THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

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On February 2, 1935 the short story "You Know How to Live" was published in The New Yorker.
This could probably be classified as what Steven Goldleaf describes as a "finger exercise."

It is the depths of the Great Depression and Morton (43 and divorced) has invited Sylvia (38 and widowed) to his home. They have just finished dinner:

"I lost a big pile of dough in that crash, Sylvia. Enough so it would lick most men. A real fortune, Sylvia. One million four hundred and sixty thousand dollars, Sylvia, I lost altogether. That's quite a sum."
"Morton! I had no idea you lost that much." ...
He leaned forward and fixed his stare on Sylvia's eyes. She smiled. He did not smile. "Sylvia, do you mind if I say something personal? You and I've known each other a long time."
"No. Not at all," she said.
"Sylvia, you don't have to wear a brazeer," he said, and leaned back again.
"Oh," she said." Don't I? I just - I wear one, though."
"Skip it," he said. "I've been wanting to tell you that all during dinner, but I didn't want to in front of the servants."
_____
From May 5, 1928 through November 26, 1949 O'Hara wrote 221 stories forThe New Yorker and then quit for eleven years as the result of a scrap with the magazine.

Thanks to Robert Knott for sending me these stories. Robert tells me that if you subscribe to The New Yorker you can access all these stories online.