Cast of Characters
Page 41
118 his last New Yorker casual: Russell Maloney, “Frankly . . . The Memoirs of a Bankrupt,” TNY of February 12, 1944.
118 “pretty,” “melodious” and “dull”: WG, “George Washington Slipped Here,” TNY, June 12, 1948.
119 Many years later: Details of Miriam’s appeal can be found in her correspondence with KSW, and Leo Hofeller, dated February 26, and March 1, 4, 11, and 14, 1963, in Box 1323 of New Yorker Records, NYPL.
119 “Ah, here’s Mac” and “You ungainly creature, you”: Kinney, Thurber Life and Times, pp. 568–69.
119 “He thought if the magazine had its own speakeasy”: Ibid., p. 380.
120 “I’ve always rebelled,” etc.: Peter Arno obituary, New York Times, February 23, 1968.
120 “Occasionally she would come into”: Marcia Davenport to Thomas Kunkel, April 14, 1992.
120 “was busy buying”: Lois Long to Morris Ernst, “In re former-husband trouble,” n.d., 1938.
121 singing as he drew: James L. Geraghty, notes, Box 11, James Geraghty Papers, NYPL.
121 He paid the artist: Arthur Getz to HWR, November 1940.
121 when two of his cartoon captions: Peter Arno to HWR, n.d., 1949.
121 Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr.: Dilberto, Debutante, pp. 143–44.
121 gave her a shiner: Ibid.
121 “Jim, congratulate me,” “quite an armament,” and “seething reclusivity”: James L. Geraghty, notes, Box 11, James Geraghty Papers, NYPL.
121 “Have we completely lost our mind?”: Charles McGrath, “Omit Needless Rules,” New York Times Book Review, October 19, 2014.
122 “a much older woman”: Davis, Onward and Upward, p. 232.
122 “I went to Reno”: KSW to Caroline Angell, Christmas 1976.
123 “I do want to see you” and “This attractive thing”: KSW to EBW, May 31, 1929.
123 “This marriage is a terrible challenge”: EBW to KSW, late November 1929.
124 “She is the one”: HWR to Lloyd Paul Stryker, October 29, 1945.
124 “beautiful and mysterious”: Kunkel, Genius in Disguise, p. 205.
124 “was the deadly”: JT, Years with Ross, p. 182.
125 “grabber”: Tony Gibbs, interview by author, July 1, 2007.
125 “She was the domineering type”: Bernstein, Thurber: A Biography, p. 117.
125 “When we finally found each other”: Ibid., p. 247.
125 shades of pea green: Elizabeth “Tish” Collins, interview by author, June 9, 2007.
125 “That was a good piece”: Kinney, Thurber Life and Times, pp. 371–72.
125 “Helen Stark”: Susan Shapiro, “A Librarian with Great Stories in Her Files,” Newsday, March 3, 1992.
126 “You were in love!”: Edward Newhouse, interview by Cynthia Carver Pratt, January 14, 1997.
126 “I’d been thwarted”: Kinney, Thurber Life and Times, pp. 371–72.
126 “He always carried a torch”: Bernstein, Thurber: A Biography, p. 175.
126 “Our love . . . never ripened”: JT to EBW, December 22, 1952.
126 “Miss Honeyclutch”: WG to Nancy Hale, n.d., ca. 1931.
126 IN BED A BROKEN MAN: WG to Ann Honeycutt, telegram, n.d.
126 a bout between Primo Carnera: WG to Hale, June 28, 1933.
126 third of the owner-management: Leonard Lyons, “The Lyons Den,” syndicated column, March 7, 1941.
127 Poems to two of his: WG, “Paula” and “Babette,” North Hempstead Record, December 22 and 29, 1926.
128 Helen Marguerite Galpin: Most of the information about Helen’s background comes from Peter Powers, interview by author, October 6, 2009. A copy of the marriage certificate was provided by the Nassau County (N.Y.) Clerk’s Office.
