APRIL 30: Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967)
Most well-known for her relationship with Gertrude Stein, one of the most famous muses of the twentieth century, Alice B. Toklas was born on this day in 1877.
Alice Toklas photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1934 (x).
Alice Babette Toklas was born in San Francisco, California in 1877 to an upper-class Jewish family. Her father had been a high-ranking army officer in Poland, and so his position secured Alice a degree status in the elite society of San Francisco. Throughout her adolescence, Alice was an astute student of music and loved to play the piano. She studied music at the University of Washington for a brief time, but her mother’s death in 1897 forced her to return home and take on the role of caregiver for both her father and brother. Alice found her new role as pseudo-mother to be incredibly isolating and she longed for an escape. That escape eventually came in the form of the devastating earthquake that struck San Francisco in 1906; the destruction caused by the earthquake resulted in a social scramble – with so many people’s livelihoods having been ripped out from underneath them, people were leaving the city in droves. Alice decided to join the migration and, along with her lifelong friend Harriet Levy, left San Francisco for Paris in 1907.
It was in Paris where Alice met the woman whose legacy would become forever intertwined with her own, Gertrude Stein. The two met on September 8, 1907 – Alice’s very first day in Paris. Their quick friendship eventually blossomed into a romance and Alice officially moved in with Gertrude in 1910. In the 1920s, Alice and Gertrude’s home became the iconic Stein salon where artists and authors such as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Henri Matisse would gather to discuss their craft with Gertrude. Alice and Gertrude’s nicknames for each other were “Wifey” and “Husband,” and Alice took her role as the “wife” seriously. While Gertrude met with male artists, it was Alice’s job to entertain and socialize with their girlfriends and wives. Throughout Gertrude’s own literary career, Alice served as her secretary, editor, critic, confidante, and most importantly, her muse. In 1933, Gertrude published the best-selling novel of her career titled The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Written by Gertrude in the voice of Alice, the novel follows the story of Alice’s life journey from San Francisco to Paris. Securing both women’s names in literary history, the novel blurred the lines of where Alice’s consciousness ended and Gertrude’s began.
Alice and Gertrude photographed by Carl Van Vechten, smiling on the Terrace at Bilignin, June 13, 1934 (x).
Alice stayed with Gertrude until her death in 1946. Although Gertrude had attempted to leave all of her belongings to Alice, their relationship was not recognized by the law, and thus the Stein family was able to strip Alice from her and Gertrude’s shared fortune. For the last two decades of her life, Alice struggled financially, but she was able to make a stable life for herself by relying on her own writings. She published the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook in 1954, Aromas and Flavors of Past and Present in 1958, and then her memoir of the Lost Generation years, What is Remembered, in 1963. It was in these years when Alice’s own literary skill and culinary talents came to light. Culinary legend James Beard once wrote that, “Alice was one of the really great cooks of all time. She went all over Paris to find the right ingredients for her meals… The secret of her talent was great pains and a remarkable palate.” On March 7, 1967, Alice passed away at the age on 89. She was buried in Père-Lachaise cemetery alongside Gertrude, as she had requested in her will.
-LC
