goreyphilia
August 31st, 2008 | Uncategorized
When I was growing up in Central PA, my parents had an old Manhattan phone directory sitting around. One day when I was 18 and newly obsessed with Edward Gorey, it occurred to me to look him up in it.
Astonishingly, I found his listing there, just as if he were any ordinary mortal. I tore the page out of the book and have guarded it like a religious relic ever since.* I mention this because on my way back from Provincetown yesterday, I stopped off in Yarmouth Port to see his summer house, which has been turned into a museum.
It was rather a powerful experience to be there. But I didn’t cry (like I did when I visited the Norman Rockwell museum years ago). The people who run the place had set up a Gashlycrumb Tinies scavenger hunt–all around the house you could find evidence of each of the 26 dead children. Like Zillah’s gin bottle.
Here’s the huge cat who lives in the house.
Holly, who didn’t know anything about Edward Gorey before this visit, flustered the docent by asking the obvious question: did Gorey have a partner? The man said no, that no one knew of any romantic attachments, and Gorey seemed quite content with his work and his cats. Holly pressed on, saying “but everyone has work and cats.” But to no avail. I think they were glad when we left.
Here I am out in the yard with the wire sculpture of The Doubtful Guest.
*In an odd coincidence, I just noticed that the listing for the Gotham Book Mart is on the other side of the scrap from the phone book. This was a legendary, real-deal bookstore on 47th St. which closed last year, as real-deal bookstores tend to do. They were a great champion of Edward Gorey, and always had signed copies of his books on display. In the mid-eighties, I worked a block away from the Gotham Book Mart, and spent many a lunch hour lost in its aisles.
46 Responses to “goreyphilia”
Hi Alison,
Excellent! I’m glad you had a chance to go to Gorey House, which I intend to visit at some point.
Starting in my college years I paid many a visit to the Gotham Book Mart and made many a phone call to find out exactly when successive limited signed editions of his little books would be released. Sometimes the release date would be changed because the Fantod Press failed to get the tinting right and the printing would have to done over. (I particularly remember that this was true of ‘CateGorey’.) I just love Edward Gorey’s macabre sense of humour. The little books actually were special and important to me, particularly at that time in my life.
Actually, the Gotham Book Mart moved a few years ago before its demise across town and one block over, to 46th Street. It was a weird and alien location — not many real book lovers came by.
Tell Holly that from what I understand Edward Gorey was quite content with his work, his cats, and until a year or so after the death of George Balanchine, the performances of the New York City Ballet.
What a delightful outing! This confirms my suspicion that your alphabetical book of women was somehow an homage to Gorey. (With less dreadful overtones.) I remember as a child having a similar obsession with Isaac Asimov. I found out that some of my teenaged buddies looked him up in Park Slope, Brooklyn and he entertained them like old friends.
I take it that you will shove a few select volumes into Holly’s hands promptly. I think she’ll like them.
By the way, a number of us reading your blog find it marvelous that we know a real live writer.
I remembered that in “Fun Home” Alison said that she had trouble separating the Addams’ family from her own. So I did some goggling to see if there was perhaps a tour of Charles Addams’ home available. Alas his estate, “The Swamp” is located in the Hamptons and there was no mention of public access.
Ted
As I recall, Gorey told the Advocate in an interview, many eons ago, that he was gay. Quite simply and matter-of-fact. But then apparently he had second thoughts and was never so open about it again. I never heard that he had a partner, though (anachronistic term for the period anyway).
Looking at the phone book above, I see the very poetic Exchange Names that used to be part of phone numbers, such as LExinton2-5269. These began being phased out when I was young: my family’s was WYman2-9227.
When they were young, my nephews looked at my parents’ old rotary phone and had no idea how to use it.
Hey Alison, did you know that I worked at Gotham Book Mart? And I was working there when Gorey died, and the store inherited his books or something like that. That makes me think that he did not, at least at that time, have a partner or someone else who should have been dealing with all that.
I suppose it stands to reason that you’d be a Gorey fan. I fell in love with Gorey’s work when I was 12, when my parents were given a copy of Amphigory for Christmas. I fell in love with your work when I found my first DTWOF volume in the original Border’s Bookstore in Ann Arbor, when I was 19, in the mid-80’s.
I can see a similarity of style. It’s subtle but I see it. Or I imagine I see it.
