbanks, John Wayne, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Spencer Tracy and Fred Astaire, who was famously quoted as stating, "When I was made a Lamb, I felt I had been knighted."

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Sunday Sudoku

Complete the grid so that each row, column, and 3-by-3 framed block contains the letters P A R K B E N C H (only once) RATED DIFFICULT

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Mark Russell Confirmed to Attend RBS 8th International Annual Gathering

The Robert Benchley Society is pleased to announce that pianist and humorist Mark Russell, 2011 celebrity judge of the Robert Benchley Society Annual Award for Humor, will be attending the RBS Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday, November 12th. The dinner will be the highlight of the Eighth Annual Gathering of the Robert Benchley Society will be Friday through Sunday, November 11-13, 2011, in Washington, D.C.

At the Awards Dinner we'll be giving out two 1st Place Robert Benchley Society Awards for Humor. Tim French of Midway, Alabama will be presented with the 2011 Robert Benchley Award for Humor for his essay The Old Man and the Leaf Blower. Mike Tuck of Eden Prairie, Minn., will be awarded 2010 Robert Benchley humor prize for his essay Story Time with the Children.

http://www.robertbenchley.org/AG2011/registration.htm.

Robert Benchley Society

For more information about the Robert Benchley Society, local chapters near you, our annual Award for Humor, and our Annual Gathering, visit The RBS Website