Questions and Answers

Last week was the beginning of fall (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) or by its more sophisticated sounding name “autumn.”  Fall used to mean that a new school year was beginning, new television programs were about to start or old, successful ones entered a new season, and the end-of-the year holidays would be here again. (My Jewish friends have already begun the rounds of holidays as Rosh Hashanah,Yom Kippur  have just passed and Sukkot is now finishing up.)

But now as I am no longer a student or teacher (in the formal sense), the school calendar means little. Television seasons now begin whenever a rating boast is needed or shows need to replace programs whose ratings are just too low to get sufficient sponsorship from ED or acid reflux pill manufacturers.  As for the Holidays—Thanksgiving is fine as it’s all about eating and sharing food, while the gift-giving ones are a pain, and don’t even ask me about my feelings about New Year’s Eve–ugh!

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Today, one hundred years ago, the moving van arrived at 27, rue de Fleurus and Alice B. Toklas’s belongings were unloaded and she moved in with Gertrude Stein!  They had first met almost three years before to the day.  Since that meeting, coming to ’27’ on a daily basis became a part of Alice’s routine and though she had undoubtedly begun to assume some household responsibilities during that period, she had most notably become the primary typist of Gertrude’s manuscripts.

A picture postcard of Paris, 1910.

Alice had been living in an apartment on rue Notre Dames des Champs within walking distance of rue de Fleurus with her San Francisco neighbor Harriet Levy.  When Harriet decided to return to San Francisco, she asked Alice to handle shipping her furniture and paintings including a Matisse.

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