Alexander Woollcott Collection

Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (1887-1943); H.C. Class of 1909, L.H.D. (Hon.) 1924; writer; H.C. Trustee, 1935-42. Woollcott was born on 19 January, 1887, in Phalanx, NJ, and died on 23 January, 1943, in New York City, NY. After graduating from Hamilton College in 1909, Woollcott worked briefly as a bank clerk for the Chemical National Bank in New York City. He joined the reportorial staff of the New York Times as a dramatic critic in 1914. He held that position until 1922, with the exception of two years when he served as an enlisted man in the United States Army. He was a sergeant in the American Expeditionary Forces, working mostly in the editorial room of The Stars and Stripes, AEF's weekly newspaper. After leaving the New York Times, he joined the staff of the New York Herald (1922-1925) and the New York World (1925-1928). He subsequently became a free lance writer, contributing regularly to the New Yorker and, from 1929 until 1942, appeared on CBS radio as "The Town Crier." In addition to his role of critic, Woollcott helped form the Round Table group at the Hotel Algonquin, a group which included Irving Berlin, Dorothy Parker, and Harpo Marx. He authored many articles, books, and plays, including While Rome Burns (1934), The Woollcott Reader (1935), and Long Long Ago (1943). A co-founder of the Hamilton College Charlatans, Woollcott worked occasionally as an actor, having his first professional stage debut in Brief Moment in 1931 at the Belasco Theater in New York. He also served as the model for Sheridan Whiteside, the central character in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and portrayed Whiteside in a road company production of the play.