Who Am I? March 2025
I was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey during the second administration of our first U.S. president who served two terms that were non-consecutive. My family kept a summer home there for twenty years and for the first 5 years of my life I returned there to spend summers. My mom was of Scottish descent but my dad was of Prussian-Jewish descent. Dad was well-to-do and had made lots of money in the garment industry. Unfortunately, I lost my mom when I was on the cusp of my 5th birthday and dad died when I was just 20 years old.
My formative years growing up were spent in the Upper West Side where I attended the Convent of the Blessed Sacrament School; however, I returned to New Jersey to attend Miss Dana’s {finishing} School in Morristown where I learned the social graces and the mores of the upper strata of society. I had to conceal my Jewish heritage at Miss Dana’s though I learned my perfect manners there. Years later people assumed I had had a very high education because I came off as very erudite; but, truth be told, my formal schooling ended in my teens.
I got a job at Vogue as an editorial assistant writing picture captions, proofreading, and fact-checking for the princely sum of $10.per week. Later on I was a theater critic for Vanity Fair. I submitted articles to the Ladies Home Journal, the Saturday Evening Post, McCall’s and years later to Esquire and The New Republic. I specialized in poems, short stories, and free verse often delivered with biting wit which sometimes offended powerful people. My lifelong friend, Robert Benchley, and I became part of the Board of Editors of that new periodical, The New Yorker.
After my divorce I kept my first husband’s family name for the rest of my life. I had numerous flings in the 1920’s, one of which was with well-known playwright and screenwriter, Charles MacArthur. That affair led to a pregnancy which I soon regretted and decided to abort. It is reputed that I described the experience by saying, “how like me, to put all my eggs in one bastard…”
Beside Robert Benchley, I developed a lifelong friendship with S.J.Perelman, the American screenwriter and humorist. My second husband was an actor and we went out to Hollywood together where I got freelance jobs writing lyrics, scripts and screen plays for various studios.
I was a political and social activist. I advocated for civil liberties and civil rights. I supported left-wingcauses such as the trials of Sacco and Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Boys, the loyalist anti-Franco movement in Spain and, in total, joined almost 3 dozen such organizations in the 1930’s. I donated generously to those causes and hosted fundraisers. I helped found the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. For my troubles, I was cited, but not subpoenaed, by HUAC for affiliating with “communist-front organizations.” The notorious “Red Channels” publication called me out and my dossier at the F.B.I. led to me being blacklisted from the major movie studios.
Not surprisingly I sometimes suffered from severe depression augmented by alcohol abuse which led to 3 suicide attempts. I wrote ‘Resume’ which captured my thoughts as follows: “Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramps. Guns are lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live.”
You may be familiar with some of my bon mots, caustic comments and aphorisms. A few of them follow:
On drinking – “One more drink and I’ll be
under my host.”
On beauty – “Beauty is only skin deep, but
ugly goes clean to the bone.”
On criticizing another writer – The only “ism”
she believes in is plagiarism.”
If you want to know what God thinks of
money, just look at the people he gave it to.”
“Men seldom make passes/At girls who wear
glasses.”
In one of my theater reviews I remarked – “If
you don’t knit, bring a book.”
I famously observed that “Brevity is the soul
of lingerie.
I left no survivors when I died and I bequeathed my estate to MLK Jr. and later to the NAACP. I was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y. but my burial urn wandered over more than 50 years to several locations. For part of those 50 years my remains were located in an NAAACP memorial garden in Baltimore. I was finally buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx beside my parents and grandparents.
My birthplace down the Jersey shore has been designated a National Literary Landmark by Friends of Libraries USA and a bronze plaque marks the site of my family’s summer home. I was also elected to the New Jersey Hall of Fame. That’s me in the photo below.
(1a)Who Am I? (1b)Who was the U.S. president when I came into the world? (2a) I published several volumes of poetry. Name 1 of them. (2b) I was a member of an informal but esteemed group of writers that lunched together for almost a decade at a Manhattan hotel. What was the name of our group and name 2 other regular attendees. (3) From 1979-2019 the United States Postal Service issued a “Literary Arts Series”. In what series number of the USPS was I honored with a commemoration stamp panel and in what denomination was it issued? (4) I passed away at the Manhattan hotel where I resided. What is the name and address of that hotel? (5a) Who delivered the eulogy at my funeral? (5b) What rabbi said Kaddish for me when I was disinterred in Baltimore? (5c)Finally, what color were my eyes?
