Editing Alice B. Toklas

{{short description|American artist (1877–1967)}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Alice B. Toklas
| image       = Alice B. Toklas, by Carl Van Vechten - 1949.jpg
| alt         = Alice B. Toklas, photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]], 1949
| caption     = Toklas, photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]], 1949
| birth_name  = Alice Babette Toklas
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1877|04|30|mf=y}} 
| birth_place = [[San Francisco]], California, U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1967|03|07|1877|04|30}} 
| death_place = [[Paris]], France
| resting_place = [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]<ref>Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 44876-44877). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition</ref>
| other_names = 
| occupation  = [[Avant-garde]]
| known_for   = 
| partner     = [[Gertrude Stein]] (1907–1946)
| education   = [[University of Washington]]
}}

'''Alice Babette Toklas''' (April 30, 1877&nbsp;– March 7, 1967) was an American-born member of the [[avant-garde|Parisian avant-garde]] of the early 20th century, and the [[life partner]] of American writer [[Gertrude Stein]].

==Early life==
Alice B. Toklas was born in [[San Francisco]] into a middle-class [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish Jewish]] family.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Green |first=David B. |date=March 7, 2016 |orig-date=March 7, 2016 |title=This Day in Jewish History {{!}} 1967: Gertrude Stein's Lesbian Lover, Hash Brownie Publicist, Dies in Penury |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2016-03-07/ty-article/1967-gertrude-steins-lover-dies-poor/0000017f-e6c7-da9b-a1ff-eeef006d0000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203200727/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2016-03-07/ty-article/1967-gertrude-steins-lover-dies-poor/0000017f-e6c7-da9b-a1ff-eeef006d0000 |archive-date=December 3, 2022 |access-date=August 22, 2024 |website=Haaretz |language=English}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather was a rabbi,<ref>{{cite magazine | access-date = March 15, 2018 | magazine= The New Yorker | url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/11/13/strangers-in-paradise | title = Strangers in Paradise: How Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas got to Heaven | first= Janet| last= Malcolm}}</ref> whose son Feivel (usually known as Ferdinand) Toklas moved to San Francisco in 1863. In 1876, Ferdinand Toklas married Emma (Emelia) Levinsky and they had two children: Alice and her brother Clarence Ferdinand (1887–1924).

In 1890, the Toklas family moved to [[Seattle]], where her father was one half of Toklas, Singerman and Company, the city's leading [[dry goods]] store.

Toklas was educated in local schools, which included the Mount Rainier Seminary, and attended the [[University of Washington]] where she studied piano.

When her mother became ill, the family moved back to San Francisco. Her mother died in 1897, aged 41.

==Relationship with Gertrude Stein==
Five months after the devastating [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]], Toklas left the city and moved to [[Paris, France|Paris]]. On September 8, 1907, the day after she arrived in Paris, she met Gertrude Stein. This marked the beginning of a relationship which lasted for nearly four decades, ending in 1946 with Stein's death.

Together they hosted a [[Salon (gathering)|salon]] in the home they shared at [[27 rue de Fleurus]] that attracted expatriate American writers, such as [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], [[Paul Bowles]], [[Thornton Wilder]], and [[Sherwood Anderson]] as well as [[avant-garde]] painters, including [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], [[Henri Matisse|Matisse]], and [[Georges Braque|Braque]].

Acting as Stein's confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic, and general organizer, Toklas remained a background figure, chiefly living in the shadow of Stein, until the publication by Stein of Toklas' "[[memoirs]]" in 1933 under the teasing title ''[[The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas]]''. It became Stein's best-selling book.<ref>Souhami, Diana – ''Gertrude and Alice: Gertrude Stein and Alice B.Toklas'', London: Pandora, 1991. {{ISBN|978-0044408338}}</ref>

Toklas and Stein drove ambulances in WWI after learning from Parisian taxi drivers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nichols |first=Nancy |title=Women Behind the Wheel (An Unexpected and Personal History of the Car)}}</ref>

