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 1st proclamation announcing the 7th annual Jewish Heritage Month.
Once upon a time in Salem...
Joe Mc and friend, 1954
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People often ask me which of Gertrude Stein’s works they should read first. Sometimes the question comes from someone who knows very little about GertrudeandAlice. Sometimes it comes from someone who has heard of them and only knows Gertrude through her most famous quotes: “Rose is a…,” or “No there…” and knows Alice because of her cookbook’s most famous recipe the “H–hish Fudge aka ABT Bro-nies.”
Usually I’ve encouraged them to begin with THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS. The book is very accessible, written in a straight forward narrative style with just enough touches of Gertrude’s stylistic word-play and chronology shuffling to let the reader know that this masterpiece of modernist literature is just that – a masterpiece of modernist literature.
GertrudeandAlice with words (to typeset) in a picture circa 1935
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