Everybody Was So Young

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Everybody Was So Young Page 49

by Amanda Vaill


  [>] “we always thought . . . with many people”: GCM to CT, 24 Aug. 1960, HMD.

  “chic (which was unpardonable)” . . . living room: Ibid.

  “the most beautiful”: FSF comment to Dorothy Parker, quoted in Milford, Zelda, p. 67.

  Christmas dinner in 1923 . . . Princeton: Edmund Wilson to John Peale Bishop, 15 Jan. 1924, in Wilson, Letters on Literature and Politics, pp. 117–18.

  [>] “We four communicate . . . affection for Scott”: GCM to FSF and Zelda Fitzgerald, 19 Sept. 1925, PUL.

  “My father is a moron”: FSF to Maxwell Perkins, 20 Feb. 1926, The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 199.

  they, like Dos Passos . . . “Da-da”: S&G, p. 7; Miller, Letters from the Lost Generation, p. xxvi; JDP, The Best Times, p. 170.

  [>] “full of money”: FSF, The Great Gatsby, p. 120.

  dresses from Poiret . . . Palais Royale: GCM to CT, 4 Sept. 1960, HMD; ESB interview.

  “It was a colossal frost . . . impatient whispers”: FSF, “How to Live on $36, a Year,” Afternoon of an Author, p. 118.

  “When I like men . . . leave him out”: FSF, The Notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 146.

  Three stories high . . . across the river: Personal observation.

  The Gounod family . . . jumped at it: GCM/CT interview, HMD; Noel Murphy to ARM, 6 Feb. 1924, HMD.

  [>] fifteen minutes . . . back and forth: Ada MacLeish to Maurice Firuski, 28 Feb. 1924, Berg Collection, New York Public Library.

  art notebook . . . didn’t seem sure: GCM art notebook, HMD. William Rubin, in The Paintings of Gerald Murphy (p. 15), seems to believe this passage was a proposal for a ballet, but unlike the other ballet scenario in the book it describes only a static set piece, not a continuum of imagery and action. welcome both grandfathers: Photograph in SWM’s scrapbooks, HMD.

  [>] “the trouble with his father”: Noel Murphy to ARM, 6 Feb. 1924, HMD. “quite off”: Ibid.

  long-limbed . . . linen pillowcase: HMD interview.

  “all agree . . . made myself plain”: Noel Murphy to ARM, 6 Feb. 1924, HMD.

  On May 23 . . . never entirely clear: Frederic Murphy’s obituaries in Morning Telegraph (London), 25 May 1924, and Yale Alumni News, undated; both HMD.

  [>] “Picture . . . big match box”: GCM art notebook, HMD.

  “mechanically, in profile”: GCM, quoted in Hayden Herrera, “Gerald Murphy, An Amurikin in Paris,” Art in America, Sept.-Oct. 1974.

  “re-present . . . interior of a watch”: GCM, MacAgy/Murphy papers.

  [>] By his own admission . . . piano at home: Ibid.

  1924 rayograph . . . clock’s works: Man Ray, Untitled, 1924, collection of Arnold Crane, New York, in Turner, Americans in Paris, p. 84.

  “never had anything valuable”: GCM to SWM, 16 Jun. 1915, HMD.

  As one critic . . . time is king: Hayden Herrera, “Gerald Murphy: An Amurikin in Paris,” Art in America, Sept.-Oct. 1974.

  [>] instrument de précision: GCM to AMacL, 22 Jan. 1930, LOC; GCM to AJ, 13 Jun. 1946, UT.

  nightly dinner guest . . . “prettiest girls”: DOS, By a Stroke of Luck! pp. 130–31.

  Stewart finally . . . Ada MacLeish: Ibid., p. 130.

  “was just instinctively”: AMacL, Reflections, p. 42.

  [>] “We went . . . later for Noces”: AMacL to John Peale Bishop, 30 Jul. 1924, Letters of Archibald MacLeish, p. 150.

  “I must say . . . but Scott”: SWM/Nancy Milford interview, quoted in Milford, Zelda, p. 110.

