Everybody Was So Young (61 page)

black or white opalescent vases: These vases are still in Honoria Donnelly’s possession.

spare cubicle . . . paintings afterward:
GCM
, MacAgy/Murphy papers. The rose—or, more accurately, roses on a single stem—appear in La rose et le compas, Roses et compas, Le Buste, Nature morte aux livres, and other paintings of 1925.

[>] “The Murphys were . . . United States”: Quoted in LW, p. 8.

“this year’s gift”: Louis Laloy, Comoedia (front page), Monday, 4 Jun. 1923. “an aesthetic revelation”: Paul Roche, “Les Ballets russes à Paris,” Le Gaulois (front page), 1 Jun. 1923.

The music . . . xylophone: Stravinsky, Chroniques de ma vie, pp. 41–43.

traditional gender divisions . . . as it was musically: See Garafola, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, pp. 125–29.

Natalia Goncharova . . . tight schedule: Nathalie Gontcharova [sic], “The Creation of ‘Les Noces,”’ Ballet and Opéra, Sept. 1949; and Bronislava Nijinska, “The Creation of ‘Les Noces’” (translated and introduced by Jean M. Serafetinedes and Irina Nijinska, Dance, Dec. 1974).

He also seized . . . finished their task:
JDP
, The Best Times, p. 148.

[>] considered squalor: See Cowley, A Second Flowering, pp. 91–98.

although Dos Passos . . . embarrassed: S&G, p. 13.

“everyone directly connected . . . worthy of the event”:
GCM
, quoted in LW, p. 31

Winnie de Polignac’s . . . Louis XIV: Description of the princess’s house comes from Jacques Brindejont-Offenbach, “Chez La Princesse Edmond de Polignac: “Une Répétition des ‘Noces’ de Stravinsky,” Tuesday, 12 Jun. 1923; the source of this clipping, in the press book for Les Noces in the Fonds Kochno, Musée de l’Opera, is unknown.

“The Cirque Médrano” . . . Germaine Taillefer: Sources for the description of the barge party are GCM’s interviews with CT, HMD; the MacAgy/Murphy papers; LW, pp. 31–33.

[>] “preferred pianist of les Six”: Survage, “Larionov, homme actif/Gontcharova, femme douce et discrète,” in Tatiana Loguine (ed.), Gontcharova et Larionov, cinquante ans à Saint-Germain-des-près, p. 134 (my translation). “Depuis le jour . . . my life”: Gerald thought Seldes had inscribed the menu, but Seldes was a Jew and unlikely to have had a first communion.

11. “There is American elegance””

[>] “On the pleasant . . . north in April”:
TITN
, p. 3.

July 3, 1923:
SWM
scrapbooks,
HMD
.

Sella rationalized . . . south for the sun: Blume, Côte d’Azur, p. 75.

[>] Antibes was a sleepy . . . unpaved:
HMD
interviews, personal observation, and LW, p. 96.

Before he left Paris . . . in February: Rubin, The Paintings of Gerald Murphy, p. 20, suggests that this painting, Boatdeck, was designed as an opening curtain for the ballet Within the Quota, but a simple consideration of the painting’s dimensions suggests otherwise. A painting eighteen feet high and twelve feet wide, while massive, would not begin to fill the proscenium space of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where the Ballets Suédois played, and would have had the wrong proportions besides. Drop curtains are generally wider than they are tall.

Possibly inspired . . . fall of 1921: Ibid., p. 22.

Gerald had taken more . . . Aquitania: Marcel Espiau, “Chez M. Gérard Murphy, peintre ‘bien américain,’” L’Éclair, 18 Feb. 1924.

By 1923 . . . Bonnard, and Léger: For a fuller discussion of the place of the Ballets Suédois in the Parisian avant-garde, see Bengt Häger, Ballets Suédois, and Lynn Garafola, “Rivals for the New: The Ballets Suédois and the Ballets Russes,” in Nancy Van Norman Baer, ed., Paris Modern: The Swedish Ballet, 1920–1925, pp. 66–83.

