The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table is a 1987 American documentary film by Aviva Slesin.

The Ten-Year Lunch
Directed byAviva Slesin
Written byPeter Foges
Mary Jo Kaplan
Produced byAviva Slesin[1][2]
Distributed byDirect Cinema[3]
PBS
Release date
  • March 1987 (1987-03)
Running time
56 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Summary

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The film explores the Algonquin Round Table, a floating group of writers and actors during the Jazz Age in New York City, which included great names such as Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, Edna Ferber, Marc Connelly, Harold Ross and Harpo Marx. It was produced and directed by Aviva Slesin and narrated by Heywood Hale Broun.

The title refers to how the members of the Round Table met over lunch at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. The film shows how the group drifted apart once the 1920s ended, as Hollywood beckoned for some and as they grew older.

Legacy

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The film premiered on the PBS series American Masters on September 28, 1987.[4] On April 11, 1988, it won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "The 60th Academy Awards (1988) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  2. ^ The Ten-Year Lunch Wins Documentary Feature: 1988 Oscars
  3. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Oscar and "Roger & Me"". Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  4. ^ O'Connor, John J. (28 September 1987). "TV Reviews: '10-Year Lunch' At the Algonquin". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "NY Times: The Ten-Year Lunch". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
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