The Tastemaker
Page 33
“I cannot remember … write”: CVV, “Notes for an Autobiography,” Sacred and Profane Memories, 225.
“the first novelist … account”: Ibid.
An entry from … face: CVV diary, July 17, 1901, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“the modern editor … facts”: Wayne Klatt, Chicago Journalism: A History (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009), 77.
“to enlighten and … San Francisco”: William Salisbury, The Career of a Journalist (New York: B. W. Dodge & Company, 1908), 146
“never allow any … ‘features’”: Ibid., 166.
“the most terrific din you ever heard”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 1, 1960), 72, CCOHC.
As William Salisbury … existence: Salisbury, Career of a Journalist, 153.
“I was so successful” … unscathed: Ibid., 60.
He spent a bleak … withdrawal: CVV, “Letter from Chicago,” Pulse 4 (January 1904): 88, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
It turned out … exclusive: For a lengthier account of Howey’s unethical but ingenious espionage see Klatt, Chicago Journalism, 74–76.
“on the sidewalk … smothered”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 1, 1960), 78, CCOHC.
“chorus of opinion … Van Vechten”: Jack Lait, “Should a Teacher Marry? Yes—and No!,” New York Journal, September 15, 1934, CVV scrapbook 26, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
He wrote about a young woman … death: “Sues Suitor, Cooled by Glass Eye,” Chicago American, c. September; “Gossip of the Chicago Smart Set,” Chicago American, July 18, 1905; “Find Hanish an Imposter; Two of Faithful Desert,” Chicago American, March 21, 1905; “‘High Priest’ Forced to Flee from New York in Order to Avoid Arrest,” Chicago American, c. March 1905. All in CVV scrapbook 27, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
With puckish delight … feet: “A New Type of Chorus Girl,” Chicago American, c. May 1905, in CVV scrapbook 27, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“I have never seen … killed him”: “Xmas Toys Boy’s Death Messenger,” Chicago American, December 26, 1904, CVV scrapbook 27, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“creative rather than critical”: CVV, Red: Papers on Musical Subjects (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1925), xvii, x.
“That was some life … there”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (March 3, 1960), 58, CCOHC.
“I learned to dislike [it] heartily”: Ibid., 12.
“there are lots of ways … eventually”: Ibid., 13.
“I didn’t get over it … usually didn’t”: Ibid.
“human or normal … call it”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 23, 1960), 130, CCOHC.
“lowering the tone of the Hearst papers”: CVV, “Theodore Dreiser as I Knew Him,” Fragments from an Unwritten Autobiography, vol. 2 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1955), 3.
“New York, my dear … restaurants”: CVV to Leah Maynard, January 1907, Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 3.
On the Lower East Side … world: In 1907 the journalist Barton W. Currie investigated the nickelodeons of New York City and estimated that they entertained around two hundred thousand customers a day. Barton W. Currie, “The Nickel Madness,” Movies and American Society, ed. Steven J. Ross (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 32–37.
“one’s trousers full of maybugs”: Richard Strauss, Recollections and Reflections, trans. L. J. Lawrence (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1953), 152.
It lacked the insight … opera: CVV, “Salome: The Most Sensational Opera of the Age,” Broadway Magazine 17 (January 1907), 381–91.
He wrote Leah … match it: CVV to Leah Maynard, January 1907, Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 3.
“tense with a sort … fascinating”: Richard Aldrich, “Strauss’s ‘Salome’ the First Time Here,” New York Times, January 23, 1907.
“Her entrance was … staircase”: CVV, “Olive Fremstad,” Interpreters and Interpretations (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1917), 34.
“I cannot yet … passion”: Ibid.
“overpowering and dominating temperament”: Ibid., 11.
“Salome is the worst … nothing”: “Take Off ‘Salome’ Say Opera House Directors,” New York Times, January 27, 1907, CVV scrapbook 1, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“We take issue … text”: “‘Salome’ Withdrawn; Conried Fully Yields,” New York Times, January 31, 1907, CVV scrapbook 1, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“In defence [sic] of bad taste”: CVV, “In Defence of Bad Taste,” The Merry-Go-Round (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1918), 11–20.