  [>] “I don’t know how”: GCM/Nancy Milford interview, quoted in Milford, Zelda, p. 110.

  “He was bronze . . . she didn’t care”: Zelda Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz, p. 89.

  “It did upset . . . his own fault?”: GCM/Nancy Milford interview, quoted in Milford, Zelda, p. 110.

  [>] “locked in my villa . . . [Jozan]”: Milford, Zelda, p. 174.

  Gilbert Seldes brought . . . side of the road: Ibid., p. 111.

  “unflinching gaze”: GCM, quoted in LW, p. 102.

  “But Say-ra”: LW, p. 42.

  Outside stood Scott . . . “did it on purpose”: Ibid.

  When she found out . . . never mentioned again: GCM/Nancy Milford interview, Milford, Zelda, p. 111.

  That summer . . . hazed over with smoke: Details from Gertrude Benchley to Nancy Milford, Milford, Zelda, p. 107.

  [>] The owner . . . “people I don’t know?”: Blume, Côte d’Azur, p. 77.

  Noel Murphy . . . six-cylinder Renault: Noel Murphy/HMD interview, HMD.

  The nearsighted Stewart . . . bull come at him: GCM/CT interview, HMD; DOS, By a Stroke of Luck! pp. 132–33.

  But Gerald and Sara . . . advertised on the cover: DOS, By a Stroke of Luck! p. 134.

  Johnny Lucinge . . . Riviera in the summer: Bernard Minoret interview.

  “we saw what was happening”: GCM/CT interview, HMD.

  On the slope . . . near the house: Description of shrubs from personal observation; S&G, p. 19; and Previews Incorporated real estate sell sheet, May 1949, no. 428–33.

  [>] “I think . . . own way”: GCM to SWM, [1915], HMD.

  “artiste peintre”: Deed is on file at Hotel de Ville, Antibes.

  13. “Our real home”

  [>] “the Gerald Murphys”: Ada MacLeish to Maurice Firuski, 28 Sept. 1924, Berg Collection, New York Public Library.

  “had all his life”: AMacL, “The Intimate Poems of L. T. Carnavel,” LOC.

  [>] “Gerald was a remarkable . . . very knowledgeable”: AMacL, Reflections, p. 42.

  He and Sara had sung . . . “any other way”: LW, p. 29.

  Marcelle Meyer . . . baby to be admired: SWM scrapbooks, HMD.

  “les Murphy . . . very important”: Eric Satie to Vincente Huidobro, 28 Jun. 1924, Fondation Erik Satie.

  Gerald was a friend . . . quite so close: AMacL, Reflections, p. 45.

  “stirred by poetry”: AMacL to Betty Choate, 12 Feb. 1925, in Donaldson, Archibald MacLeish, p. 148.

  “A poem should”: AMacL, “Ars poetica,” New and Collected Poems, 1917–1976, pp. 106–107.

  [>] “in French terms”: AMacL, Reflections, p. 43.

  “very easy . . . see them”: AMacL/Drabeck and Ellis interview transcript, Archibald MacLeish Collection, Greenfield Community College.

  “very solid . . . in the spring”: Ada MacLeish to Maurice Firuski, 5 Jan. 1926, Berg Collection, New York Public Library.

  “Stripes of mustard . . . sur le chameau”: All quotes from AMacL, 1926, Notes & "Drafts for The Hamlet of A. MacLeish, LOC (my translations).

  The preceding spring . . . return to New York: Donaldson, Archibald MacLeish, pp. 136–38. William MacLeish, in an interview with the author, said that his father denied having such an affair—at least to him.

  [>] perhaps not so coincidentally . . . made notes: GCM art notebook, HMD. “lace, globe, black stems”: Ibid.

  “Sara never lodged”: Unpublished, crossed-out draft of “Portrait of Mme. G——M——,” in Notebook 1924–25, MacLeish Papers, LOC.

  Her room”: AMacL, “Sketch for a Portrait of Mme. G——M——, New and Collected Poems, 1917–1976, pp. 107–109.