128 “a respectable girl”: WG, “Love, Love, Love,” TNY, July 20, 1946.
129 dangerous harpy named “Hilda”: WG, “Hilda Has Her Little Joke,” North Hempstead Record, February 2, 1927.
129 a native of Detroit: Elizabeth’s Detroit background was established by the 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses.
129 a sojourn in Bermuda: Ship’s manifest, S.S. Bermuda, September 10, 1929.
129 Elizabeth committed suicide: Conflicting stories of the suicide can be found in Hoopes, Ingersoll: A Biography, p. 78; Gill, Here at New Yorker, p. 118; and KSW to Geoffrey T. Hellman, October 3, 1975. Newspaper accounts include the April 1, 1930, editions of New York Times, New York World, Daily News, and New York Herald Tribune.
130 “Could you come right over” etc.: KSW to Hellman, October 3, 1975.
130 So concerned was O’Hara: MacShane, Life of O’Hara, p. 52.
131 “Miss Dirty Dishes”: WG to Nancy Hale, n.d., ca. 1931.
131 “orange and green seraglio”: WG to Hale, September 3, 1931.
131 “When I got back”: Sillman, Here Lies Leonard, pp. 139–40.
132 “new girl,” “Hats,” etc.: WG, “Shall We Pan the Ladies?,” North American Review, April 1931.
132 “It seems very likely”: WG to Hale, n.d., ca. 1931–32.
132 “I love you because”: WG to Hale, March 11, 1931.
132 “I miss you terribly”: WG to Hale, August 22, 1931.
133 “Christ, a year ago”: WG to Hale, September 10, 1931.
133 “When you’re away: WG to Hale, November 22, 1931.
133 “Darling, I’ve spent two days”: WG to Hale, “Mother’s Day by jesus,” n.d., ca. 1933.
134 “in trade”: Collins, interview.
134 “honorable intentions” and “unsatisfactorily entangled”: Waugh, Best Wine Last, p. 43.
135 “A love story, to be typical”: Waugh to Elinor Mead Sherwin, Christmas 1931, courtesy Tish Collins.
135 “my great-uncle Alec”: Alexander Waugh to author, July 27, 2007.
136 “Yes, the little darlings”: Tony Stern, interview by author, June 13, 2009.
136 “Don’t hand her to me”: Sarah Smith, interview by author, October 23, 2008.
136 Susan Douglas: Tony Gibbs, interview by author, July 1, 2007.
136 that Elinor was the mistress: JOH to John Hayward, March 22, 1960.
136 When Benchley died: Gibbs interview, July 1, 2007.
136 “They lived in the same house”: Linda Kramer, interview by author, December 11, 2005.
136 “quite strange”: Arthur Gelb, interview by author, December 1, 2007.
137 “I think I’ve done everything”: WG to Elinor Gibbs, n.d., 1935.
CHAPTER 6: “AN OFFENSE TO THE EAR”
138 “which I strongly suspect”: WG, “Well, I Give Up,” TNY, May 3, 1941.
138 Wilson got an office: Dabney, Edmund Wilson, pp. 311–12.
139 “as arbitrary”: Edmund Wilson, “Ambushing a Best-Seller: ‘The Turquoise,’ ” TNY, February 16, 1946.
139 “It has happened to me,” etc.: Edmund Wilson, “Somerset Maugham and an Antidote,” TNY, June 8, 1946.
139 “nothing but rose water,” etc.: Lois Long to HWR, June 1, 1931; Long to HWR, April 15, 1931; James R. Hayes to HWR, April 5, 1934; EBW, “Notes and Comment,” TNY, April 7, 1934.
139 “Your emotions must not destroy”: HWR to Lois Long, April 17, 1931.
140 “Leon Fraser is one of New York’s”: Matthew Josephson, “The Hat on the Roll-Top Desk,” parts 1 and 2, TNY, February 14 and 21, 1942.
