Decca, p.10
Decca, page 10
Very Best Love, Yr MAN
To Esmond Romilly
Seven Springs Farm, Mount Kisco, N.Y. “Friday night in luxurious Meyer bedroom”
July 26, 1940
Darlingest Cn,
I got your telegram late last night. You must be awfully pleased everything is settled, yr. Man was so sorry to hear what a dull time you were having—the description of your average day made it all but sob. I’m dying to hear from you about your plans, how long the training will take etc & most of all when I’ll be able to see you again, of course I know it won’t be for ages. … I couldn’t help being a bit sad it meant I couldn’t come up & see you now, but as everything is fixed I’m going to start looking for a job right away which I’m looking forward to. I’ve completely stopped being sick by the way, & feel terrifically well. Staying chez Durr has been wonderful, it’s such a free & easy household & Virginia has been awfully nice. Of course I’m going back there when the weekend is over.
I’ve more or less promised Virginia to stay there while she & Cliff go for their hol, which they are going to do next week. The idea is that I should “run the house” (which actually means nothing as it is full of large, competent Blacks running it already) & be company for her old mother. The only drawback is the old mother who is a bit mad & a terrible bore, very querulous & complainy & half ill… but the form is to take absolutely no notice of her & just go one’s own way.
It so happened that this afternoon at 4 pm the Slipper might have been seen boarding the plane in Washington in the company of an elderly gentleman who proved to be Mr E. Meyer & holding a return plane ticket (paid for of course). At N.Y. (which was reached in 1 ¼ hours) we were met by a chauffeur & Mrs Meyer & drove down to Mt Kisco. Guinea hen in orange sauce for dinner. The Meyers are in very good pro-one form & I can see will be colossally useful. You were a good boot to save them up for me, in fact the usual shrewd farseeing Boot. They both talked about you a lot as everyone does, the old Bird certainly left its mark in Washington society. No one else is here yet, just me & the Meyers which is very pleasant. It seems amazing to scram slap out of the cozy New Dealish atmosphere I’ve been in into the middle of the Willkyites.10 I must say Mr Meyer is far more innaresting than most of Virginia’s friends, like the Blacks11 etc. We went out to dinner last night with one of Cliff’s relations & the Blacks were there, & everyone was ribbing me about going to stay with the Meyers so I couldn’t help saying that I knew which side my bread was buttered, by way of ticking off the Justice about the letter. Everyone roared, they weren’t at all offended…. You note from all this I’m having a wonderful time in Wash, I think I shall definitely get a job there rather than N.Y. (The Straights are back too, by the way.)
I’m so longing to hear from you & know where you’ll be staying & everything….
I wish the Man12
To Esmond Romilly
Seven Springs Farm, Mount Kisco, N.Y.
July 29, 1940
Darling Cn,
This is my last day of the incredible luxury of Meyerism—I’m taking the plane back to Wash. this afternoon. I’ve enjoyed the wknd enormously & must tell you all about it. Sat morning the Man woke about 9:30 & without bothering to open its eyes reached out & pressed the button M (for Maid). When the M arrived I directed her to press my dress, clean my white shoes & serve breakfast. Shortly the Man was served with ice-cold California orange juice, 1 strictly fresh egg, 4 strips young prime bacon, steaming coffee (special brew) with thick sweet country cream, & jumbo raspberries. It then lay back relaxing among the pillows while its bath was running. I’m sleeping in Elisabeth’s13 bedroom which means I’m able to economize by using her Odorono, cleansing tissues etc. The whole of Saturday till tea time there were just me & the Meyers here. The Meyers are rather sweet when by themselves, they slop around the house in bedroom slippers & call each other Pa & Ma, or Ag & Eug.14 It was considered a terrific joke about me staying with the Durrs, apparently the Wash. Post conducted the chief press campaign against Mr. Black about him being in the Klan.15 Mr. Meyer says he’s going to call on me one day at the Durrs to note the form there, I hope he won’t as they would be simply furious. Virulent anti New Deal talk continued throughout the day. At tea time Dr & Mrs Gallup (poll) arrived, also Count René de Chambrun, a French man of the greasy type who is Laval’s16 son-in-law & seems to be here in the capacity of propagandist for the Pétain17 régime, and M & Mme André Maurois18 of the old world courtly littérateur types. Gallup, who the Meyers told me was the most entirely objective & scientific person they knew, turned out to be a rabid Republican. The New Dealers say that he’s sold out to Willkie for a huge sum & that his polls from now on will show a steady Republican rise, of which fact I didn’t bother to inform him. Actually he’s extremely nice & interesting. I told him about the J.W.T. mkt rschers19 & how we used to fill in the forms in cafés half the time, but he claims to have an absolutely water tight method of checking on his investigators….