When war broke out in 1939, Stein and Toklas were at their country home, Bilignin, near the Swiss border. Stein and Toklas likely avoided being sent to concentration camps by their obscurity, American citizenship and the goodness of their neighbors that protected them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Et Tu, Gertrude? Stein and Toklas: The World War II Years |url=http://www.nickharvilllibraries.com/2/post/2018/08/gertrude-stein-and-alice-b-toklas-the-world-war-ii-years.html |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=Nick Harvill Libraries |language=en}}</ref>

W. G. Rogers wrote in his memoir of the couple, published in 1946, that Toklas "was a little stooped, somewhat retiring and self-effacing. She doesn't sit in a chair, she hides in it; she doesn't look at you, but up at you; she is always standing just half a step outside the circle. She gives the appearance, in short, not of a drudge, but of a poor relation, someone invited to the wedding but not to the wedding feast."<ref name=Rogers>Rogers, W. G. ''When This You See Remember Me: GERTRUDE STEIN in Person'', New York: Rinehart & Co., 1946.</ref> [[James Merrill]] wrote that before meeting Toklas "one knew about the tiny stature, the sandals, the mustache, the eyes," but he had not anticipated "the enchantment of her speaking voice—like a viola at dusk."<ref name=Merrill>{{cite book| last=Merrill|first= James |title=A Different Person: A Memoir |location=  New York | publisher =Alfred P. Knopf |date= 1993 |page= 75}}</ref>

Toklas and Stein remained a couple until Stein's death in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/alice.b.toklas.asp |title=Alice B. Toklas Life Stories, Books, & Links |publisher=Todayinliterature.com |access-date=December 4, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301205854/http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/alice.b.toklas.asp |archive-date=March 1, 2014 }}</ref>

==Later life, after Stein's death==
Although Gertrude Stein willed much of her estate to Toklas, including their shared art collection (some of it [[Pablo Picasso|Picassos]]) housed in their apartment at 5 rue Christine, the couple's relationship had no legal recognition. As many of the paintings appreciated greatly in value, Stein's relatives took action to claim them, eventually removing them from Toklas's residence and placing them in a bank vault while she was away on vacation. Toklas then relied on contributions from friends as well as her writing to make a living.<ref>Wagner-Martin, Linda – ''Favored Strangers: Gertrude Stein and Her Family'', New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995, p. 269.</ref>

In 1954, Toklas published ''[[The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook]]'', a book that mixes reminiscences and recipes. The most famous recipe, contributed by her friend [[Brion Gysin]], is for "[[Hashish|Haschich]] Fudge", a mixture of fruit, nuts, spices, and "[[Cannabis sativa|canibus sativa]]" {{sic}} or marijuana. The "Haschich Fudge" recipe appeared in the British edition of the book, but it was left out of the first United States edition published by [[HarperCollins|Harpers]]. It was included in the second American edition and became popular within the [[1960s counterculture]] movement. She and the recipe were referenced in the 1968 film, ''[[I Love You, Alice B. Toklas]]'', starring [[Peter Sellers]],<ref name=goaskalice>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/food-matters/go-ask-alice-the-history-of-toklas-8217-legendary-hashish-fudge/|title=Go Ask Alice: The History of Toklas' Legendary Hashish Fudge|last=Eplett|first=Layla|website=Scientific American Blog Network|language=en|access-date=February 8, 2019}}</ref> as well as the 1969 ''[[Bewitched]]'' episode, "Tabitha's Weekend". When Tabitha asked if Endora could have a cookie, Endora asked Phyllis Stephens (Tabitha's other grandmother), "They wouldn't by chance be from an Alice B. Toklas recipe?" <ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0523228/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl | title="Bewitched" Tabitha's Weekend (TV Episode 1969) - Plot - IMDb | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref> The cookbook has been translated into numerous languages.

