Alexander Woollcott Biography

Alexander Humphreys Woollcott was an American critic and commentator of “The New Yorker” magazine. He was also a member of the Algonquin Round Table, a much celebrated group of writers, critics and actors. He started his career as a bank clerk before joining as a reporter at “The New York Times”. His poor eyesight and physique restricted him from joining the military service during the World War I. As a renowned drama critic of New York, his usage of bitter wit used to attract or repel the artistic communities of 1920s Manhattan. For a brief period, he also faced a ban from reviewing some Broadway theater shows. He used to write for a number of magazines - “Reader’s Digest” was one of those. He faced criticism for his application of ornate and florid writing style. In spite of that, critic Vincent Starrett referred Woollcott’s book “While Rome Burns” as one of the fifty-two ‘best loved books of the twentieth century’. He also made a successful career in radio. During the World War II, he made several broadcast in England at the behest of the BBC. Woollcott was also the inspiration for the main character in the play ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.