We love Vincent Chase and his HBO cohorts as much as the next magazine, but we’re not going to stand idly by while they hog the entourage limelight. Those guys might make waves in Hollywood, but the following power crews made history.
1. The Algonquin Round Table
Ringleader: Dorothy Parker, a writer, poet, and critic for such venerable publications as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Esquire. Yet Parker is perhaps most famous for her memorable witticisms, including “I love a martini—but two at the most. Three, I’m under the table; four, I’m under the host” (currently printed on the cocktail napkins at The Algonquin Hotel bar in New York).
Core Crew: What started as an afternoon roast of The New York Times drama critic Alexander Woollcott soon morphed into a daily luncheon that would establish the most celebrated entourage in the history of American letters. In addition to Parker and Wollcott, the literary group included Robert Benchley (Life drama editor), Franklin P. Adams (New York Tribune columnist), Robert E. Sherwood (Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright), Harpo Marx (the “silent” Marx Brother), Harold Ross (editor of The New Yorker), George S. Kaufman (Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright), and Heywood Broun (founder of the American Newspaper Guild).
Turf: New York City
Mission: From 1919 to 1929 “The Vicious Circle” (as they referred to themselves) met every weekday at The Algonquin Hotel to share ideas and opinions and unleash savage barbs—often at one another’s expense. A sampling:
Parker: “That woman speaks 18 languages and can’t say ‘no’ in any of them.”
Kaufman: “Epitaph for a dead waiter—God finally caught his eye.”
Benchley: “Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with that it’s compounding a felony.”
By the mid-1920s, a spot at the entourage’s table was incredibly coveted. Mrs. Parker and her cronies had standing reservations, but other notables—such as actor-playwright Noel Coward, actress Tallulah Bankhead, and humorist Will Rogers—were known to drop in to share in the nips and quips.
While best known for their much-ballyhooed drollness, The Vicious Circle’s impact reached far beyond heavy boozing and memorable zingers. Harold Ross, for instance, used the lunches to secure funding for a new magazine he planned to launch and edit: The New Yorker. Not only that, but he recruited Parker and Benchley as his respective book and drama critics.
Perhaps the entourage’s most enduring influence, however, was the way it shaped the artistic tastes and sensibilities of the times. Having such tremendous influence and reach in the press (even into the 1930s), the group effectively redefined American humor with its off-the-cuff observations. It was reported, for example, that when Parker was informed that President Coolidge had died, she responded, “How can they tell?”
The group’s aesthetic changed the tenor of book, movie, and stage reviews and profoundly influenced modern media criticism. The Algonquin’s widely circulated irreverence underlined not just its members own rebelliousness, but also the spirit of the Roaring Twenties that saw this entourage at its peak.
2. Jesus & Co.
Ringleader: Jesus Christ
Core Crew: The disciples or, as they were called after Jesus’ death, apostles. The posse included two guys named James, two Simons, and to use J.C.’s words, eight other “fishers of men.”
Turf: Galilee, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and other Mideast hotspots
Mission: Experts estimate that the core of this God squad was formed in the 20s—meaning around 26 CE. That’s when Jesus picked up key members John and Andrew via their connection to John the Baptist, who—as you may recall from either the Bible or your high school’s production of Godspell—earned his name by dunking the faithful and preparing the way of the Lord. He was way ahead of the curve in declaring Jesus the Son of God.
After that, the group expanded by luring family and friends. Andrew brought his brother, Simon, into the mix. Then Philip, from Andrew’s hometown of Bethsaida, joined along with his buddy, Nathanael (otherwise known as Bartholomew). Simon’s fishing partners, brothers James and John, caught wind of the charismatic healer next, as did tax collector Matthew down in Cana—and so on and so forth.
If we take the Gospel writers’ word for it, this scruffy dozen toured the holy lands in support of Jesus’ teachings and did a good job of staying in the background. With one notorious exception (we’re looking at you, Judas Iscariot), this was a darn loyal group. How loyal? During his public ministry years, Jesus is estimated to have legged about 3,125 miles, and you better believe his boys were with him most of the way. That’s a pretty impressive series of road trips—and they didn’t stop there. Even after their boss moved on to the newly ungated promised land (thanks in part to a political climate that didn’t welcome his ideas), this posse aggressively kept the faith, preaching their way from India to Ethiopia to Spain. Needless to say, all that walking paid off. Today, Christianity has spread around the world, with an estimated 2 billion believers worldwide.
3. The Junto Society (later, the American Philosophical Society)
Ringleader: Ben Franklin
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