by Edward Burns
Always
Baby and Mama Woojums.4
1. Joseph Barry (referred to as Jo or Joe by Stein), an American writer. Stein based her character Jo the Loiterer in her opera The Mother of Us All on Barry. While a student at the University of Michigan Barry was arrested for picketing during a prewar political rally. Since there was no charge for picketing, he was arresting for loitering.
Barry had lent Stein Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma (New York and London: Harper & Bros., 1944). In his book Myrdal quotes from various works by Kelly Miller (1863–1938), a black educator and writer who had been a professor of sociology at Howard University, 1890–1926. Miller was called “the father of the Sanhedrin,” a 1924 movement that attempted to unite all Negro organizations into one front. Among the works Myrdal cites are Miller’s Race Adjustment: Essays on the Negro in Amerca (New York: The Neale Publishing Co., 1908) and Out of the House of Bondage (New York: The Neale Publishing Co., 1914).
2. Stein’s “Off We All Went to See Germany,” Life (Aug. 1945) 19(6):54–58. The article tells about Stein’s trip to Germany, where she and Toklas toured U.S. Army bases. She also visited Salzburg, Austria, and was photographed on the terrace of the Berghof, Hitler’s home at Berchtesgaden.
3. Stein’s lecture “France Amérique,” in Harmonies, May 1945, pp. 11–12, 53. Stein had probably sent Van Vechten “La Retour à Paris,” Fontaine (Apr. 1945), 8(41): 163–64.
4. Both signatures by Stein.
To Gertrude Stein
14 July 1945 101 Central Park West
New York City 23
Dearest Baby Woojums,
With Mercurio-Giovanni [Bianco] gone, I am sending this through Lieutenant [Joseph] Barry1 and I am also sending the two [Max] Shulman books you asked for through the same source. Regarding Shulman I got the following card from Ted Holliday the bookseller, but you will find plenty about Shulman on the jackets of the books, both of which I take it are slightly autobiographical.2 I am also sending you (with this) a couple of pages from Esquire which will interest you.3 You seem to be delving deeply into the Negro problem. [Gunnar] Myrdal indeed! As for Kelly Miller, I don’t think he had anything new, and his old books are hard to come by. What especially do you want? There are two packages of books (from Dick Wright) and two packages of food from Fania and Carlo on their way to you via Bianco. I hope these don’t get lost now that he has wandered away. Wherever has he gone to? …1 have taken to going to weddings? Did you ever go to any? I never did before, but I have been to two this month, besides Pearl [Shower]’s wonderful RE wedding, of which I am sure I wrote you. Weddings are gay, there is lots of champagne (the best French champagne) and I think I will begin to crash weddings soon! … You knew perhaps that the NY Times (curses to them) is tearing down the building harboring the Stage Door Canteen! We have to get out along with our thousands of service men guests at the end of this month and as yet we have no place to go, but maybe some place will TURN UP. Everybody always asks about you and Alice every day and I tell them what a wonderful time you are having with the army and everybody is always excited and everybody says you must be having a wonderful time. So lots of love to you and Mama Woojums and don’t let me miss anything.
Papa Woojums!
1. Barry had written Van Vechten, 5 July 1945 (YCAL) telling him that Stein had asked him to replace Bianco as the “address” for Van Vechten’s packages to Stein.
2. Stein had head about Shulman from some soldiers. Through Barry she asked Van Vechten to send her Shulman’s Barefoot Boy With Cheek (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., 1943) and The Feather Merchants (Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., 1944). The card from Ted Holliday is not in YCAL.
3. The pages from Esquire are not with the letter. They were probably an article by Sinclair Lewis, “Obscenity and Obscurity,” Esquire, July 1945, pp. 51, 140, in which he mentioned Stein, saying, “Gertrude Stein, the Mother Superior of all that shoddy magic, is still extremely admired even though she is also extremely unread.”