A second cookbook followed in 1958, ''Aromas and Flavors of Past and Present''. However, Toklas did not approve of it, as it was heavily annotated by [[Poppy Cannon]], an editor at ''[[House Beautiful]]'' magazine. Toklas also wrote articles for several magazines and newspapers, including ''[[The New Republic]]'' and ''[[The New York Times]]''.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

In 1963, Toklas published her autobiography ''What Is Remembered'', which ends abruptly with the death of Stein.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The True Story of Alice B. Toklas {{!}} University of Iowa Press - The University of Iowa |url=https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/true-story-alice-b-toklas |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=uipress.uiowa.edu |date=March 2011 |language=en}}</ref>

Toklas's later years were very difficult because of poor health and financial problems. She converted to the [[Catholic Church]] in 1957.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1967-gertrude-stein-s-lover-dies-poor-1.5413810 |title=This Day in Jewish History {{!}} 1967: Gertrude Stein's Lesbian Lover, Hash Brownie Publicist, Dies in Penury |last=Green |first=David B. |access-date=April 30, 2020 |work=Haaretz |date=March 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-10-06-0710040408-story.html |title=Behind the facade |last=Winslow |first=Art |access-date=April 30, 2020 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=October 6, 2007}}</ref> She died in poverty at the age of 89, and is buried next to Stein in [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], [[Paris]], [[France]];<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 44876-44877). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref> her name is engraved on the back of Stein's headstone.<ref>{{Citation
 | last = Linzie
 | first = Anna
 | title = The True Story of Alice B. Toklas: A Study of Three Autobiographies
 | publisher = University of Iowa Press
 | year = 2006
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XGqCcEtct2oC&pg=PA1
 | isbn = 978-0-87745-985-9}}
</ref>

== Legacy ==

''[[I Love You, Alice B. Toklas]]'' is a 1968 film starring Peter Sellers that references Toklas's cannabis brownies, which play a significant role in the plot.<ref name=goaskalice /> [[Marianne's Ice Cream]] in [[Santa Cruz, California]], created an ice cream flavor called "Alice B. Toklas' Fudge Brownie" in honor of the brownies in Sellers' film.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://mariannesicecream.com/about/ | title=About Us &#124; Marianne's Ice Cream }}</ref>

The [[Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club]] is a political organization founded in San Francisco in 1971.

[[Samuel Steward]], who met Toklas and Stein in the 1930s, edited ''Dear Sammy: Letters from Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas'' (1977), and also wrote two mystery novels featuring Stein and Toklas as characters: ''Murder Is Murder Is Murder'' (1985) and ''The Caravaggio Shawl'' (1989).

In the 1980s, [[Jacquie Phelan]], a mountain bike racer and founder of the first all-women's mountain biking club, raced under the pseudonym "Alice B. Toe Clips" in reference to Toklas.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-02 |title=On the Road with Alice B. Toeclips – Charlie Kelly MTB Pioneer |url=https://fattireflyer.com/2023/01/02/on-the-road-with-alice-b-toeclips/ |access-date=2025-02-16 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[San Francisco Board of Supervisors]] voted in 1998 to rename a block of Myrtle Street between Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco as Alice B. Toklas Place, since Toklas was born one block away on O'Farrell Street.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Herscher
  | first = Elaine
  | title = Paving the Way for Gays: S.F. may name street for lesbian Alice B. Toklas
  | newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle
  | date = July 1, 1998
  | url = http://www.sfgate.com/c/a/1998/07/01/MN25307.DTL
  | access-date = November 8, 2009
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
  | title = Board of Supervisors : September 22, 1998
  | publisher = City and County of San Francisco
  | date = September 22, 1998
  | url = http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=2728
  | access-date = November 8, 2009 }}
</ref>

