The Algonquin Round Table never had an official membership roll. Some people attended nearly every day, while others appeared whenever work, friendship, or a good argument brought them through the doors. That is why lists of its members often differ.
The people below include the central members, regular participants, and some of the familiar visitors associated with the group. Think of this as the album credits for The Original Supergroup.
Franklin P. Adams (1881–1960): Newspaper columnist, poet, and humorist universally known as F.P.A. His widely read column, The Conning Tower, published the work of several Round Table friends and helped spread their reputations beyond New York.
Robert Benchley (1889–1945): Humorist, drama critic, actor, and managing editor of Vanity Fair. He later appeared in numerous comic short films and won an Academy Award for How to Sleep.
Heywood Broun (1888–1939): Sportswriter, columnist, and author. In 1933, he helped establish the American Newspaper Guild and became its first president.
Marc Connelly (1890–1980): Playwright, director, actor, and former newspaperman. He collaborated with George S. Kaufman on several plays and won the Pulitzer Prize for The Green Pastures.
Alice Duer Miller (1874–1942): Poet, novelist, and screenwriter. Her suffrage poems, including the series Are Women People?, used wit and satire to argue for women’s voting rights.
Edna Ferber (1885–1968): Novelist and playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize for So Big. She wrote Show Boat, Cimarron, Saratoga Trunk, and Giant, and collaborated with George S. Kaufman on plays including The Royal Family and Dinner at Eight.
Margalo Gillmore (1897–1986): Stage, film, and television actress who appeared in early Eugene O’Neill productions. As one of its younger participants, she became known as “the baby of the Round Table.”
Jane Grant (1892–1972): Journalist and one of the first women to work as a general-assignment reporter for The New York Times. She co-founded The New Yorker with her then-husband Harold Ross and helped establish the Lucy Stone League.
Ruth Gordon (1896–1985): Actress, playwright, and screenwriter whose remarkable career lasted for decades. She later won an Academy Award for Rosemary’s Baby and became unforgettable to another generation through Harold and Maude.
Ruth Hale (1886–1934): Journalist, publicist, and women’s-rights activist. She co-founded the Lucy Stone League, which fought for a married woman’s right to retain and use her own name. She was married to Heywood Broun but steadfastly refused to become “Mrs. Broun.”
George S. Kaufman (1889–1961): Playwright, director, producer, humorist, and drama editor for The New York Times. He collaborated on dozens of plays and shared two Pulitzer Prizes, for Of Thee I Sing and You Can’t Take It with You.
Beatrice Kaufman (1895–1945): Editor, writer, script reader, and influential New York social figure. Although frequently identified simply as George S. Kaufman’s wife, she possessed a literary career and formidable reputation of her own.
Margaret Leech (1893–1974): Novelist and historian who won two Pulitzer Prizes for history, for Reveille in Washington and In the Days of McKinley. She was married to publisher Ralph Pulitzer.
Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897–1953): Journalist, critic, screenwriter, and early contributor to The New Yorker. He worked on several Marx Brothers films and shared the Academy Award for writing Citizen Kane with Orson Welles.
Harpo Marx (1888–1964): Comedian, actor, musician, and expert card player. Although silent on the screen, Harpo was an intelligent observer of people and one of Alexander Woollcott’s closest friends. He moved naturally through the Round Table’s world without ever needing to compete for the final word.
Once I told Aleck how stupid I felt, tagging along in his shadow, sitting beside him at the Round Table, and never opening my trap. “My dear Harpo,” he said, chuckling, his fat round belly jiggling out of his kimono, “you’re a smarter fellow than I am. I am the best writer in America and I have nothing to say either. But I’m not smart enough to keep my mouth shut.”
—Harpo Marx, Harpo Speaks!
Neysa McMein (1888–1949): Illustrator and portrait painter whose work appeared on countless magazine covers and wartime posters. Her studio became an unofficial extension of the Round Table—a place for conversation, games, parties, and a considerable amount of beautiful chaos.
Brock Pemberton (1885–1950): Broadway producer and director who helped organize the gathering from which the Round Table grew. He later helped create the Antoinette Perry Awards, better known today as the Tony Awards.
Harold Ross (1892–1951): Journalist and founding editor of The New Yorker. He established the magazine with Jane Grant in 1925 and remained its editor until his death.
Arthur H. Samuels (1888–1938): Magazine editor best remembered for leading Harper’s Bazaar. He belonged to the publishing and theatrical world surrounding the Round Table.
Robert E. Sherwood (1896–1955): Playwright, screenwriter, editor, and presidential speechwriter. He won four Pulitzer Prizes and an Academy Award for his screenplay of The Best Years of Our Lives.
Laurence Stallings (1894–1968): Journalist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and wounded Marine veteran of World War I. He collaborated with Maxwell Anderson on the successful antiwar play What Price Glory?
Donald Ogden Stewart (1894–1980): Humorist, author, playwright, and screenwriter. He won an Academy Award for adapting The Philadelphia Story for the screen.
Frank Sullivan (1892–1976): Journalist and humorist who became a longtime contributor to The New Yorker. His essays and Christmas pieces made him a familiar voice to generations of the magazine’s readers.
Deems Taylor (1885–1966): Composer, music critic, and radio commentator. He composed the music for The King’s Henchman, with a libretto by Edna St. Vincent Millay, and later appeared as the on-screen master of ceremonies in Disney’s Fantasia.
John V. A. Weaver (1893–1938): Poet and writer known for using everyday American speech and street language in his poetry. He also served as literary editor of the Brooklyn Eagle.
Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943): Drama critic, essayist, and CBS radio personality known to listeners as the Town Crier. His enormous personality helped drive the Round Table’s fame, and he became the principal inspiration for Sheridan Whiteside in Kaufman and Hart’s The Man Who Came to Dinner.
Peggy Wood (1892–1978): Stage, film, and television actress and singer. She later starred in the television series Mama and received an Academy Award nomination for playing the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music.
Taken separately, these were playwrights, reporters, critics, illustrators, actors, editors, and musicians. Put them together in one hotel dining room, and they became something else entirely.