Franklin P. Adams

Franklin Pierce Adams (1881-1960) was an American newspaper columnist known professionally as both Franklin P. Adams and "F.P.A." Renowned for his wit, Adams wrote a nationally syndicated column called "The Conning Tower" that launched a number of literary superstars of the day, including James Thurber and Dorothy Parker, and featured contributions from many of the era's greatest writers, like Moss Hart, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. He was a member of the famous literary/cultural group known as the Algonquin Round Table. Adams appeared as a panelist on the radio show "Information Please" from 1938-1948, serving as the resident expert on poetry, barroom songs and Gilbert and Sullivan. He also wrote books, including In Cupid's Court (1902), Tobogganning on Parnassus (1911) and Answer This One (a 1927 trivia book with Harry Hansen) as well as his famous collaboration with Dorothy Parker "Men I Am Not Married To/Women I Am Not Married To." One of Adams' more famous works was the short baseball poem "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," which both extolled and lamented the Cubs' double-play combo of Tinkers, Evers and Chance. Franklin P. Adams was a revered writer and cultural icon of his day. Dorothy Parker, deeply indebted to Adams for helping to launch her career, dedicated her 1936 publication of collected poems, Not So Deep as a Well, to F.P.A. Adams died in Manhattan in 1960.