  [>] “1000 parties”: FSF, Ledger, p. 179.

  “weren’t really party people” . . . kept coming back: GCM/CT interview, HMD.

  “sentimentally disturbed”: GCM to CT, [1961], HMD.

  “in love . . . kiss between friends?”: GCM/CT and SWM/CT interview tapes, HMD.

  [>] “Sara, look at me”: CT notes, HMD.

  Once, in a taxi . . . banknotes into his mouth: LW, p. 101.

  who used to wash coins: Noel Murphy/HMD interview, HMD; also S&G, p. 32.

  uninterested in food . . . prewar years: GCM/CT interview notes, HMD.

  “Scott used to . . . not your roommate”: ESB interview.

  [>] literary advice: LW, p. 105.

  he made Gerald repeat . . . so unlike Gerald: GCM/CT interview notes, HMD.

  “Are you what they . . . wanted to, always”: GCM to CT,
[1960], HMD.

  [>] “I hear a pulsing motor . . . dates you!”: LW, p. 106.

  “I’ve been watching . . . buckles and straps”: GCM/CT interview, HMD.

  “about myself . . . ever invented”: FSF to H. L. Mencken, 4 May 1925, The Letters ofF. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 491.

  [>] matters had been sticky . . . brother-in-law: HMD interview.

  “noted for her Enthusiasm . . . Concentration”: Barnes, Ladies Almanack, p. 32.

  “an idiot savant”: James Douglas interview.

  “on her back in bed” . . . to get relief: Esther Murphy to Muriel Draper, [Aug. 1926], Muriel Draper papers, Beinecke Library.

  attachment to Janet Flanner . . . his own sexuality: FMB interview.

  [>] “our real home”: S&G, p. 15.

  Its limestone walls . . . another balcony: Layout described in HMD and FMB interviews; also in an advertisement for the Villa America by Previews Incorporated, listing no. 428–33), May 1949.

  In the main reception . . . completed the look: Descriptions based on photographs and interviews with HMD, FMB, ESB, and Yvonne Roussel Luff.

  Sara enlivened . . . found a new home: Linens and furniture listed in Villa America household inventory, HMD.

  [>] Throughout the house . . . green lace: HMD interview.

  Gerald had found . . . silver radiator paint: ESB interview.

  In July they purchased . . . farmhouse: Deed on file at Hotel de Ville, Antibes.

  giving each: Yvonne Roussel Luff interview.

  Sara wrote . . . plant sweet corn: SWM to “Mr. Steinmetz,” undated [1929], HMD.

  She and Gerald . . . variety of nut trees: Previews Incorporated advertisement, HMD.

  they acquired two cows . . . chauffeur, Albert: HMD interview.

  [>] Sara had tried to learn . . . gave up trying: S&G, p. 32.

  Vladimir Orloff . . . Englishman called Kipling: HMD interview.

  “do the things we want”: GCM to SWM, quoted in LW, pp. 18–19.

  In the mornings . . . what needed to be done: Schedule from interviews with HMD and Yvonne Roussel Luff.

  [>] Sometimes the mornings . . . cut Gerald’s hair: S&G, p. 30.

  “Think . . . tender weight, gone!”: LW, p. 94.

  There the children . . . toe touches: Exercise sheet in SWM’s handwriting in “Valuable Data” file, HMD.

  “recondite hors d’oeuvres”: JDP, The Best Times, p. 150.

  probably the delicious . . . Honoria still remembers: S&G, p. 31.

  They ate at the big . . . fresh parsley: Menus from HMD interviews, JDP, The Best Times, p. 150; and AMacL, Reflections, p. 46.

  [>] Once when the Picassos . . . different from girls: HMD interview.

  “Chere mecie picaso” . . . Guernica: HMD to Pablo Picasso, 26 Sept. 1925, Musée Picasso.

  Late in the afternoon . . . highest point: S&G, p. 31.

  Cannes . . . railroad tracks: GCM to ESB, 18 Jun. 1950, GUL.

  “holocausts”: LW, p. 41

  “just the juice”: HMD interview.

