growing wealth to fall back on. I’ll miss you tonight.”
“I doubt that very much. You could fly out.”
“No, no, New York is a Hellman home game.”
That line called for
There are no home games without you
. I said, “Behaving?”
“Drinking or womanizing?”
“Each. Both.”
“You’d be proud of me on both counts. How about you? Behaving?”
“Drinking or womanizing?”
“Come home soon.”
I said, “I think I am home.” Then I graveled my voice like Durante: “I’ll give ’em dis, I’ll give ’em dat, show dem bastards where I’m at …”
L ILLIAN H ELLMAN HANGS UP THE PHONE SLOWLY , as though to re-create a movie fade. She drinks a second glass of Scotch, throws a mink over her shoulders, and pulls closed the door to room 1212. In the cab she tells the driver, “The Apocalypse, please.” He says, “Where?” She says, “Sardi’s.”
At Sardi’s Arthur Kober gave Lillian a soft hug and a kiss on each cheek, French style. Arthur was working as a press agent for Herman Shumlin, the producer of
Days to Come
, and had done a first-rate job. He got the play a tremendous amount of attention in the weeks leading up to the opening. The angle was,
Genius young lady playwright has not one but two hits on Broadway at the same time—unheard-of phenomenon
. The timing didn’t quite work out that way. After a run of two years at the Maxine Elliot Theatre,
The Children’s Hour
was due to close just before
Days
was scheduled to open. Still, it was
almost
unheard of.
She rarely discussed Arthur with Hammett, but he always remembered her most telling criticism. It was while smoking and drinking in bed right after they had met. Hammett asked Lilly about her sexual preferences with Arthur and immediately wished he hadn’t.
“
Preferences
, hah. Arthur is a man afraid. Arthur will always be a man afraid. Afraid to take, even afraid to ask. He apologized even for wanting. He apologized before, during, and after we made love. Even when he wasn’t apologizing, he apologized. So how could he be any good to anyone?” Hammett lit a cigarette. Lilly continued: “Of course he was great for my career. He knew everyone. Everyone. So he wasn’t a great lover, big deal. Who couldn’t live with that?”
“Apparently you couldn’t.”
Lillian could have been glib and dismissive on the subject of Arthur just then. But even though they had just met, this Hammett was a man she was actually going to try to love, so she chose to explain: “There’s a certain kind of Jewish man—you wouldn’t know about this—who is so fucking fearful of everything in a world that is not Jewish he doesn’t even believe he has a right to breathe its air. He apologizes for his very existence on the planet. For any shadow he casts.”
“A for instance.”
“For instance, let’s say you’re invited to lunch by rich old Episcopalians. Your hostess offers you some lemonade. It’s hot as hell and you’re dying for lemonade. If you’re Arthur, you say, ‘No thank you, I’m not thirsty,’ because you don’t even have the right to be thirsty in front of Episcopalians. Don’t make waves, don’t cause trouble, be very nice and make people like you and maybe they’ll think, ‘You know, those Kikes might not be such a bad lot after all.’ ”
Hammett brought his fingers to her nipple. “These Kikes
are
already extremely likable.” He pinched.
She smacked his fingers away. “Who can stand someone who can’t be a man because he’s a Jew? It’s crazy.”
“Come on, Lilly, there’s a history there. It’s the way people cope and survive. My old man learned how to be
not
nice, it comes to the same thing.”
“No it doesn’t. I’m talking about a timidity that threatens the future of an entire race of people.”
“I look at Max and I don’t see any Arthur in him.”
“Thank God for Jews like Max Hellman.” She put his hand back on her breast.
Producer and director Shumlin had reserved a large room
“I doubt that very much. You could fly out.”
“No, no, New York is a Hellman home game.”
That line called for
There are no home games without you
. I said, “Behaving?”
“Drinking or womanizing?”
“Each. Both.”
“You’d be proud of me on both counts. How about you? Behaving?”
“Drinking or womanizing?”
“Come home soon.”
I said, “I think I am home.” Then I graveled my voice like Durante: “I’ll give ’em dis, I’ll give ’em dat, show dem bastards where I’m at …”
L ILLIAN H ELLMAN HANGS UP THE PHONE SLOWLY , as though to re-create a movie fade. She drinks a second glass of Scotch, throws a mink over her shoulders, and pulls closed the door to room 1212. In the cab she tells the driver, “The Apocalypse, please.” He says, “Where?” She says, “Sardi’s.”
At Sardi’s Arthur Kober gave Lillian a soft hug and a kiss on each cheek, French style. Arthur was working as a press agent for Herman Shumlin, the producer of
Days to Come
, and had done a first-rate job. He got the play a tremendous amount of attention in the weeks leading up to the opening. The angle was,
Genius young lady playwright has not one but two hits on Broadway at the same time—unheard-of phenomenon
. The timing didn’t quite work out that way. After a run of two years at the Maxine Elliot Theatre,
The Children’s Hour
was due to close just before
Days
was scheduled to open. Still, it was
almost
unheard of.
She rarely discussed Arthur with Hammett, but he always remembered her most telling criticism. It was while smoking and drinking in bed right after they had met. Hammett asked Lilly about her sexual preferences with Arthur and immediately wished he hadn’t.
“
Preferences
, hah. Arthur is a man afraid. Arthur will always be a man afraid. Afraid to take, even afraid to ask. He apologized even for wanting. He apologized before, during, and after we made love. Even when he wasn’t apologizing, he apologized. So how could he be any good to anyone?” Hammett lit a cigarette. Lilly continued: “Of course he was great for my career. He knew everyone. Everyone. So he wasn’t a great lover, big deal. Who couldn’t live with that?”
“Apparently you couldn’t.”
Lillian could have been glib and dismissive on the subject of Arthur just then. But even though they had just met, this Hammett was a man she was actually going to try to love, so she chose to explain: “There’s a certain kind of Jewish man—you wouldn’t know about this—who is so fucking fearful of everything in a world that is not Jewish he doesn’t even believe he has a right to breathe its air. He apologizes for his very existence on the planet. For any shadow he casts.”
“A for instance.”
“For instance, let’s say you’re invited to lunch by rich old Episcopalians. Your hostess offers you some lemonade. It’s hot as hell and you’re dying for lemonade. If you’re Arthur, you say, ‘No thank you, I’m not thirsty,’ because you don’t even have the right to be thirsty in front of Episcopalians. Don’t make waves, don’t cause trouble, be very nice and make people like you and maybe they’ll think, ‘You know, those Kikes might not be such a bad lot after all.’ ”
Hammett brought his fingers to her nipple. “These Kikes
are
already extremely likable.” He pinched.
She smacked his fingers away. “Who can stand someone who can’t be a man because he’s a Jew? It’s crazy.”
“Come on, Lilly, there’s a history there. It’s the way people cope and survive. My old man learned how to be
not
nice, it comes to the same thing.”
“No it doesn’t. I’m talking about a timidity that threatens the future of an entire race of people.”
“I look at Max and I don’t see any Arthur in him.”
“Thank God for Jews like Max Hellman.” She put his hand back on her breast.
Producer and director Shumlin had reserved a large room
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