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90-860: (Redirected from Woollcott ) Woolcott or Woollcott may refer to: People [ edit ] Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943), American critic and commentator Peter Woolcott (born 1953), Australian public servant Richard Woolcott (1927–2023), Australian diplomat, author and commentator Roy Woolcott (1946–2018), English professional footballer Sina Woolcott (1907–2003), New Zealand potter, born in Fiji William W. Woollcott (1876–1949), American businessman Other uses [ edit ] Woolcott, Bracken County, Kentucky See also [ edit ] Walcot (disambiguation) Walcott (disambiguation) Wilcot Wolcott (disambiguation) Wolgot Woolscott Topics referred to by

180-542: A Colony in 1713 and The Route to Be Taken to Ascend the Missouri River in 1714. In the documents, he describes the junction of the "Grande Riv[ière] des Cansez" and Missouri River, as the first adoption of those names. French cartographer Guillaume Delisle used the descriptions to make the area's first reasonably accurate map. The Spanish took over the region in the Treaty of Paris in 1763, but were not to play

270-521: A Confederate triumph. Once again their victory proved hollow, as Price was decisively defeated in the pivotal Battle of Westport the next day, effectively ending Confederate efforts to regain Missouri. General Thomas Ewing , in response to a successful raid on nearby Lawrence, Kansas , led by William Quantrill , issued General Order No. 11 , forcing the eviction of residents in four western Missouri counties – including Jackson – except those living in

360-545: A bestseller. Woollcott was one of the most quoted men of his generation. Among Woollcott's classics is his description of the Los Angeles area as "Seven suburbs in search of a city"—a quip often attributed to his friend Dorothy Parker . Describing The New Yorker editor Harold Ross , he said: "He looks like a dishonest Abe Lincoln ." He claimed the Brandy Alexander cocktail was named for him. Woollcott

450-605: A half-dozen other newspaper men to create the Stars and Stripes , an official newspaper to bolster troop morale. As chief reporter for the Stars and Stripes , Woollcott was a member of the team that formed its editorial board. These included Harold Ross , founder of The New Yorker magazine; Cyrus Baldridge , multifaceted illustrator, author and writer; and the future columnist and radio personality, Franklin P. Adams . Going beyond simple propaganda, Woollcott and his colleagues reported

540-584: A historically Italian American neighborhood , the UMKC area and in River Market, in northern Kansas City. The Historic Kansas City boundary is roughly 58 square miles (150 km ) and has a population density of about 5,000 inhabitants per square mile (1,900/km ). It runs from the Missouri River to the north, 79th Street to the south, the Blue River to the east, and State Line Road to the west. During

630-625: A landing point for West Port, with Lykins as the first postmaster. He found it more convenient to have his goods offloaded at the Prudhomme landing next to Chouteau's landing than in Independence. Several years after Gabriel Prudhomme's death, a group of fourteen investors purchased his land at auction on November 14, 1838. By 1839, the investors divided the property and the first lots were sold in 1846 after legal complications were settled. The remaining lots were sold by February 1850. In 1850,

720-418: A legal discovery of living outside city boundaries, he was soon succeeded by Johnston Lykins as the second (but first legally elected) mayor. The city had an area of 0.70 square miles (1.8 km ) and a population of 2,500. The boundary lines extended from the middle of the Missouri River south to what is now Ninth Street, and from Bluff Street on the west to a point between Holmes Road and Charlotte Street on

810-624: A long-term commuter rail plan. For the time being, the line is being converted to a trail while county officials negotiate with railroads for access to tracks in Downtown Kansas City. On November 7, 2017, Kansas City voters overwhelmingly approved a new single terminal at Kansas City International Airport by a 75% to 25% margin. The new single terminal replaced the three existing "Clover Leafs" at KCI Airport on February 28, 2023. The city has an area of 319.03 square miles (826.28 km ), of which, 314.95 square miles (815.72 km )

900-479: A major role other than taxing and licensing Missouri River ship traffic. The French continued their fur trade under Spanish license. The Chouteau family operated under Spanish license at St. Louis , in the lower Missouri Valley as early as 1765 and in 1821 the Chouteaus reached Kansas City, where François Chouteau established Chouteau's Landing. After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase , Lewis and Clark visited

