Questions and Answers

It has been a week since Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast and it has been a week since I last heard from Tom Hachtman, the incredible illustrator of my GertrudeandAlice picture book.

Tom by Tom (2011)

Tom and his wife and mother-in-law live in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. not far from the ocean.  They have been in my thoughts all week.  A mutual friend has tried to reach them via phone, but has not been successful and closed his last e-mail to me with –  “I will let you know if I get any news.”

Me by Tom (2011)

I know that the pictures online and those on TV only tell part of the story and just as in the case of Hurricane Katrina, any of us who have never seen or lived through this kind of devastation, have really no idea of what it must be like. (I have not been able to fathom the destruction that my parents witnessed during World War II and their ability to move to a foreign land and start over with 3 young children in tow.  I don’t think I’d have it in me to do the same.)

Berlin, 1945

Tom has a thing about redheads. ( I don’t recall him ever telling me how this came about.)  Every morning he sends an e-mail to his list of friends of his latest redheaded find  – movie star, model, famous painting, etc.  He must have a collection of several hundreds of these.  The last one was sent weekend before last, as he wasn’t sure how much longer they would have power.

From time-to-time I sent him redheads that I’d find online or in magazines and even sent him a redheaded Gertrude that I created from a picture postcard.

Tom, Joey and Myrna my thoughts are with you, your families  and your neighbors.  Please know that I’m here to help in whatever way I can.

Missing you and your redheads!

PS

November 6th:

The first redhead du jour arrived early this morning and here she is:

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

The above quote has been attributed to a number of people and is as good an excuse as any for me not posting to this blog in so many weeks!

But as a matter of fact, I ‘m writing this in Johannesburg, South Africa, a good 21 hours flying time from home in San Francisco (our first trip to this corner of the globe where it is now winter.)

Have been here about a week and have already ventured to Kruger National Park for a mini-safari with sightings of leopard, lion, giraffe, hippo, crocodile, impala, warthog, hyena, ostrich, and an abundance of birds.

As close as the pet next door!

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Up until now, the only time that Gertrude Stein was ever a presence at the White House, as far as I know, was on December 30, 1934 when she and Alice were invited to tea by Eleanor Roosevelt.  From what I’ve read, a good time was had by all.

Teatime with Eleanor, 1933

Not sure if Barack or Michelle are aware of Gertrude in recent days, but someone on the presidential staff  may have taken a major step backwards into the era of the Salem witch trials or more recently Joseph McCarthy’s un-American  activities committee, when they felt the necessity to re-issue the May 1^st proclamation announcing  the 7^th annual Jewish Heritage Month.

Once upon a time in Salem...

Joe Mc and friend, 1954

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I have often referred to the book CHARMED CIRCLE by James R. Mellow as it was the book that first got me interested in Gertrude Stein and her crowd.

Now I’m so happy to announce that the contemporary incarnation of an iconic institution that played a pivotal role in the lives of many members of Stein’s Charmed Circle  is now selling copies of my book GERTRUDE AND ALICE AND FRITZ AND TOM (GAAAFAT.*)

[*not to be confused with what many a gay man is trying to lose at Gold’s Gym!]

That institution is Shakespeare and Company in Paris! The original bookstore sold and championed the works of Stein, Joyce, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald among many others.  Its modern counterpart has continued the tradition for more than sixty years.

James Joyce, Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier in the original Shakespeare & Co., 1920

The current Shakespeare and Company at 37, rue Bûcherie, one of the Parisian landmarks included in Woody Allen’s hit movie “Midnight in Paris.”

I must confess that copies of the book are already at another Shakespeare & Co., the beautiful, little English-language book shop in Vienna located on the poetically named street, Sterngasse (“star way“), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. But having copies of the books in Paris within a catapult’s boulder throw from Notre Dame is such a thrill.