[>] She had even asked Igor . . . had declined: LW, p. 39.

One day . . . meet her grandson:
GCM
, MacAgy/Murphy papers; and Daix, Picasso, p. 182.

[>] wanted to come back: Ibid.

“didn’t speak a word” . . . Spanish: SWM/CT interview,
HMD
.

“entirely prosaic” . . . small talk: LW, p. 35.

“Chère Madame Picasso . . . American canoe”:
SWM
to Olga Picasso, undated letter on Hôtel du Cap stationery, Musée Picasso (my translation).

when the de Beaumonts . . . Garoupe beach:
ESB
interview.

The de Beaumonts planned . . . Friday noon: Undated invitation, Étienne and Édith de Beaumont to Pablo Picasso, Musée Picasso.

[>] They all clowned . . . grinning hugely: Photographs in
SWM
scrapbooks,
HMD
.

Picasso and Sara . . . end of his life: Rubin, “Reflections on Picasso and Portraiture,” Picasso and Portraiture, p. 55.

Picasso alone . . . shadowy and indistinct: Photographs in
SWM
scrapbooks,
HMD
.

Olga’s tension . . . delight in her children: William Rubin interview.

“She is never coy”: GCM/CT interview.

One day she was . . . “festin”:
GCM
to CT, 4 Sept. 1960,
HMD
.

[>] “sense of the grotesque . . . un chien”: LW, p. 36.

Opéra in Paris . . . “American elegance!”:
GCM
to CT, 25 Apr. 1962,
HMD
.

They rarely talked . . . El Greco’s model:
GCM
, MacAgy/Murphy papers.

During those golden July . . . rope of pearls: These conclusions are the result of personal observations, made from examination of the Musée Picasso’s microfilms of Picasso’s 1923 sketchbook, now in the possession of Marina Picasso, and of conversations with William Rubin.

Some of these pictures . . . as a given:
ESB
interview; GCM/CT interview; Daix, Picasso, pp. 182–83. See also Cabanne, Le Siècle de Picasso, pp. 637ff.

“Picasso was in love . . . sexual adventure”: William Rubin interview.

“I would have thought . . . hard for her to resist”: John Richardson interview.

[>] “The Man of Taste” . . . feast with her tempter: Philip Barry, “The Man of Taste,” unproduced manuscript,
GUL
.

[>] “chers Picassos . . . Sara”:
SWM
to Pablo and Olga Picasso, undated (but internal evidence places it in Jul.-Aug. 1923), Musée Picasso.

They posed like tourists . . . but at Sara: Photograph in
SWM
scrapbooks,
HMD
.

Sara felt . . . different reasons:
ESB
interview.

And Cole and Linda . . . for pleasure: James Douglas and Roderick Coupe interview.

After two weeks . . . work with Cole:
HMD
interview.

The two of them . . . went on swimming: S&G, p. 22.

[>] As someone who . . . not his type: James Douglas and Roderick Coupe interview.

X-ray examinations . . . alter the painting: William Rubin, “The Pipes of Pan: Picasso’s Aborted Love Song to Sara Murphy,” ArtNews, May 1994.

It’s difficult . . . two people:
HMD
interview.

“Will you come” . . . in the margin:
SWM
to Pablo and Olga Picasso, undated, Musée Picasso (my translation).

[>] But after seeing the rehearsals . . . to the audience: LW, p. 41.

“nothing but a translation”: “American Ballet in Paris Tonight,” New York Herald (Paris), 25 Oct. 1923.

“It’s easier to write”: Ibid.

Within the Quota . . . action on stage: Within the Quota scenario described by La Revue de France and quoted in Hager, Ballets Suédois, p. 44. The original scenario has apparently been lost, and this is the only source.

Parade . . . inside the circus tent: An interesting discussion of Parade in this context appears in Siegel, Bohemian Paris, pp. 360–65.

