Butterfly in the Typewriter

by Cory MacLauchlin

  I am especially grateful to Robert Gottlieb who gave me permission to publish portions of his letters and offered his perspective on the issue of Toole and the accusations Thelma Toole made against him.

  While I was many years too late to interview Bobby Byrne, fortunately Carmine Palumbo did so in 1995. And he graciously shared with me his recorded interview of a true New Orleans character.

  Of course, this book would have been nothing more than an idea without my agent, William Clark; my editor, Ben Schafer; and the staff at Da Capo. The talents of Lori Hobkirk at the Book Factory, Cynthia Young at Sagecraft, copy editor Beth Fraser, and proofreader Sandy Chapman guided the book into print. The Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association provided an early source of support, kindly awarding me a grant making possible my first research trip to New Orleans. And Matt Wunder contributed editorial feedback on one of the first drafts.

  Furthermore, I thank Germanna Community College, especially David Sam and my colleagues Diane Critchfield, Michael Zitz Beckham, and the library staff, who encouraged me throughout this whole process.

  Unfortunately, some people passed away during the writing of this book. Patricia Rickels and Nick Polites shared with me their priceless insights and I regret they never saw this biography in print.

  I thank my mother and father who taught me to live life as a voyage of infinite possibilities.

  And most of all I thank my wife (my first editor) for her unwavering support and my two children who weathered well my long durations of silence as I hacked away at the manuscript.

  To all of those who I have mentioned and failed to mention here, I hope that these pages serve as the highest sign of my appreciation.

  Notes

  Introduction

  xii Notably, Anthony Burgess . . . : Anthony Burgess, “Modern Novels: The 9 Best,” New York Times Book Review, February 5, 1984: 1, 33.

  xii In the foreword . . . : Walker Percy, “Foreword,” in A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole, vii–ix (New York: Grove, 1980).

  xii Percy writes . . . : Ibid.

  xiii Dear Mr. Allsup . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole letter to John Allsup, July 8, 1981, Box 12, Folder 5, the John Kennedy Toole Papers, Manuscripts Collection 740, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University (hereafter cited as Toole Papers).

  xiii While Nevils and Hardy . . . : In a footnote, the publisher admitted to publishing the letters without Robert Gottlieb’s permission and thanked him for not suing. René Pol Nevils and Deborah George Hardy, Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001).

  xiv Toole’s friend Joel . . . : Joel L. Fletcher, Ken and Thelma: The Story of A Confederacy of Dunces (Gretna: Pelican Publishing, 2005).

  xiv But as Fletcher . . . : Ibid.

  xiv In Ken and Thelma . . . : Ibid.

  xiv While she proclaims . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole, “A Mother’s Rememberence: I Walk in the World for My Son,” in The Flora Levy Lecture in the Humanities Volume II: Gravity and Grace in the Novel A Confederacy of Dunces, by Robert Coles (Lafayette: University of Southwestern Louisiana Press, 1981), 10–13.

  xv Reminiscing over the . . . : Errol Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner,” New Orleans, December 1981: 74–77.

  Chapter 1: Roots

  1 On a Sunday . . . : John Kennedy Toole letter to Robert Gottlieb, March 5, 1965. Joel L. Fletcher Papers, Manuscripts Collection 995, Louisiana Research Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University (hereafter cited as Fletcher Papers).

  1 For years he . . . : John Kennedy Toole letter to parents. May 15, 1963. Box 1, Folder 8, Toole Papers.

  1 The novel he . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son: An Interview with Thelma Ducoing Toole, a film directed by Kenneth Holditch, Michael J. Adler, Barbara B. Coleman, and David A. Dillon, and featuring Thelma D. Toole, 1983.

