Editing Algonquin Round Table (section)

==''No Sirree!''==
Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. ''No Sirree!'', staged for one night only in April 30, 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called ''[[La Chauve-Souris]]'', directed by [[Nikita Balieff]].<ref>{{cite book
| last =Kunkel
| first =Thomas
| author-link =
| title =Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of The New Yorker
| publisher =Carroll & Graf Publishers (paperback)
| year =1995
| location =New York
| page =[https://archive.org/details/geniusindisguise00kunk/page/81 81]
| url =https://archive.org/details/geniusindisguise00kunk/page/81
| doi =
| id =
| isbn =0-7867-0323-7
}}</ref>

''No Sirree!'' had its genesis at the studio of [[Neysa McMein]], which served as something of a [[Salon (gathering)|salon]] for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist [[Jascha Heifetz]] providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including [[Tallulah Bankhead]], [[Helen Hayes]], [[Ruth Gillmore]], [[Lenore Ulric]] and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an [[Zoe Akins|Akins]] Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an [[Eugene O'Neill|O'Neill]] Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By—An [[A. A. Milne]] Play."<ref>Altman, p. 203</ref>

The only item of note to emerge from ''No Sirree!'' was Robert Benchley's contribution, ''[[The Treasurer's Report]]''. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that [[Irving Berlin]] hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the ''Report'' as part of Berlin's ''[[Music Box Revue]]'' for $500 a week.<ref>Altman, p. 208–9</ref> In 1928, ''Report'' was later made into a [[short film|short]] [[sound film]] in the [[Movietone sound system|Fox Movietone]] sound-on-film system by [[Fox Film|Fox Film Corporation]]. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]].

With the success of ''No Sirree!'' the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named ''The Forty-niners''.<ref>Altman, p. 207</ref> The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.<ref>Meade, pp. 104–5</ref>