990-588: A marked uptick in late spring and summer. Kansas City is located in Tornado Alley , a broad region where cold air from Canada collides with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the formation of powerful storms, especially during the spring. The Kansas City metropolitan area has experienced several significant outbreaks of tornadoes in the past, including the Ruskin Heights tornado in 1957 and

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1080-513: A name change to Kansas City in 1889, and the city limits to be extended south and east. Westport became part of Kansas City on December 2, 1897. In 1900, Kansas City was the 22nd largest city in the country, with a population of 163,752 residents. Landscape architect George Kessler shaped Kansas City into a leading example of the City Beautiful movement, with a network of boulevards and parks. New neighborhoods like Southmoreland and

1170-745: A newspaper man In 1895 Walter Woollcott lost the longest job he'd ever held, and sent his wife Frances and their children back to the Phalanx, where Alexander went to school and spent most of the remainder of his boyhood. He occasionally lodged in homes in Germantown, Philadelphia and attended the Germantown Combined Grammar School, and then Central High School in Philadelphia. He had very few friends during this period and did not enjoy this chapter of his life, with

1260-469: A provocative response to the topic. "The German people are just as responsible for Hitler as the people of Chicago are for the Chicago Tribune ", Woollcott stated emphatically. In visible distress, Woollcott commented ten minutes into the broadcast that he was feeling ill, but continued his remarks. "It's a fallacy to think that Hitler was the cause of the world's present woes", he said. "Germany

1350-583: A reading program that began with Louisa May Alcott and progressed to Charles Dickens by the time he was 8 years old. It was also in Kansas City that he experienced his first theatrical performance, Sinbad the Sailor . He was accompanied by his neighbor, Kansas City Times columnist Roswell Field, brother of famed author Eugene Field . When young Aleck discovered that journalists could get free tickets to theatrical events he decided that he, too would become

1440-404: A residential corridor nicknamed Millionaire Row. It is now widely seen as one of the city's most prominent racial and economic dividing lines due to urban decay, which was caused by white flight . During the civil rights era the city blocked people of color from moving to homes west of Troost Avenue, causing the areas east of Troost to have one of the worst murder rates in the country. This led to

1530-444: A similar criticism of him. Woollcott was primarily a storyteller, a retailer of anecdotes and superior gossip, as many of his personal letters reveal. His letters also reveal a warm and generous heart and a self-effacing manner distinct from his waspish public persona , and his many lasting and close friendships with the theatrical and literary elite of his day. Woollcott was friends with actress Katharine Cornell , whom he lauded as

1620-725: A vast ramshackle building in Colts Neck Township, New Jersey known as "the North American Phalanx ," which had once been a commune where many social experiments were carried out in the mid-19th century. When the Phalanx fell apart after a fire in 1854, it was taken over by and became the family seat of the Bucklin family, Woollcott's maternal grandparents. In 1889 the itinerant and often absentee Walter Woollcott moved his family to Kansas City, Missouri . The Woollcotts lived in an upscale neighborhood where, at

1710-723: Is composed of several neighborhoods , including the River Market District , 18th and Vine District , and the Country Club Plaza . Celebrated cultural traditions include Kansas City jazz ; theater, as a historical center of the Vaudevillian Orpheum circuit in the 1920s; the nickname City of Fountains ; the Chiefs and Royals sports franchises; and cuisine such as Kansas City–style barbecue and strip steak . The town of Kansas, Missouri ,

1800-400: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Alexander Woollcott Woollcott was the inspiration for two fictional characters. The first was Sheridan Whiteside, the caustic but charming main character in the play The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart , later made into a film in 1942. The second

1890-556: Is land and 4.08 square miles (10.57 km ) is water. Bluffs overlook the rivers and river bottom areas. Kansas City proper is bowl-shaped and is surrounded to the north and south by glacier -carved limestone and bedrock cliffs. Kansas City is at the confluence between the Dakota and Minnesota ice lobes during the maximum late Independence glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch . The Kansas and Missouri rivers cut wide valleys into

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1980-635: Is like lying in someone else's dirty bath water. And then he'd go into ecstasy about something called, Valiant Is the Word for Carrie , and I knew I had enough of the Round Table ." Wolcott Gibbs , who often edited Woollcott's work at The New Yorker , was quoted in James Thurber 's The Years with Ross on Woollcott's writing: "Shouts and Murmurs" was about the strangest copy I ever edited. You could take every other sentence out without changing