[>] costumes . . . specifications: Although Gerald is listed as the costume designer for Within the Quota on the ballet’s program, a personal comparison of the costume sketches with Sara’s scrapbooks inevitably suggests that the renderings of the women’s costumes, at least are her work and not Gerald’s—a view that is supported by Honoria Donnelly. In addition, in an interview with Calvin Tomkins, Gerald referred to the Sweetheart costume as Sara’s work.

“the most powerful symbol”:
GCM
to CT, 3 Jan. 1962,
HMD
.

“a study of American women”:
GCM
quoted in “American Ballet in Paris Tonight,” New York Herald (Paris), 25 Oct. 1923.

[>] “
DANCER
RENEWS”: New York Herald (Paris), 13 Oct. 1923, p. 1.

“the Jazz Baby”: Within the Quota scenario described by La Revue de France and quoted in Häger, Ballets Suédois, p. 44.

“fashionable and artistic . . . laughter and applause”: “American Ballet Pleases Gathering at Paris Theatre,” New York Herald (Paris), 26 Oct. 1923.

Reviews . . . “American theme”: Gilbert Seldes, “Within the Quota,” Paris-Journal, 1923. See also Fokine, et al., Les Ballets Suédois dans l’art contemporain.

[>] But it was not performed . . . L’Homme et son désir: Gail Levin, “The Ballets Suédois and American Culture,” Paris Modern, pp. 123–24.

This tactic . . . discarded after one performance:
DOS
, By a Stroke of Luck! pp. 122–23.

only “modernist” . . . rest having been dropped: Gail Levin, “The Ballets Suédois and American Culture,” Paris Modern, p. 124.

Stuart Davis’s 1924 painting . . . enormous newspaper: See Sims, Stuart Davis, p. 174. The art historian Elizabeth Garrity Ellis points out that the Suédois toured extensively in Davis’s home state of Pennsylvania, and he would very likely have seen the production either there or in New York, nine years later . . . come to life: Bergreen, As Thousands Cheer, p. 313.

“Paris is bound to”: “American Ballet in Paris Tonight,” New York Herald (Paris), 25 Oct. 1923.

[>] “Twenty-three Liners”: New York Herald (Paris), 19 May 1923.

The Herald . . . “any fun left”: “News of Americans Day by Day,” New York Herald (Paris), 7 Apr. 1923.

“practically nothing a year”: Le Vot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 172.

12. “Very serious over trivialities and rather wise about art and life”

[>] On February 7 . . . Boatdeck: “American’s Eighteen-Foot Picture Nearly Splits Independent Artists,” New York Herald (Paris), 8 Feb. 1924, p. 1.

“struck by the look”:
GCM
, MacAgy/Murphy papers.

An emergency meeting . . . withdrew their resignations: “American’s Eighteen-Foot Picture Nearly Splits Independent Artists,” New York Herald (Paris), 8 Feb. 1924, p. 1.

“It could scarcely”: “Curious Art Seen at Indépendents,” New York Herald (Paris), 9 Feb. 1924, p. 2.

[>] “If they think . . . Grand Palais”: “American’s Eighteen-Foot Picture Nearly Splits Independent Artists,” New York Herald (Paris), 8 Feb. 1924, pp. 1–2.

[>] “truly sorry” . . . freight terminal: Marcel Espiau, “Chez M. Gérard Murphy, peintre ‘bien américain,’” L’Éclair, 18 Feb. 1924, p. 1 (my translation).

In the spring . . . hubcaps or headlamps: Photograph is in HMD’s collection; the attribution to Man Ray is by Turner, in “Paris: Capital of America,” Americans in Paris, p. 26. Additional details from AMacL, Riders on the Earth, p. 124.

“To be done . . . rated as somebody”: Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Company, quoted in Turner, Americans in Paris, p. 19.

“Mr. and Mrs. [Gerald] Murphy . . . when she danced”: Harry Crosby to Henrietta Crosby, 20 Dec. 1924, quoted in Wolff, Black Sun, p. 155.

one of his parties . . . like a butler: Wolff, Black Sun, p. 147.

[>] “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
.