  1 He deemed the . . . : John Kennedy Toole letter to parents. May 15, 1963. Box 1, Folder 8. Toole Papers.

  1 And his summer . . . : John Kennedy Toole letter to Joel Fletcher, July 9, 1961. Toole Papers.

  1 His station in . . . : John Kennedy Toole letter to Robert Gottlieb, March 5, 1965. Fletcher Papers.

  1 Distanced and unburdened . . . : Ibid.

  1 He recalled a . . . : Ibid.

  2 Pent up energies . . . : Ibid.

  2 As his friend Joel Fletcher . . . : John Kennedy Toole: The Omega Point, directed by Joe Sanford and featuring Joel Fletcher, 2010.

  2 Toole’s earliest ancestor . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  2 Ducoing gained local fame . . . : Henry C. Castellanos, New Orleans as It Was (Gretna: Pelican Publishing, 1990).

  3 Toole’s mother proudly . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  3 Both a romanticized . . . : William C. Davis, The Pirates Lafitte: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf (Orlando: Harcourt, 2005).

  3 Toole’s honored ancestor [ . . . ] insurance fraud . . . : John Proffatt, “Millandon vs. New Orleans Ins. Co,” in The American Decisions: Cases of General Value and Authority Volume XIII (Rochester: Bancroft-Whitney, 1910), 358–360.

  3 Toole’s honored ancestor [ . . . ] founding . . . : William C. Davis, The Pirates Lafitte: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf (Orlando: Harcourt, 2005).

  3 Perhaps stretching the truth . . . : David Kubach interview by the author, May 18, 2011.

  3 In addition to his French ancestor . . . : Mary Orfila was the daughter of Frank Orfila. Frank Orfila of New Orleans is listed as “commission merchant” in the 1880 U.S. Census.

  3 Initially seen as a source . . . : Joseph Lee and Marion R. Casey, Making the Irish American: History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States (New York: NYU, 2006).

  3 And they made a lasting impact . . . : “The Irish in New Orleans,” New Orleans online, accessed December 12, 2011, at http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/multicultural/multiculturalhistory/irish.html.

  3 But eventually, as families merged . . . : Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration, New Orleans City Guide (New Orleans: Garret County Press, 1938).

  4 Toole’s mother, Thelma . . . : “Receipt from Paul A. Ducoing,” Box 13, Folder 11, Toole Papers.

  4 Later in life . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son: An Interview with Thelma Ducoing Toole, a film directed by Kenneth Holditch, Michael J. Adler, Barbara B. Coleman, and David A. Dillon, and featuring Thelma D. Toole, 1983.

  4 A proud Creole . . . : Fletcher, Ken and Thelma.

  4 Unfortunately, her father . . . : Ibid.

  4 Only later in life . . . : Ibid.

  4 In 1920 she graduated . . . : “TD’s Diploma,” Box 13, Folder 13, Toole Papers.

  4 And in that same year . . . : “Southern Music Co. Diploma,” Box 13, Folder 12, Toole Papers.

  4 For a time she entertained . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  4 She decided to stay . . . : Ibid.

  4 She remembered him in his early days . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”

  5 Born in 1899 . . . : “Birth Certificate,” Box 11, Folder 8, Toole Papers.

  5 When he was eight years old . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  5 At the newly opened . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”

  5 In 1917 he took . . . : “Birth Scholarship Certificate,” Box 11, Folder 8, Toole Papers.

  5 He served in the army . . . : “Memorial certificate from Richard Nixon” Box 11 Folder 9. Toole Papers.

  5 Holding a position . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  5 So with their grandest dreams . . . : “Copy of marriage certificate” Box 11, Folder 10, Toole Papers.

  5 They moved to a house . . . : Fletcher, Ken and Thelma.

  5 The New Orleans public schools . . . : Ibid.

  5 Forced to give up her job . . . : Ibid.

  5 Around the time they were married . .
. : Soards’ New Orleans Directory 1926 (New Orleans: L. Soards, 1926). Directory lists John Toole as “dept. mgr. of Gulf Oldsmobile.”

  5 They moved to . . . : Soards’ New Orleans Directory 1931 and 1932 (New Orleans: L. Soards, 1931, 1932). Directory lists their address as 2623 Nashville Avenue.

