Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War (64 page)

conferred about it as they sailed: A letter from Hellman’s secretary to H. M. Behram, December 28, 1936 (HRC), confirms she sailed with Ivens on Saturday, December 26, arriving December 31.

“the direction is in the hands”: Ivens, “Brief aan de Groene,”
De Groene Amsterdammer
, December 25, 1937, in Schoots,
Living Dangerously
, p. 119.

Ivens sought out Carlos and Mikhail Koltsov: Schoots,
Living Dangerously
, p. 119. Ivens’s
The Camera and I
(pp. 123–24) implies these conversations took place later, in the spring, after Hemingway’s arrival, but other aspects of this chronology are so confused (and confusing) as to cast Ivens’s memory or his notes in doubt. See, e.g., Vernon,
Hemingway’s Second War
, pp. 102–3.

the closest they could come: Descriptions are from
Spanish Earth
footage, various reels.

But
The New York Times
’s correspondent: Herbert L. Matthews,
The Education of a Correspondent
, p. 94. Other details of the battle come from Beevor, pp. 208–15; Thomas, pp. 571–78; and Buckley, pp. 280–88.

They found the Garibaldi Battalion on the road: Footage from
The Spanish Earth
, Reel 5; Ivens, in “Het Volk,” March 6, 1937.

a steady rain of ordnance: Per Eriksson, from
Swedes in the Spanish Civil War,
P. A. Norstedt & Söners Forlag, 1972, on
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPthaelmann.htm
.

“You should hear the silence”: Ivens,
The Camera and I
, pp. 114–15.

As the filmmakers were driving back to Madrid: Regler,
Owl
, pp. 294–96. Regler’s chronology is somewhat whimsical; he claims Hemingway was present at the time of this incident, but Hemingway didn’t arrive in Madrid until a month afterward. The name “Maximovich” appears to be Regler’s coinage, possibly a pseudonym for Gorev.

the Abraham Lincoln Battalion: The Abraham Lincoln Battalion is sometimes, erroneously, referred to as the Lincoln
Brigade
; in fact, the archives of the battalion, at New York University’s Tamiment Library, are called the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade
Archives. Notwithstanding, in the Spanish Civil War, a brigade was a military unit comprising four to six battalions. Thus, for example, the Lincoln
Battalion
was part of the Fifteenth International
Brigade
.

In Madrid, Ilsa Kulcsar learned: Barea,
FR
, p. 652, and Thomas,
SCW
, pp. 571–79. Also Beevor (p. 153) and Preston,
SCW
, pp. 195–96.

at least one of the resident journalists: Delmer,
Trail Sinister
, pp. 315–16.

Lionel Barrymore:
ABC
, February 12, 1937, p. 15.

Gerda and Capa headed to the Telefónica: Schaber,
Taro
, p. 181. She believes that Taro was staying with Capa at the Alianza (see below) but other sources (Whelan, Allan, etc.) say they were at the Hotel Florida. Absent documentary proof to the contrary I’m siding with the Floridians.

The restaurant was in the Gran Via’s basement: Dos Passos,
Journeys Between Wars
, p. 470; Ted Allan,
This Time a Better Earth
, p. 103; Virginia Cowles,
Looking for Trouble
, pp. 16–18.

his first sight of the two photographers: Ted and Norman Allan,
Ted
(an unpublished annotated autobiography), chapter 2; this document has been published online by Allan’s son, Norman Allan, at
www.normanallan.com/Misc/Ted/Ted%20home.htm

Allan held on: Allan,
This Time a Better Earth
, pp. 31–32.

“couldn’t say shit or sheets”: Ted Allan, interview with Richard Whelan, ICP.

Allan turned to Bethune: Allan,
Ted
.

Years later, Capa would explain: Robert Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus
, p. 80.

he and Gerda saw the bear: Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, photographs from negative rolls 52 and 53 in the Mexican Suitcase collection, ICP.

There was no sign outside the “21” Club: The placing of this meeting at “21” comes from Dos Passos’s
roman à clef
,
Century’s Ebb
, pp. 40–44. The details about the appearance of “21” at the time are from Jeffre Pogash, “The Most Reputable Speakeasy in New York,”
Bartender
, Spring 2008, and from “21’s” website,
www.21club.com/web/onyc/21_club.jsp
. The phalanx of jockeys now in position wasn’t introduced until later; the first jockey was donated in “the late 1930s.”

And Hemingway and Dos Passos would each be going: Spencer Carr,
Dos Passos
, pp. 362–64. Interestingly, the essays about the Spanish and European situations that Dos Passos later collected in
Journeys Between the Wars
were published in
Esquire
and
Redbook
, not
Fortune
.