“Caruso’s Mustache Off … without it?”: “Caruso’s Mustache Off,” New York Times, December 8, 1906, CVV scrapbook 1, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
Luisa Tetrazzini took to … fame: Luisa Tetrazzini, “The Story of My Operatic Career by Luisa Tetrazzini,” Cosmopolitan (June 1908): 49–51; and Tetrazzini, My Life of Song (London: Cassell & Company, 1921). Tetrazzini’s autobiography gives an entertaining insight into this charismatic and self-regarding woman, as well as a vivid snapshot of the “golden era” of New York opera.
“exuberant,” “like a great … football”: CVV, “Feodor Chaliapine,” Interpreters and Interpretations, 98–99.
“I spik English … you!”: Ibid., 98.
“The effect in” … memory: Ibid., 99.
“gilded, but shabby … crowded”: CVV, “Oscar Hammerstein: An Epitaph,” In the Garret, 238.
“check all children … this one”: “Baby Checked at Opera,” New York Times, February 15, 1907, CVV scrapbook 1, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“some of the artists … any more”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 1, 1960), 130, CCOHC.
4. A CERTAIN SENSUOUS CHARM
“You don’t pick up … wanting to”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (March 3, 1960), 27, CCOHC.
“burst out of … desires”: Lewis A. Erenberg, Steppin’ Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture, 1890–1930 (Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood Press, 1981), 24.
At clubs like … regulars: Ray Argyle, Scott Joplin and the Age of Ragtime (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009), 65–78.
Van Vechten insisted … double act: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (March 3, 1960), 19–20, CCOHC.
In the ramshackle … encounters: Kevin Mumford, Interzones: Black/White Sex Districts in Chicago and New York in the Early Twentieth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997).
At the Bowery’s … drag shows: See George Chauncey’s riveting study of New York’s gay subcultures in early-twentieth-century New York: George Chauncey, Gay New York: The Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940 (London: Flamingo, 1995), 34–45.
Van Vechten’s fascination … too: The diaries of CVV’s friend Edna Kenton make several brief but telling mentions of his love of slumming and “bohemian” pastimes, both in Chicago and in New York. Kenton’s diaries for the years 1906 to 1914 are held as part of the Yale Collection of American Literature at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University.
A fleeting moment … taken further: Chauncey, Gay New York, 188–89.
The myth of Leda … mainstream: Paul Cézanne was one of many late-nineteenth-century painters to depict this scene, but the most famous articulation of the sexually subversive subtext of the Leda and the swan myth is W. B. Yeats’s poem “Leda and the Swan,” first published in 1924. At the same time that CVV started to wear his intaglio ring, the English writer and occultist Montague Summers was strutting around Oxford with an image of Leda and the swan engraved on his silver-topped cane.
“but not without … tie”: CVV, Firecrackers: A Realistic Novel (Alfred A. Knopf; New York, 1925), 45.
In the poses … sexuality: For lengthier analysis of CVV’s homoerotic photography, see James Smalls, The Homoerotic Photography of Carl Van Vechten: Public Face, Private Thoughts (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006), and Jonathan Weinberg, “Boy Crazy: Carl Van Vechten’s Queer Collection,” Yale Journal
of Criticism 7, no. 2 (1994): 25–49.
“the air of … wolf”: Linda Simon, The Biography of Alice B. Toklas (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991), 208.
“gay, irresponsible and brilliant”: Alice B. Toklas, What Is Remembered (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963), 126.
“dead sweet affectionateness”: Mabel Dodge Luhan, Movers and Shakers, vol. 3, Intimate Memories (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1936), 45.
“Women, seemingly, have … men”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 23, 1960), 144, CCOHC.
“I am determined to be … forgive me!”: Anna Elizabeth Snyder to CVV, August 31, 1904, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“I do care … ever”: Anna Elizabeth Snyder to CVV, September 8, 1904, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
Comparing the “pure passion” … adoration: Anna Elizabeth Snyder to CVV, December 1, 1906, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“Do you remember … you again”: Anna Elizabeth Snyder to CVV, c. 1904, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“all the men … years”: Anna Elizabeth Snyder to CVV, February 20, 1907, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
the defense used … history: Neil McKenna, The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde (London: Random House, 2011), 527.
