ALICE B. TOKLAS, American companion of Gertrude Stein (d. 1967); There are any number of stories that can be told about this homely woman, ranging from nasty cracks about her spidery mustache to vicious bon mots about the disfiguring hump on her forehead. But there is really only one Alice B., that one very beautiful indeed, who need concern us here.

Throughout most of her life, this selfless woman’s major occupation was the care and maintenance of Gertrude Stein. She was cook, secretary, manager, nurse and lover, and in return received s love as faithful and intense as any recorded in history of friendship. She was also a highly intelligent woman, whose correspondence reveals her to be a writer and commentator no less brilliant than her more famous partner. She called Gertude “Lovey.” Lovely called her “Pussy.” And they lie together, head to head, in Père Lachaise.