HEMINGWAY’S IPOD

Josephine BakerI love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?    Ernest Hemingway

Sinatra
Sinatra

http://8tracks.com/certain_songs/ernest-hemingway-s-ipod

The above cite purports to know what should/would be on Hem’s ipod.  Hmm, being a skeptic, I have to ask, “How do they know?”  Still we can speculate.

I see Hem listening to Sinatra.  I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s so 30’s and 40’s elegant. Hemingway called Josephine Baker, the African-American entertainer who emigrated to France around the same time as Hemingway was there,  “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.”

the elegant Ms. Baker
the elegant Ms. Baker

Hem claims he met Josephine Baker in Paris at the best jazz club ever called Le Jockey and that she was there one night:  “tall, coffee skin, ebony eyes, legs of paradise, a smile to end all smiles.  Very hot night but she was wearing a coat of black fur. She turned her eyes on me and I cut in.  Everything under that fur communicated with me.  I introduced myself and asked her name.  “Josephine Baker,” she said.  We danced nonstop for the rest of the night. She never took off her fur coat.  Wasn’t until the joint closed she told me she had nothing on underneath.” (Papa Hemingway, A.E. Hotchner)

Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker

So I think we can presume that there is some great jazz on his ipod. I’ve seen photos of Papa dancing with Martha so he did enjoy music and dancing, it seems. That was the early 40’s.

In The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Harry references a 1933 Cole Porter tune called “It’s Bad for Me”. I have to think that if he referenced it, he was familiar with Cole Porter’s music and he admired it.  In Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris,Cole Porter is present at one of the impromptu parties all of which suggests that Cole Porter and Hem crossed paths in a good way in Paris and maybe in NY, although Hem didn’t love NY.Cole Porter

From Hem’s love of Cuba, I see a love of the Spanish blend with Jazz.  So what do you think is on Hem’s ipod?  some cat songs? Speaking of which I’m in the middle of reading Hemingway’s Cats.  Loving it, honestly.  There is also mention of his dogs. I’ll post on this subject some other day.

Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana

We know that Hemingway’s mother had him playing the cello–badly if he is to be believed–and I’m sure chamber music was  prevalent in the Hemingway household of his youth. Perhaps, in light of Hem’s dislike of his mother, he never listened to classical music after he left the family womb.

A little Norah Jones?
A little Norah Jones?

I just read a great article in The Paris Review describing Hem’s work room in Cuba.  He stood up to write most of the time, with Black Dog sleeping at his feet for as long as it took. I believe the standing up thing was due to his bad back from the crazy plane crashes he was in.  The article describes the room in great detail down to the book cases, the desk, the shutters but no mention is made of a radio or a phonograph.  I can only conclude that Hem wrote with no accompaniement.  Actually, I just read that although he built himself that studio at the Finca (as part of the cat house) to write (the cats occupied the second floor, his studio was on the third floor), in actuality, he reverted to writing in the house.  He missed the animals and was more comfortable there.

Hem’s great pal, A.E.Hotchner, recalls Hem liking music but does not recall him going to concerts or music events. “He did not like theater, opera or ballet, and although he liked to listen to music he rarely, to my knowledge, attended a concert or any other musicial presentation, longhair or jazz.” A.E. Hotchner Papa Hemingway Page. 28.
Still he frequented many a jazz bar with Hem in Cuba.

My life falls apart when I'm awake!
My life falls apart when I’m awake!

Hem liked cigars, women, booze, and pals.  He was a great raconteur. I have to think that music went with it all. I see his ipod being loaded with Sinatra, Santana (if he were around then), Cole Porter, Ella Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, and Duke Ellington. What do you think?  He might even go for a bit of Tim McGraw while out in Ketchum.  Then again, I sure can see a bit of Parrot Head music while in Key West and Cuba. Take it away, Jimmy Buffett. Wasting away again in Margaritaville, looking for . . . .
Cuban JazzWho do you think is on Papa’s Ipod?

Music at Harry's Bar
Music at Harry’s Bar

 

 

Hello Papaphiles!

 

Working at the Finca
Working at the Finca

HemHello Hemingway readers and fans!  Every four months, I post my opening post for those just joining in. For those who stop in regularly, I sincerely and truly thank you for reading and for being interested in Hemingway 55 years after his death and 117 years after his birth. So here is my opening post to acclimate you to what will be happening here.