2070-635: Is the headquarters of Hallmark Cards and a major downtown shopping and entertainment complex. It is connected to Union Station by a series of covered walkways. The Country Club Plaza , or "the Plaza", is an upscale, outdoor shopping, and entertainment district. It is the first suburban shopping district in the United States, designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile, and is surrounded by apartments and condominiums, including several high rise buildings. The associated Country Club District to

2160-599: Is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by population and area. Most of the city lies within Jackson County , and other portions spill into Clay , Platte , and Cass counties. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area , which straddles the Missouri – Kansas state line and has a population of 2,392,035. As of the 2020 census , the city had a population of 508,090, making it

2250-658: The 37th most-populous city in the United States , as well as the sixth-most populous city in the Midwest . Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River from the west. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory . Confusion between the two ensued, and the name Kansas City

2340-705: The Kansas City City Hall and the Jackson County Courthouse. During this time, he aided one of his nephew's friends, Harry S. Truman , in a political career. Truman eventually became a senator, then vice president, then president . The machine fell in 1939 when Pendergast, riddled with health problems, pleaded guilty to tax evasion after long federal investigations. His biographers have summed up his uniqueness: Pendergast may bear comparison to various big-city bosses, but his open alliance with hardened criminals, his cynical subversion of

2430-620: The Marx Brothers ' Broadway debut, I'll Say She Is , helped the group's career inflate from mere success to superstardom and started a lifelong friendship with Harpo Marx . Two of Harpo's adopted sons, Alexander Marx and William (Bill) Woollcott Marx , were named after Woollcott. Billed as The Early Bookworm , Woollcott was first heard on CBS Radio in October 1929, reviewing books in various timeslots until 1933. His CBS show The Town Crier , which began July 21, 1933, opened with

2520-528: The May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence . The region can also experience ice storms during the winter, such as the 2002 ice storm duringin which hundreds of thousands of residents lost power for days or weeks. Kansas City and its outlying areas are also subject to flooding, including the Great Floods of 1844 , 1951 , and 1993 . Kansas City has the second largest Somali and Sudanese populations in

2610-587: The Shubert theater organization for violation of the New York Civil Rights Act, but lost in the state's highest court in 1916 on the grounds that only discrimination on the basis of race, creed or color was unlawful. From 1929 to 1934, he wrote a column called "Shouts and Murmurs" for The New Yorker . His book, While Rome Burns , published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1934, was named twenty years later by critic Vincent Starrett as one of

2700-977: The USSR in the 1930s and sent his friend Harpo Marx to Moscow on a comedy tour in 1934. Yet he was attacked viciously in the left-wing press after his visit to the Soviet Union for his less than laudatory depiction of the "worker's paradise". Towards the end of Woollcott's life he semi-retired to Neshobe Island in Lake Bomoseen in Vermont , which he had purchased. Shortly before he died, Woollcott claimed, "I never had anything to say." Thurber in The Years With Ross also reports Woollcott describing himself as "the best writer in America", but with nothing in particular to say; Wolcott Gibbs made

2790-490: The "First Lady of the Theatre". He often gave extremely favorable reviews both to her and the various productions of her husband, director Guthrie McClintic . Reportedly, in his early twenties he contracted the mumps , which left him mostly, if not completely, impotent . He never married or had children, although he had some notable female friends, including Dorothy Parker and Neysa McMein , to whom he reportedly proposed

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2880-426: The 1960s and 1970s, Kansas City annexed large amounts of land, which are largely undeveloped. Between the 2000 and 2010 census counts, the urban core of Kansas City continued to drop significantly in population. The areas of Greater Downtown in the center city, and sections near I-435 and I-470 in the south, and Highway 152 in the north are the only areas of Kansas City, Missouri, to have an increase in population, with

2970-478: The 52 "Best Loved Books of the Twentieth Century". He was interested in crime writing, promoting the work of US and British mystery authors in his newspaper articles and on the radio as well as writing on true crime, and became involved in the case of Stanford University Press employee David Lamson, who was accused of murdering his wife (prosecutors eventually dropped the case). Woollcott's review of