140 “We seldom make idols”: Anonynous to Elizabeth Brackett, March 28, 1939.
141 “I think I may”: Frank Sullivan to EBW, ca. 1942.
141 “I had an unexpectedly”: StCM to John Bainbridge, November 1, 1939.
142 “The statement ‘Ethel Merman’ ”: Ethel Merman to Bainbridge, June 7, 1940.
142 “The statement of which”: Leopold Stokowski to Bainbridge, June 5, 1940.
142 “the item regarding separation”: Cliff Lewis to Bainbridge, June 11, 1940.
142 “completely inaccurate and groundless”: Kenichiro Yoshida to Bainbridge, May 28, 1940.
143 “This is a good place”: StCM to HWR, March 22, 1940.
143 “Th
ere’s no use taking”: WS to HWR, May 5, 1940.
143 “My instinct is for blood”: HWR to WS, n.d.
144 This was such explosive stuff: “Books and Authors,” New York Times, September 29, 1940.
144 did not wear undershorts: Kunkel, Genius in Disguise, p. 282.
145 “my best to take”: HWR to TNY staff, September 6, 1940.
145 “[U]nder the compulsion” etc.: HWR to Mark Woods, July 1, 1942.
146 “Woollcott could be”: KSW, “Further Notes by KSW on Woollcott and The New Yorker and ‘Shouts and Murmurs,’ ” p. 10.
146 “Woollcott was, above all”: Walker, Danton’s Inferno, p. 247.
146 “America’s most interesting woman,” “on the plane,” and “the best achievement”: Adams, Woollcott: Life and World, p. 253.
146 “was so capricious”: Ibid., pp. 373–74.
146 “By some miracle”: Ibid., p. 219.
146 “write literately and fairly well”: Ibid., p. 161.
146 “At a dinner party”: Walker, Danton’s Inferno, p. 263.
147 “That was, of course, Woollcott’s”: HWR to Raoul Fleischmann, December 24, 1934.
147 “forever the deadly enemy”: KSW (?) to Frank Sullivan, December 23, 1936.
147 “an attentive”: WG, “Doyle & Burke,” North Hempstead Record, February 9, 1927.
148 “To return, however, to”: WG, “Primo, My Puss”, TNY, January 5, 1935.
148 “He took on this weekly chore”: KSW to Howard Teichmann, September 17, 1975.
148 “sculptured from the very best Jello” and “terrible detriment”: WG, unpublished notes on Woollcott, n.d., courtesy of Tony Gibbs.
148 “As other men fear”: WG, “Big Nemo,” TNY, April 1, 1939.
148 “the flavor”: JT, Years with Ross, pp. 288–89.
148 “I was up there once”: Sullivan, Reminiscences.
148 REGRET CANT GET: WG to Alexander Woollcott, telegram, March 1, 1939.
149 “High spot of the evening”: Frank Sullivan to EBW, December 26, 1938.
149 a thorough dissection: WG, “Big Nemo,” TNY, April 1, 1939, March 18, 1939, and March 25, 1939.
150 YOU HAVE MADE ME: Woollcott to WG, telegram, probably March 2, 1939.
151 “I have on my conscience”: Woollcott to WG, ca. March 1939.
151 Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne: Behrman, People in a Diary, p. 130.
151 “I’ve tried by tender”: Woollcott to HWR, April 18, 1942.
151 “lying, cruelty and treachery”: Woollcott to HWR, September 28, 1942.
151 “For how much of this”: Woollcott to HWR, April 29, 1942.
151 “I would be glad”: HWR to Woollcott, October 6, 1942.
152 “To me you are no longer”: Woollcott to HWR, October 10, 1942.
152 “and asked him to leave”: Frank Sullivan to EBW, May 16, 1939.
152 “All the time Alec wrote for us”: HWR to Samuel Hopkins Adams, February 4, 1943.