The talk was all about France & how the defeat was entirely due to the fact that the Front Populaire govt. had given all the army equipment to the Reds in Spain. Even the Meyers seemed to think that a bit far fetched.
Next day (Sunday) the Westbrook Peglers20 came over to lunch. Pegler talks just like his column, almost spitting with fury about the AFL,21 New Deal etc. I was sitting next to him, & said I’d been so interested to read his exposé of the Bartenders’ Union racket in Miami. He said “Oh were you down there this winter?”; So I said “Yes, & my husband was a bartender there.” He looked terribly taken aback & everyone simply roared. When I asked him for details, which bars were in the Union etc he couldn’t name a single one. After much thought he said he believed the Empire Bar was. So I said we had known the bartender there very well & he’d never even heard of the Union which was rather a tease. The whole thing was v. funny.&
Well I must scram now. I’m writing this in my nightie before getting up & it’s already 12:30. As soon as I get to Wash. I’m going to investigate the possibilities of a few jobs, Mrs Meyer is being very nice & helpful, & I’m longing to start….
Goodbye you darling old Bird, I am so fond of you.
Very Best Love From Your Slipper
To Esmond Romilly
Alexandria
July 31, 1940
Darlingest Cn,
I was so delighted & pleased to hear all your news, & the news that you would get some leave from time to time made the Man simply hop & skip with pleasure, it really is wonderful & so swell to have something like that to look forward to. The best of all was to hear everything is interesting & the old Boot really seems to be a happy old thinger, your letter from Ottawa describing days in the park spent examining yr. athlete’s foot made me feel it was awful for me to be Durring & Meyering in such comfort. I could hardly believe there’d be a letter for me today as you’d written so much already, but I scrammed out at crack of dawn in my dressing gown to the mail box (it’s across the street & quite a walk but I never wait to dress before going) & sure enough there was a Bird’s mess. I’ll say I was pleased. …
Now to tell my slews or Slipper’s news. I spent Monday coming back by plane with Meyer, he showed me the letter you wrote & has really taken the bit about keeping I/10th eye on me seriously as you will see when I tell you what happened (I mean next day). He had a huge box of flowers the size of a small coffin packed for me to take to Virginia as a sort of joke because of the Durrs being so anti the Meyers….
Virginia quite saw the joke of Meyer’s flowers but Cliff attacked me terrifically about staying there & said he thought it most unprincipled of me because they are such vile people & were so awful about Justice Black. Apparently Cliff hates the Meyers worse than anyone he knows.
Virginia told me she’d had lots of phone calls from someone who wanted to give me a job—they’d seen a picture of me in the Post (it appeared Saturday), I’ve sent you the original under separate cover, with an article saying I was looking for a job (I won’t bother to send the article as it’s v. boring & I want it for the scrapbook). I was quite excited & called back & made an appointment the next day (yesterday). I also had to go to Garfinkel’s store with a note from Mrs. Meyer. Virginia & I went in to lunch with Kathryn Lewis22 & Alinsky,23 the man we met in Chi who runs the Back of the Yards Council, which was quite innaresting, & then I scrammed off to see Miss Lilian Rose, the lade who’d phoned. The place turned out to be a v. expensive dress shop called Erlebachers with clothes up to $200 & furs up to $5,000 & I could see the idea was to bring the Man in to give it tone. Miss Rose & Mr Finklebaum (the boss) were too fascinating, she was an awful short lade dressed in black lace with a horrid intimate, pushing sort of smile & he was the getting down to business type who keeps saying “Frankly, Mrs Romilly,” & “Now; what d’yer want to do? what’s yer experience.” However they were quite nice & offered me a job there to start when I liked. When I said what would the salary be he said that Frankly Mrs Romilly a few dollars more or less made no difference in a high class store of that type & that if I liked the place & did well I could be sure they would pay well. So I said I’d tell them in a few days & went to Garfinkels. Things there were much more natural with a terrific form to fill out (colour of hair, mother’s maiden name etc) & no results.
