“On Air” with Gertrude Stein & Mina Loy

I found it difficult to think of a question I had about the Little magazine. I did, however, find myself wondering how and where Gertrude Stein and Mina Loy met.

I did a little research and found out that Stein and Loy met at the home of Mabel Dodge in Florence. 

This left me wondering exactly what the moment they met was like…what was the conversation like? What was the vibe? Did they instantly hit it off? What did they talk about and how did their initial conversation shape their thoughts and their individual work?

This kind of moment seemed like one both Loy and Stein would reminisce on later in life, and in the spirit of the avant-garde, what better way to reminisce than publicly and via an innovative new form of technology. 

Thus, “On Air with Gertrude Stein and Mina Loy” was born.

Pzzzzzrrrrttt.

A clicking sound and a thump.

“Is this thing on?” It is the voice of Gertrude Stein—low and sharp.

Muffled sounds are heard.

A distant scratching.

“…what a beautifully odd contraption…” This voice sounds further away—dreamier, lighter, and slightly higher in pitch.

“The microphone Mina. Move closer to the microphone.” Silence. Stein’s voice, now bearing an edge of annoyance, continues, “There! The small silver box connected to the long arm…do you see it?”

“…ahhh…yes…here we go.” Mina Loy’s voice sounds louder now, and less distant.

“Grand,” Stein says. “Let’s begin.”

It is the mid-1930’s and Gertrude Stein and Mina Loy have found themselves in the dusty, cramped studio of a radio station in New York. In the disruptive spirit of Futurism, Stein and Loy are interrupting the station’s usual nightly broadcast of jazz music to reminisce on the first time they met.

Stein: Florence. Mabel’s house. Shimmering curtains. Thick oriental rugs. Plumes of cigar-smoke. Un-polished mahogany chairs.

Loy: I recall some slight rippling of life…a cat emerging from behind a swelling curtain. Did Mabel possess such a feline?

Stein: Is it important? We’re here to discuss the moment we met, Mina!

Loy: (laughing) Always so sensible…that’s the first thing I noticed about you, Gerty.

Stein: Please. You do know how I loathe that nickname.

Loy (adopting a tone of seriousness): I believe that the environment in which we met was crucial to the formation of our friendship, do you not?

Stein: Yes. Of course. Two women meeting each other within the domestic sphere of another woman…quite interesting really…

Loy: Yes! It is difficult as a woman to not feel trapped in one’s own home, and not to feel even more en-caged in the home of another woman. Yet I remember feeling this inescapable sense of entrapment vanish over the course of our introduction and conversation. Perhaps it was the artistic possibilities of which we spoke, or the way in which we instantly confided in one another. Were we not two rambling souls who happened to find each other at the perfect moment in history?

Stein: Precisely. The conversation we began that evening in Mabel’s house, among plates of bruschetta—

Loy (easily distracted): Oh! The bruschetta!

Stein: —has continued incessantly, has it not? That is what I believe is the compulsory ingredient, if you will, for a productive and fulfilling friendship between two women. If a dialogue is not continuous, then what hope is there for psychological and creative advancement?

Loy: Spiritual advancement too, I say. As I do not consider myself a poet, I will call what others refer to as my poetry as my writing. I can say with a certain confidence that my writing would be drastically different if we had never met that evening at Mabel’s. From you, Gerty, I learned that a great deal of complexity can be found in simplicity.

Stein: Ah simplicity! I find it humorous that we spoke of the importance of simplicity that evening—in a room which was quite the opposite! Was there a square inch of any part of that parlor which was not bedecked with gold leaf or brocade?

Loy (with a melodious giggle): Only the cat! if it did in fact exist. The differentiation between illusion and memory is becoming increasingly difficult for me…

Stein: For Salvador as well! Persistence of memory does dictate creativity.

Loy (mentally generating a chaotic slew of creative ideas): That it does, Gerty.