  “invented by me” . . . mint in each glass: GCM to Alexander Woollcott, 15 Feb. 1939, HU.

  [>] These Gerald mixed . . . preparing Mass: S&G, p. 31.

  served them ritually . . . drink before dinner: Hester Pickman/HMD interview, HMD.

  Honoria practiced . . . Jimmy Durante’s band: S&G, p. 31.

  “there was no one”: FSF to John Peale Bishop, [Sept. 1925], The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pp. 358–59.

  Donald Ogden Stewart . . . Plage de la Garoupe: DOS, By a Stroke of Luck! pp. 144–45.

  “Most of them”: SWM to CT, 1 Jul. 1969, HMD.

  [>] Manuel Ortiz de Zarate . . . interesting: SWM to Pablo Picasso, undated, Musée Picasso.

  That night . . . happy she was to be there: FSF to Marya Mannes, [Oct. 1925], The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pp. 488–89.

  In thanks . . . “never been so moved”: GCM/CT interview, HMD.

  The parties weren’t always . . . complete success: HMD interview.

  “Life gets a little denser”: GCM to EH, 18 Jun. 1927, JFK.

  [>] “it is the horror”: AMacL to John Peale Bishop, 8 Aug. 1925, Letters of Archibald MacLeish, p. 169.

  [>] So in June . . . “STUPIDITY”: Interview with Jacques Livet, friend of Vladimir Orloff; telegram quoted in Jacques Livet to the author, 7 Jul. 1994 (my translation).

  “always became a native”: David Pickman/HMD interview.

  In July . . . Don Stewart: ESB interview.

  [>] “at first astonishing . . . Cézanne’s apples”: Florent Fels, “Le Salon des Indépendents,” L’Art vivant, vol. 1, no. 6, 20 Mar. 1925, p. 27.

  Archibald MacLeish . . . for himself: It’s not clear when MacLeish acquired this painting, but it must have been around this time: a letter to John Peale Bishop dated 3 Feb. 1926 mentions MacLeish’s “Juan Gris &Gerald Murphy bedecked atelier.” (AMacL, Letters of Archibald MacLeish, p. 176.)

  “L’Art d’aujourd’hui . . . certainly not European”: Rubin, The Paintings of Gerald Murphy, p. 30.

  “Gerald Murphy . . . in Paris”: LW, p. 26.

  The writer . . . getting to know them: Reynolds, Hemingway: The Paris Years, p. 325.

  when he struck up . . . impressed: GCM to CT, 4 Sept. 1960.

  14. “The kind of man to whom men, women, children, and dogs were attracted”

  [>] “the kind of man”: Hadley Hemingway to Nancy Milford, quoted in Milford, Zelda, p. 117.

  “promises to remove him”: Wilson, Paris on Parade, p. 248.

  [>] Hemingway often wrote . . . drink or a coffee: EH, A Moveable Feast, pp. 91–92.

  “a writer’s job”: EH, quoted in Mellow, Hemingway, p. 187.

  “alpha male”: William MacLeish interview.

  “he was such an enveloping”: GCM/CT interview notes, HMD.

  “Sara loved very male”: FMB interview.

  “nobody is as male”: S&G, p. 21.

  [>] “a nice, plain girl . . . carry the burden”: GCM and SWM/CT interview (taped), HMD.

  “swell”: EH to FSF, 24 Dec. 1925, EH, Emest Hemingway: Selected Letters, p. 182.

  “Picture:—Finish”: GCM art notebook, HMD.

  “that big green”: EH, “My Old Man,” The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, p. 193.

  “with rich food”: EH to Bill Smith, 2 Jan 1926, private collection; Reynolds, Ernest Hemingway: The American Homecoming, p. 9.

  fly to the Silvretta . . . ski down: EH to Grace Hemingway, 14 Dec. 1925, JFK.

  toyed with the idea . . . January: GCM to FSF, 19 Sept. 1925, PUL.

  And for Ernest . . . friends and family: Reynolds, Ernest Hemingway: The American Homecoming, p. 9.