So then I went to the “Post” offices as I’d told Meyer I’d let him know how I made out. When I told him about Miss Lilian Rose & Mr Finklebaum, Mr Meyer produced your letter to him & said he felt responsible for getting me something really good, & that he would get his advertising manager to check all the stores & find out where I’d be best treated & they wouldn’t embarrass me by commercialising on publicity etc; so to cut a long story short he sent for the man, a Mr Barnard,24 & more or less said “See that Mrs Romilly gets a first rate job in pleasant surroundings & don’t fail to do it.” Such power almost overwhelms one!! So tomorrow I’m going to lunch with Mr Barnard & the fashion editress & various important heads of stores, & I really think I might get something wonderful. All this, in fact all the pleasant things that are happening, are entirely & solely due to you & your clever old Bird’s planning, you really are a marvel & you certainly have done well by your man….
All the New Dealers are very depressed about the election & the others are rubbing their hands & chortling over it, & one definitely has the feeling that Roosevelt’s star is setting & Willkie’s rising. I’m reading Roosevelt’s speeches in 5 vols & have got to where he’s governor of N.Y.; in those speeches one can absolutely see he & his ideas were on the way up, just as Willkie seems to be now. Democrats are deserting by the hundreds every day & going over to Willkie.
I must stop now you old Boot tho I could go on writing for ages, I feel almost as though I were chatting to my old Thinger when I write to it. I do wish my letters were funny & interesting like yours.
Goodbye my darling, please have a nice time because that’s the one thing I think about.
All my love, Yr Slipper
P.S. Bulletin on Stomach.25 When I was in Erlebacher’s they asked me to walk round as they might want me to model too!! That proves it can’t be too bad yet….
To Esmond Romilly
Alexandria
ca. August 2, 1940
My Darling Bird,
… It so happens that yesterday the Man landed a job paying $30 a week, & is to start on the 19th August!!!!! Also that a $5 raise is almost inevitable after a few months, except I probably shan’t still be of a size & shape to be working by the time the raise is due. I went to lunch with Mr Bernard, the man I told you about, & there was Mr Weinberger, the head of a terrifically expensive dress shop, who had flown up from Tennessee specially to see the Slipper about the job. The frightful thing was I was exactly 1 hour late for lunch, because I called a taxi to take me to the bus stop & it simply never arrived tho I kept on ringing up but they couldn’t find the way for a whole hour. However it evidently didn’t matter as the whole pnt was to give the Weinbergers the idea that I didn’t specially mind if I took the job or not. First there was some talk of putting in the advts that I was working for them which I absolutely refused to do, so they dropped that & now I’m just going to work there anyway. The shop is fairly small, selling clothes from about $80 to $700 & my salary of $30 is a drawing-account against 5% commission, but I get it anyway for 3 months. I really am terrifically pleased as it won’t be at all hard work, I mean not in the sense that Bloomingdale’s or any large store would be, & there certainly isn’t any snag or disagreeable thing connected with it (like being expected to make one’s friends buy) because I explained to Mr Bernard all the things I wanted to avoid in that way, & he arranged the whole job. Of course the whole thing is entirely due to you for Meyering so successfully.
I’m going to stay on here as a P.G.26
We have a very social time here as you note, we go somewhere to lunch or dinner almost every day & people come in here every evening.
I am absolutely established here which is terrifically nice—also entirely due to the Boot….
