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101 8 AtlanticCrossings O ver the next few years, Caresse cultivated the friendships of many remarkable artists, writers, and musicians. She collected adventures with Max Ernst,Paul Eluard,and Elsa Schiaparelli,who would be the first designer to open a boutique,below her fashion house,on placeVendôme in , as well as with film director Preston Sturges, and with Cole Porter, Philip Barry, and George Grosz. Perhaps one of the best escapades concerned the trip she made from Le Havre to Southampton with Max Ernst in the summer of .In the middle of the night,after a party at Le Moulin,Ernst drove the seventy-five miles to Le Havre at breakneck speed so that Caresse would not miss the boat. At the last minute, he decided to accompany her across the sea. Caresse was delighted: “I was as pleased as I could be, for Max was as wise and amusing a companion as one could hope for, and to arrive in London with the prize Surrealist would mean marks to my credit.”1 Crossing the channel took on a surrealist edge after Caresse was tapped for a favor by Mildred Dilling, the well-known harpist who was traveling on the same boat. She had exceeded the baggage limitation. Her harp ended up in the bunk-bed berth that Caresse was sharing with Ernst: “We were imprisoned behind bars, as chaste a set-up as ever was. I caught sight of Max’s birdlike head between the aeolian strings and laughed until the tears ran into my ears.”2 Max and Caresse’s friendship survived the crossing and remained steady over the next thirty years. Atlantic Crossings 102 In France, Caresse divided her time between Paris, where she continued to hold sedate luncheons at the rue de Lille apartment, and Ermenonville. She preferred the Mill, with its ten bedrooms, a tower, and swimming pool, for less-inhibited parties. She regarded these occasions as theater pieces, public scenes created by surrealist friends on her permanent guest list. They were spinoffs of her soirees with Harry,early versions of s“happenings” and today’s performance art without the political edge. One that she held shortly before her cramped Channel crossing with Max Ernst took the form of a costume ball. She put Ernst in charge of the menu, appointed her old lover Armand de la Rochefoucauld as master of ceremonies, and relied on the generosity of her cousin Nina for Polignac estate champagne. First prize for costumes went to Elsa Schiaparelli and André Durst—the photographer for Vogue who captured Caresse in a mock-siren pose, dress unbuttoned on top, half her bosom exposed. Caresse’s Boston friends were also invited, but the women from this group declined to attend. Apparently they did not begrudge Caresse for moving on with her life, but they felt that their reputations would suffer if news of the party reached local society pages. In their estimation, the presence of daughter Polleen provided no guarantee that a scandal could not be reported. As far as Caresse was concerned, that attitude gave extra cache to her party, and she made sure to include a photograph from it in her memoir. During the early and mid-s, Caresse traveled to Germany and to the south of France, scouting for Crosby Continental Editions, but also visiting friends, especially Kay Boyle when she was on the Riviera or in Kitzbuhl with LaurenceVail and her children.At Boyle’s prompting,Caresse became briefly involved with helping Alexander Berkman obtain the documents he needed to remain in France, and eventually to return to the United States. The Russian American anarchist had been deported with Emma Goldman from the United States for the attempted assassination of industrialist Henry Clay Frick in . Taking advantage of her well-placed connections, Caresse had been able to meet with Michel Hauser, an attache at the Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres,where she was allowed to read Berkman’s dossier and speak on his behalf.She learned that although the French considered Berkman potentially dangerous, they rated his conduct in France as exemplary. If Berkman would remain in Nice, he would automatically be granted permission to stay every threemonths.AfterfiveyearsinFrance,Caresseascertainedthatthe“embargo” as she described it to Boyle,would be lifted.3 When Kay Boyle showed Berkman the letter Caresse had written detailing her efforts to help him, his eyes teared up with gratitude.“How can you be such a great-hearted woman and such a [3.145.89.150...

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