Speaking of S.N. Behrman, I was thinking of his Portrait of Max as I wrote my biography of Alla Osipenko. Behrman foregrounds his friendship with Max Beerbohm, drama critic and humorist and just highly interesting individual. I don’t quite foreground my interviewer-interviewee relationship with Osipenko, but it’s an important part of the book.
I was also thinking of Mitch Albion’s Tuesdays with Morrie! In the sense of chronicling regular visits to a senior inspiring person. So I had to sign and send the book to David Black, who’s Albion’s agent as well as representing a lot of other top authors. As well as being my nursery-school-playground playmate. David’s the son of Hillel Black, who’s had a long and extraordinary career in publishing, and he and my Dad were college friends. And we were also, as very young tykes, neighbors in Jackson Heights, Queens. Still looking for that picture of us in crepe-paper capes in the playground. . .
Didn’t know that Hilly had just died last February. Donations in his memory may be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center–that tells you something.