Irrepressible (53 page)

Read Irrepressible Online

Authors: Leslie Brody

BOOK: Irrepressible
4.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
CHAPTER 23
243 “how the southern psyche”: Notes for “You-All and Non-You-All: A Southern Potpourri,” 1961, OSU.
243 “Stress the accent”: Durr to JM, May 1960, in Durr and Sullivan,
Freedom Writer
, 206.
243 “funny, the moral to emerge by inference”: JM to Dinky, 21 April 1960, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 236.
244 “The conversation turned, as they say”: JM to RT, 13 May 1961, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 248-249.
245 “Go get the niggers!” Barnard, ed.,
Outside the Magic Circle
, 297.
245 “One of the last riders”: The description of Lucretia Collins is from Forman,
The Making of Black Revolutionaries
, 154.
246 “a hundred white men and women surged”: McWhorter,
Carry Me Home
, 228. In Diane McWhorter’s excellent book
Carry Me Home
, she describes the circumstances surrounding the officer’s deliberate delay.
246 “cool as a cucumber”: Zellner, with Curry,
The Wrong Side of Murder Creek
, 93.
247 “This is absurd—to be so scared”: Barnard, ed.,
Outside the Magic Circle
, 300.
247 “Southern costume—a lovely sort of fluffy green hat”: Ibid.
249 “While the mob had been cleared”: JM, quoting general of Alabama National Guard, in JM, “The Longest Meeting,” 1961, OSU.
250 “All the funny ways she can write were muted”: Barnard,
Outside the Magic Circle
, 301.
250 “Author JESSICA MITFORD TREUHAFT”: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jessica Mitford File, FBI archives.
CHAPTER 24
251 “those who feel that burials”: Roul Tunley, “Can You Afford to Die?”
Saturday Evening Post
, 17 June 1961, 24.
251 “the sharpest thorn in the morticians’ sides”: Ibid., 25.
251 “tireless recruiter”: Ibid., 80.
251 “over the teacups”: Ibid.
251 “widow’s weeds”: Ibid.
251 “more mail than they had ever received”: RT and Larsen,
Robert E. Treuhaft
, 59.
252 “were forbidden to watch funerals”: Devonshire,
Counting My Chickens
, 168.
252 “Children’s Funerals”: JM to Debo, 11 July 1962, OSU.
252 “New Bra-Form”: JM to Kathleen Kahn, 2 February 1962, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 274.
252 “They only cost $11”: Ibid.
252 “Thus making it worth one’s while”: JM to Muv, 20 February 1959, OSU.
253 “Funerals are becoming more and more”: Sussman,
Decca
, 266.
253 “‘It’s a racket,’ she exclaimed”: JM, quoted in Tunley, “Can You Afford to Die?”
253 “to go for the jugular and expose”: JM,
AFOC
, 302.
253 “I’m not concerned with what they do”: Tunley, “Can You Afford to Die?” 82.
253 “69-year old woman, was 40 hours”: JM to Kathleen Kahn, 2 February 1962, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 274.
254 “Bad and ghoulish . . . foolishness”: JM to Dinky, 3 March 1960, OSU.
254 “I’m more and more beginning”: JM to Candida Donadio, 2 March, 1962 in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 276.
255 “like all the members”: JM,
AFOC
, 301.
255 “police dogs to sic on any freedom riders”: Branch,
Parting the Waters
, 571.
256 “She has all her”: Robert Gottlieb, interview,
Portrait of a Muckraker: The Stories of Jessica Mitford
, produced by Stephen Evans, Ida Landauer, and James Morgan, KQED, 1990 (DVD and VHS).
257 “were now or once had been”: Ibid.
257 “Essentially she did it”: Ibid.
257 “make the comparison”: Dinky, interview by author. January, 2007.
257 “besotted by money.” Marge Frantz, interview by author, November, 2005.
258 “no real booze”: JM to Barbara Kahn, 13 July 1939, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 290.
258 “I don’t think so . . . good stiff drink in the p.m.”: Ibid.
258 “Had tea with Hitler”: JM, quoting Muv, to Barbara Kahn, 13 July 1939, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 289.
258 “Delicious cakes. Bobo [Unity] gets quite different when she’s with him”: JM, quoting Debo, to Barbara Kahn, 13 July 1939, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 289.
258 “Tea with the Führer. Muv kept talking about home-made”: JM, quoting UM, to Barbara Kahn, 13 July 1939, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 289.
258 “freedom from fear of being boring”: JM to Barbara Kahn et al., 15 July 1939, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 290.
