THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

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On April 19, 1930, publication of "Ten Eyck or Pershing? Pershing or Ten Eyck?" The New Yorker. The Doctor's Son.

The Ten Eycks were one of the first Dutch settlement families. General John J. Pershing (1860-1948) led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.

Eleven years have passed since the change of the name from Ten Eyck to Pershing - the result of patriotic fever. An Orange County Delphian Society member proposes to change the name of Pershing Avenue back to Ten Eyck Street. "By the way, we could have the official changing of the name postponed until the Fourth of July or Memorial Day, so that everybody on Pershing Avenue could use up the stationery with the Pershing Avenue address."

On April 19, 1947, publication of "Drawing Room B." The New Yorker. Hellbox. John O'Hara's Hollywood.

Leda Pentleigh is a Hollywood actress sitting in Drawing Room B of the Broadway Limited train on her way back to the West Coast. She's in a foul mood, because in New York she failed to get the usual high level of attention and publicity she's gotten in the past. A young Broadway actor, Kenyon Littlejohn, asks her advice about Hollywood, and Leda takes her anger out on him.

"You sat down here as if you were patronizing me, me. And started in talking about agents and producers as if Hollywood people were pinheads from Mars....what are you asking me for advice for?...."I'm terribly sorry," he said, and got up and left.

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Member Richard Rabicoff advises that the release date for member Steven Goldleaf's New York Stories is  August 27th. We can pre-order now on Amazon.