During the time that Benchley was filming various short films, he also began working at "The New Yorker", which had started in February 1925 under the control of Benchley's friend Harold Ross. While Benchley, along with many of his Algonquin acquaintances, was wary of getting involved with another publication for various reasons, he completed some freelance work for "The New Yorker" over the first few years, and was later invited to be newspaper critic. Benchley initially wrote the column under the pseudonym Guy Fawkes (the lead conspirator in the English Gunpowder Plot), and the column was well received. Benchley tackled issues ranging from careless reporting to European fascism, and the publication flourished. He was invited to be theatre critic for "The New Yorker" in 1929, leaving "Life", and contributions from Woollcott and Parker became regular features in the magazine. "The New Yorker" published an average of forty-eight Benchley columns per year during the early 1930s.