  Love and thank you, Christine

 

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
Ernest Hemingway

What Will Be Happening Here? 

This will be a place to talk Hemingway and any topics related to him and his life.  That gives us a lot of material: writing, Paris, divorce, relationships, Key West, Cuba, Idaho, fishing, boats, bulls, boxing, cats, horses, dogs, the Midwest, movies, other writers.  Anything else?  Oh right, drinking, awards, depression, friends, cruelty, generosity.  Heard enough? Well, there’s still politics, women, religion, Fidel Castro, Gary Cooper, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Africa. Done yet?  Uh, no. we’ve still got mothers, hair, sexual ambiguity, sons, daughters, actresses, sex, suicide, death, clothes, honor, hygiene, the IRS, psychiatrists.

And what would Papa say about a blog?  Hmm, well, if I wanted to pull a page from Woody Allen, I’d say that he’d say: No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure. He was a journalist first and foremost and he kept up with the times so I think he’d be amused.

Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen
Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen

So what qualifies me to write this blog?  Not too much that’s going to impress you. All I can say is that I love him, just as he was, flawed and fabulous, mean-spirited bully and most gracious of men, driven wordsmith and drunken raconteur, bigot and egalitarian, all of it.  I’m no scholar. I’ll leave that to Timeless Hemingway, www.timelesshemingway.com, which does a superb job and is an unparalleled resource. However, I’ve read them all many times: the books, the short stories, the analyses, the biographies, the women, even the Hemingway cookbook which I actually cook from (the trout is delicious). I’m just an obsessed fan, uncluttered by the need to be neutral.  I hope to learn from you too.

Finally, I find him fascinating, complex, and yes, manly but I think he actually “got” quite a bit about women contrary to popular myth. That’s a topic for another day. Also a topic for another day is why the mask above on the lovely woman. Also a topic for another day is what do we call him in this blog?  Ernest, Ernesto, Wemedge, Nesto, Ernie, Oinbones,Papa, Tatie, Hem, Hemingstein, Hems, or just plain Hemingway? We’ll see. Perhaps we’ll put it to a vote. I have a Hemingway party on his birthday every year (July 21) and I’ll take a poll there too and let you know the results.

The Hemingway July birthday party in my barn
The Hemingway July birthday party in my barn

Of course, none of my friends “get” it and think Hemingway was that guy who wrote in short sentences and wanted to fight with everyone and run with the bulls.  They are partially right and mostly wrong.  But hey, you can’t throw away old friends just because they don’t really read or have an informed opinion about Hemingway–or can you?

These posts will be short and fun (I hope). I try to post at least every two weeks. I hope it’s enjoyable for Hemingway people as well as for casual observers. I’ve looked at the other blogs about Hemingway. Most are terrific but there still is room for a lighter take and for the unending discussion about why we continue to read him fifty-four years after his death. And if you have to ask . . .

Check me out when you have a chance. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

Hem, Hadley and Bumby

 

The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Me
Me
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms

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Casting the Big Novels: Me as Casting Director

Now, who should play the great parts that Hem has provided for us?  My selections in bold:

Thinking cap

The Sun Also Rises: (1957)

Blake Lively

A Farewell to Arms: (1932)

  • Helen Hayes (Angelina Jolie) as Catherine

    Angelina as Catherine
  • Gary Cooper (Clive Owen) as Frederic

A Farewell to Arms (1957)

  • Jennifer Jones as Catherine (Hemingway dismayed that she was 40. Catherine was supposed to be in her twenties.)
  • Rock Hudson as Frederic

A Farewell to Arms (In Love and War) (1996)

  • Sandra Bullock as Catherine
  • Chris O’Donnell as Frederic

For Whom the Bell Tolls: (1943)

RooneyMara
  • Ingrid Bergman (Rooney Mara) as Maria
  • Gary Cooper (Ben Affleck) as Robert Jordan

The Snows of Kilimanjaro  (1952)

  • Gregory Peck (Ed Harris) as Harry
  • Susan Hayward (Sharon Stone) as Helen
  • Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) as Cynthia

    Kate Beckinsale

The Old Man and the Sea ( 1958)

  • Spencer Tracy ( Javier Bardem) as Santiago

SO HOW DID I DO?

Javier Bardem

 

 

 

 

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