3060-575: The American Midwest, linking growers and small businesses to the community. More than 30 full-time merchants operate year-round and offer specialty foods, fresh meats and seafood, restaurants and cafes, floral, and home accessories. The City Market has the Arabia Steamboat Museum , which houses artifacts from a steamboat that sank near Kansas City in 1856. Downtown Kansas City is 2.9 square miles (7.5 km ) bounded by

3150-698: The Black Marble H&;R Block fountain in front of Union Station, which features synchronized water jets; the Nichols Bronze Horses at the corner of Main and J.C. Nichols Parkway at the entrance to the Plaza Shopping District; and the fountain at Hallmark Cards World Headquarters in Crown Center . Since its inception in 1857, City Market has been one of the largest and most enduring public farmers' markets in

3240-702: The Central Business District. The Power & Light District , a new, nine-block entertainment district comprising numerous restaurants, bars, and retail shops, was developed by the Cordish Company of Baltimore, Maryland . Its first tenant opened on November 9, 2007. It is anchored by the T-Mobile Center , a 19,000-seat sports and entertainment complex. Kansas City is in the Midwestern United States , near

3330-484: The Commerce Bank Tower into residential and hotel space has helped to fulfill the demand. New apartment complexes like One, Two, and Three Lights, River Market West, and 503 Main have begun to reshape Kansas City's skyline. Strong demand has led to occupancy rates in the upper 90%. The residential population of downtown has boomed, and the office population has dropped significantly from the early 2000s to

3420-413: The Missouri River to the north, 31st Street to the south, Troost Avenue to the east, and State Line Road to the west. Areas near Downtown Kansas City include the 39th Street District , which is known as Restaurant Row, and features one of Kansas City's largest selections of independently owned restaurants and boutique shops. It is a center of literary and visual arts, and bohemian culture . Crown Center

3510-472: The Missouri River. He established a home for his wife, Josephine, and six children. He operated a ferry on the river. In 1833, John McCoy , son of Baptist missionary Isaac McCoy and brother-in-law of Johnston Lykins , established West Port along the Santa Fe Trail , 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south of the river. In 1834, McCoy established Westport Landing on a bend in the Missouri to serve as

3600-584: The River Market, Downtown, Union Station, Crown Center and the Country Club Plaza. The KCATA continues to expand MAX with additional routes on Prospect Avenue, Troost Avenue, and Independence Avenue. In 2013, construction began on a two-mile streetcar line in downtown Kansas City (funded by a $ 102 million ballot initiative that was passed in 2012) that runs between the River Market and Union Station, it began operation in May 2016. In 2017, voters approved

3690-678: The Rockhill District were conceived to accommodate the city's largest residencies of palatial proportions. The obsolescence of Union Depot in West Bottoms in favor of the new Union Station in 1914, and the opening of the Liberty Memorial in 1923, provided two of the city's most identifiable landmarks. Robert A. Long , president of the Liberty Memorial Association, was a driving force in

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3780-691: The Safdie-designed Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opened in 2011. The Power and Light Building is influenced by the Art Deco style and sports a glowing sky beacon. The new world headquarters of H&R Block is a 20-story all-glass oval bathed in a soft green light. The four industrial artworks atop the support towers of the Kansas City Convention Center ( Bartle Hall ) were once

3870-514: The United States Congress. Kansas City is home to significant national and international architecture firms including ACI Boland, BNIM , 360 Architecture , HNTB , Populous . Frank Lloyd Wright designed two private residences and Community Christian Church there. Kansas City hosts more than 200 working fountains, especially on the Country Club Plaza. Designs range from French-inspired traditional to modern. Highlights include

3960-532: The United States. The Latino/Hispanic population of Kansas City, which is heavily Mexican and Central American , is spread throughout the metropolitan area, with some concentration in the northeast part of the city and southwest of downtown. The Asian population, mostly Southeast Asian, is partly concentrated within the northeast side to the Columbus Park neighborhood in the Greater Downtown area,

4050-510: The age of four, Alexander portrayed the character of Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream in a tableau vivant before an audience of more than 100 at the Woollcott home. The six years Woollcott lived in Kansas City were transformative, and set him on the literary and theatrical path that would guide the rest of his life. His second-grade teacher, Sophie Rosenberger, who would remain a lifelong friend, considered him precocious and set him on

