THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

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                   "Moments would come back to me, of love and excitement and music ... "
                                             (From "Imagine Kissing Pete")

Thanks to technology I've been able to add my enjoyment of the novels and stories.

Go to www.youtube.com and type in "Body and Soul 1930" and you get what I consider the musical theme of Appointment in Samarra.

On the night he kills himself Julian English sits on his living room floor, drinking whiskey from a vase. He plays three 78's from his collection: Paul Whiteman's "Lady of the Evening" and "Stairway to Paradise" and Jean Goldkette's "Sunny Disposish." I've accessed these; they have enhanced my reading experience. (I've not drunk whiskey from a vase and don't recommend it).   

In "Winter Dance" (1922), the memorialization of the love betwen John O'Hara and Margaretta Archbald, the three songs are "Rose of the Rio Grande," "Limehouse Blues" and "Stumbling."
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As mentioned in a previous post, Pamela Mac Arthur, in The Genteel John O'Hara, attempts to portray " ... a loving, polished gentleman...". In corresponding with a Society member yesterday, I recalled that there was support for this.

In 1994 Fred Carter and I became co-trustees of an estate. He told me that in the sixties he worked at U.S. Trust and managed John O'Hara's investments. Fred often drove to Princeton to confer with O'Hara, whom he described as a very charming gentleman, apparently possessing the gentility traits Pamela Mac Arthur asserts.

Fred never disclosed (nor did I inquire of) any of the details of the work he did for O'Hara. Fred and I developed a friendship which lasted for many years, until his recent death. I miss him.