Dorothy Parker: Sharp-Witted Writer, Bitter Professor

In 1963, the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences, now known as the California State University, welcomed real-life Hollywood heroine Dorothy Parker to its campus as a one-year Distinguished Visiting Professor of English. Dorothy Parker was, in theory, a dynamite catch for the college: her short stories and poetry were widely renowned, she’d been a member of the esteemed Algonquin Round Table, and she was the mind behind the 1937 screenplay for A Star is Born. She had talent...