Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 48495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107 of 1029

What did his wife think of this? Did she know--?

She was wise to him. That was what Mary Ellis‘father was furious at him about. He knew Horace's reputation, and he was livid with rage. One day Horace was reading a love letter from a girl--a passionate letter indeed--to all of us, and the door opened and Lucille, his wife, came walking into the room. Horace had a little desk with a shallow drawer at the top. He took the letter, jammed it into the desk and shut the drawer. She sailed in, ignoring us, and said, “This time I caught you red-handed. What was that letter you were reading, a letter from one of your girls, I'll bet.” We sat there terror-stricken. Horace reached his greatest height. In his best Barrymore manner he said, “Lucille, you have insulted me in front of my staff.” I particularly remember that “my staff.” He said, “I demand that you open that drawer and read aloud to my staff the letter you just saw me put in that drawer.” She looked at him for a minute, wilted, and apologized. “I guess I spoke out of turn.” We were absolutely swept by admiration. A performance by a master mountebank!

Did she stay with him?

They finally separated, but that was after I left.

I'll tell a couple more Horace Liveright stories. There was a drug store down at the corner of 48th Street and Sixth Avenue. This is all part of Radio City now. We used to go