“one of the simplest things of all”: Hemingway,
Death in the Afternoon
, p. 2.

Some of the participants: The account of the dinner comes from Dos Passos,
Century’s Ebb
, pp. 40–44.

he was happy to oblige: Ira Wolfert, “Hemingway to Dig into Spanish War,”
Hartford Courant
, March 1, 1937, p. 10.

“I’m very grateful to you both”: EH to the Pfeiffer family, February 9, 1937, PUL, in Baker,
Selected
, p. 458.

Just before he and Katy were due to depart: Dos Passos,
Century’s Ebb
, pp. 44–46; also in Dos Passos,
The Theme Is Freedom
, p. 116.

“a phase of prudent consolidation”:
Le Populaire
, February 14, 1937, in Bernier,
Fireworks
, p. 252.

the high priest of French Marxism recounted: André Gide,
Return from the USSR
[
Retour de l’U.R.S.S.
], p. xv.

On the rue Froidevaux: Michel Lefebvre and Bernard Lebrun, “Where Does the Mexican Suitcase Come From?”
MS
, vol. 2, pp. 75–82.

the Associated Press reporter Lester Ziffren: LZ to EH, February 18, 1937, JFK.

Meanwhile, he himself telephoned: EH, dispatch 1 (“Passport for Franklin”),
Hemingway Review
, p. 13. Hemingway’s dispatches from Spain were published (sometimes in slightly differing form) in a variety of newspapers subscribing to the North American Newspaper Alliance. For the sake of consistency and authority I rely on the texts as edited by James Braasch Watson and published in
The Hemingway Review
, vol. 7, no. 2, Spring 1988, henceforth referred to as
HR7
.

When time hung heavy on their hands: Solita Solano to Carlos Baker, January 17, 1962, in Baker,
EH
, p. 301.

Hemingway probably didn’t understand: Schoots, pp. 120–21.

He even found himself trying: Joris Ivens to Jeffrey Meyers, quoted in Jeffrey Meyers,
Hemingway: A Biography
, p. 311.

the two men went out: Paul Quintanilla
, Waiting at the Shore: Art, Revolution, War, and Exile in the Life of the Spanish Artist Luis Quintanilla
, p. 199.

Twenty miles from the French border: Baker,
EH
, pp. 301–2; P. Quintanilla,
Waiting at the Shore
, p. 103; and EH, dispatch 2 (
HR
).

A week later, two other journalists: Whelan,
Capa
, pp. 112–13; Capa photographs, ICP.

The Casa de Alianza de Escritores Antifascistas: Details on the Alianza and its activities and inhabitants come from Schaber,
Taro
, p. 182; Arnold Rampersad,
Langston Hughes, vol. 1: I, Too, Sing America
, pp. 347–48; Stephen Spender,
World Within World
, pp. 245–46; Gerda Taro photographs, notebook #1, Archives Nationales de France.

Alberti and Maria Teresa offered to help: Alberti, “Capa and Gerda Taro,”
La Arboleda Perdida
, vol. III, chapter 14, in Schaber,
Taro
, p. 244.

she and he had chronicled: Taro and Capa, notebook #7, Archives Nationales de France; Mexican Suitcase rolls 55 (Capa) and 56 (Taro), ICP. Neruda, whose government recalled him from Spain because of his Loyalist sympathies, wrote a poem about the destruction of his house, “Explico Algunas Cosas” (“I’m Explaining a Few Things”).

She wasn’t sure she saw a future: Kershaw,
Blood and Champagne
, p. 52.

Certainly she said that: Allan,
Ted
, part 2.

The German photographer Walter Reuter: Schaber,
Taro
, p. 185.

When they crossed the Jarama north of Arganda: Taro photographs, ICP; Schaber,
Taro
, pp. 194–96; Allan,
This Time
, pp. 163–201, and
Ted
, chapters 1 and 2.

The poor visibility produced: Thomas,
SCW
, p. 582.

On the fifth floor of the Telefónica: Allan,
This Time
, p. 106.

At dinner at the Gran Via: Spender,
World
, p. 248.

He’d seen what the Italians had done: Allan,
This Time
, p. 112.