152 “a particularly monstrous lounging sofa”: Arnold Schulman to HWR, September 16, 1947.
152 “We don’t want any additional”: Louis Forster to Arnold Schulman, September 22, 1947.
153 “Time’s inaccuracies”: Elson, Time Inc., p. 92.
154 “one of the great literary comedies”: WG, “Senora Cyclops,” TNY, December 3, 1949.
154 “undressing them”: Elson, Time Inc., p. 85.
154 “Hadden had not set out”: Wilner, Man Time Forgot, p. 131.
154 “Naturally . . . knifed each other”: Cort, Social Astonishments, p. 196.
155 “Damn it, the old lady,” etc.: Elson, Time Inc., p. 88.
155 “I wish you would do something”: Wilner, Man Time Forgot, p. 184.
156 “Hadn’t you better show it”: HWR to Ralph Ingersoll, November 7, 1933.
156 “every wise guy”: HWR to Ingersoll, August 9, 1934.
156 “kicked up all sorts”: HWR to Gluyas Williams, August 7, 1934.
156 “I do not make”: StCM to JT, May 25, 1958.
156 “Gossip Note”: EBW, “Notes and Comment,” TNY, August 18, 1934.
156 “Please stick with us”: HWR to Williams, August 7, 1934.
156 The project was initially assigned: Talmey’s initial role can be found in letters among HWR, StCM, and Ralph Ingersoll, dated April 12, 15, 22, and 26, 1935.
156 “Thanks for your note”: Ralph Ingersoll to HWR, April 15, 1935.
157 “because nobody but business executives” and “such an antic job”: These quotes, and much of the account of the Time–New Yorker dust-up, come from Frazier, It’s About Time.
157 “after giving him a cocktail”: Margaret Case Harriman, “The Candor Kid—II,” TNY, January 11, 1941.
157 “Write that down”: James Munves, memo recounting conversation with WG, ca. 1950–51.
158 “The fewer facts you give them”: Hoopes, Ralph Ingersoll, p. 149.
158 “They hate you”: Kramer, Ross and New Yorker, p. 249.
158 “It became an office project,” “deadpan manner,” etc.: StCM to JT, May 25, 1958.
158 “Look, this is too damned obvious” and “So sly”: Frazier, It’s About Time, pp. 143, 149.
159 “One scholarly study”: Chen, English Inversion, p. 258.
161 “I thought that was the funniest footnote”: William Walden, interview by author, July 27, 2006.
162 “Hearst tactics!”: StCM to JT, May 25, 1958.
162 “Time-Life was in an uproar”: William Maxwell, interview by John Seabrook, “The Art of Fiction No. 71,” Paris Review, Fall 1982.
162 Drawing out the drama: StCM to JT, May 25, 1958.
162 “Bulls like to fight”: Kramer, Ross and New Yorker, p. 250.
162 “Oh, that terrible night”: Brinkley, Publisher: Henry Luce, p. 200.
162 “[He] lost his nerve”: Hoopes, Ingersoll: A Biography, p. 149.
162 “a man of weak character”: James Munves, memo recounting conversation with WG, ca. 1950–51.
162 “on the grounds that”: Frazier, It’s About Time, p. 144.
162 “Luce came straight across”: StcM to JT, May 25, 1958.
162 Luce stammered, etc.: Frazier, It’s About Time; Hoopes, Ralph Ingersoll, pp. 149–50; Kunkel, Genius in Disguise, p. 290.
164 “The article went to your office,” etc.: HWR to Henry Luce, November 23, 1936.
167 “Thank you for your letter”: Luce to HWR, November 24, 1936.
167 “a gem of the purest ray”: Frank Crowninshield to HWR, March 7, 1946.
168 “the most creditable thing”: Alexander Woollcott to WG, December 3, 1936.
168 “the most distinguished public”: Bernard DeVoto, “The Easy Chair: Distempers of the Press,” Harper’s, March 1937.