“with all the joy … before him”: Ibid.
“This wouldn’t be … one another”: Neith Boyce, “Art and Woman,” unpublished manuscript, Hapgood Family Papers, YCAL. For analysis of Boyce and Hapgood’s personal lives and professional works, see E. K. Trimberger, Intimate Warriors (New York: Feminist Press at CUNY, 1991).
“I could never … with me”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (May 14, 1960), 259, CCOHC.
“I am not writing … realities?”: Anna Elizabeth Snyder to CVV, c. January 1907, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“It shall be a day … you”: Charles Duane Van Vechten to CVV, June 28, 1907, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“It would be difficult … head”: CVV, Peter Whiffle: His Life and Works (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922), 19.
“the first night … of it”: Ibid., 19–20.
“your indecent and … world”: Edna Kenton to CVV, February 15, 1909, Carl Van Vechten Papers, YCAL.
“It wasn’t formal … delightful”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 9, 1960), 121, CCOHC.
“No American, with … behind you”: CVV, “Some Literary Ladies I Have Known,” Fragments from an Unwritten Autobiography, vol. 2, 53.
“I don’t think … wanted”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 9, 1960), 122, CCOHC.
On his return … himself: The historian Arthur Frank Wertheim expands on the importance of 1908 in New York as the genesis moment for modern American culture. Arthur Frank Wertheim, The New York Little Renaissance (New York: New York University Press, 1976).
“ritual, pleasure, light-heartedness … need”: Van Wyck Brooks, The Wine of the Puritans: A Study of Present Day America (London: Sisley’s, 1909), 15.
“the elements of … left out”: Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow, 214.
“I was almost … dancing”: CVV, “Terpsichorean Souvenirs,” Padgette, Dance Writings of Carl Van Vechten, 6–7.
“the corporeality of things”: Charles Caffin, “Henri Matisse and Isadora Duncan,” Camera Work, no. 25 (January 1909): 17–30.
“life and gaiety … Samothrace”: “Isadora Duncan Reappears,” New York Times, November 10, 1909, CVV scrapbook 1, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; “Miss Duncan’s Vivid Dances,” New York Times, November 17, 1909, CVV scrapbook 1, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“a sacrilege” her use … “dancing”: Ibid.
“an inartistic child”: “Annual Fall Salon Exhibit of Freaks,” New York Times, October 3, 1908, CVV scrapbook 2, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“Like any other … to me”: CVV, “The New Isadora,” Merry-Go-Round, 314.
“a more sensuous … emotion”: “Loie Fuller Shows Her Dancing Girls,” New York Times, December 1, 1909, CVV scrapbook 3, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“there were no … applause”: “Maud Allan as Salome,” New York Times, January 30, 1910, CVV scrapbook 3, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“grace, a picturesque … head”: “Maud Allan in Greek Dances,” New York Times, January 21, 1910, CVV scrapbook 3, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“I not only … desire you”: Anna Elizabeth Snyder to CVV, May 16, 1911, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“suppress the tale … opinion”: Elsie Stern Caskey to CVV, January 26, 1912, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
In his memoirs … graduation: Bruce Kellner, “Carlo’s Wife,” Kiss Me Again: An Invitation to a Group of Noble Dames (New York: Turtle Point Press, 2002), 183.
“the things you have not … written”: Charles Lewis Fitch to CVV, February 19, 1912, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“she influenced me … progress”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 9, 1960), 136, CCOHC.
“I can stop … hard”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (May 25, 1960), 354, CCOHC.
According to the accounts … stardom: CVV, “Fania Marinoff’s Memoirs,” unpublished manuscript, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; Kellner, Kiss Me Again, 170–73.
“a maid of … charm”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 9, 1960), 150, CCOHC.
