by Michael Sims
65 sale of the big Summit Avenue house. Elledge, p. 9.
65 One friend had already enlisted: Ibid.
65 “I don’t know what to do”: EBW, “First World War,” in Harper’s, OMM.
66 “My birthday!”: EBW, Ibid.
66 carefully packed the strip of bicycle tape: Elledge, p. 36.
Part II: ANDY
67 “All writing is both a mask”: EBW, letter to Scott Elledge, 16 February 1964, in Letters.
Chapter 6: OLYMPUS
69 white-bearded emeritus figure: Cornell yearbook, 1918, in the Cornell archives.
70 described in a fanciful list: EBW, “I’d Send My Son to Cornell,” University 1, n. 5 (1933); quoted in part in Elledge, p. 51.
70 he was invited to join: Cornell yearbooks, 1918–21, in the Cornell archives.
70 senior year he was elected fraternity president: Elledge, p. 54.
70 On October 13, 1917: EBW, “First World War,” Harper’s, dated October 1939, in OMM.
70 served on several Cornell committees: Cornell yearbooks, 1918–21, in the Cornell archives.
71 sang in the secular choir: Elledge, p. 50.
71 He registered for the draft: EBW, “First World War,” Harper’s, in OMM.
71 paragraphs that hid internal rhymes: EBW, letter to Jessie Hart White [December 1918], in Letters.
71 “I think I must have consumption”: EBW, “First World War.”
71 English 8 with William Strunk Jr.: EBW, “Will Strunk,” NY, 1957, in Points.
72 Fall Creek Drive: Guth, note in Letters, p. 19.
72 home of Professor Bristow Adams: EBW, letter to Luella Adams, 24 November 1957, in which he quotes from his journal entries of the time; reprinted in Letters.
72 its eight pages: Guth, notes on Letters, pp. 17ff.
72 national and international news: Elledge, p. 59.
72 unprecedented confidence: EBW, quoted by Guth, notes to Letters, p. 17.
72 a catchall column: Ibid., p. 18.
73 sprawled across the flatbed press: Elledge, p. 53.
73 compared her eyes to the deepest: Ibid., pp. 61–62.
73 “All beginnings are wonderful”: EBW, “Danbury Fair,” NY, 18 October 1930, in Writings.
73 Lillian was commuting: Elledge, p. 69.
74 to read the news: Examples taken from various mentions in paragraphs for NY, in Every Day.
74 promoted it on giant billboards: Jane McMaster, “A Glance Back to 1924 in First E&P Directory,” Editor and Publisher, 29 July 1950. Available at the comic-strip history site http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/search/label/News%20of%20Yore.
74 The building had Corinthian columns: From my own observation; see also photos at http://www.nyc-architecture.com/SOH/SOH029.htm.
75 “My heart has followed”: Marquis, “The Name,” Dreams & Dust. EBW quotes this line from Marquis in both his introduction to The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel and his Paris Review interview.
76 “He is one of the men who saw”: Anonymous introduction to article by Frank Seaman, “Merchandising and Advertising Abroad,” The Americas, December 1916, a publication of the National City Bank of New York.
77 One day in late February 1925: Elledge, 102; EBW, notes in Letters.
77 to survey a newsstand: These magazines were on newsstands during this week; images of front covers and text available at various online sources.
78 The first issue arrived on newsstands: Sources disagree about the first day of distribution.
78 The first issue of The New Yorker: See NY, online archive; I consulted it constantly.
79 “Into every one of this season’s song sparrows”: Elledge, p. 102.
80 two-bedroom apartment on the third floor: Ibid., p. 147.
80 He described a lunchtime encounter: EBW, “Child’s Play,” NY, 26 December 1925.
80 Childs restaurant: “Business: Childs’ War,” Time, 11 February 1929; Christopher Gray, “Streetscapes: The Childs Building,” New York Times, 6 November 1988; David W. Dunlap, “Fade from White: Memories of Pancakes at Childs,” New York Times, 31 July 2007.
82 The woman striding: EBW, quoted by Guth in Letters, p. 72, without source attribution; EBW, quoted by Nan Robertson, “Life without Katharine: E. B. White and His Sense of Loss,” New York Times, 8 April 1980.
82 Angell had majored: Davis, p. 32ff.
83 she also participated in almost every other decision: Ibid., p. 59ff.; Elledge, p. 118; see also Kunkel.
83 At thirty-four, Harold Ross: Details of Ross’s description come from Kunkel, Grant, Thurber, Elledge, Davis, and EBW.
83 Angell and Ross invited Andy: Elledge, p. 115.
84 Ross’s friends … coming aboard: Thurber, Years with Ross, pp. 22–24; Kunkel, various citations under names of Round Table members.