  [>] returned to him, unread . . . Oak Park: EH to Dr. C. E. Hemingway, 20 Mar. 1925, Emest Hemingway: Selected Letters, p. 153.

  “You see . . . working toward something”: Ibid.

  “Those God-damn . . . promise to yourself”: GCM to EH, in S&G, p. 21.

  [>] proceeded to read . . . single evening: EH to FSF, 15 Dec. 1925, Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters, p. 176.

  Sara dozed off . . . applauded its author: LW, p. 27.

  “I have known . . . 10th printing”: EH to FSF, 31 Dec. 1925, Emest Hemingway: Selected Letters, p. 183.

  “I’m loose”: Ibid.

  promising . . . developments: EH notebook, quoted in Reynolds, Hemingway: The Paris Years, p. 350.

  left a manuscript copy: GCM to Hadley Hemingway, 3 Mar. 1926, JFK; Miller, Letters from the Lost Generation, p. 15.

  “Gosh, what news . . . water afresh”: Ibid.

  [>] “felt like skunks”: Ibid.

  “spent two days . . . absolutely elated”: GCM/CT interview notes, HMD.

  evening, all five . . . Gerald and Sara as well?: Details from Reynolds, Hemingway: The American Homecoming, pp. 11–12.

  [>] “nucleus”: GCM art notebook, HMD.

  “the last unalloyed”: JDP, The Best Times, p. 158.

  That spring Gerald .
. . withdrawn or damaged: Catalogue, Société des Artistes Indépendents, 37e Exposition (held at Palais de Bois, Porte Maillot, 20 Mar. to 2 May 1926). The catalogue lists two pictures by Gerald Murphy: no. 2635 bis, Laboratoire and no. 2635 ter, Nature Morte. The bis and ter numerations indicate that they were the second and third entries; the first entry, not listed, must have been withdrawn after its number was assigned.

  “group of chemical retorts”: GCM art notebook, HMD.

  [>] “a table with real objects”: Ibid. All these notes precede a dated entry from Oct. 1926; any note on pages after that could not refer to paintings executed, or exhibited, before then.

  [>] “‘painting’ forms . . . human relations”: GCM art notebook, HMD.

  “Is there dramatic . . . human beings”: GCM to Philip Barry, [1925–26], GUL.

  [>] “Hadley seemed so tired . . . Don’t worry—you”: GCM to EH, 22 May 1926, JFK; Miller, Letters from the Lost Generation, pp. 16–17.

  What they didn’t tell . . . other expenses: Hadley Hemingway to EH, 24 May 1926, JFK; Reynolds, Hemingway: The American Homecoming, p. 35.

  Gerald Cohn: The Sun Also Rises manuscript 194-I-13, JFK. See also Mellow, Hemingway, p. 304.

  “By the time we left . . . great fun”: Hadley Hemingway to Nancy Milford, quoted in Milford, Zelda, p. 119.

  [>] “I made one of those mistakes”: FSF to Zelda Fitzgerald, [summer] 1930, PUL; Correspondence ofF. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 239.

  Why did they rave . . . about his own: GCM/CT interview notes, HMD.

  “I suppose you have”: LW, p. 106, and CT interview.

  promising composer ruined . . . “Seth with you”: TITN, pencil ms. 2, the Melarky version, PUL. See also Bruccoli, ed., F. Scott Fitzgerald Manuscripts, vol. IVa: Tender Is the Night: The Melarky and Kelly Versions, Part 1.

  “It’s hardly likely”: SWM to FSF, [summer 1926], PUL.

  “cooled relation” . . . Sara too: TITN, p. 75; CT transcriptions of GCM interviews, HMD.

  [>] “So was Ernest”: ESB interview.

  When Archie MacLeish . . . liner’s bridge: Donaldson, Archibald MacLeish, p. 157

  Indian war dance on the pier: AMacL, Reflections, p. 41.

  They organized morning . . . smiling to herself: All photographs, SWM scrapbooks, HMD.

  [>] Strange music . . . giants and dwarfs: GCM/CT taped interview, HMD.

 

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