To Carl Van Vechten
23 July [19]451 [5 rue Christine
Paris]
My dearest Papa Woojums,
So much to tell you and you may be getting this by the sweetest man who has done so much to make us comfortable Joel Fisher, and he’ll tell you all about a delightful day we are having together. And now for lots of things. Giovanni [Bianco] must be back in New York now, and I hope all those lovely packages catch up with him and then come back again to us, because we do want them dreadfully. I have gotten a copy of the Village for you, the last one that was left, and I’ll have Jo Barry send it on to you next week, to-day I had a letter from Knifey Darnell, he thought that he would be gone away and then after all, there he still is in Marseilles, not that I imagine that he is sorry, he is an awfully nice fellow, the other day I met on the street a fellow named Franklin Brewer, who met up with you in the Canteen in Philadelphia, he spent the evening with you, he says you won’t remember him, but he never forgot it.2 He is taking a course at the Sorbonne and we are dining with him Friday evening, by this time you will know all about our trip in Germany, the new Mercury, is Librarian here in Paris and I guess more or less permanent, he is a nice boy,3 sometimes quite funny, of course not our only Giovanni, Giovanni did grow on one, we were devoted to him, and such a Mercury, give him all and all our love and tell him to be sure to get our packages back, we were so sorry he was leaving on such a sad errand and we do miss him although he did so want to go home, the magazine people who reproduced your photo, have said they have sent you a copy, if not I will make a fuss, dear dearest papa Woojums, I gave some photos of yours away to-day to Joel Fisher, he loved them. Always Papa Woojums
Baby and Mama Woojums.4
1. This letter was not mailed. Presumably it was brought to Van Vechten by Joel Fisher, a returning soldier.
2. Franklin Brewer was a technical sergeant in the 333rd Infantry. He had met Van Vechten at the Philadelphia Stage Door Canteen in 1942. Brewer presented himself to Van Vechten as a friend of Prentiss Taylor’s, who was a friend of Van Vechten’s.
Brewer and Stein met while she was walking Basket in the Place de Pantheon in Paris. The character of Brewsie in Stein’s Brewsie and Willie is drawn, in part, from Franklin Brewer. See Brewer to Van Vechten, 30 July 1945 (YCAL).
3. Joseph Barry.
4. Both signatures by Stein.
To Gertrude Stein
10 August 1945 101 Central Park West
New York City 23
Dearest Baby Woojums,
I have lost track of the packages but from what Giovanni [Bianco] has told me I do not believe you have received them all. Two were sent, for postal reasons, as from Fania Marinoff and Saul Mauriber.1 You SHOULD have received in the first instance two boxes of cakes (five pounds each) and TWO boxes containing quenelles, tea, coffee, etc. . Giovanni says you only received one of the latter. Then I sent SINCE the first lot, TWO more boxes of cakes. You have never reported as to whether you received Uncle Tom’s Children by Richard Wright or the [Max] Shulman books, The Feather Merchants and the other and there are TWO packages of material from Richard Wright you have not yet mentioned. WHY don’t you send letters through Lieut [Joseph] Barry, they would reach me sooner! … . I was interrupted at this point by the arrival of Essie Robeson whose book on Africa has just been published (the first edition was sold out on the day of publication) and she says Paul is in Paris singing to the soldiers. I do hope you can get together.2 You will know how to reach him. Kelly Miller’s books are mostly out of print, but if you will let me know the title of the one you want, I’ll try to get it for you but particular books are as hard to get now as SUGAR or BUTTER.3. PLEASE AUTOGRAPH THE ENCLOSED PICTURE FOR SGT BILL RANEY and RETURN TO ME. A staff Sgt in Gander, Newfoundland, writes me out of a clear sky: “I have started a collection of first editions of Gertrude Stein’s works. Can you help me . . ? When I have completed a Collection of the books I shall start on articles printed in magazines.
Of course one can’t do much here except by correspondence …” etc. I am writing him how to go about all this. Do you want to write him? This is his address: S/Sgt Vernon L Bobbitt,x ASN 37,432,672,A Sqd. APO 865, c/o Postmaster, New York. He already has Ida, Picasso, Paris, France 1940, Three Lives, Autobiography of Alice Β Toklas, and Everybody’s Autobiography.4. Giovanni popped in on me and I took him to the Stage Door Canteen and we had a long talk about this and that. He has gone to Buffalo to settle his mother’s estate, but I expect him back soon. Ο yes, Joel Fisher was here too and talked about you with relish and he loves you. And the wonderful lithographs with floral montage came from Germany and they are out of this world and in oval gold frames will look like museum pieces.5 And your article in Life about Germany was wonderful and here is your interview in the Baltimore Afro-American.6 And I am most excited to have The Village and hope it is on its way … and why doesn’t Lieut Barry write to tell me something has COME?7 I never got a copy of the magazine with my picture of you but perhaps I will, but I did get a letter from Franklin Brewer, whom of course I remember.8. . Did you know that Mabel [Dodge] is selling her house in Taos and wants $100,000 for it, all furniture included. Who is “the dark boy from New Jersey” who corresponds with me and who came to see you? What is his name? I don’t identify him. . So love and blessings to both of you, from Fania and
Carlo9
Very happy we have a new and “permanent” Mercury, but tell him for Gawd’s sake to send me some news of you. Giovanni used to write twice a week!