Anyway, I adore that picture of you with the Doubtful Guest. And I completely understand why you kept that page of the phone book.
My evil overlord cat looks just like the Gorey cat!
Pam, is your evil overlord also the size of a hubbard squash?
I became a raving balletomane for the New York City Ballet a few years before Balanchine died, and at every performance I attended, up in the cheap seats, was Gorey. It was a thrill to see him, like an eminence grise, go up, up, up the aisle, nearly to the top of the house. He designed a logo for NYCB that they no longer use, of the five foot positions, having fifth position’s feet pointed inward toward one another. Perfect.
Alice, no I didn’t know you worked at the Gotham Book Mart! I would tell you this in person but I only have your old work email. Maybe I’ll see if it still works.
October ’96 in the DTWOF calendar always struck me as an hommage to Gorey–especially the fourth stanza: “Bereft, Pru ate nothing/but stale marzipan,/and thrashed about tragically/on the divan.”
I’m too groggy to wax eloquent at the moment, but this post has already fulfilled my recommended daily allowance of awesome 😉
Regarding the telephonic side-discussion: I haven’t though about it in a long time, but I remember our exchange name, when I was a kid, being PIlgrim (74). Poetic indeed 😉
And an excellent mnemonic, both the full word and the initials. I’ve had about over 30 phone numbers over the years (I’ve moved around a lot), and I can barely remember my current one, but I still remember PI2-4641, 30 years.
later.
One more “me too” comment. Last week my five-year old was playing with a toy phone in a dentist’s office. I spent about five minutes trying to explain the whole “rotary phone” concept to him. He’s pretty smart – I think he followed my simplified explanation of the mechanics. But it occurred to me that he has cousins in high school who have never literally “dialed” a phone.
Or tried vainly to adjust a set of “rabbit ears” for better TV reception. Or equated “research” with “library” or “bookshelf.”
In conclusion: I’m getting f*cking old.
…sorry, I’ve got a big round-number birthday coming up. Grump grump grump.
@Bookbird — Wow, what an amazing memory you have!
What I gather about Edward Gorey’s love life (via friends and mentors who were his contemporaries in artsy New York) is that he had brief flings with handsome men, and saved his emotional intimacy and confidences for his longtime friends.
Donna, what I have is a well-read copy of “The Indelible Alison Bechdel”, so I only have to remember what I read twelve months ago, not twelve years!
I’ve always gathered the same, Julia, just from reading Gorey’s work—cf. his pioneering “Curious Sofa” from 1961.
You could have called him .. but it’s probably good that you didn’t. Harlan Ellison once said something about leaving your idols alone because they might turn out to have feet of clay, I wish I had the proper quote here. For the record, he met Gorey and was not disappointed. I read about another cartoonist who did meet Gorey, but they wound up sitting around watching “Baywatch” or something and the visit was a huge bust.
Re: old phone numbers. Ours was ED(gewood)24734,and my parents and then my mom kept the same number for 52 years. There always was a sense of security for me knowing that my parents always could be reached easily. My current one is 233-7324,but fortunately I’ve not transposed it.
Re: rabbit ears. I still have ’em,though a more sophisticated version than in the mid 50s-late 60s. About the only thing I’m conservative about is hanging on to stuff a long time,fixing it if possible,and finally disposing of it as responsibly as possible. Most of my furniture dates from the 1910s to 1930s,I’m typing on my mother’s first and only computer,we replaced our rotary dial phone in the late 90s,etc. Wait,now that’s considered modern–living a sustainable life.
P.S. To all you brilliant women & men: how do you explain to some men why women sometimes want to meet separately from a larger mixed group? I thought we’d finished having those arguments in the 80s,but I guess there are still some that missed all the memos. I want to come off reasonably,as opposed to my first reaction to say: Get a clue! Or alternatively to launch into a spiel on the history of the movements of liberation for women and people of color.
Any ideas?
Extraordinarily well-proportioned strikes me as apropos of Gorey. Seems Louie is so sublimely happy he is about to float. Wonder if that has something to do with what looks like a whip in Sir Englebert’s hand.
Wonderful post with wonderful photos and wonderful comments. Wunnerful, wunnerful!
Feminista–
I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the men in question had indeed missed the memos–by virtue of being too young. Alas, I don’t know how to reach people who didn’t internalize so-called identity politics.