Sitting at the telephone: Barea,
FR
, pp. 653–54. When the dispatch was published Matthews was enraged to discover that “Italian” had been changed to “Insurgent” throughout. On March 22 he cabled the
Times
: “
IF YOU DON’T TRUST YOUR CORRESPONDENTS EITHER RELIEVE OR DISCHARGE THEM BUT EYE WONT STAY MADRID UNLESS EYE HAVE YOUR FULL CONFIDENCE
” (HLM to Edwin James, March 22, 1937, Matthews papers, HRC, quoted in Vernon, p. xvi).

very nearly including Ted Allan and Geza Karpathi: Allan,
Ted
, chapter 1; photos from Charles Korvin photographic archive, Brandeis University.

abandoned Fiat tractors and Lancia trucks: Koltsov,
Ispansky dnevik
[
Spanish Diary
], p. 450, in Beevor,
The Battle for Spain
, p. 219.

a mailbag his men had seized: Barea,
FR
, p. 654.

Then, a few freezing, sodden days later: Accounts of the battle of Guadalajara mainly from Beevor and Thomas.

in the streets of Madrid: Allan,
This Time
, p. 129.

Finally, she was able to commandeer a car: Allan,
This Time
, pp. 125–26 and 137–38; Schaber,
Taro
, p. 191.

But she had taken “wonderful pictures”: Although Whelan and Schaber both claim that Taro’s photos of Guadalajara were published in
Regards
and
Volks Illustrierte
under the mistaken byline “PHOTOS WARO,” it’s also possible, if not probable (as Cynthia Young points out), that the credit was that of a Brussels photo agency of that name. There are no prints or negatives of any Guadalajara photographs in Taro’s archives, nor any contact prints in her notebooks; possibly, whatever photos she may have taken at Guadalajara were lost or inadvertently destroyed. The only documentary evidence for Taro’s presence at the battle is in Allan,
This Time
, pp. 126–39, and Schaber,
Taro
, p. 191 (which references Matthews).

Valencia was in full battle dress: GT photographs of Valencia, Mexican Suitcase roll 77, ICP.

“To win the war”: Berzin to Voroshilov, copy to Stalin, February 16, 1937, Russian State Military Archive, in Radosh et al.,
Spain Betrayed,
p. 127; unnamed French correspondent (presumed to be Marty), early March 1937, included in March 23, 1937, report to Voroshilov, Russian State Military Archive, in Radosh et al.,
Spain Betrayed
, pp. 164–65.

Gerda
evolved:
Koltsov’s words summarized in Schaber,
Taro
, p. 200.

“
WE UNWANT DAILY RUNNING NARRATIVE
”: H. J. J. Sargint, cable to EH, March 18, 1937, JFK.

he told Spender he couldn’t wait: Spender,
World
, p. 252.

Constancia, nicknamed Connie: Background: Fox,
Constancia de la Mora
, pp. 6–17 and 38–39; De la Mora,
In Place of Splendor
, pp. 1–7, 290 ff.

on the morning of March 20: EH, dispatch 12,
HR7
, pp. 43–44.

“the true gen”: EH to Charles A. Fenton, July 29, 1952, in Baker,
Selected
, p. 775.

“the biggest Italian defeat”: This and earlier descriptions of the battlefield from EH, dispatches 4 and 5, in
HR7,
pp. 20 and 22.

Ivens knew how important it was: Joris Ivens, interview with William Braasch Watson, in Watson, “Joris Ivens and the Communists,”
Hemingway Review,
vol. 10, no. 1, September 1990.

Hemingway had brought two bottles of whiskey: The gathering in Koltsov’s rooms and its sequelae are discussed variously in Ehrenburg,
Memoirs
, pp. 383–84; Beevor,
The Battle for Spain
, p. 205; Vernon,
Hemingway’s Second War
, p. 169; Gazur,
Orlov
, p. 130, Stanley G. Payne,
The Franco Regime
, p. 137, Paulina and Adelina Abramson,
Mosaico Roto
, pp. 179–81, and LaPrade,
Hemingway and Franco
, p. 61.

Martha Gellhorn got out of her second-class railroad compartment: Gellhorn always insisted, and legend has accepted, that she took only a duffel and backpack to Spain. But Franklin, in his own memoir,
Bullfighter from Brooklyn,
claimed (pp. 220–21) she’d given him ten pieces of her luggage. This may be an exaggeration; but it’s difficult to see how the wardrobe Martha was photographed wearing in Spain could have fit in a backpack and duffel (especially if the latter was full of canned goods, as she said it was). In addition, Ted Allan mentions many pieces of luggage. See the note at the end of this section. Gellhorn also said that she walked into Spain—an assertion her biographers and others have taken literally, assuming that she hiked over the Pyrenees. Her journal, entitled “Spanish War Notes” and lodged in her papers at Boston University, tells a different story.