“If there was a door … through it”: Reverend Peter Francis O’Brien, S.J., interview with author, October 2011. O’Brien paraphrased a line from “Waiting in the Wings,” Noël Coward’s play about a retirement home for actresses.
“prompt responses for … automatic”: Mabel Dodge Luhan, “Twelfth Night,” unpublished manuscript, Mabel Dodge Luhan Papers, YCAL.
“Darlingest Angel baby … sure”: CVV to FM, May 19, 1913, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 4.
“I must have kisses … over me”: Charles Duane Van Vechten to Ada Fitch, April 9, 1861, and March 30, 1861, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“the only one … satisfies me”: CVV to Fania Marinoff, July 13, 1913, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 8.
“Fania’s native intelligence … worthless”: The Reminiscences of Carl Van Vechten (April 23, 1960), 150a, CCOHC.
5. HOW TO READ GERTRUDE STEIN
“Any one or two … first one”: “Real Music and Art Rising out of a Sea of Fake,” New York Times, March 9, 1913, CVV scrapbook 8, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“We have left … ugly!”: Mabel Dodge Luhan, European Experiences, vol. 2, Intimate Memories (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1935), 453.
“a repudiation of grimy New York”: Dodge Luhan, Movers and Shakers, 5.
According to Dodge … “malice”: Ibid., 14–15.
“affectionate fun … hope”: Ibid., 15.
“warm friendships for … rooms”: Ibid., 16.
“Curtis Cigarettes, poured … piano”: CVV, Peter Whiffle, 145. In CVV’s semiautobiographical novel Peter Whiffle, Mabel appears as a character named Edith Dale, a celebrated salon hostess. His descriptions of Dale’s salon were based directly on CVV’s experiences at 23 Fifth Avenue.
“The groups separated … whisky”: Ibid., 124.
“women in low-necked … locks”: Ross Wetzsteon, Republic of Dreams: Greenwich Village: The American Bohemia, 1910–1960 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002), 23.
“The man strummed … hands”: Dodge Luhan, Movers and Shakers, 80.
In the early nineteenth century … raised: Eric Lott, Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 49–55.
“I think I owe … person”: CVV, “Some Literary Ladies I Have Known,” Fragments from an Unwritten Autobiography, vol. 2, 36.
“The days are … pleasant”: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1994), 1.
“cubist of letters … view”: “Cubist of Letters Writes New Book,”
New York Times, February 24, 1913, CVV scrapbook 8, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“Everybody went and … nickel”: CVV, Peter Whiffle, 123.
“seized upon the … pay”: “Cubists and Futurists Are Making Insanity Pay,” New York Times, March 16, 1913.
“Art Show Open to Freaks”: Patricia Bradley, Making American Culture: A Social History, 1900–1920 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 128.
As the historian Patricia Bradley … together: Ibid., 117–34.
He wrote Marinoff … both: CVV to FM, May 19, 1913, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL.
“altogether disgusting”: CVV to FM, May 19, 1913, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 5.
“erect Tom-Tom’s … mine”: CVV to FM, May 19, 1913, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 5.
“a wonderful personality”: CVV to FM, June 2, 1913, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 6.
“villain of Mrs. Van Vechten’s tragic tale”: Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1933), 149.
“a Roman emperor … guests”: Bravig Imbs, Confessions of Another Young Man (New York: Henkle-Yewdale House, 1936), 162.
That first performance … morning: The reports even found their way back to New York, where the Times described the ballet as “the last degree of stupidity” in an article published June 8, 1913.
In a letter … “beautiful”: CVV to FM, June 4, 1913, Carl Van Vechten Papers, NYPL; Kellner, Letters of Carl Van Vechten, 6.
“provocation and event”: Modris Eksteins, The Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1989), 15.
“A certain part … evening”: CVV, Music After the Great War (New York: G. Schirmer, 1915), 87.
“to beat rhythmically … ourselves”: Ibid.
Van Vechten never intended … value: In Modris Eksteins’s fascinating exploration of the significance of the first night of Le Sacre du Printemps he questions the accuracy of CVV’s recollections but not his core assertion that he really was there.