  6 John lost his job . . . : Fletcher, Ken and Thelma.

  6 In 1932, much to Thelma’s . . . : Soards’ New Orleans Directory 1933 (New Orleans: L. Soards, 1933). Directory lists John Toole’s address as 2280 St. Claude Ave—same address as John Toole’s mother.

  6 John and Thelma . . . unable to conceive . . . : Lynda Laird Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.

  6 As their son would later tell . . . : Ibid.

  6 John secured a new salesman job . . . : Entry for John and Thelma Toole. Polk’s New Orleans City Directory 1938. (New Orleans: R. L. Polk & Company, 1938).

  6 And on Friday . . . : “Record of Birth,” Box 3, Folder 14, Toole Papers.

  6 After the successful . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  7 Remembering the awkward . . . : Ibid.

  7 And outside the hospital . . . : “Phases of the Moon: 1901–2000,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, accessed on June 1, 2011, at http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phases1901.html; and “The Weather,” Times Picayune. Friday, December 17, 1937: 1.

  7 Like any Friday night . . . : Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration, New Orleans City Guide (New Orleans: Garret County Press, 1938).

  Chapter 2: Early Days in Uptown

  9 In 1930 Herbert Hoover visualized . . . : Anthony J. Stanonis, Creating the Big Easy: New Orleans and the Emergence of Modern Tourism (Athens: University of Greorgia Press, 1918–1945).

  9 Surely he had doubts . . . : Douglas Brinkley, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (New York: Harper Collins, 2007).

  9 By 1938 Mardi Gras . . . : Stanonis, Creating the Big Easy.

  10 The rundown French Quarter . . . : Ibid.

  10 Strip clubs began setting up . . . : Ibid.

  10 And in February 1938 . . . : Ibid.

  10 A year later, the battlefield . . . : Ibid.

  10 Bobby Byrne, a friend of Toole’s . . . : Robert Byrne interview by Carmine Palumbo, 1995.

  10 And downtown people . . . : Ibid.

  10 She always maintained . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series, University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL Lafayette), Sept. 18, 1981.

  10 While she observed . . . : Ibid.

  10 “We had wicker . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  11 They celebrated a . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”

  11 A few weeks . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  11 In the late . . . : “Infant Photos,” Box 5, Folder 10, Toole Papers.

  11 He could have . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  11 Before selling an . . . : Lynda Laird Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.

  11 If a family . . . : Ibid.

  12 His nephew, Harold . . . : Harold Toole, Jr., interview by the author, March 2, 2009.

  12 Harold recalls . . . : Ibid.

  12 Perhaps eager for . . . : Fletcher, Ken and Thelma.

  12 In a heated . . . : “Speech written by TDT” Box 13, Folder 16. Toole Papers.

  12 Before he was . . . : “Infant Photos,” Box 5, Folder 10, Toole Papers.

  12 On his first trip . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  12 At the age . . . : Ibid.

  12 And when he . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  13 Thelma wouldn’t allow . . . : Harold Toole, Jr., interview by the author, May 9, 2009.

  13 But Thelma once . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  13 After his birth . . . : Ibid.

  13 On the days . . . : Ibid.

  13 On her days . . . : Ibid.

  13 She was the . . . : Ibid.

  13 And, after a . . . : Ibid.

  13 And even as . . . : Ibid.

  13 What he didn’t know . . . : Ibid.

  13 He attended his . . . “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  13 And at the . . . : Ibid.

  14 He once described . . . : Ibid.

  14 And one night . . . : Ibid.

  14 Entering kindergarten at . . . : Ibid.

  14 After one month . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole, “A Mother’s Rememberence.”

  14 In preparation for . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  14 And he had . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole, “A Mother’s Rememberence.”

  14 But the psychologist . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.

  14 “I’ll tell you” . . . : Thelma varied in the ways she told this story. At times she claimed that the psychologist told her that Toole lost interest and observed her. At other times Thelma said she supplied the psychologist the reason for her son’s loss of interest in the test.