4140-565: The area's tribal inhabitants include the Hopewell tradition , Mississippian culture , Kansa , Osage , Otoe , and Missouri . The first documented European visitor to the eventual site of Kansas City was Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont , who was also the first European to explore the lower Missouri River. Criticized for his response to the Native American attack on Fort Détroit , he had deserted his post as fort commander and

4230-588: The areas east of Troost. The Hyatt Regency walkway collapse was a major disaster that occurred on July 17, 1981, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others during a tea dance in the 45-story Hyatt Regency hotel in Crown Center . It is the deadliest structural collapse in US history other than the September 11 attacks . In 2015 a memorial called the Skywalk Memorial Plaza was built for

4320-461: The center of North America, far removed from a significant body of water, there is significant potential for extreme hot and cold swings throughout the year. The warmest month is July, with a 24-hour average temperature of 81.0 °F (27.2 °C). The summer months are hot and humid, with moist air riding up from the Gulf of Mexico , and high temperatures surpass 100 °F (38 °C) on 5.6 days of

4410-581: The city and nearby communities and those whose allegiance to the Union was certified by Ewing. After the Civil War, Kansas City grew rapidly. The selection of the city over Leavenworth, Kansas , for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad bridge over the Missouri River brought significant growth. The population exploding after 1869, when Hannibal Bridge, designed by Octave Chanute , opened. The boom prompted

4500-466: The city and was one of the largest systems in the country. In 1903 the 8th Street Tunnel was built as an underground streetcar system through the city. The last run of the streetcar was on June 23, 1957, but the tunnel still exists. At the start of the 20th century, political machines gained clout in the city, with the one led by Tom Pendergast dominating the city by 1925. Several important buildings and structures were built during this time, including

4590-517: The city covered approximately 316 square miles (820 km ), more than five times its size in 1940. Aggressively annexing the surrounding suburbs and undeveloped land spared Kansas City from the severe population loss suffered by cities like St. Louis and Detroit, similar cities which both lost over 50% of their population in the postwar era. In the most neglected neighborhoods, however, the same pattern of abandonment occurred and left behind massive numbers of vacant lots and abandoned homes, especially in

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4680-481: The confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, noting it was a good place to build a fort. In 1831, a group of Mormons from New York state led by Joseph Smith settled in the area. They built the first school within what became Kansas City, but were forced out by mob violence in 1833. In 1831, Gabriel Prudhomme Sr., a Canadian trapper and partner of François Chouteau , purchased 257 acres (104 ha) fronting

4770-489: The day after she had just wed her new husband, Jack Baragwanath. Woollcott once told McMein that "I'm thinking of writing the story of our life together. The title is already settled." McMein: "What is it?" Woollcott: "Under Separate Cover." Woollcott appeared on his last radio broadcast on January 23, 1943, as a participant in a Writers' War Board panel discussion on the CBS Radio program The People's Platform marking

4860-441: The democratic process, his monarchistic style of living, his increasingly insatiable gambling habit, his grasping for a business empire, and his promotion of Kansas City as a wide-open town with every kind of vice imaginable, combined with his professed compassion for the poor and very real role as city builder, made him bigger than life, difficult to characterize. Troost Avenue was once the eastern edge of Kansas City, Missouri and

4950-458: The dominating economic success of neighboring Johnson County . In 1950, African Americans represented 12.2% of Kansas City's population. The city's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic whites, declined from 89.5% in 1930 to 54.9% in 2010. In 1940, the city had about 400,000 residents; by 2000, it had about 440,000. From 1940 to 1960, the city more than doubled its physical size, while increasing its population by only about 75,000. By 1970,

5040-551: The east. During the Civil War , the city and its immediate surroundings were the focus of intense military activity. Although the First Battle of Independence in August 1862 resulted in a Confederate States Army victory, the Confederates were unable to leverage their win in any significant fashion, as Kansas City was occupied by Union troops and proved too heavily fortified to assault. The Second Battle of Independence , which occurred on October 21–22, 1864, as part of Sterling Price 's Missouri expedition of 1864 , also resulted in