Toklas has been portrayed on-screen by [[Wilfrid Brambell]] in the 1978 Swedish film ''[[The Adventures of Picasso]]'', by [[Linda Hunt]] in the 1987 film ''[[Waiting for the Moon (film)|Waiting for the Moon]]'';<ref>{{cite web|title=""American Playhouse" Waiting for the Moon (TV Episode 1987) – IMDb| website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094286/?ref_=ttmi_tt}}</ref> by [[Alice Dvoráková]] in the 1993 television series ''[[The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles]]'';<ref>{{cite web|title="The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" Paris, September 1908 (TV Episode 1993) – IMDb| website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0752184/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt}}</ref> and by [[Thérèse Bourou-Rubinsztein]] in the 2011 film ''[[Midnight in Paris]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Midnight in Paris (2011) – IMDb|website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/t}}</ref>

In 2020, artist [[Maira Kalman]], along with her son Alex Kalman, created and published a short film adaptation of ''The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas'' called "My Name is Alice B. Toklas."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP8dnCJ_LIA|title=My Name is Alice B. Toklas|date=February 20, 2020|via=YouTube}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Janet Malcolm|Malcolm, Janet]]. ''Two Lives (Gertrude and Alice)''; [[Yale University Press]]; September 2008; 240 pp; {{ISBN| 978-0300143102}}
* Salinger, Sylvia; Bennett, Albert S. (ed.). ''Just a Very Pretty Girl From the Country: Sylvia Salinger's Letters from France 1912-1913''. Southern Illinois Press, 1987. {{ISBN|0-8093-1329-4}}  
* [[Linda Simon|Simon, Linda]]. ''The Biography of Alice B. Toklas''. Lincoln: [[University of Nebraska Press]], 1991. {{ISBN|978-0803292031}} 
* [[Diana Souhami|Souhami, Diana]]. ''Gertrude and Alice''. London: Pandora, 1991. {{ISBN|978-0044408338}}
* [[Renate Stendhal|Stendhal, Renate]] (ed.). ''Gertrude Stein In Words and Pictures: A Photobiography''. [[Workman Publishing Company#Algonquin Books|Algonquin Books]], 1989. {{ISBN|0-945575-99-8}}; {{ISBN|978-0-945575-99-3}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooksabout=yes|viaf= 5059351 }}
{{Portal|Biography|LGBTQ}}
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.steincol|Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Collection]], Yale Collection of American Literature. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.stein|Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Papers]], Yale Collection of American Literature. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100711080237/http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?id=ark%3A%2F88435%2F1c18df81v Alice B. Toklas Collection] from the [http://www.princeton.edu/~rbsc/department/manuscripts/ Manuscript Division of the Princeton University Library]
* [http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/toklas-alice-babette Alice Babette Toklas] from the Jewish Women's Archive
* [http://www.quotinggertrudestein.com Blog discussing Gertrude Stein] written by Gertrude Stein scholar, Renate Stendhal, author of "Gertrude Stein in Words and Pictures"
* [https://archive.org/stream/handyblockbookof1894hick#page/n210/mode/1up San Francisco Block Book (1894) page 107] showing Western Addition, Block 60, Louis Levinsky residence (922 O'Farrell Street, home of Mr. Levinsky's teenage granddaughter, Alice B. Toklas)
* [http://www.alicebawards.org/about.html Alice B Awards]

{{Gertrude Stein|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toklas, Alice B.}}
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American emigrants to France]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism]]
[[Category:Jewish American memoirists]]
[[Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Jewish feminists]]
[[Category:Jewish women writers]]
[[Category:American lesbian writers]]
[[Category:Lesbian feminists]]
[[Category:Lesbian Jews]]
[[Category:Lesbian memoirists]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from California]]
[[Category:LGBTQ Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Writers from San Francisco]]
[[Category:American cookbook writers]]
[[Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American women food writers]]
[[Category:American women memoirists]]
[[Category:American women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Catholic feminists]]
[[Category:Catholics from California]]
[[Category:Catholics from Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Gertrude Stein]]
[[Category:Writers from Seattle]]
[[Category:University of Washington alumni]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Washington (state)]]
[[Category:American salon-holders]]