In this recent post I looked at some of the people involved in a songbook called The Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs, first published in 1950. I didn't know much about most of the people involved, so I did some research for the essay and I figured out that some people were related, by blood or marriage, to the literary Van Doren family. Carl Van Doren had written the preface for the book, and his former wife's sister, Margaret Bradford Boni, was the editor of the volume. Van Doren's former wife, Irita Van Doren, is the subject of today's post.
When reading up on Irita's sister Margaret while doing earlier research, I had not realized how difficult the sisters' lives were when they were children. The family lived in Florida, where their father owned a sawmill. A disgruntled employee killed Mr. Bradford, leaving Irita, age nine, and Margaret, age seven, to be raised by their widowed mother, who gave music lessons and made and sold fruit preserves to bring in income.
Somehow, Irita Bradford managed to get her undergraduate degree from Florida State College for Women, and then went on to work on a doctorate at Columbia. This is where she met Carl Van Doren, who was also a grad student there.
The two married in 1912, and seven years later, they both got staff positions at The Nation. Carl was literary editor until 1023, when Irita took over. The following year, she moved or to The New York Herald Tribune, to work at as assistant to Stuart Sherman, who was book editor. Sherman died a couple of years later, and Van Doren took over the editorship. She stayed in the role for thirty-seven years, and got to know lots of authors.
From Wikipedia: "Holding this post until 1963, Van Doren became an influential and
prominent figure in American letters. She also hosted the popular link Book and Author Luncheons sponsored by the American Booksellers Association and the Herald Tribune, from 1938 to 1963. Radio broadcasts of the luncheons on WNYC began in 1948."
The Van Dorens divorced in 1935. Irita began working on speeches for Presidential candidate Wendell Willkie, with whom Irita had a romantic relationship though the candidate was married. The only reason modern historians seem to have any interest in IritaVan Doren, sadly, is because of her romantic and political connection with Willkie, who lost the 1940 election to FDR. For heaven's sake, she edited the book review section of a New York newspaper for thirty-seven years! At least the headline for her New York Times obituary paid attention to the important stuff.
Irita Van Doren was familiar not only to authors and publishers, but to book lovers as well, as she could be heard on the radio. Here's short audio clip of Irita introducing an author at the Hotel Astor (formerly the Waldorf Astoria), where this early 1950s luncheon was held. I enjoy hearing her accent; Van Doren and her sister Margaret were such mainstays of New York cultural life that it's easy to forget they grew up in the South. You can hear Irita's accent in this short audio file.
The title of this post is from Irita's response to each of the many people who asked why she didn't write her memoirs. "I am the non-writing Van Doren," she would say.
Well, I am the writing Garbo, and though the Consortium of Seven blog is ending, I continue to work on projects about the 1940s. I have a number of blogs over at Blogger, including A Creative Tribute to the Lady With the Gold Baton. I hope you'll come see what's going on there. Thank you to those who've read my C7 posts these last four years.
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