Chapter sixteen: Balkan fatalism

“I’ve had and still have problems”: ST to AB, April 28, 1954, SSF.

Just for fun, they were among: Certificate from New York Airways, n.d., YCAL, Box 8, “Correspondence 1954.”

“too much stuff in it”: ST, datebook entries, March–May 1954, YCAL, Box 3.

He expressed his interest: From the catalogue of part of ST’s personal library, SSF. The books are now in possession of Anton von Dalen.

After every trip, his postcard collection: The Long Island duck graced the New Yorker cover for the issue of May 11, 1987.

“Whoever wants to know”: Jacques Barzun, God’s Country and Mine: A Declaration of Love Spiced with a Few Harsh Words of Reality (Boston: Little, Brown,1954), p. 159. ST owned and read The Baseball Encyclopedia, 8th ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1990).

“It just confirmed my suspicions”: Leo Steinberg, remarks made at ST’s memorial service, “Remembering Saul, November 1, 1999,” SSF.

The first thing he did: Information that follows is from HS, interviews, 2007.

The players were intrigued: Some of the drawings appear in The Passport (1954), others in The Labyrinth (1960).

“an incredible individual spirit”: Karen van Lengen, interview, November 4, 2007.

His pitcher stares down: Billy Wilder wanted to buy all “the baseball items,” but ST would not sell them. BW to ST, October 6, 1955, YCAL, Box 7, “Correspondence 1954–55.”

“an allegorical play”: ST, “Chronology,” WMAA, p. 240.

This summer he needed to work: Lease for the house of J. Stanton Robbins, Wamphassuc Point, Stonington, Connecticut, from June 3 to July 22, 1954, YCAL, Box 8, “Correspondence, 1954.”

Hedda set up her studio and painted: The Concert was first performed in 1956 by the New York City Ballet, revised in 1958 for the Spoleto Festival, and revived by the NYC Ballet in 1971.

“What the hell”: E. Hawley Truax wrote to ST on March 29, 1956, YCAL, Box 7, to tell him about Kenneth Bird, an artist who drew for Punch and was then working on a book about the development of humor. Bird wrote about “pictorial puns—the confusion of one shape with another instead of one word with another. Just as one word may be identical with another but for a trifling variation in one syllable, so the outline of a flowerpot may be identical with that of a head, except that the former tends to turn out at the top instead of in. And just as a verbal pun depends on the aptness of the substitution, so does the pictorial pun, which is, of course, in essence literary rather than pictorial—and that is, probably, why it appeals to ST.”

“Our March 20 cover”: YCAL, Box 8, “Correspondence 1954.”

A nine-year-old from Brooklyn: Jeddu Keil to ST, YCAL, Box 8, “Correspondence 1954.”

Many kept his lawyer busy: Examples that follow are in YCAL, Box 8, “Correspondence 1954.”

“slightly more consideration”: Letter from Harvey M. Smith of Patterson Fabrics, April 27, 1954, YCAL, Box 8, “Correspondence 1954.” The German firm Rasch & Co. Tapetenfabrik wanted to reproduce his designs for a mass market because “there are no wealthy people in Germany but there is a big demand for modern products.” Letter to ST, December 21, 1954, YCAL, Box 7, “Correspondence 1954–55.”

For a variety of reasons: Telegram, January 18, 1954, YCAL, Box 8, Folder 1954.

It was a shock to everyone: Arnold Saint-Subber to ST, March 11, 1954; telegram from Saint-Subber, July 8, 1954; YCAL, Box 8, “Correspondence 1954.” YCAL, Box 62, contains an article from the New York Times, “Stiff Tests Start for Stage Design: Union Conducts 3-Day Exams for 72 Would-Be Members Expected to Know 26 Plays,” June 5, 1954, which states that ST was assigned “The Palace Scene” in King Lear, for which he was to create a “Romanesque period.” It quotes him as being “glum about his luck” and saying, “Why couldn’t I have gotten something Turkish, or Egyptian?”

Nor was he mollified: NSMP to ST, April 24, 1954.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer asked permission: William D. Kelley, MGM Production Department, December 6, 1954, YCAL, Box 8.

As Steinberg was striving to earn money: All of these requests are in YCAL, Boxes 7 and 8, correspondence folders from 1954 to1955.

There were also requests from individuals: Kay Halle, a colleague from ST’s OSS days, n.d., YCAL, Box 8.

“He thought this country”: HS, interview, 2007.

The list of people he had to see: Datebook for 1954, YCAL, Box 3.

“very sick”: ST to HS, n.d. but internal evidence suggests August 22–23, 1954, AAA.

For the next several days, he had to force himself: I have relied on the sources named in S:I, p. 239, notes 89, 90, 91.

“three incredible boys”: ST to HS, n.d. but internal evidence suggests between August 29 and September 3, 1954, AAA.

On August 29 the partners in BBPR: ST to HS, August 29, 1954, AAA.

Most of the guests were: ST to HS, September 3, 1954, Nice, AAA.

“It was ok”: ST to HS, August 29, 1954, AAA. The film was Elementary School.

He said he planned to see no one: From the generally undated letters in YCAL, envelopes postmarked in the early 1950s bear Ada’s married name, Ongari, and the address Viale Misurate 61, Milano.

For the past several years: In a letter of May 9, 1952, she berates him because she spent the evening waiting for his phone call, which never came. She complains that he is not being honest with her, nor is he taking her seriously.

There had been three previous postwar encounters: Ada to ST, April 5, 1955.

She arranged for them to meet: She was living at Viale Misurata 61 and receiving letters from him at her friend’s postal box in her maiden name, A. Cassola. Ada to ST, Milano, May 5, 1952, YCAL, Box 7, Folder 8.

When Ada wrote, it was usually to tell him: I cite all the correspondence between ST and HS, YCAL and AAA, and ST & Ada, YCAL, Boxes 7 and 8, dating from 1952 to 1955, and in particular Ada’s letter of April 5, 1955, YCAL Box 7, Folder 8.

First she told him: Ada to ST, Roma, December 11, 1954, YCAL, Box 8.

As soon as she told him she was a teacher: Senza Rete was a variety theater show directed by Carlo Alberto Chiesa and Vito Molinari. There is evidence that it was televised on October 31, 1954, on RAI. The writers were Alberto Bonucci, Paolo Panelli, and Zuffi, all of whom knew Steinberg.

She was still angry: Lica Roman to ST, January 6, 1952, Romanian letters, YCAL, Box 56.

As far as Rosa was concerned: Rosa Steinberg to ST, August 5, 1952, Romanian letters, YCAL, Box 56.

Rosa was crafty enough: Rosa Steinberg to HS, November 16, 1952, Romanian letters, YCAL, Box 56.

“a striped suit”: ST to HS, Sunday, September 19, 1954, Connaught Hotel, London, AAA.

Everything became formulaic: Ibid.

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