  14 His mother often . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  15 He was “a” . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole, “A Mother’s Rememberence.”

  15 The nurses at . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”

  15 She even thought . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  15 “He had the” . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  15 “I want to” . . . : Ibid.

  15 Thelma celebrated how . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  15 “Those children thought . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.

  16 Jane Stickney Gwyn . . . : Jane Stickney Gwynn interview by the author, October 2010.

  16 As Thelma reported . . . : Rhoda Faust interview by the author, June 10, 2011.

  16 On the first . . . : John Geiser interview by the author, June 2008.

  16 One day Toole . . . : Ibid.

  17 As evident in . . . : “Sheet Music for Piano,” Box 4, Folder 12, Toole Papers.

  17 Pictures of him . . . : Oversize Folder 2, Toole Papers.

  17 But Thelma maintained . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”

  17 “He was an” . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  17 His baby book . . . : “Baby Book” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.

  17 When he came . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.

  17 When he was . . . : Ibid.

  18 When in character . . . : Ibid.

  18 He took this . . . : “Achievement Scrap Book,” Box 22, Vol. 1, Toole Papers.

  18 In Mystery at . . . : Ibid.

  18 And in a . . . : Ibid.

  18 Members of the . . . : John Hantel interview by the author, April 13, 2011.

  18 However, in Thelma’s . . . : I Walk in the World for My Son, film.

  19 There were many photos . . . : “Scrapbook with photographs,” Box 22, Vol. 2, Toole Papers.

  19 He appeared on . . . : “Achievement Scrap Book,” Box 22, Vol. 1, Toole Papers.

  19 From September 1948 . . . : Ibid.

  19 One of her . . . : Hantel interview by the author, April 13, 2011.

  19 Jane Stickney Gwyn . . . : Stickney Gwyn interview by the author, June 2008.

  20 One of his . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.

  20 She recalled her . . . : “Childhood Photos,” Box 5, Folder 11, Toole Papers.

  21 In the fall . . . : “Achievement Scrap Book,” Box 22, Vol. 1, Toole Papers.

  21 In November of . . . : Ibid.

  Chapter 3: Fortier

  24 Eventually, in 1969 . . . : Adam Fairclough, Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana 1915–1972 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1999).

  24 He rarely studied . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”

  24 So impressed with . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.

  24 Indeed
, Toole maintained . . . : “Honor Roll,” Silver and Blue, 1950–1954.

  24 As his mother . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.

  25 Much like Toole . . . : Myrna Swyers interview by the author, April 13, 2011.

  25 Both incredibly bright . . . : “Honor Roll,” Silver and Blue, 1950–1954.

  25 The two friends . . . : Martin interview by the author May 5, 2011.

  25 They were both . . . : Ibid.

  25 In 1955 he . . . : “Miscellaneous Letters,” Box 1, Folder 13, Toole Papers.

  25 Bosley Crowther . . . : Bosley Crowther, “The Screen: Summer Bachelor’s Itch,” New York Times, June 4, 1955: 9.

  25 While Toole and Laird . . . : Ibid.

  25 Whenever Toole visited . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.

  25 One of their . . . : Swyers interview by the author, April 13, 2011.

  26 Laird would often say . . . : Ibid.

  26 They talked about . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.

  26 And the Latin . . . : Ibid.

  26 Whatever the tragedy . . . : Ibid.

  26 Downtown, there was . . . : Ibid.

  26 From the Irish . . . : Ibid.

  26 And roaming throughout . . . : Ibid.

  26 They attended a . . . : Ibid.

  26 And one day . . . : Ibid.

  27 On the other . . . : Ibid.

  28 He feared intruders . . . : Patricia Rickels interview by the author, February 10, 2009.

  28 Once he felt . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.

  28 One day, as . . . : Ibid.

  28 “Someone is going” . . . : Ibid.

  28 When Lynda, Laird’s . . . : Ibid.