———–
My “Geez, I’m old!” moment came years ago, when I quoted Beatles lyrics to an intern at my workplace and received a stare that conveyed total incomprehension.
The comment by Anonymous on 9/1/08 at 8:40 p.m. was mine. Sorry!
Straight Ally, I had exactly the same “Feeling old” moment when a few years ago I took a dance class with some 14/15 year olds and they’d no idea who the Smiths were. I was stunned silent for 30 seconds. Brits will know this, but the moment you stop watching Top of the Pops, you know you’re no longer, well, in your first flush – basically when you hit 30 you no longer know what’s top of the pop charts!
On topic, if you look at AB’s early work from the Inedible AB, you can really see the influence of Edward Gorey on her drawings of men. I’m ashamed to say I don’t really know much about Gorey except what I’ve read here. Clearly I’m going to have to have a proper look! He reminds me a bit of Gerald Scarfe.
PS Feminista, I visit a message board frequented mostly by gay men in their 20s and remember being shocked at the schoolboy level of misogyny on display and tried my best to counter it. If their comments are anything to go by then you could just tell ’em you were going to talk about vaginas and they’d all run away squealing their best impression of Alicia Silverstone going “ewwww”. *despairs for fellow gay men*. Did the last 30 years not happen? Why don’t the next generation know about it? I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve tried to explain exactly why it’s important to wear a condom!
I wish there were leaflets you could just hand out that said “we hashed this all out in the 80s while your Mum was being inseminated. This is what we agreed. Deal with it and respect it”.
[/rant]
My “Geez I’m old” moment was much more benign. I was at a party and the subject of Star Wars came up. I said that when the first movie came out, I was the perfect age to appreciate it at its fullest. The cute girl next to me said “Oh, I wasn’t even BORN then!”
It was my first exposure to the concept of “Hot girl who’s too young for me.”
In its entry on “asexuality”, Wikipedia lists Gorey as a famous asexual. It quotes him saying, in regard to his sexual orientation, “I’m neither one thing nor the other particularly…I am apparently reasonably undersexed or something.” Hm.
Dr. E, in the course of my work, I deal with many young adults. Just the other week, when looking at the driver’s license of one of them, I said to her, “You were born after Star Wars came out!” She just laughed. It seemed inconceivable to me that here was an adult in front of me, yet…ah well, you know the feeling.
Ian and Straight Ally–Thanks for your comments;Ian,you crack me up! Actually the men in question are hetero Boomers. What surprised me was the man who’s most aware of feminism,and has been in men’s support groups before,also made a snide comment.I responded that he could help start a men’s group,and he acknowledged that was a good idea. And now it appears a few others are interested in a men’s group(all Boomers).The 20 and 30-somethings haven’t responded; most are OK,but some have adolescent(i.e.tasteless and sometimes sexist) senses of humor,which I usually call them on. Wish you were there,Ian, to talk some sense into the Gen X & Y representatives.But on the other hand,nearly all grew up with mothers who worked outside the home,and they know how to cook and take care of themselves.
Tonight some of the women,most in their 20s and 30s & all of us hetero (though there are bi,lesbian,and 1 transwoman in the larger group), met at a coffeehouse,and the above subject came up. We joked that we could talk about our periods,perimenopause (me),yeast infections,etc. if any men decided to come. Then I came here and saw Ian’s similar advice. Great minds,etc. Then we went on to talk about literature,movies,families,life transitions,etc.
Straight ally,thanks for acknowledging your own difficulties. We just have to keep on keepin’on.
Oh, wow. I used to go into that book store. I even bought one of the cheaper Edward Gorey autographed volumes.
I’m glad I made you laugh Feminista, but you give me too much credit – I’ve never yet managed to talk sense into the Gen X/Y people. I come from the early 80s generation of young soul rebels. It’s really disheartening to see young people who have no soul and aren’t rebels. A friend of mine finds it really depressing that in Britain, teenage girls don’t want to be soccer players, they want to be the wives of soccer players.
For the brief period between my initial discovery of Edward Gorey post-graduation from College to his death only a few short years later, I had a total crush on him. It never would have worked out.
Goodness Goddess, I do love this group. It gets me thru the day!
My mom, who is an artist, just went to the Rockwell museum.
