SS Bremen – A New Yorker State of Mind

From the late I.M. Pei to Frank Gehry, America has its share of “starchitects,” but only one architect in the history of the profession could claim to be a true household name: Frank Lloyd Wright.

In a profile titled “The Prodigal Father,” Alexander Woollcott wrote about Wright’s “return” to American acceptance after nearly two decades of scandal and tragedy. Woollcott took great pains to defend Wright’s reputation, marred by his extramarital affair with Mamah Cheney, her murder in 1914 along with six others (including her children) at Wright’s Wisconsin home, Taliesin, and his subsequent remarriage, divorce, and remarriage that followed.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN…Clockwise, from top left, **Reginald Marsh** illustration for the profile; **Frank Lloyd Wright**, circa 1930; Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel, completed in 1923. Designed in the Maya Revival Style Wright favored throughout the 1920s, it was damaged by the 1923 Great Tokyo Earthquake just months after opening. It was demolished in 1967, however the iconic central lobby wing and the reflecting pool were disassembled and rebuilt near Nagoya. (Library of Congress/dezeen.com)

Note: Thanks to a reader’s correction (see comments at the bottom), the following has been revised:

Woollcott also wrote of his visit to Taliesin (the third version of the house, after the first two were destroyed by fires). What stands out about this profile is Woollcott’s praise for the architect, a rare hagiography from a man renowned for his savage wit.

MEETING OF THE MINDS…Above and below are photographs from a autumn visit to Taliesin by **Alexander Woollcott.** From left are **Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright** and Woollcott. Wright invited Woollcott to the estate in the late 1920s: “This note will be witless as usual, but grateful…. Dear Man, why don’t you come up here? Bring any friend up here with you. Both of you can find an admirable place to work here…” (Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)

THIRD TIME’S A CHARM…The third version of Taliesin (built in 1925) is the one Woollcott would have visited in the late 1920s. (Wikipedia/Taliesin Preservation)

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No Surprise Endings, Please

Although sometimes confused with Alexander Woollcott because of his first name, the timid, taciturn Wolcott Gibbs was a force at The New Yorker in his own right, perhaps even more so as he served the magazine from 1927 to 1958 as a jack-of-all-trades: copy editor, feature writer, theater critic, and overall wordsmith. So when the editors of The Writer’s Digest posed a question regarding The New Yorker’s policy for submissions, it was Gibbs who was tapped to compose a response, which was a particular challenge given the magazine didn’t have a clear set of editorial requirements. So Gibbs conjured up an “Answers-To-Hard-Questions Department,” and signed it “Mr. Winterbottom.” Some excerpts:

IN HIS ELEMENT…**Wolcott Gibbs**, left, relaxes at the Algonquin Hotel in 1937. At right is his *New Yorker* colleague **Dorothy Parker**. (Time)

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Munitions of Bremen

The German Ocean liner SS Bremen was one of the most technologically advanced ocean liners of its day, known for its speed and luxury. Author Eric Hodgins climbed aboard to file a report for the New Yorker, and in the excerpt below marveled at the “mechanical perfection” of the ship’s engine room:

PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS…More than the length of three football fields, the streamlined *SS Bremen*, launched in 1928, was designed to have a cruising speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h). After a 1941 fire, the ship was largely dismantled, its steel used to manufacture war munitions. (Wikipedia/greatoceanliners.com)

In 1941, while docked in Bremerhaven, a disgruntled crew member set fire to the ship, completely gutting its luxurious interior. During the war the ship was stripped of its steel for use in munitions, and in 1946 what remained was destroyed by explosives.

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