"Before I decided to write this book about my twenty-five years with Gertrude
Stein, I had often said that I would write, The wives of geniuses I have
sat with. I have sat with so many. I have sat with wives who were not
wives, of geniuses who were not real geniuses. I have sat with real wives
of geniuses who were not real geniuses. I have sat with wives of geniuses,
of near geniuses, of would be geniuses. In short I have sat very often and
very long with many wives and wives of many geniuses."
From The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1932)
Alice B. Toklas was the friend, admirer, typist, sounding-board, helpmate,
lifelong companion and eventual publisher of Gertrude Stein. When no
publishing house would print Gertrude's work, she set up a press, Plain
Editions, to do just that.
Alice was a sharp advisor. She often tried to convince Gertrude to write her memoirs in a popular style so the two of them could cash in on Gertrude's fame. Gertrude was resistant but finally agreed when she was pushing 60 -- she decided, however, to call it The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas and to write it as if she were Alice B. Toklas.
It was she who spotted the famous Gertrude
Stein soundbite:
in one of Gertrude Stein's
manuscripts and insisted on using it as a logo on their stationery, tablecloths and anywhere else that Gertrude would allow.