Did you ever get those old letters from Culoz? You never answer questions, so
xIt seems he is a painter and from Iowa!
The world news is the most exciting the world news has ever been.
1. Saul Mauriber was for many years Van Vechten’s photographic assistant.
2. Eslanda Robeson, author and wife of Paul Robeson, had written African Journey (New York: The John Day Co., 1945).
3. See Stein to Van Vechten, 6 July [19]45, note 1.
4. While stationed with the air force in Gander, Newfoundland, Bobbitt found a copy of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. His wife, who was in New York, was able to obtain certain works by Stein for him. Bobbitt wrote to Van Vechten on 26 July 1945 (YCAL) asking for his advice on how to obtain certain works by Stein. Van Vechten replied on 10 August 1945 (collection Bobbitt) advising him to contact the Gotham Book Mart and Stein directly. Van Vechten also sent him a photograph of Stein and one of Toklas. Bobbitt became head of the Visual Arts Department at Albion College, Albion, Michigan. (Letter received from Bobbitt, 26 January 1983.)
5. Presents Stein had sent Van Vechten through Joel Fisher, a returning soldier.
6. Vincent Tubbs of the Baltimore Afro-American had interviewed Stein. The article, “Gertrude Stein Talks for Afro-American,” appeared on 28 July 1945 (YCAL).
7. Enclosed with this letter was one addressed “Dear Lieutenant,” which was meant for Joseph Barry, whom Van Vechten chides for not writing him news of Stein.
8. Brewer to Van Vechten, 30 July 1945 (YCAL).
9. In Stein’s hand at the top of the letter:
Two Boxes of cake
2 boxes of mixed food and all of it was
marvelous
coffee marvelous
These are phrases from Stein to Van Vechten, 16[-23] August [19]45.
To Carl Van Vechten
16[–23] August [19]45 5 rue Christine
[Paris]
My dearest Papa Woojums,
First all the questions, the boxes of cakes and two mixed foods came and were wonderful, the quenelles a dream, Alice says the coffee the best ever simply marvelous, the two books of [Max] Shulman, but alas not the two packages from Richard Wright and not Uncle Tom’s children, but I am hoping that they will be returned to Giovanni [Bianco] and they can be sent back, the letters from Culoz all came, they promised me that the magazine the french one was sent, just now everybody is out of town, but I will remind them,1 the Village has been kept for you, but the shop that has it is closed just at present, it will not be open until September and when it is I will give it to Jo [Barry] to send. Jo is a funny man, a bit timid, he said he thought we wanted a silent Mercury, he is just the other xtreme from Giovanni, I think he would like books, I imagine he would like Nigger Heaven, and did you ever get the french First Reader, that I sent by Giovanni after Katharine Cornell was unfaithful, [Franklin] Brewer is a nice chap, he will be delighted that you remember him, we see him quite frequently and the inclosed is a description of a talk I gave which did xcite them, they walked me home 50 strong after the lecture was over and in the narrow streets of the quarter they made all the automobiles take side streets, the police looked and followed a bit, but gave it up,2 I had a letter from the New Foundland book collector and have written to him,3 I have just begun a GI novel, it begins well, it would be nice if it keeps up like that.4 There are some funny things going on about my Play, I’ll tell you all about that next time,5 this is our answer to questions and full of love to you dear Papa Woojums, and to Fania, from
Mama and Baby Woojums
Dearest Papa Woojums,
Before your letter got off a whole lot of packages came, that blessed Giovanni managed to get them all to us all the same, two boxes of cookies and such cookies, Uncle Tom’s children and I’m mad about it, there is a tremendous mastery in the thing, and also all the newspapers and the 12 million black voices and two more little books,6 and your Nigger Heaven for Giovanni which I am having Jo Barry send back to you to give to him, I’ve just read the whole of 12 millions beside the Children of Uncle Tom and I am writing by this same mail to Giovanni and to Dick White [i.e., Wright], I just had to take a day off, not one American soldier have I spoken to today, not quite I did talk to one on the street, I kind of wonder sometimes what I will do when they are all gone I talked to another bunch yesterday afternoon and I am doing a kind of novel and it is moving along, just where it will go to I don’t quite know but so far it moves,7 lots of love and so much, and you do send us everything we want, and don’t bother about tinned things, the American Aid Society is taking care of us, and anyway food is much easier, lots of love8
