author

John Peter Toohey

1880–1946

Best remembered as one of the lively figures behind the Algonquin Round Table, this American writer and publicist helped shape New York’s literary and theatrical world in the early twentieth century. He is also often credited with suggesting the name of The New Yorker.

1 Audiobook

Fresh Every Hour Detailing the Adventures, Comic and Pathetic of One Jimmy Martin, Purveyor of Publicity, a Young Gentleman Possessing Sublime Nerve, Whimsical Imagination, Colossal Impudence, and, Withal, the Heart of a Child.

Fresh Every Hour Detailing the Adventures, Comic and Pathetic of One Jimmy Martin, Purveyor of Publicity, a Young Gentleman Possessing Sublime Nerve, Whimsical Imagination, Colossal Impudence, and, Withal, the Heart of a Child.

by John Peter Toohey

About the author

Born in Binghamton, New York, John Peter Toohey was an American writer and publicist whose career moved between journalism, theater, and literary circles. He became especially known in New York for his work as a press agent and for his sharp social presence among writers and performers.

Toohey is most closely associated with the Algonquin Round Table, the celebrated group of critics, playwrights, and wits who gathered at the Algonquin Hotel. Accounts of the group’s beginnings often place him at the center of the luncheon that helped launch it, and he has also been credited with supplying the title The New Yorker for Harold Ross’s magazine.

He also wrote fiction and worked on plays and screen projects, showing how comfortably he moved across different parts of the entertainment world. Although he is less widely read today than some of his famous contemporaries, he remains an interesting link between Broadway publicity, magazine culture, and one of the best-known literary circles of his era.