258 “In fact, should I ever be faced with this exact problem”: Ibid.
259 “Who is Constancia Romilly?” Dinky, interview by author, March, 2008.
260 “chucking her job and going to work”: JM to Virginia Durr, 18 June 1963, OSU.
260 “feared the Klan would come around. He had nightmares about that”: Dinky, interview by author. January, 2007.
CHAPTER 25
261 “How to get the book attacked as subversive”: JM to RT, 26 April 1963, OSU.
261 “All these special letters and special approaches did so remind me of CRC”: JM to RT, 26 April 1963, OSU.
262 “
marvelous
editor”: Benedict,
Portraits in Print
, 110.
262 “Decca doesn’t like research”: Ibid., 107.
263 “to bury capitalist America’s funeral customs”:
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 267.
263 “the devil”: Steve Coates, interview by author, February 2009.
264 “While hiding behind the commercial aspects of”: James B. Utt, speech, 15 October 1963,
Congressional Record
, 15 October 1963, quoted in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 267.
264 “Red herring”: “Author Mitford Tagged Foe of Religion by Utt,”
Washington Post
, 19 October 1963.
264 “lapsed into a steadfast condition of noncooperation”: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jessica Mitford File, FBI archives.
264 “I think that only those who have been”: JM,
PP
, 104.
264 “make thousands of jokes in succession”: JM to Barbara Kahn, 13 November 1963, OSU.
264 “long-term viewing”: Leroy F. Aarons, “It’s Mitford vs. Undertakers,”
Washington Post
, 6 November 1963.
264 “We shall bury you” . . . “muscling in on their territory”: JM,
AFOC
, 311.
265 “I could put you away for $150” . . . “Sorry you’re too late”: JM,
AFOC
, 316.
265 “Unfortunately for the undertakers”: JM,
AFOC
, 316.
265 “Benj is angling for a $2 weekly”: JM to Aranka Treuhaft, 17 September 1963, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 306.
265 “I’ve already done a couple of daring things”: Ibid.
265 “total fleabags”…“It was thrilling”: Fursland,
Jessica Mitford
, 176.
265 “plainly stated attitude to death”: JM to Debo, 7 October 1963, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, xiii.
265 “Tell him of course I’m
against
it”: Ibid.
266 “materialist denial of death”: Guinness with Guinness,
The House of Mitford
, 569.
266 “spiritual aspects of death”: JM,
PP
, 104.
266 “new-found respectability”: JM,
PP
, 109.
266 “It is bad enough keeping up with the Joneses in life”: Stephen H. Fritchman, “Expose of Funeral Industry Proves It’s Cheaper to Live”
Peoples World
, September 7, 1963.
266 “the whole ghoulish paraphernalia”: “Author Mitford Tagged Foe of Religion By Utt.”
266 “crypt-o Communist”:
Bulletin of the National Review
, December 1963, 466.
267 “synonymous with cheap funerals”: JM,
PP
, 89.
267 “Mitford style” . . . “the plainest and least expensive”: JM,
PP
, 89.
267 “masterpiece of black humor”: Alvarez, “Memento Mori,”
New York Review of Books
, 24 September 1998.
267 “made fun of the sacred cows of the time with equal glee”: Ibid.
267 “death was on everybody’s mind”: Ibid.
267 Robert Kennedy had to choose: Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy and His Times
, 610.
267 RFK had read
The American Way of Death
: JM to RT, 23 June 1964, OSU.
267 “a lot of sad things like Tom’s first hair when it was cut, in a teeny envelope”: JM to Barbara Kahn, 24 July 1964, OSU.
268 “Nancy was dressed by Chanel and I by J.C. Penney”: Marge Frantz, interview by author, November 2005.
268 “loved Nancy’s company”: JM,
AFOC
, 250.
268 “Nancy treated Decca like shit”: Marge Frantz, interview by author, November 2005.
268 “Oh dear, I regard her as Muv’s greatest failure”: NM to Debo, 31 August 1964, in
TM-LBSS
, ed. Mosley, 420.
269 “psycho-dramatist” . . . “meddle with these deep-seated desires”: JM to Barbara Kahn, 6 March 1965, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 335.
270 “How do I go about getting accepted?” . . . “Oh come
on
”: JM,
PP
, 288.
271 “linked together by mutual amorality”: Earl of Birkenhead,
London Daily Telegraph
, 25 March 1960.
271 “Vietnam,” she wrote, “nags unbearably”: JM to Barbara Kahn, 5 March 1965, OSU.
271 “Jessica Mitford Treuhaft was the first speaker”: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jessica Mitford File, FBI archives.
