Jazz Age icon Dorothy Parker receives headstone 50 years after death

Jazz Age icon Dorothy Parker FINALLY receives headstone 50 years after her death: Fans pour gin on her grave after bizarre journey that saw her remains left in a FILING CABINET for 15 years

• Although the literary icon’s ashes were buried in 2020 at Woodlawn Cemetery, Parker didn’t receive an official tombstone until Monday
• The ceremony featured a jazz band and readings from Parker’s work, as attendees poured masses of gin on her grave
• Parker, who died in 1967, was initially scheduled a proper burial on her birthday Sunday
• Due to inclement weather brought on by Hurricane Henri, organizers were forced to postpone the event for one day
• Parker left the majority of her estate to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, with it passing onto to his organization, the NAACP after he was assassinated
• Her will left no instructions regarding her ashes, so they remained in a Westchester crematory for six years
• They were later transferred to the Manhattan office of her lawyer, languishing in a filing cabinet for an additional 15 years

Fifty years after her death, famed Jazz Age poet Dorothy Parker (pictured) received an official headstone Monday

Fifty years after her death, famed Jazz Age poetess Dorothy Parker received an official headstone Monday, after her remains were left at a crematorium then dumped in a filing cabinet for 15 years.

Although the literary icon’s ashes were buried last year at Woodlawn Cemetery, Parker didn’t receive an official tombstone until yesterday, in a ceremony that featured a jazz band and readings from her work, as attendees poured masses of gin on her grave. 

Parker was a fan of a gin martini. 

‘This is finally her homecoming to her beloved New York City,’ said Kevin Fitzpatrick, president of the Dorothy Parker Society, a non-profit promoting works of the Algonquin Hotel’s famed Round Table of authors, humorists and actors. 

Parker, who died of a heart attack in 1967, left the majority of her estate to Martin Luther King Jr. It was supposed  to pass on to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after he died. King was assassinated in 1968. 

Although the literary icon’s ashes were buried last year at Woodlawn Cemetery, Parker didn’t receive an official tombstone until Monday

Because Parker’s will left no instruction regarding her ashes, they remained in a Westchester crematory for six years before being transferred to the Manhattan office of her lawyer, languishing in a filing cabinet for an additional 15 years

 Because Parker did not leave instructions regarding her ashes, they remained in a Westchester crematory for six years before being transferred to the Manhattan office of her lawyer, where the languished in a filing cabinet for an additional 15 years.    

Parker was born to a Jewish father and Scottish-American mother in 1893 at her family’s summer home in New Jersey. Her mother died just before her fifth birthday; her father died in 1913. 

She supported herself as a dancing school pianist shortly before entering the world of New York magazine publishing.

Parker’s fierce wit immediately earned her notoriety among her colleagues; her first break came when she sent a poem to Vanity Fair magazine editor Frank Crowninshield. 

American writer Dorothy Parker reviews a draft copy of a manuscript at her home

Parker (left) is pictured at a restaurant with her then-husband, Alan Campbell

It didn’t take long for Parker to climb through the ranks of the literary realm, progressing from caption writer at Vogue to staff writer at Vanity Fair, later becoming the publication’s drama critic.

The legendary wit that earned Parker praise among her peers became her downfall. 

She was eventually fired from Vanity Fair after making a joke at the expense of actress Billie Burke, who also happened to be the wife of one of the magazine’s biggest advertisers.

But that minor setback didn’t deter Parker.

It didn’t take long for Parker to climb the ranks within the literary realm, progressing from caption writer at Vogue to staff writer at Vanity Fair, and later becoming the publication’s drama critic

Parker went on to publish around 300 poems and free verses in various magazines, later publishing her first volume of poetry, ‘Enough Rope,’ in 1926

Parker eventually earned a coveted spot in the literary luncheon club known as the ‘Algonquin Round Table.’ regulars included Fritz Foord, Wolcott Gibbs, Frank Case and Dorothy Parker (seated left to right) and Alan Campbell, St. Clair McKelway, Russell Maloney and James Thurber (standing left to right)

She would go on to publish around 300 poems and free verses in various magazines, later publishing her first volume of poetry, ‘Enough Rope,’ in 1926. It went on to become a bestseller despite being criticized as ‘flapper verse’ by the New York Times. 

Parker would eventually go on to contribute short stories for The New Yorker, later earning a coveted spot in the literary luncheon club known as the ‘Algonquin Round Table.’

The group – fueled by alcohol and witty banter – consisted of writers, critics and entertainers who congregated at New York City’s Algonquin Hotel for over a decade, eventually launching into a cultural legend.

Regulars included Woollcott, Parker, Robert Benchley, Heywood Broun, Franklin Pierce Adams (known as F.P.A.), George S. Kaufman, Herman Mankiewicz, Robert Sherwood and Harold Ross.   

She married her first husband, Wall Street stockbroker Edwin Pond Parker II, in 1917. They divorced in 1928. 

Parker is pictured on board an ocean liner in 1939 

Parker is pictured at a meeting of the Temporary National Economic Committee before which she delivered an address in which she described what she saw during a recent four-week’s visit to war-torn Madrid

She would go on to marry her second husband, Alan Campbell, an actor and writer 11 years her junior, in 1933, and she divorced him in 1947. They later remarried in 1950.

In addition to her literary work, Parker was actively involved in campaigning for social justice. 

In 1927, she was fined $5 for protesting the execution of anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, in addition to traveling to Europe to further the anti-Franco cause and become national chairman of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. 

She was initially supposed to have a proper burial on her birthday Sunday, but due to inclement weather brought on by Hurricane Henri, organizers were forced to postpone the event for one day.

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