SHe was a “violent lesbian” who had affairs with some of the most famous women of the Jazz Age, prompting the witty writer Alice B. Toklas to remark about Mercedes de Acosta: Women of the 20th century. ”
Among the playwright and poet’s conquests and affairs are Hollywood royalty Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, dancers Isadora Duncan and Tamara Karsavina, actresses Ona Manson and Pola Negri, and reportedly This included Toklas himself.
Although she never achieved the same heights of fame as the women in her bed, she did produce several plays and published three moderately acclaimed collections of poetry during her lifetime. feeling In 1919, archway of life 1921 and street and shadow The following year — de Acosta is perhaps best known for her explosive memoir my heart is here In 1960, she detailed her relationships in 1920s America, causing a rift with several of the women named.
However, his fourth book, a collection of unpublished poems, has now been published. This is a one-off book written by de Acosta for British set designer Gladys Calthrop, who directed many of Noël Coward’s plays.
The professionally bound book, housed in a four-sided Moroccan paper case, contains 20 poems, of which only one is known to have been published. They are written with the following dedication to Calthrop: Your eyes – these past few years – have been a dream, and some golden moments have taken wing and flown away. ”
This unique book came to market with a price tag of £8,750 from London-based rare bookseller Peter Harrington, but its provenance is almost as fascinating as de Acosta’s life itself.
Sammy Jay, senior literary specialist at Peter Harrington College, said: ‘Gladys Calthrop was well known as the longtime stage and costume designer of Noel Coward, a close friend and gifter of this book.
“It was previously owned by Coward’s housekeeper, Maggie Moore. I acquired it from a woman who knew Noel Coward’s housekeeper.
“This book offers a unique and intimate look at the lesser-known celebrity events of the man who earned the nickname ‘The Greatest Starfucker of All Time,’ making it even more valuable as a new discovery. ”
“Acosta is an impressive figure as a poet, as a Cuban, as an openly lesbian woman, and more generally as a woman boldly making her way in the world, and this book has been well received by many people. For the reasons listed above, I would not be at all surprised if some institutional library acquired this book soon.”
In his poem, de Acosta writes of Calthrop, who died in 1980 at the age of 85: “You are the beating heart of a wound on the side of beauty – like a dark hyacinth wet with the passion of a stormy sea.”
According to Jay, the “dramatic, desperate and clearly erotic” poem was likely written after an affair, and its content suggests that Calthrop had ended the affair. He quotes lines like: – A song, a flower you love, a tree, or just a little spark inside you, that lit me up. ”
Mercedes de Acosta was born in New York in March 1892 to a Cuban father and a Spanish mother. She attended the Convent of the Blessed Sacrament in Manhattan at the same time as the acerbic writer Dorothy Parker, and in 1920 she married the artist Abram Poole.
The marriage, which ended in 1935, appears to have been merely a matter of convenience for de Acosta. De Acosta spent the turbulent ’20s playing openly gay roles in rapid succession, so much so that theater historian Robert A. Schonke named his biography.her that fierce lesbian.
Her notoriety provided fodder for her writing, but did not help her career prospects. Jay says, “She is primarily remembered for her romantic relationships, but never achieved artistic fame. That’s probably because she pushed herself and her work to fit acceptable standards.” Probably because they refused to compromise.”
Her friend and dancer Ram Gopal said, “When I met the men who run the theater, they didn’t want to work with a strong woman who loved women. That’s what I felt.”
In 1927, the New York State Legislature passed a law banning performances on the theme of “sexual decadence or sexual perversion,” but de Acosta persisted in his attempts to write and perform a play on the theme of incest. (dark light1926) and prostitution (fantasy1928).
De Acosta met Calthrop in 1927, and Calthrop seduced de Acosta’s lover, British-born Broadway star Eva Le Gallienne. In 1929, Calthrop worked on a London production of de Acosta’s play. prejudiceAnd they began their own relationship, with de Acosta installing Calthrop in a house he owned on Beekman Place on Manhattan’s East Side.
By 1960, when de Acosta published her memoirs, her fortunes had changed. She was penniless and had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. This book led to de Acosta’s further ostracism. Garbo ended his friendship with her and Le Gallienne accused the revelations about her in her book of being lies.
Mercedes de Acosta died on May 9, 1968 at the age of 76, living in poverty in New York. Although de Acosta is primarily remembered for the potentially false claim that “I can separate any woman from any man,” she was a fierce activist against the Spanish Civil War and an advocate for women’s rights. He was also a campaigner (as he writes in his memoirs). She was an animal rights activist, became a vegetarian, and refused to wear fur.