5130-404: The error was corrected and the ashes were forwarded to Hamilton College, they arrived with 67¢ postage due . At the time of his death, Woollcott had completed the editorial work on his last book, As You Were , an anthology of fiction, poetry and nonfiction for members of the armed forces. The idea of creating a much-needed "knapsack book" for service members reportedly came to Woollcott while he

5220-400: The exception of summers and any time that he could get back to the Phalanx. With the help of a family friend, he made his way through college, graduating from Hamilton College, New York , in 1909. Despite a rather poor reputation (his nickname was "Putrid"), he founded a drama group, edited the student literary magazine, and was accepted by a fraternity ( Theta Delta Chi ). Woollcott joined

5310-414: The families of the victims of the disaster, across the street from the hotel which is now a Sheraton. In the 21st century, the Kansas City area has undergone extensive redevelopment, with more than $ 6 billion in improvements to the downtown area on the Missouri side. One of the main goals is to attract convention and tourist dollars, office workers, and residents to downtown KCMO. Among the projects include

5400-405: The far end of East 52nd Street . The members of the Algonquin Round Table had a debate as to what to call his new home. Franklin P. Adams suggested that he name it after the faux Indian word Ocowoica , meaning "The-Little-Apartment-On-The-East-River-That-It-Is-Difficult-To-Find-A-Taxicab-Near". But Dorothy Parker came up with the definitive "Wit's End". Woollcott yearned to be as creative as

5490-448: The formation of a TDD to expand the streetcar line south 3.5 miles from Union Station to UMKC's Volker Campus. Additionally in 2017, the KC Port Authority began engineering studies for a Port Authority funded streetcar expansion north to Berkley Riverfront Park. Citywide, voter support for rail projects continues to grow with numerous light rail projects in the works. In 2016, Jackson County, Missouri, acquired unused rail lines as part of

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5580-508: The funding for construction. Long was a longtime resident and wealthy businessman. He built the R.A. Long Building for the Long-Bell Lumber Company , his home, Corinthian Hall (now the Kansas City Museum ) and Longview Farm . Further spurring Kansas City's growth was the opening of the innovative Country Club Plaza development by J.C. Nichols in 1925, as part of his Country Club District plan. The Kansas City streetcar system once had hundreds of miles of streetcars running through

5670-413: The geographic center of the country, at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. The city lies in either the humid continental zone when using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm, or in the humid subtropical zone when using the −3 °C (27 °F) isotherm. The city experiences roughly 104 air frosts on average per annum. The city is part of USDA plant hardiness zones 5b and 6a. In

5760-412: The horrors of the Great War from the point of view of the common soldier. After the war he returned to The New York Times , then transferred to the New York Herald in 1922 and to The World in 1923. He remained there until 1928. One of New York's most prolific drama critics, he was banned for a time from reviewing certain Broadway theater shows due to his florid and often vitriolic prose. He sued

5850-465: The landing area was incorporated as the town of Kansas, Missouri . By that time, the towns of Kansas, Westport, and nearby Independence , had become critical points in the westward expansion of the United States. Three major trails – the Santa Fe , California , and Oregon – all passed through Jackson County. On February 22, 1853, Kansas was reincorporated and renamed the City of Kansas with its first elected mayor, William Samuel Gregory . Due to

5940-424: The mid-2010s. Top employers like AMC moved their operations to modern office buildings in the suburbs. High office vacancy plagued downtown, leading to the neglect of many office buildings. By the mid-2010s, many office buildings were converted to residential uses and the Class A vacancy rate plunged to 12% in 2017. Swiss Re, Virgin Mobile, AutoAlert, and others have begun to move operations to downtown Kansas City from

6030-507: The official record lowest is −23 °F (−31 °C), set on December 22 and 23, 1989. Normal seasonal snowfall is 13.4 inches (34 cm) at Downtown Airport and 18.8 in (48 cm) at Kansas City International Airport. The average window for freezing temperatures is October 31 to April 4, while for measurable (0.1 in or 0.25 cm) snowfall, it is November 27 to March 16 as measured at Kansas City International Airport. Precipitation, both in frequency and total accumulation, shows