84 searching for the right “formula”: Kunkel, p. 105, and many other sources.
84 Each owed a debt to nineteenth-century forebears: Yagoda, About Town, pp. 84ff; Sims, “A View From the Under Side,” introduction to The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel.
84 Andy agreed to contribute: Guth, note in Letters, p. 72; Elledge, pp. 113–14.
Chapter 7: INTERVIEW WITH A SPARROW
86 “New York is part”: EBW, Interview by Frank H. Crowther, Paris Review, Fall 1969.
87 identifying the birds: Ibid.
87 peaceful snowfall one February day: EBW, “Cold Thought,” NY, 4 February 1928, in Every Day.
87 “its skinny ailanthus tree”: EBW, “Soil,” NY, 5 May 1928, in Every Day.
87 he explored Bronx Park: EBW, “Distant Borough in April,” NY, 21 April 1928, in Every Day.
88 the newly opened Reptile and Amphibian Hall: EBW, “Seeing Things,” NY, 18 February 1928, in Writings; Eugene Bergmann, “Design and Production of a New Herpetology Hall,” Curator: The Museum Journal, September 1978.
89 he commented on everything from: EBW, Every Day throughout; Elledge, pp. 123, 155, among many others.
89 “A lot has been done by novelists”: EBW, “Old and Young,” NY, 18 October 1930, in Every Day.
89 General Treaty for the Renunciation of War: See the text of the pact at http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/kbpact.htm.
89 “While the pacific ink”: EBW, “A Treaty,” NY, 8 September 1928, in Every Day.
90 back to writing about nature: EBW, “Mysteries of Life,” NY, 22 September 1928, in Writings.
90 “They glance in the right direction”: EBW, “Crossing the Street,” NY, 16 July 1932, in Writings.
90 speculated that Ziegfeld Follies: EBW, “Duck Welcomers,” NY, 28 January 1928, in Every Day.
90 “Down in the Village”: EBW, “October,” NY, 12 October 1929, in Every Day.
91 “As we grow older”: EBW, “Disillusion,” NY, 16 February 1929, in Writings.
91 Freud had used the term locomotor phobia: Siân Morgan, “The History of a Phobia,” Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis 6, p. 179.
91 Andy casually revised Freud: EBW, “Locomotophobia,” NY, 3 October 1931, in Every Day.
91 paradoxes of Einstein’s theories: EBW, “Mysteries,” NY, 14 February 1931, in Every Day.
94 Andy imagined interviewing the bird: EBW, “Interview with a Sparrow,” NY, 9 April 1927, in Writings.
Chapter 8: CRAZY
96 “The whole scheme”: EBW, “Foreword,” Points.
96 “I could not then unbend”: Quoted in Elledge, pp. 147–148.
96 “Too small a heart”: EBW, “Belated Christmas Card,” NY, 7 January 1928.
97 “rub shoulders with the famous”: EBW, “Rubbing Elbows,” NY, 11 June 1927.; Magdol, in later interviews with Elledge, insisted that she said “rub shoulders.”
98 “He goes his way”: EBW, “Portrait,” in The Lady is Cold.
98 a conversation between himself and the canary Baby: EBW, “Bye Low Baby,” NY, 17 March 1928. All quotations here from same source.
99 “I’m in love, and I’m going crazy.”: EBW, “A Boston Terr
ier,” Harper’s, in OMM.
100 In Paris, Thurber liked to sneak: Holmes, Clocks of Columbus, pp. 75–76.
100 a managing editor … a “jesus”: Ibid., p. 87.
100 doughnuts and cocktail-party anchovies: Holmes, Clocks of Columbus, p. 82.
101 “Take this down, Miss Terry”: Thurber, Years with Ross, p. 48.
101 “Which elephant is talking?”: Ibid., p. 41.
101 closet-size office: EBW, note in Letters (Guth edition), p. 73.
101 Rose’s first drawing: See Rose’s own account on the National Cartoonists Society Web site, http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/memorium/rose.jpg.
101 “It’s broccoli, dear”: NY, 8 December 1928; reprinted in Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker, p. 15. According to Thurber in The Years with Ross, p. 53, White ran the caption by him and he merely replied, “Yeh, it seems okay to me,” but neither of them “cracked a smile.”
102 Ross hesitated … Katharine published it: Ross, letter to George W. Stark, 5 June 1931, in Ross, Letters, p. 61.
102 a drawing of a seal: Thurber, Years with Ross, pp. 53–63.
103 “Just the minute another person”: Thurber and White, Is Sex Necessary?, p. 162–63.
104 “There are apartments in New York”: Ibid., p. 102.
104 “To kiss in a dream”: Ibid., p. 174.
105 “I gather,” one of them asked: Thurber, Years with Ross, p. 50.