Baby and Mama Woojums.9
1. Harmonies: see Stein to Van Vechten, 6 July [19]45, note 3.
2. Enclosed was page 3/4 of The Stars and Stripes, Paris ed., Saturday, 11 August 1945. Robert Marshall’s article, “Stein Says Americans Lack Spiritual Courage of French” (p. 4), reported on Stein’s lecture to 300 soldiers at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) on Thursday, 9 August 1945. The lecture had been sponsored by the Information and Education Division of the U. S. Army.
3. Bobbitt to Stein, 31 July 1945 (YCAL).
4. Stein’s Brewsie and Willie.
5. The Theatre at the Army University Center at Biarritz had expressed interest in Stein’s play Yes Is For a Very Young Man.
6. Wright had sent Stein a letter on 23 June 1945 (YCAL), together with a package that included his Twelve Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States, photo direction by Edwin Rosskam (New York: Viking Press, 1941), and a pamphlet How “Bigger” Was Born (New York: Harper & Bros., 1940). Also in the package were Dan Burley’s Handbook of Harlem Jive and a few issues of Father Divine’s newspaper The New Day. See Wright to Van Vechten, 10 July 1945, Yale-JWJ.
7. Stein’s Brewsie and Willie.
8. These two letters were mailed together by Joseph Barry.
9. Both signatures by Stein.
To Gertrude Stein
12 September [1945] 101 Central Park West
New York City 23
Dear and Beautiful Baby Woojums,
I am sending this directly through the skies to you, the first I have sent this way: the Post Office tells me I can and I am doing! It is September 12. So PLEASE let me know exactly when it reaches you so that I can compare the time with military airmail.1 Anyway I can send packages direct to you now as well as airmail as well as regular letters: so everything is the
way it was before. Well, not exactly. I dare say air mail will be much improved once it gets to working regularly, as many planes will fly every day and eventually I can get a letter to you in Paris in TWO DAYS. You answered a flock of questions in your latest letter, more than you ever answered before, but one remains unanswered: Did you receive the books that Mrs [Anna] Pollock sent you through Giovanni [Bianco]? They hadn’t come when he left but he said that all his mail was being dumped at your door. Anyway Mrs Pollock asks me daily if I’ve heard from you about these books, so PLEASE let me know. Everything else seems to have come through. A Captain [Irving] Lieberman telephoned me today with messages from you and he is coming to see me tomorrow … I may have still more to write you after that. After a month in the country Giovanni is back looking for a job. I haven’t seen him but he telephoned me. . Nor have I seen Commander [Joel] Fischer again. You ask if I received the French Reader you sent by Giovanni after Katharine Cornell was unfaithful and I tell you again that I DID receive it and that I am mad about it. This came weeks, even months ago, and I have referred to it several times. I am excitedly waiting for your GI novel and you say something about a play which is not explicit. The newspaper account of your lecture amused me very much. Our Canteen is closing at the end of this month (NEXT MONTH, OCTOBER) and after that I won’t have so much to do, but the Roosevelt Tea Dances for Service Women are bound to continue for some time yet and I have charge there of both personnel and entertainment and so that is some job … The apartment too is a shambles piled high with material to go to my George Gershwin Collection at Fisk2 and my James Weldon Johnson Collection at Yale. This all has to be sorted and arranged and listed and packed and it is such a tremendous job that I am doing very little with photographs at the moment and nothing whatever with writing. I have had several offers to write again lately, but I haven’t given in to any of them. It seems the GIs on desert isles like my books which were beginning to be forgotten and there is a demand for them again. . The [New York] Public Library is giving me another big photograph show and I am sure you are in this, though I haven’t had time to see it yet.3. . Can Mama Woojums make Risotto Milanese? Fania makes the most divine RM and we just had some for lunch and I like this better than anything, I think. And everybody asks about you and talks about you and I am very proud of you and you will hear from me again soon. Fania and I send lots of LOVE to you and Mama Woojums, and please let me know exactly when this letter gets to you!