6120-428: The operator. From 2007 to 2017, downtown residential population in Kansas City quadrupled and continues to grow. The area has grown from almost 4,000 residents in the early 2000s to nearly 30,000 as of 2017 . Kansas City's downtown ranks as the sixth-fastest-growing downtown in America with the population expected to grow by more than 40% by 2022. Conversions of office buildings such as the Power & Light Building and

6210-419: The people with whom he surrounded himself. Among many other endeavors, he tried his hand at acting and co-wrote two Broadway shows with playwright George S. Kaufman , while appearing in two others. He also starred as Sheridan Whiteside, for whom he was the inspiration, in the traveling production of The Man Who Came to Dinner in 1940. He also appeared in several cameos in films in the late 1930s and 1940s. He

6300-460: The redevelopment of the Power & Light District into a retail and entertainment district; and the Sprint Center, an 18,500-seat arena that opened in 2007, funded by a 2004 ballot initiative involving a tax on car rentals and hotels, designed to meet the stadium specifications for a possible future NBA or NHL franchise, and was renamed T-Mobile Center in 2020; Kemper Arena, which was functionally superseded by Sprint Center, fell into disrepair and

6390-407: The ringing of a bell and the cry, "Hear ye, hear ye!" followed by Woollcott's literary observations punctuated with acidic anecdotes. Sponsored by Cream of Wheat (1934–1935) and Grainger Tobacco (1937–1938), it continued until January 6, 1938. He had no reservations about using this forum to promote his own books, and the continual mentions of his book While Rome Burns (1934) probably helped make it

6480-467: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Woolcott . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Woolcott&oldid=1139166922 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description

6570-583: The sense a particle. Whole department, in fact, often had no more substance than a "Talk [of the Town]" anecdote. I guess he was one of the most dreadful writers who ever existed. After being kicked out of the apartment he shared with The New Yorker founders Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant , Woollcott moved first into the Hotel des Artistes on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, then to an apartment at

6660-633: The south includes the Sunset Hill and Brookside neighborhoods, and is traversed by Ward Parkway , a landscaped boulevard known for its statuary, fountains, and large, historic homes. Union Station is home to Science City , restaurants, shopping, theaters, and the city's Amtrak facility. After years of neglect and seas of parking lots, Downtown Kansas City is undergoing a period of change with over $ 6 billion in development since 2000. Many residential properties recently have been or are under redevelopment in three surrounding warehouse loft districts and

6750-493: The staff of The New York Times as a cub reporter in 1909. In 1914, he was named drama critic and held the post until 1922, with a break for service during World War I . In April 1917, the day after war was declared, Woollcott volunteered as a private in the medical corps. Posted overseas, Woollcott was a sergeant when the intelligence section of the American Expeditionary Forces selected him and

6840-556: The subject of ridicule, but now define the night skyline near the T-Mobile Center along with One Kansas City Place (Missouri's tallest office tower), the KCTV-Tower (Missouri's tallest freestanding structure) and the Liberty Memorial , a World War I memorial and museum that flaunts simulated flames and smoke billowing into the night skyline. It was designated as the National World War I Museum and Memorial in 2004 by

6930-648: The suburbs and expensive coastal cities. The area has seen additional development through various transportation projects, including improvements to the Grandview Triangle , which intersects Interstates 435 and 470, and U.S. Route 71 . In July 2005, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) launched Kansas City's first bus rapid transit line, the Metro Area Express (MAX), which links

7020-459: The tenth anniversary of Adolf Hitler 's rise to power, entitled "Is Germany Incurable?" Other panelists included Hunter College president George Shuster, Brooklyn College president Harry Gideonse , and novelists Rex Stout and Marcia Davenport . The program's format began as a dinner party in the studio's private dining room, with the microphones in place. Table talk would lead into a live network radio broadcast, and each panelist would begin with

7110-566: The terrain when the glaciers melted and drained. A partially filled spillway valley crosses the central city. This valley is an eastward continuation of the Turkey Creek Valley. It is the closest major city to the geographic center of the contiguous United States, or "Lower 48". Kansas City comprises more than 240 neighborhoods, some with histories as independent cities or as the sites of major events. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened its Euro-Style Bloch addition in 2007, and