105 “I don’t know what you think of it”: EBW, journal entry, 3 November 1929, quoted in Letters (Guth edition), p. 82.
Chapter 9: AS SPIDERS DO
106 “What a life”: EBW, letter to Reginald Allen, 2 January 1971, in Letters.
106 “God, how I pity me!”: Holmes, Clocks of Columbus, p. 87.
107 close friend of and poker player with: Ross, Letters, p. 72.
107 an excerpt from a feeble stage routine: Julius H. Marx, “Vaudeville Talk,” NY, 11 April 1925.
107 Andy found Ross a fascinating hybrid: EBW and William Shawn, eulogy for Harold Ross, NY, 15 December 1951; EBW, letter to H.K. Rigg, 11 December 1951, in Letters; Davis, p. TK.
108 an overworked portfolio crammed: EBW, quoted in Davis, p. 114.
108 “This is to introduce Mrs. Angell”: Kunkel, p. 144.
109 took Katharine home to his native Cleveland: Davis, p. 48.
109 the first-ever insurance system for soldiers: Davis, p. 46.
110 Katharine went along and wrote two powerful articles: Davis, pp. 49–54.
110 French notions of marriage: KSW, letter to Callie Angell, 20 January 1975, quoted in Davis, pp. 231–32; Davis, pp. 71ff; Roger Angell, “Hard Lines,” NY, 7 June 2004.
111 Ernest suggested that she herself have an affair: Davis, 71.
111 Katharine had also been a prizewinner: Ibid., p. 24.
111 “Now grows my heart unruly”: EBW, “Desk Calendar,” NY, 14 November 1928, p. 23; Elledge, pp. 149ff; Davis, pp. 77ff.
112 “No man is lonely”: EBW, letter to Harold Ross, 16 June [1928], in Letters.
112 spent well beyond their financial means: Davis, pp. 62–67.
113 Roger innocently called out: Ibid., 71.
113 Ernest slapped Katharine: Ibid., p. 80.
113 To tell eight-year-old Roger: Roger Angell, “Hard Lines,” NY, 7 June 2004.
114 wondered if he ought to leave: EBW, journal entry, 1 January 1919, quoted in Letters (Guth edition), p. 82.
114 “the animal alertness to the other’s heart”: EBW, quoted by Davis, p. 79.
115 They wrote letters.: Ibid., p. 88
115 she and Andy were married: Elledge, pp. 170ff.
115 “If it lasts only a year”: Ibid., p. 173.
115 Andy took Roger for a ramble: Roger Angell, “Andy,” NY, 14 February 2005.
116 Andy wound up moving: Elledge, p. 174.
116 using an interoffice memo form: Guth, Letters, p. 88.
116 “People slowly accustomed themselves”: Guth, Letters pp. 88–89.
117 his investment in Camp Otter: Elledge, p. 173.
117 “The spider, dropping down from twig”: EBW, letter to KSW [30 November 1929]; “Natural History,” in Poems and Sketches, p. 72.
118 Harris’s revival of Chekhov’s play: EBW, “Unwritten,” NY, 26 April 1930, in Writings.
118 Elena and … Mikhail: Description from photo of Gish and Perkins in costume onstage for this run of this play, from the Billy Rose theater papers at the NYPL.
118 throat began to tighten up: EBW, letter to KSW [spring 1930], in Letters.
119 Jim Thurber’s Scottish terrier: Holmes, Clocks of Columbus, pp. 103–4.
119 “It takes courage”: James Thurber, “The Thin Red Leash,” NY, 13 August 1927, in Thurber, Dog Department.
119 “an opinionated little bitch”: Guth, introducing EBW’s spring 1930 letter to KSW as Daisy, Letters, p. 91.
119 “Dear Mrs. White”: EBW, letter to KSW [spring 1930] in Letters.
120 Their son, Joel, was born: “Certainly not”: EBW, letter to Scott Elledge, 16 June 1982, quoted in Elledge, p. 178.
121 “White tells me you are already”: EBW, letter to Joel White, 31 December 1930, quoted in Elledge, pp. 178–79.
121 a nursemaid for Joe and a cook: Elledge, p. 179.
122 anchoring for the night: EBW, letter to Stanley Hart White, quoted by Elledge, p. 214, n. 32, not in Letters.
122 a decrepit, old dock: EBW, letter to KSW [early September 1937], in Letters.
123 Katharine and Andy explored: Elledge, p. 183.
Part III: CHARLOTTE
125 “I knew of several barns”: EBW, “Fro-Joy,” in Harper’s, in OMM.
Chapter 10: DREAM FARM
127 “Animals are a weakness with me”: EBW, “Pigs and Spiders,” Harper publicity flyer for Charlotte, Cornell.
