Two items came to my attention today that should be of interest to this Stein
List:
We Love You, Alice B. Toklas!
A 125th Birthday Celebration
An exhibition, “We Love You, Alice B.Toklas!” recognizing the
accomplishments and celebrating the memory of Toklas will be presented in the
James Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, San Francisco Public Library,Civic
Center from January 18th to March 7th. The library location is very
appropriate as it is a few blocks from Toklas’s birthplace on O’Farrell
Street. The exhibit will move to the American Library in Paris, 10, rue
Général-Camou, from March 19th through May 3, 2002. In Paris on March 20th,
there will also be a presentation as part of the library’s Evenings With A
Writer program called “Alice B. Toklas, In Her Own Voice,” featuring
excerpts from a rare 1952 interview with Toklas.
Items in the exhibition will be from the Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
Collection of San Francisco collector, Hans Gallas. First editions of The
Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, hand-written recipes, original photographs by Carl
Van Vechten, and letters will be displayed. One of the highlights of the
exhibit is a 19th century autograph book once belonging to one of Alice’s
childhood friends in which Toklas wrote a brief inscription. There will also
be a painting commissioned for the event from the artist Tom Hachtman, titled
“In the Memory of Alice B. Toklas”.The exhibit, which is curated by Gallas,
will be arranged around distinct themes including Alice the Cook; Alice the
Muse; Alice the Letter Writer; Alice Alone; and Alice the Legacy. One section
will feature the evolution of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by
Gertrude Stein, from its serialized version to bestseller.
Other events are also planned as part of the celebration. Restaurants in San
Francisco and Paris are being contacted to include menu items from Alice’s
cookbook. Watch gertrudeandalice.com for further details.In the Fall of 2002,
to culminate the Toklas birthday year, a reading of a new one-person play
about Toklas, "Cooking With Alice B," will be presented in the Koret
Auditorium of the San Francisco Public Library. The play is based on an
original idea by Hans Gallas and written by Gallas with Lissa Tyler Renaud.
It is set in a 1950's San Francisco television studio. Toklas has been
invited to prepare some dishes from her now famous cookbook. The role of
Alice is played by Ms. Renaud, an award-winning actress and director. There
are also plans for future readings of the play and a full production.
As the life partner of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas both experienced the
lifelong struggles and celebrity of one of the foremost shapers of 20th
century literature and modern art. She also contributed immeasurably to the
development and recognition of Stein’s work. In her own right, Alice has at
some level come to symbolize the openness, freedom, and creativity born of
the “lost generation” of the ‘20s and perpetuated by the Beats of the ‘50s
and the Hippies of the late ‘60s/early 70s. Rightly or wrongly, much of this
mythology centers around the infamous recipe for her brownies/fudge first
printed in her 1954 cookbook.
The devoted relationship of Alice and Gertrude has come to stand for a key
milestone in gay/lesbian history, with TIME magazine (founder Henry Luce and
his wife Claire Boothe were good friends of Alice and Gertrude) having termed
it one of the great love affairs of the 20th century. 2007 will mark the
100th anniversary of the meeting of Gertrude and Alice. Preliminary plans are
underway to coordinate an international symposium commemorating this
significant event.
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www.gertrudeandalice.com
The primary purpose of gertrudeandalice.com is to provide a site which
recognizes the importance of this almost four-decade long partnership.
Much of what Gertrude Stein accomplished could not have been done without
Alice B. Toklas. Much of what Alice B. Toklas accomplished could not have
been done without Gertrude Stein. Stein has received much deserved
recognition and analysis over the years while Toklas has received some, but
too little of either. Often her claim to fame is couched in the mythology of
the hashish fudge recipe!
It is time for a new word – gertrudeandalice. Its definition- one of the
goals of this web site will be to define it.
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