In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

I am getting a huge kick out of the previously unpublished F. Scott Fitzgerald story in the March 20 issue.

[serious crayons]

I am getting a huge kick out of the previously unpublished F. Scott Fitzgerald story in the March 20 issue.

Good to know! I'll read it.

I was really into F. Scott when I was in about 8th or 9th grade. I think I read all of his books at the time. But I haven't read more than a couple of his short stories.

I also really like his essay "The Crackup." I bought another collection of his essays a year or two ago, but didn't get as into it. I think they were purposely curated to counter any negative impressions caused by The Crackup. Hence, they weren't as interesting.

There's a big annual Fitgerald Society conference in St. Paul in June -- only the second time it has been held in his hometown. I may try to go to some of the events.

http://www.fitzgerald2017.org/

[Jeff Wrangler]

I was really into F. Scott when I was in about 8th or 9th grade. I think I read all of his books at the time. But I haven't read more than a couple of his short stories.

Unfortunately I developed an aversion to Fitzgerald that I've never been able to overcome. Or, never made an effort to overcome. My memory is a little vague now, but my mother gave me a copy of The Great Gatsby when I was still an adolescent--I have no idea why she did that, and probably I was too young for it, or to appreciate it, or to understand it--and I just remember really not liking it. I've wondered whether my mother really knew what she was doing when she gave me that book. It never did sound like the sort of thing she would read. But that soured me on Fitzgerald, and so the short story has been a bit of a revelation.

[serious crayons]

Unfortunately I developed an aversion to Fitzgerald that I've never been able to overcome. Or, never made an effort to overcome. My memory is a little vague now, but my mother gave me a copy of The Great Gatsby when I was still an adolescent--I have no idea why she did that, and probably I was too young for it, or to appreciate it, or to understand it--and I just remember really not liking it. I've wondered whether my mother really knew what she was doing when she gave me that book. It never did sound like the sort of thing she would read. But that soured me on Fitzgerald, and so the short story has been a bit of a revelation.

The first thing of his I read was This Side of Paradise. I can't remember why I liked it so much. I was kind of a 1920s buff, I guess.

The Great Gatsby is his classic, of course (though it received petty meh reviews). But my favorite of his was unfinished, posthumously published The Last Tycoon, perhaps because it was a fictionalized portrait of the producer Irving Thalberg, who was another part of my 1920s fixation.

My son, in college in LA, just received something called the Mary Pickford Scholarship. I explained that she was the Jennifer Lawrence of the 19-teens, and founded United Artists with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. I had forgotten (perhaps subconsciously on purpose) about D.W. Griffith's involvement, but my son, though not familiar with Mary, actually knew that part.

[Jeff Wrangler]

My son, in college in LA, just received something called the Mary Pickford Scholarship. I explained that she was the Jennifer Lawrence of the 19-teens, and founded United Artists with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. I had forgotten (perhaps subconsciously on purpose) about D.W. Griffith's involvement, but my son, though not familiar with Mary, actually knew that part.

Yes, you mentioned that somewhere around here.

But it's funny that today you should mention an actress that your son--and probably lots of other people in his generation--knows very little about.

After seeing the road company of The King and I last night, today I was doing some reading on the history of the play. Although it ended up making a star of Yul Brynner, I already knew it was written to be a star vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence. She was a big star in the Forties, but how many people today have even heard of Gertrude Lawrence? (Julie Andrews played her in the movie Star, which was a huge flop.)

[serious crayons]

Yes, you mentioned that somewhere around here.

Did I already? Sorry! Geez, he only got it a few days ago! But I tell the same stories to so many people in so many places -- at work, among my various friends, to my sons, to my ex-husband, on Facebook, on Twitter, here -- that I can never reminder what I've told to whom. I'm constantly in fear of people being too polite to tell me they've already heard it, listening with an uncomfortable frozen smile and thinking, "Yep, the Alzheimer's is kicking in all right."

However, this particular one I don't think I told anywhere else BUT here and to my ex. I figure most people have no idea who Mary Pickford was, but here I know I'm conversing with a more erudite group.

After seeing the road company of The King and I last night, today I was doing some reading on the history of the play. Although it ended up making a star of Yul Brynner, I already knew it was written to be a star vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence. She was a big star in the Forties, but how many people today have even heard of Gertrude Lawrence? (Julie Andrews played her in the movie Star, which was a huge flop.)

The name's familiar but I can't picture a face or anything else. The '40s were never of much interest to me compared to the '20s or even '30s. I know most of my early stars, but I'm lost when it comes to the '40s and even the '50s are pretty vague.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Did I already? Sorry! Geez, he only got it a few days ago! But I tell the same stories to so many people in so many places -- at work, among my various friends, to my sons, to my ex-husband, on Facebook, on Twitter, here -- that I can never reminder what I've told to whom. I'm constantly in fear of people being too polite to tell me they've already heard it, listening with an uncomfortable frozen smile and thinking, "Yep, the Alzheimer's is kicking in all right."

Happens to me, too, all the time.

The name's familiar but I can't picture a face or anything else. The '40s were never of much interest to me compared to the '20s or even '30s. I know most of my early stars, but I'm lost when it comes to the '40s and even the '50s are pretty vague.

I found the Wikipedia article about Gertrude Lawrence to be interesting reading. She was quite a character. Absolutely no sense of money. Apparently she could be quite a diva but without a diva's voice. In the early '40s Danny Kaye was with her in a musical called Lady in the Dark. He had to sing a "patter song," where he named 50 Russian composers in less than a minute. On opening night this number brought the house down, and that terrified him because the next number in the show was Lawrence's big number, and, he said, "Nobody upstages Gertrude Lawrence." He was sure she would demand that the song be cut from the show. Fortunately she was apparently OK with the reaction to his song.

[Front-Ranger]

This discussion about the New Yorker is more interesting than some of the issues I've read over the years!

[serious crayons]

I tell the same stories to so many people in so many places -- at work, among my various friends, to my sons, to my ex-husband, on Facebook, on Twitter, here -- that I can never reminder what I've told to whom. I'm constantly in fear of people being too polite to tell me they've already heard it, listening with an uncomfortable frozen smile and thinking, "Yep, the Alzheimer's is kicking in all right."

Yep, the Alzheimer's is kicking in, all right. I've found myself doing that lately, too -- miswriting words not just by making typos or regular misspellings but by substituting whole different words that are kind of like the word I want to write, and then not noticing either as I do it or after when I'm proofreading it. What's up with that??

[Jeff Wrangler]

Yep, the Alzheimer's is kicking in, all right. I've found myself doing that lately, too -- miswriting words not just by making typos or regular misspellings but by substituting whole different words that are kind of like the word I want to write, and then not noticing either as I do it or after when I'm proofreading it. What's up with that??

I don't know, but--I'm not kidding--the same thing is happening to me. Frequently. 

I've been chalking it up to a combination of two things, normal aging (at least, I hope) and also the effect of so much typing on a computer keyboard. I can type so much faster on a computer keyboard than I ever could on a typewriter, and it appears that I can type faster than I can think. 

But I can't tell you how many times lately I've looked back over something I've just typed (especially here on Bettermost) and noticed words missing from the sentence, or, worse an entirely wrong word. I have noticed, however, that often when I type the wrong word, the wrong word begins with the same letter as the correct word. I don't know if that means anything, but I've noticed it.

There is some comfort in knowing I'm not the only one to whom this is happening. Thank you for having the courage to bring up the subject.