271 “a touch too sappy”: JM to Durr, 27 January 1963, OSU.
271 “Hazel Grossman”: JM to Barbara Kahn, 4 December 1967, OSU.
271 “I can’t bear to join”: JM to Debo, 11 September 1965, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 339.
272 “level of chaos . . . underdeveloped country”: Hinckle,
If You Have a Lemon, Make Lemonade
, 192.
273 “The idea of actually owning”: Ibid., 109.
273 “the ranking capitalists of the land, affording them the treat”: Ibid.
273 “dithering manner”: Toynbee, “Decca Mitford,” 1, OSU.
273 “Darling, is the District Attorney the man who puts the rope”: NM to JM, 4 May 1964, in
TM-LBSS
, ed. Mosley, 448.
274 “It was all worth it”: JM to Leonard Boudin, 24 June 1966, OSU.
CHAPTER 26
275 “Decca loved parties”: Marge Frantz, interview by author, November 2005.
276 “People who amused her . . . people in other contexts”: Kathy Kahn, interview by author, December 2006.
276 “a lot of boring”: JM to Maya Angelou, 7 May 1968, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 273.
277 “house on Regent Street”: Herb Gold, interview by author, December 2007.
277 “makes one love everyone, they say”: JM to NM, 4 May 1967, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 365.
277 “munching” . . . “There must be so many American children, surely some of them could be spared?” JM to Durr, 20 September 1967, OSU.
278 “quieter” . . . “the most bonded couple”. . . “sense of intimacy”: Herb Gold, interview by author, December 2007.
278 “enjoyed her fame” . . . “strong women”: Mark Lapin, interview by author, March 2008.
279 “cold fish”: Marge Frantz, interview by author, November 2005.
279 “about law cases” . . . “talked about writing, not literature” . . . “by an adoring husband”: Herb Gold, interview by author, December 2007.
279 “The Arctic trails have their secret tales”: Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” in
The Spell of the Yukon
, 50.
279 “The thing I’m most afraid of in”: Mark Lapin, interview by author, March 2008.
280 “It really did take the edge off”: JM to Durr, 20 September 1967, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 374.
280 “The inevitable has happened”: Debo to NM, 13 March 1967, in
TM-LBSS
, ed. Mosley, 485.
280 “Is he
the
foreman?”: NM to JM, 10 April 1967, in
TM-LBSS
, ed. Mosley, 488.
280 “Mrs. O slightly mis-reported me”: JM to NM, 4 May 1967, in
TM-LBSS
, ed. Mosley, 491.
280 “I only said that now”: JM to NM, 4 May 1967, in
TM-LBSS
, ed. Mosley, 491.
281 “a lot of anger”: Herb Gold, interview by author, December 2007.
281 “they were impressed by him and liked what he was doing”: Benjy, interview by author, January 2007.
281 “had a knock-down drag-out fight”: Dinky, interview by author, May 2006.
281 “Caen mentioned subject after describing her”: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jessica Mitford File, FBI archives.
281 “to disobey the draft law”: JM to NM, 14 March 1968, OSU.
282 “Washington was rather extraorder”: JM to Pele deLappe, 14 April 1968, in
Decca
, ed. Sussman, 377.
282 “The law of conspiracy is so irrational”: JM,
The Trial of Dr. Spock
, 61.
282 “Spock and Coffin particularly were demanding”. . . “a confrontation”: JM to Marge Frantz, 17 June 1968, OSU.
283 “in violation of international conventions”: JM,
The Trial of Dr. Spock
, 83.
283 “the people in power are nothing to fear”: McCreery, “Queen of Muckrakers,” 77.
283 “vaguely lavatorial”: JM,
The Trial of Dr. Spock
, 89.
283 “Dan has a low threshold of boredom and mercifully enlivened”: Ibid., 117.
283 “a very, very uphill job”: JM to Durr, 17 April 1969, OSU.
283 “a workman like job”: Ibid., 396.
CHAPTER 27
285 “great tradition of open, democratic meetings”: Langer, “The Oakland Seven,”
Atlantic Monthly
, October 1969, 77-81.
285 “opponents of the demo”: Ibid.
285 “got to go”: JM to Aranka Treuhaft, 28 March 1969, OSU.
285 “a kind of low-water mark for prosecutors”: Packer, “The Conspiracy Weapon,”
New York Review of Books
, 6 November 1969.

Other books

Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve
DRONE by Miles A. Maxwell
Failure is Fatal by Lesley A. Diehl
My New Step-Dad by Alexa Riley
Strike Out by Cheryl Douglas
Blame it on Cupid by Jennifer Greene
The Ice Pilots by Michael Vlessides