Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 48495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107 of 1029

How did Liveright attract these people?

I told you he had a great flair. He was a very attractive man. These parties were great fun. People would just drop in. Here was a nucleus. Every day some new people would be there. There'd always be somebody famous. O'Neill would wander in with some of the people from the Provincetown Playhouse. Lewisohn would arrive with a couple of professors from one of the universities.

There must have been a great discussion group going on. I mean it wasn't just small talk.

Well, at night it was the Swopes. Swope was then becoming the great host of New York. Anybody that you'd see on the front page that had arrived from Europe that day was at Swope's that night, from the Prince of Wales up and down. Beatrice liked me. Between Liveright and Beatrice Kaufman, I was accepted. I was the wide-eyed kid--you know, just drinking it all in and loving every minute of it. And you like kids that are enthusiastic and respond with worship.

But an intelligent worship.

Now, Beatrice started asking me to drop in. George Kaufman was writing plays and away, and I would escort Beatrice to the Swopes very often and sit there beaming--I was so happy.