168 Winchell reported a rumor: Walter Winchell column, November 30, 1936.
168 “one of the best pieces ever run”: HWR to Frank Crowninshield, February 25, 1946.
168 “There is no doubt the Luce piece”: HWR to WG, March 1, 1937.
168 note that effectively accused: “Funny Coincidence Department,” TNY, December 12, 1936.
168 “I find it hard to dissociate”: Eric Hodgins to Ralph Ingersoll, December 10, 1936.
168 “The river looks very”: Ingersoll to HWR, December 22, 1936.
169 “to be partially set”: “Department of Correction, Amplification, and Abuse,” TNY, January 2, 1937.
169 Ingersoll mischievously added: Elson, Time Inc., p. 267.
169 DOES THE PRESENT MRS LUCE: Frederick Packard (ostensibly) to Eric Hodgins, telegram, March 18, 1940.
169 “Once upon a time”: Margaret Case Harriman, “The Candor Kid,” January 4 and 11, 1941.
169 “As for Harriman’s bitchy tone”: WS to HWR, November 27, 1940.
169 “fulfilled its mission of laughter”: Clare Boothe Luce to HWR, October 25, 1951.
170 “Exalted Supreme”: Charles Morton, “Time Marches Up!” TNY, August 4, 1945.
170 “probably the third h
eaviest”: WG, “Notes and Comment,” TNY, July 16, 1938.
170 “They merely photographed a life”: WG and EBW, “Notes and Comment,” TNY, March 2, 1940.
170 “I don’t know!”: WG, “Notes and Comment,” TNY, April 5, 1944.
170 “very beautiful and strange”: WG, “Beauty and Gutzon Borglum,” TNY, September 10, 1938.
170 “Time is terrifying”: HWR to Martha Gellhorn, February 15, 1943.
170 “If either of the Luces”: HWR to Gellhorn, March 8, 1943.
171 “I saw it in Life”: HWR to staff, ca. 1947.
171 “And what do you suppose”: Elson, Time Inc., p. 268.
171 evoking at least one complaint: HWR to WG, July 8, 1946.
171 “This brings me to money”: WG to Robert Coughlan, February 6, 1948.
172 “I wanted to change”: JT, Years with Ross, pp. 217–18.
172 “It seemed to me at first”: WG, More in Sorrow, pp. vii–viii.
CHAPTER 7: “PRETTY GUMMY AT BEST”
173 “Ross had no valid relationship”: Cort, Social Astonishments, p. 196.
174 a retrospective look: JT’s “Where Are They Now?” articles about Ederle, O’Hanlon, and Sidis ran in TNY, April 18 and December 19, 1936, and August 14, 1937.
174 “go away somewhere”: Bernstein, Thurber: A Biography, p. 262.
175 “You’re throwing away ideas on PM”: JT, Years with Ross, p. 121.
175 “MLLE: If you had been”: JT, “He Said and She Said,” Mademoiselle, March 1942.
176 At one point Thurber tripped: Kinney, Thurber Life and Times, p. 745.
176 “an unfunny Thurber drawing” and “didn’t think it”: Terry to KSW, January (?) 1940.
177 “We Ask the New Yorker”: Katharine Strong to TNY, January 1939.
178 “about the difficulty people are”: EBW to JT, September 1, 1942.
178 “I see him roaming”: EBW in New York Herald Tribune, January 4, 1936.
178 “about the only thing”: Gluyas Williams to KSW, January 10, 1935.
178 “almost impossible to write anything”: EBW to Gus Lobrano, October (?) 1934.
178 “Speaking for the writer”: EBW to HWR, April 18, 1935.
179 “among the best stuff”: HWR to EBW, September 4, 1935.
179 “Your page is stronger”: HWR to EBW, May 7, 1935.
179 “The suggestion has often been made”: Robert van Gelder, “Books of the Times,” New York Times, October 6, 1934.
179 “Never has there been”: JT to EBW, January 20, 1938.