127 Andy and Katharine were able to buy: Elledge, pp. 183ff.
127 profits passed six hundred thousand dollars: Ibid., p. 183.
128 the house encountered strong winds: Davis, p. 114, in a footnote quoting KSW’s father, Charles Sergeant.
128 built around 1800: Ibid., pp. 114–15.
128 ground-floor studies: I borrowed many of these details from Roger Angell’s vivid glimpse of his mother’s and stepfather’s work habits in his essay “Andy,” NY, 14 February 2005; others come from Cornell photographs and my own visit to the EBW farmhouse.
129 “without stepping out of the door”: EBW, “A Shepherd’s Life,” Harper’s, April 1940, in OMM.
129 As soon as he closed the lift-latch: I merged passing details from numerous comments by EBW in his essays and letters, as well as his descriptions in draft notes on Charlotte’s Web (Cornell, Box 2, Folder A), and my own visit to the site and my photos of older tools that had been left in the barn when White died and kept in situ by the current owners. See also Roger Angell, “Andy,” NY, 14 February 2005.
130 nineteenth-century cattle stalls: EBW, “Getting Ready for a Cow,” Harper’s, September 1942, in OMM.
131 carrying a paper napkin: Roger Angell, “Andy,” NY, 14 February 2005.
131 “a morning jewel, a perfect little thing”: EBW, “Morningtime and Eveningtime,” Harper’s, August 1942, in OMM.
131 mistook the silhouettes of patrol planes: EBW, “Foreword,” OMM.
132 using desk scissors to trim lambs’ wool: EBW, “Fall,” Harper’s, in OMM.
132 Andy anchored a metal loop: From my own visit to the White barn and my interviews with the current owners, who recounted stories told by Henry Allen, the Whites’ caretaker, who remained with the Gallants after they bought the house. As I mention in the introduction, the rope swing is still there.
132 When he decided to dynamite boulders: EBW, “Getting Ready for a Cow,” Harper’s, September 1942, in OMM.
132 “People have quit calling me an escapist”: EBW, “A Shepherd’s Life,” Harper’s, April 1940, in OMM.
133 The Rural New Yorker: EBW, “Farm Paper,” Harper’s, in OMM.
13
3 Fog was always a threat: EBW, letter to Stanley White, 11–21 July [1945], in Letters.
133 the farm extended beyond: EBW, “Salt Water Farm,” Harper’s, January 1939, in OMM; EBW, early draft of Charlotte, Cornell, Box 2, Folder B; EBW, occasional remarks in letters and essays.
133 “the restless fields of protein”: EBW, “Salt Water Farm,” Harper’s, January 1939, in OMM.
134 “When you have your own boat”: EBW, “Second World War,” Harper’s, September 1939, in OMM.
134 a fresh spring: EBW, “Progress and Change,” Harper’s, December 1938, in OMM.
134 parade of nonhuman neighbors: EBW, “Report,” dated December 1939, in OMM; Charlotte, chapter 9, “Wilbur’s Boast”; EBW, many occasional remarks in letters, essays, and Charlotte drafts.
135 the raccoon that nested: EBW, “Coon Tree,” NY, 14 June 1956, in Points.
136 Christopher Morley … wrote: EBW, letter to Christopher Morley, 27 April 1936, in Letters.
137 his mother … died: EBW, letter to KSW, 1 May 1936, in Essays; White, letter to Stanley Hart White, “Thursday / Bert Mosher’s. / Belgrade Lakes, Maine / [1936?],” in Letters; Elledge, pp. 203–4.
140 Ralph Ingersoll had taken the magazine: Ralph Ingersoll, “The New Yorker,” Fortune, August 1934.
140 a timely invitation from Harper’s: Elledge, p. 211.
140 “I was a man in search of the first person singular”: EBW, Introduction, OMM.
141 “The note he sounded”: EBW, “Visitors to the Pond,” NY, 23 May 1953, in Writings.
141 seals that swam beside his boat: EBW, letter to “Pupils of Grade 5-B,” Larchmont, NY, 26 December 1952, in Letters.
141 In 1938 the White family moved: Elledge, pp. 210–14.
142 “I soon knew”: EBW, “Spring,” Harper’s, dated April 1941, in OMM.
Chapter 11: THE MOUSE OF THOUGHT
143 “Creation is in part”: EBW, “Here Is New York,” Holiday, July 1948.
143 most wound up donated: Davis, p. 138.
143 Katharine briefly reviewed as many: Ibid., p. 106.
143 “He seems to be”: Ibid., p. 107.
144 He read many of the books: EBW, “Children’s Books,” Harper’s, in OMM. All EBW quotations here from this essay. Descriptions of covers are from online searches.