I’m absolutely living for the time when I can see my darling old Thinger again, I do think about you so much & long for you….
Very Best Love Darling, Yr Small Person
To Esmond Romilly
Alexandria
ca. August 11, 1940
Dearest Cn,
It was nice ringing you up this morning & chatting….
This morning Katharine Meyer (now Graham) & her husband27 came over by car to drive me to the Meyer Residence on Crescent Ave for lunch. The Meyer Res is just as sumptuous & wonderful as Mt Kisco, with a drive-in front door like an embassy & pillars & a huge garden at the back. Also at lunch were 2 lawyer New Dealers called Butch & Trench or some such names, they all knew you & said how you were the life and soul of their Xmas party & how extraorder you were to hitchhike there etc. I liked Phil Graham v. much, also Katharine is far nicer than when we met her before & also far prettier. The lunch was very gay as none of the older Meyers were there & everyone was saying how the Grahams were a wonderful example of love in a cottage etc…. Then we came back here & Virginia’s boy friend Undersecretary of the Interior Alvin Wirtz was here—he’s the one who got us to be delegates at the convention, & Virginia was terribly flattered by him & seemed on the way to be having an affair with him. They are all frightfully depressed about the political situation & say that Roosevelt is ruining his own chances by letting Republicans into the administration & cabinet etc.
Hugo & Josephine (Black) came over after & we had some cold mutton in the kitchen for supper & they said that practically all the rich people in Alabama (where they’ve just been) are bolting & going to vote for Willkie, a thing never before known in the South….
Well you old Boot it’s getting late so I’ll go to bed, everyone else went hours ago & I stayed to write to you. Goodbye you Darling & be a Writer & Phoners Bird.
Yr Very Loving Slipper
To Esmond Romilly
Alexandria
ca. September 1, 1940
Darling Cn,
…Well last week things really began to cook up and even whistle slightly. Virginia came in to try on her dress & brought Mrs. A. Wirtz with her. Mrs. Wirtz had refused to come in before as she said she knew we hadn’t any dresses under $60. So I brought in all of the cheaper ones—$25 to $35 & she had just about decided to buy a $29.50 dress when the Man streaked out & came back with one for $98.50. Mrs. Wirtz thought it was wonderful & tried it on, & I skillfully removed all the others including the $29.50 one when Virginia in her helpful way said loudly “Well why don’t you try on the cheap one again before you decide, honey?”; I walked over to Virginia saying “somebody is using it now,” & gave her a terrifically hard pinch, so she finally caught on. By this time I had also got in a $25 hat which Mrs. Wirtz said she would buy anyway; & that she would phone about keeping the dress in the morning.
I was on tenterhooks all day, & in the evening she & Alvin came round to see us. Mrs. Wirtz whispered to me “I think I’m going to buy the dress,” & I was so excited that as soon as I got a chance I told Virginia. Virginia immediatelypiped up & said to Alvin “Oh Kitty-Mae has bought the most beautiful dress from Decca, it’s a black one you’ll adore it!” Alvin looked v. annoyed & said Kitty-Mae didn’t need any new dresses & that anyway he hated black & Kitty-Mae said she hadn’t bought it & wasn’t going to & I felt desperate & this time I burned Virginia with my cigarette stub, you must admit it was maddening of her.
However next day to my great surprise & joy Kitty-Mae did ring up & say she would take the dress and the hat!! I was terribly pleased & Miss Wein berger was v. nice & altogether since then I’ve felt 100% more firmly established there. Another good thing is that Iwa, the black maid, is ill so I do all the stock work now & don’t spend so much time standing indecisively around wondering if it would be alright to smoke a cigarette or settle down with the Wash. Post. … Miss Wain has turned out to be too awful, a real elderly business lade type, ghastly snob & sucker up etc. Mr. Gilchrist is awfully nice & likes me much more than Miss Wain on acct. of me giving the place tone; the other day he told me a customer had said the place had really needed a lady in it like me. Also Miss Weinberger says she hopes her child will grow up to speak nicely, & exactly like I do; I refrained from pointing out that that is extremely unlikely.28
