To Author Edna Ferber, he was a "New Jersey Nero who mistook his pinafore for a toga." To Novelist Charles Brackett, he seemed "a competent old horror with a style that combined clear treacle and pure black bile." Critic Percy Hammond found him "a mountainous jelly of hips, jowls and torso [but with] brains sinewy and athletic." Caustic Wit Dorothy Parker thought that he did "more kindness" than anyone she had ever known.
These descriptions became part of the carefully nurtured legend of Alexander Woollcott. The legend was no more varied than the man. Despite his activities as dramacritic, radio raconteur,...