7200-433: The year, and 90 °F (32 °C) on 47 days. The coldest month of the year is January, with an average temperature of 31.0 °F (−0.6 °C). Winters are cold, with 22 days where the high temperature is at or below 32 °F (0 °C) and 2.5 nights with a low at or below 0 °F (−18 °C). The official record highest temperature is 113 °F (45 °C), set on August 14, 1936, at Downtown Airport, while

7290-614: Was assigned to distinguish them soon after. Sitting on Missouri's western boundary with Kansas , with Downtown near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, the city encompasses about 319.03 square miles (826.3 km ), making it the 25th largest city by total area in the United States. It is one of Jackson County's two seats along with the major satellite city of Independence ; and its other major Missouri suburbs include Blue Springs , Lee's Summit , Raytown , and Liberty . Its major Kansas suburbs include Overland Park , Olathe , Lenexa , and Kansas City, Kansas . The city

7380-612: Was avoiding French authorities. Bourgmont lived with a Native American wife in a village about 90 miles (140 km) east near Brunswick, Missouri , where he illegally traded furs . To clear his name, he wrote Exact Description of Louisiana, of Its Harbors, Lands and Rivers, and Names of the Indian Tribes That Occupy It, and the Commerce and Advantages to Be Derived Therefrom for the Establishment of

7470-664: Was caricatured twice in Warner Brothers cartoons in 1937: as "Owl Kott" in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos , and as the town crier in Have You Got Any Castles? , playing almost identical roles in each. Politically, Woollcott called for normalization of U.S.–Soviet relations . He was a friend of reporter Walter Duranty , even though he described him as a "man from Mars". As a friend of Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov , he traveled to

7560-509: Was incorporated on June 1, 1850, reincorporated and renamed City of Kansas on March 28, 1853, and renamed Kansas City in 1889. The area straddles the border between Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers , and was considered a good place to settle. The Antioch Christian Church , Dr. James Compton House , and Woodneath are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . In past centuries,

7650-701: Was published by the Viking Press in March 1943. Woollcott was portrayed by the actor Earl Montgomery in the 1962 film Act One , by the actor Jock Livingston in the 1968 musical film Star! , by the actor Tom Clancy in the 1979 NBC TV miniseries Backstairs at the White House , and by the actor Tom McGowan in the 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle . Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri ( KC or KCMO )

7740-445: Was renowned for his savage tongue. He dismissed Oscar Levant , the notable wit and pianist, by observing, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with Oscar Levant that a miracle can't fix." He often greeted friends with "Hello, Repulsive." When a waiter asked him to repeat his order, he demanded " muffins filled with pus ." His judgments were frequently eccentric. Dorothy Parker once said: "I remember hearing Woollcott say reading Proust

7830-566: Was sold to private developers. By 2018, the arena was being converted to a sports complex under the name Hy-Vee Arena . The Kauffman Performing Arts Center opened in 2011 providing a new, modern home to the KC Orchestra and Ballet. In 2015, an 800-room Hyatt Convention Center Hotel was announced for a site next to the Performance Arts Center & Bartle Hall. Construction was scheduled to start in early 2018 with Loews as

7920-566: Was staying at the White House in November 1942. An experienced anthologist, he drew on the knowledge of soldiers' reading preferences he gained while he was editor of Stars and Stripes during World War I, and also asked for nominations from friends including Stephen Vincent Benét , Carl Sandburg and Mark Van Doren . Like his final radio broadcast, As You Were was a contribution to the war for which Woollcott waived all royalties and planned to donate profits to welfare organizations. The book

8010-580: Was the cause of Hitler." He said nothing further, but reportedly took a notepad and wrote the words, "I am sick." The radio audience remained unaware that Woollcott had suffered a heart attack and died at New York's Roosevelt Hospital , aged 56, of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was buried in Clinton, New York , at his alma mater, Hamilton College, but not without some confusion. By mistake, his ashes were sent to Colgate University in Hamilton, New York . When

8100-431: Was the snobbish, vitriolic columnist Waldo Lydecker in the novel Laura , later made into a film in 1944. Woollcott was convinced he was the inspiration for his friend Rex Stout's brilliant, eccentric detective Nero Wolfe , an idea that Stout denied. Alexander Humphreys Woollcott was the youngest of five children of William and Frances Bucklin Woollcott, born on January 19, 1887. The family lived in an 85-room house,

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