/ J

N
J

View or Oleson's grocery store."
It is obvious that Hemingway and
Gordon shared a love of literature and
that the two could talk easily about
good and not-so-good authors. Not to
mention that she was, as Eugene Levine
puts it, "a very good-looking woman."
Then Gordon tugs on her_ pretty
pink sweater, adjusting it while con-
tinuing to walk her mind through a
past peppered with the famous writer's
presence. "He came through here
[again]," she recalls. "He was traveling
from Florida to Kansas. There were
storms. He came to the store where I
worked (S. Rosenthal & Sons). He
came to me, and he brought me up
off my feet and he kissed me. That
was the first time I ever kissed him
and he ever kissed me," she laughs.
"And then the next summer he got
married and then I didn't see him
again until he came up ..." A long
pause and then her mind takes a rest,
as if she were touring an immense art
gallery and needed to stop at a bench
to give her feet a break.
"I can't remember things from that
period. I was running a store and my
mind wasn't on him," she says.
With soft white hair combed back
off her face, sparkling eyes and a perfect
posture that would make any young
ballerina envious, Gordon begins to
explain that she never had wished to be
one of Hemingway's several wives.
"He was a fine young man, but I
just knew I wouldn't marry a
Christian," she says again. "From the
beginning of my existence I knew I
didn't want to marry out of my faith,
and so I steered my life that way."
When she was with Hemingway,
the subject of religion never came up.
"We didn't talk about our faith, we just
had fun. He loved to be with people."
But through the years, Hemingway
often used to joke about his name
being Hemingstein. "I think maybe he
was being flippant," says Gloria Levine.
Gordon is a devout member of
Petoskey's 102-year-old synagogue (a
former Baptist church), and loves to go
as much as she can. "That's her social
thing," says Levine, adding that when
her mother lived in New York following
retirement, she regularly went to a
Presbyterian church to hear Norman
Vincent Peale. "If we weren't Jewish,
we'd be Presbyterian," she jokes.
According to Levine, there
weren't but a few Jewish families in
northern Michigan when Gordon
was growing up.
As discussions of being Jewish in
Petoskey dominate the conversation,
Gordon instantly becomes alert and

Cordially invites you to celebrate
with us our 60th year o business
serving the metropolitan Detroit area.

Hemingway
On The Jews

In a recent New Yorker piece by
Hemingway's friend Lillian
Ross, a writer with whom he
frequently corresponded, she
recounts his impatience with
the wife of one of his friends.
"There was always, with her,
a lot of stuff about being Jewish
and not being Jewish," he said.
"This always bores the hell out
of me because I would just as
soon observe Yom Kippur as
Easter, and I am really an
Indian I guess anyway, and we
probably were as badly bitched
as the Jews. I like Jews very
much, but I always get bored
with people making a career of
their race, religion or their
noble families. Why can't we
take the whole damned thing
for granted?"
Ross writes about another
letter, in which Hemingway
said," I usually introduce myself
as Hemingstein when meeting
known anti-Semites and their
friends. But actually the name
is Hemingway, and there is
nothing I can do about it."

3u 15 16, 17, 18 .3111g 23 , 24, 25
duly 30, Si, Lslug. 1...L.Rug 6, 7, 8
Aug. 13, 14, .1.5...LAug. 20, 21, 22
Aug. 27, 28, 29

7618 (Woodward LRve., (Detroit
(313) 871-1590

los OF

reservations are
Suggested
(offer good only at our t -Detroit location)

THP EAG RR T EIE AS TE AS N T BIHRETRHEDAY

Offer Good Monday Thru Thursday • Minimum 10 1Gds

BLACK & WHITE AND COLOR PHOTO BOOTHS

"I love this
place so much
that I want to
marry it."
— Sammy Dubin
Age: 7 Years

L

Hemingway summered at Petoskey's
Windemere Cottage with his family
for the first 19 years of his life, and
many familiar Michigan settings
were extremely influential in his
earliest work; "The Nick Adams
Stories" are filled with references
to Petoskey-area scenes.

0,900 fOR 4 FREE QUAe
/k

4' 0

1 Coupon
Per
Person

er

4A: f

..,gsv,,D.L133(3(Al

c;: o 4py

Must be used at Marvin's
Expires 7/15/99

31005 ORCHARD LAKE RD, SOUTH OF 14, BEHIND F&M • 626-5020
SUMMER HOURS: MON. - SAT. 10 TO 9, SUN. 11 TO 9

visit Us On Our Web Sam www.rncrvin3
' m.com

Featuring wonderful, traditional favorites...
a superb variety of dining specialties

DIM SUM

The only
Chinese
pestamiant
open until
2:00 p.m.

6407 Orchard Lake Rd.
(In The Orchard Mall)

(248;f 626 - 8585

Hours: Monday thru Sunday
11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

7/9
1999

Detroit Jewish News

85