She talks about it halfway down on this post.
http://snipurl.com/3mav3
Ian,as frustrated as I get,I’m not giving up. I’m fortunate to come from a progressive,loving though imperfect family,and becoming more politicized in the late 60s and early 70s through the anti-war and women’s liberation movement has informed & shaped my life deeply ever since. Anyone born during the Reagan and Bush I and II eras has had different life experiences,and perhaps more of tendency towards cynicism,but there are hopeful signs all around.
For starters,the Gen X & Y posters here,of course;the Bus Project (voter registration of the above demographic);those influenced by women’s,Black,and Latina/o studies; the LGBT
(XYZ…)communities,the enviro movement,etc.
The way I see it: the younger folks can help me with technology–they grew up with it–and I can provide the historical & socio-political context. And we can laugh and sing a lot,too.
You’re absolutely doing the right thing Feminista. I’m one of the Thatcher generation as well really and have a very different outlook to those politicised in the 60s and 70s. I didn’t get radical politics until the mid-90s!
I’ll be more cheerful once I’ve got over my post-Olympic depression!
We love this place! We went a couple of years ago, and I have a photo of my son in a Spongebob shirt pointing to George smothered under the rug. We also liked seeing the menu of his fav breakfast place. Glad you got to go there!
Was Holly jealous of you getting so lovey dovey with The Doubtful Guest…?
(or do you two have some kind of “understanding” re: cats and garden sculpture?)
At times it would tear out whole chapters from [phone] books,
Or put roomfuls of pictures askew on their hooks.
but my personal favorite is:
It was subject to fits of bewildering wrath,
During which it would hide all the towels from the bath.
I’m so glad you went there!!!! and posted for all to see.
On Sundays, it brooded and lay on the floor
Inconveniently close to the drawing room door.
I now have another destination for my next visit to the Cape — the Gorey Museum! The only problem is that my next visit is likely to be when my wife goes to the medical fiction writers’ conference in October, and she’ll be busy at the conference, but won’t want me to go to the Gorey House without her. We’ll just need to take an extra day, I suppose!
Re Gorey: many years ago I knew someone who worked in one cubicle over from him at a publishing house, in the design department. She said he spent all day calling up his boyfriends.
Josiah!
Someone’s making a movie of the Doubtful Guest! Apparently it’s a metaphor for a child…someone who arrives unexpectedly then hangs around for 18 years.
oddly enough, i also found an old manhattan phonebook when i was a kid and growing up in england. wish i had thought to look for gorey, but my guru at that time was a stand-up comic called woody allen. he was listed like a regular human, and i tore out the page and kept it in my scrapbook for years 🙂
This is the most fascinating blog discussion I’ve seen in ages. I truly love this site.
I gave my daughter The Gashlycrumb Tinies for Christmas 2000 when she when her Goth phase was in full flower. I had no idea the author had such a fascinating life. I really need to get out of the house more. I’m happy to have a new interest to explore. I’m so glad I stopped by to check out the blog action here.
As for his not ever mentioning a partner, perhaps her never wanted one. I have a gay friend who just turned 50 last year and has never been in a relationship in his life. He doesn’t want to be in a relationship and prefers the anonymous encounter and “what the hell, it’s too wet to plow” moments over a settled life. Always has, always will.
Gorey was roommates with poet Frank O’Hara in college. The story was that even then, Gorey was going around campus flamboyantly in his long fur coats. (There must be a better way to Gorey-ize that sentence.)
I always loved that The Doubtful Guest wore converse high tops.
dzieger
I am twenty eight, have dialled plenty of phones, adjusted rabbit ears and did 90% of my university research and 99% of my high school ‘research’ with books and journals pulled off bookshelves in libraries. You can’t be that old.
I have skimmed through and seen some comments about gen x and y. I should reread them when I’m better rested and try to think of some kind of intelligent response. Hope I’m not too apathetic.
the Edward Gorey House is wonderful – did they still have up the framed series of lunch checks from the local diner, every single one of them either tuna sandwich or grilled cheese?
I had a similar experience to Holly – at the end of the tour I asked about possible partners & the docent literally blushed & stammered out the “There’s no evidence of anything!” line & then excused himself – the kid at sitting at the register for the gift shop then said “Well, they say he had a girlfriend in high school” & then smiled slyly & winked – very funny
next time you’re out on the Cape, if you’re near Dennis you should check out the Cape Cinema – it has an utterly stunning mural by Rockwell Kent on the ceiling – also, it has the distinction of being the first cinema to have shown The Wizard of Oz – all in all: very cool