Questions and Answers

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was published 80 years ago this fall.  What better way to celebrate this anniversary and Alice’s birthday on April 30th (Happy 136 !),  than with another autobiography, but not just any autobiography would do and it hasn’t!

The 1933 Autobiography:
“Bedtime, Pussy?”

Just a few weeks ago THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL J. ISENGART by Filip Noterdaeme was published by Outpost19. Honoring the style of Stein’s faux-biography, Noterdaeme writes about his partner and their life together.  They are the new expats, one from Belgium, one from Germany, and their Paris is Brooklyn, New York City, the Hamptons and beyond.

But who are FilipandDaniel, the GertrudeandAlice of the 21^st century, whose book ushers in the 80^th anniversary year of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY?

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Just a timely, mini- post:

“Come and say what prints all day. A whole few watermelon. There is no pope.”-Gertrude Stein, TENDER BUTTONS (1914)

Some big Pradamelon shoes to fill:

As another year ends, I, as many of you, will exclaim “Another year? What a year!”

All years have their ups and downs and this one was no different.

Events on the world stage were as crazy and heart-breaking as ever .  And I often wonder as years like 1929 or 1941 or  1962 came to a end, whether the despair of events of those years overwhelmed the joys that must also have entered people’s lives.

Two major links to GertrudeandAlice left us this year: Julian Stein, Jr. and Robert Lescher.

Those of you who have been following my posts have been introduced to Julian, Gertrude’s cousin, through the excerpts that I’ve featured from his memoirs.  (There are more to follow in the new year, I promise.) Julian will be remembered for a long, long time by all of those who knew and loved him.

The unforgettable Julian Stein, Jr.

Robert Lescher was a major figure in the New York publishing scene for 60 years working with such writers as Robert Frost, MFK Fisher and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Literary mentor Robert Lescher

He traveled to Paris in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s to work with Alice on writing her memoir, WHAT IS REMEMBERED.

Alice had begun work on the book with Max White, whom Gertrude had praised as one of America’s young, up-and-coming writers in the late 1940s. For a number of months he met with Alice at rue Christine, taking notes as she related her life with Gertrude to him.

Portrait of Max White by Alice Neel

However, at one point he stormed out of a visit , notes in hand since , as he later put it, he did not believe Alice was telling him the truth and he wanted nothing to do with such a book.  He destroyed the notes and it was up to Robert Lescher to again begin the process as her publisher eagerly awaited the manuscript. The book was finally published in 1963.  I had a chance to meet with him twice in NYC and enjoyed his recollections of time with Alice.

So, as we all wrap up the last week of 2012 and gird ourselves for the ups and downs of 2013, my card to all of you this year features you know who,  with four-legged you know who the second and a few collaged items to make it all festive!  In her lap, Alice proudly displays her fruitcake which was one of the things that she relished making at the end of WWII.  The recipe is in her cookbook and ends with preparing icing  though she insists that that is “gilding the lily!”

With all good wishes to all….

HRG

There are some events in life which can never be repeated or should only be repeated in the most pleasant of dreams.  Such an event, the memorial for Julian Samuel Stein, Jr., began at a few minutes after 4 PM, October 6^th, 2012 at the Maryland Historical Society one week ago today.

The Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore

The auditorium of the society was almost filled as Vishwa and I walked in. We were ready to join the SRO corps that would undoubtedly soon form.  It was like entering the Metropolitan Opera at the final performance of the most highly revered tenor in the world and all seats were taken.   Luckily we saw our friend Betsy, Julian’s partner, near the front of the auditorium and as we wanted to be sure to greet her with loving hugs before the program began, we pushed our way through the not yet seated crowd.

We found Betsy and hugged, all of us a bit teary-eyed.  She sensed we were looking for seats and there, three seats down from where she was sitting in the front row were four empty chairs next to two of her close friends.

“Are two of these taken?” I asked.  “No, “ replied Betsy’s friend.

Betsy and Julian…enough said !

There we were in the front row for the event of a lifetime to hear about the events of a lifetime!

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I have never understood it when after someone has died people often say ‘He (or she) had a full life,’ as if  a life lived can be measured in a Pyrex measuring cup.  As if once life reaches beyond the little red markings with the possibility of overflowing onto the Formica counter, it’s time to pass on.

...my cup runneth over

A few weeks ago, my friend Julian Stein, Jr. died in Baltimore.  At 93, I’m certain many will say he had a full life, but I am willing to bet that his family and many others including me, wish that the Great Filler of the Pyrex Cup in the Sky would have allowed him just a few more ounces above the red markings.

There are many who miss him so, so much already.

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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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Every year brings with it landmark events and 1877 was no different.

So today, the 135^th birthday of Alice B. Toklas, let’s take a look at some of the happenings of that year and how maybe, just maybe, they shaped the life of the infant born that day on O’Farrell Street in San Francisco.

The streets of San Francisco 1877

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One hundred and six years ago yesterday, San Francisco burned following the jolt of the 1906 Fire and Earthquake.

Gertrude Stein had been living in Paris for three years at the time of the quake, but Alice B. Toklas was in San Francisco living with her father on Clay Street.

The house on Clay Street.

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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

It has often been said that as you get older time seems to pass more quickly, hence birthdays are here each year before we know it!

And today, once again Our Ms. Stein celebrates her 138^th birthday. (Just imagine how quickly time must pass once you’ve reached 138?!)

The year past has been most eventful for Steiniacs around the globe and I’m already beginning to hear about new Stein events in the new year: theatrical productions, workshops and literary conferences.  Just register with Google Alerts and enter “Gertrude Stein” if you’d like to be kept in the know. Also go to the “Quoting Gertrude Stein” link on the right, and Renate provides her Stein year in review.

The question of what to get for a 138 year old birthday “girl” would stump even the most gifted of personal shoppers.  I’m sure she had/has it all.  What more could one ask for than a roomful of Picassos and Matisses (and Alice) especially at today’s auction prices?  It could put Facebook’s pending IPO to shame – and then maybe not!

So what I offer today as a gift to one and all is a drawing that Tom Hachtman did for me a number of years ago.  I think it is very appropriate as it shows GertrudeandAlice at one of their favorite activities – eating.

"Birthday Crockery!" copyright 2001, Tom Hachtman

What the concoction in the Crockpot is…I’ll let you all use your imaginations.  But whatever it is,  everyone gathered around the table seems to be very pleased and happy!  What more can we ask for on any birthday?

Life is too short.  Time passes too quickly. Grab that Crockpot from the back shelf of the kitchen cabinet and  concoct something that will make you happy too!

Happy Birthday, Gertrude Stein!