Not to mention that were Fritz and Tom to turn around in the illustration in the book in which they are on Notre Dame’s tower (within the watchful glare of a gargoyle), they would have a direct view across the Seine to where the current Shakespeare and Co. bookstore has been located since 1951. (The bookstore, founded by George Whitman was originally named Le Mistral, but was renamed in 1964 as a tribute to Sylvia Beach who died that year.)

Whitman died in December of last year at the age of 98.

Born in Baltimore, Sylvia Beach moved to Paris in the last years of  WWI and  opened Shakespeare and Company at 8, Rue Dupuytren  in 1919.  Two years later it moved to its famous location at 12, Rue de l’Odéon. The shop was a combination English-language bookstore and lending library replicating the French version of the store that had been started by Adrienne Monnier who would become Sylvia’s life partner . Gertrude and Alice were among the first holders of “library cards”.  In her autobiography, published in 1959 Beach recalls the “Two Customers from Rue de Fleurus”:

“Not long after I opened my bookshop, two women came walking down rue Dupuytre.  One of them, with a very fine face, was stout,wore a long robe, and on her head, a most becoming top of a basket.  She was accompanied by a slim, dark, whimsical woman: she reminded me of a gypsy.  They were Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.

…Gertrude subscribed to my lending library, but complained that there were no amusing books in it.  Where, she asked indignantly, were those American masterpieces The Trail of the Lonesome Pine and The Girl of the Limberlost?

…To make up for her unjust criticism of Shakespeare and Company, she bestowed several of her works on us: quite rare items such as Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia and that thing with the terrifying title, Have They Attacked Mary: He giggled:A Political Caricature.”

A moment of intimate gossip between Sylvia Beach and Alice in Paris, 1959

Another connection between GAAAFAT and Sylvia Beach and Shakespeare and Co. is Joyce’s book ULYSSES.

Jane Heap  and Margaret Anderson, the guardians of Fritz and Tom, serialized the Joyce book in The Little Review  from 1918-1921. Publication of the book was halted when the U.S. government considered the material in the last installment obscene: it contained a masturbation scene.

Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap

Heap and Anderson were tried and a portion of the book was declared obscene.  They were fined $50 each.  Sylvia Beach published ULYSSES in 1922, but it was banned in the U.S. until 1934 when it was judged “not pornographic, so it could not be obscene!” Only 1000 copies were printed and are among the most prized books by collectors of 20^th century first editions.

The amusing book at Shakespeare and Company, Paris 2012

The following post is rated R ,”Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian!”

In the last few months there has been a controversy raging following the publishing of Barbara Will’s book Unlikely Collaboration: Gertrude Stein, Bernard Fay, and the Vichy Dilemma.  In her book, Will delves into one of the aspects of Gertrude’s life that is recounted every few years in various books and articles: how did she and Alice as lesbian, American Jews survive in Nazi-occupied France during WWII?  Gertrude’s close friendship with Fay, a Vichy government sympathizer, and his role in preventing GertrudeandAlice from being rounded up by the Nazis is not new information. However, it is Will’s contention that Stein too held strong pro-Vichy and pro-Nazi sentiments that has caused a firestorm in a large contingency of the Stein Fan Club.

But now there is a new, potential controversy brewing regarding my picture book Gertrude and Alice and Fritz and Tom.

The word “Pussy” is used four times in the book- pages 4, 13, 35, and 61 and is one of the many affectionate names GertrudeandAlice had for each other.

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The book has arrived!

The book has arrived!

The book has arrived!

It has arrived. The book.

The book that is not a chair.

A chair that is not the book.

But the  book sitting there.

Chair.

So there.

With my attempt at Steinese, I am so happy to announce that the first shipment of GERTRUDE and ALICE and FRITZ and TOM has reached the U.S. shores from the printer in Singapore. (Actually they arrived by air freight, flying above the shores, with the larger shipment coming by sea and literally reaching our shores in Los Angeles in a few weeks on a ship named England.}

The book is beautifully printed and bound.

