Alice B. Toklas | |
|---|---|
 Toklas, photographed byCarl Van Vechten, 1949 | |
| Born | Alice Babette Toklas (1877-04-30)April 30, 1877 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Died | March 7, 1967(1967-03-07) (aged 89) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery[1] |
| Education | University of Washington |
| Occupation | Avant-garde |
| Partner | Gertrude Stein (1907–1946) |
Alice Babette Toklas (April 30, 1877 – March 7, 1967) was an American-born member of theParisian avant-garde of the early 20th century, and thelife partner of American writerGertrude Stein.
Alice B. Toklas was born inSan Francisco into a middle-classPolish Jewish family.[2] Her paternal grandfather was a rabbi,[3] whose son Feivel (usually known as Ferdinand) Toklas moved to San Francisco in 1863. In 1876, Ferdinand Toklas married Emma (Emelia) Levinsky and they had two children: Alice and her brother Clarence Ferdinand (1887–1924).
In 1890, the Toklas family moved toSeattle, where her father was one half of Toklas, Singerman and Company, the city's leadingdry goods store.
Toklas was educated in local schools, which included the Mount Rainier Seminary, and attended theUniversity of Washington where she studied piano.
When her mother became ill, the family moved back to San Francisco. Her mother died in 1897, aged 41.
Five months after the devastating1906 San Francisco earthquake, Toklas left the city and moved toParis. On September 8, 1907, the day after she arrived in Paris, she met Gertrude Stein. This marked the beginning of a relationship which lasted for nearly four decades, ending in 1946 with Stein's death.
Together they hosted asalon in the home they shared at27 rue de Fleurus that attracted expatriate American writers, such asErnest Hemingway,F. Scott Fitzgerald,Paul Bowles,Thornton Wilder, andSherwood Anderson as well asavant-garde painters, includingPicasso,Matisse, andBraque.
Acting as Stein's confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic, and general organizer, Toklas remained a background figure, chiefly living in the shadow of Stein, until the publication by Stein of Toklas' "memoirs" in 1933 under the teasing titleThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. It became Stein's best-selling book.[4]
Toklas and Stein drove ambulances in World War I after learning from Parisian taxi drivers.[5]
When World War II broke out in 1939, Stein and Toklas were at their country home, Bilignin, near the Swiss border. Stein and Toklas likely avoided being sent to concentration camps by their obscurity, American citizenship, and the goodness of their neighbors that protected them.[6]
W. G. Rogers wrote in his memoir of the couple, published in 1946, that Toklas "was a little stooped, somewhat retiring and self-effacing. She doesn't sit in a chair, she hides in it; she doesn't look at you, but up at you; she is always standing just half a step outside the circle. She gives the appearance, in short, not of a drudge, but of a poor relation, someone invited to the wedding but not to the wedding feast."[7]James Merrill wrote that before meeting Toklas "one knew about the tiny stature, the sandals, the mustache, the eyes," but he had not anticipated "the enchantment of her speaking voice—like a viola at dusk."[8]
Toklas and Stein remained a couple until Stein's death in 1946.[9]
Although Gertrude Stein willed much of her estate to Toklas, including their shared art collection (some of itPicassos) housed in their apartment at 5 rue Christine, the couple's relationship had no legal recognition. As many of the paintings appreciated greatly in value, Stein's relatives took action to claim them, eventually removing them from Toklas's residence and placing them in a bank vault while she was away on vacation. Toklas then relied on contributions from friends as well as her writing to make a living.[10]
In 1954, Toklas publishedThe Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, a book that mixes reminiscences and recipes. The most famous recipe, contributed by her friendBrion Gysin, is for "Haschich Fudge", a mixture of fruit, nuts, spices, and "canibus sativa" [sic] or marijuana. The "Haschich Fudge" recipe appeared in the British edition of the book, but it was left out of the first United States edition published byHarper & Brothers. It was included in the second American edition and became popular within the1960s counterculture movement. She and the recipe were referenced in the 1968 film,I Love You, Alice B. Toklas, starringPeter Sellers,[11] as well as the 1969Bewitched episode, "Tabitha's Weekend". When Tabitha asked if Endora could have a cookie, Endora asked Phyllis Stephens (Tabitha's other grandmother), "They wouldn't by chance be from an Alice B. Toklas recipe?"[12] The cookbook has been translated into numerous languages.
A second cookbook followed in 1958,Aromas and Flavors of Past and Present. However, Toklas did not approve of it, as it was heavily annotated byPoppy Cannon, an editor atHouse Beautiful magazine. Toklas also wrote articles for several magazines and newspapers, includingThe New Republic andThe New York Times.[citation needed]
In 1963, Toklas published her autobiographyWhat Is Remembered, which ends abruptly with the death of Stein.[13]
Toklas's later years were very difficult because of poor health and financial problems. She converted to theCatholic Church in 1957.[14][15] She died in poverty at the age of 89, and is buried next to Stein inPère Lachaise Cemetery,Paris,France;[16] her name is engraved on the back of Stein's headstone.[17]
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas is a 1968 film starring Peter Sellers that references Toklas's cannabis brownies, which play a significant role in the plot.[11]Marianne's Ice Cream inSanta Cruz, California, created an ice cream flavor called "Alice B. Toklas' Fudge Brownie" in honor of the brownies in Sellers' film.[18]
TheAlice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club is a political organization founded in San Francisco in 1971.
Samuel Steward, who met Toklas and Stein in the 1930s, editedDear Sammy: Letters from Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas (1977), and also wrote two mystery novels featuring Stein and Toklas as characters:Murder Is Murder Is Murder (1985) andThe Caravaggio Shawl (1989).
In the 1980s,Jacquie Phelan, a mountain bike racer and founder of the first all-women's mountain biking club, raced under the pseudonym "Alice B. Toe Clips" in reference to Toklas.[19]
TheSan Francisco Board of Supervisors voted in 1998 to rename a block of Myrtle Street between Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco as Alice B. Toklas Place, since Toklas was born one block away on O'Farrell Street.[20][21]
Toklas has been portrayed on-screen byWilfrid Brambell in the 1978 Swedish filmThe Adventures of Picasso, byLinda Hunt in the 1987 filmWaiting for the Moon;[22] byAlice Dvoráková in the 1993 television seriesThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles;[23] and byThérèse Bourou-Rubinsztein in the 2011 filmMidnight in Paris.[24]
In 2020, artistMaira Kalman, along with her son Alex Kalman, created and published a short film adaptation ofThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas called "My Name is Alice B. Toklas."[25]
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