Gertrude and Alice and Fritz and Tom by Hans Gallas Illustrations by Tom Hachtman

My previous post told the tale of how the book got to be and now will come the book’s marketing adventures!

If you have any favorite bookstores that should be stocking the book, let me know. I’m also planning events highlighting the book around the country and abroad in the next six months.  I’ll keep you posted on those here and on Facebook.

All ideas of people I should contact and places I should go are welcome.

You can order your copy (or copies) by clicking on the book‘s cover in the right column or going to gertrudeandalice.com/fritzandtom and the book will be on its way. Books are $19.99 for the 72 page hard cover edition with a dust jacket and can be paid for through PayPal.

Once the final shipment arrives, I’ll also be setting up purchasing through amazon.com.

One box of books has actually made a return trip across the Pacific to my friend Jane Turner’s book shop, the Gertrude and Alice Café Bookstore in Bondi Beach, Australia.

Gertrude and Alice Cafe Bookstore well-stocked

How fitting that the first bookstore in the world to stock the book is named after Our Ladies of Rue de Fleurus.

Gertrude and Alice and Fritz and Tom would certainly chime in to agree.

One of the purposes of a blog is commenting on happenings in a timely manner.

Well, this morning before my GoogleAlert for Gertrude Stein even had a chance to send me any alerts, I got an e mail from a friend on the East Coast with this heading:

“Lesbians Booted from Gertrude Stein Exhibit – San Francisco…”

And why did a security guard try to get them to leave the Contemporary Jewish Museum…for defacing a painting? Pressing their noses against one of the Plexiglas vitrines?  Relishing an Alice B. Toklas treat while touring the show?

No, no, no…for holding hands!!!

"Semper fidelis," (detail) by Bruce Kellner, 1982

Word about this incident is apparently spreading like wildfire within the community of Stein fans, as well as in newspapers across the country. (One of my friends has proposed a “Hand-Holding, Sit-In” type of day at the museum.)

How can I not comment on this in a timely manner considering that many items from my collection are featured in the exhibition, which I hope this couple was able to view before they were so unconscionably treated!

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This week I found out about the death of my favorite high school English teacher, Miss Lois Body, at age 96. I’m sure that many of us have had teachers who have made a significant difference in our lives – Miss Body (pronounced bow dee) was one of those amazing people.  I stayed in touch with her over the years visiting her whenever I’d return to Springfield and sent her copies of my GertrudeandAlice children’s stories which she seemed to enjoy.

Springfield High School ( Springfield, Illinois)

I had Miss Body as the teacher of an Advanced Placement English class when I was a senior. The class had only five students some of whom I’ve stayed in touch with over the last forty-four years.  One of them asked that we each write a tribute essay.  Here is mine.

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The gift giving holiday season  drew  to a close several weeks ago with Epiphany,  January 6th, the day that according to legend the Magi arrived to give the Christ child their gifts. Two of the regal visitors brought somewhat useless gifts, frankincense and myrrh, and one gift, that small chest of gold, must have come in handy for his young, homeless parents. But come to think of it, all three gifts were far more useful than the 12 lords a-leaping that end that dreadful “Twelve Days of Christmas” dirge!

The Epiphany a la Lego!

Although this year’s holiday “must-have” electronic devices proved to be diverse, from this “I-thing” to that “I-thing,” one of the best-selling, non-I-things, was amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader.

The Kindle I have was handed down to me when an I-Pad entered our household. (The days of hand-me-down itchy sweaters or too short corduroy  pants are long gone!)

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Last November I posted a blog about the sudden death of our English Springer Spaniel Ollie and paralleled the importance of him in our lives with the role that dogs played in the lives of GertrudeandAlice.  I ended the piece anticipating a grand-nephew of Ollie’s, a new little dog who would come to know us.

Well, Fritz arrived last week Priority Parcel on American Airlines from Dallas to San Francisco.  This little fellow has already accumulated a lot of miles considering he was born in Ohio!

So here he is:

Fritz on his 3 month birthday today

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