4 She decided to stay . . . : Ibid.
4 She remembered him in his early days . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”
5 Born in 1899 . . . : “Birth Certificate,” Box 11, Folder 8, Toole Papers.
5 When he was eight years old . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
5 At the newly opened . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”
5 In 1917 he took . . . : “Birth Scholarship Certificate,” Box 11, Folder 8, Toole Papers.
5 He served in the army . . . : “Memorial certificate from Richard Nixon” Box 11 Folder 9. Toole Papers.
5 Holding a position . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
5 So with their grandest dreams . . . : “Copy of marriage certificate” Box 11, Folder 10, Toole Papers.
5 They moved to a house . . . : Fletcher,
Ken and Thelma
.
5 The New Orleans public schools . . . : Ibid.
5 Forced to give up her job . . . : Ibid.
5 Around the time they were married . . . :
Soards' New Orleans Directory 1926
(New Orleans: L. Soards, 1926). Directory lists John Toole as “dept. mgr. of Gulf Oldsmobile.”
5 They moved to . . . :
Soards' New Orleans Directory 1931
and
1932
(New Orleans: L. Soards, 1931, 1932). Directory lists their address as 2623 Nashville Avenue.
6 John lost his job . . . : Fletcher,
Ken and Thelma
.
6 In 1932, much to Thelma's . . . :
Soards' New Orleans Directory 1933
(New Orleans: L. Soards, 1933). Directory lists John Toole's address as 2280 St. Claude Aveâsame address as John Toole's mother.
6 John and Thelma . . . unable to conceive . . . : Lynda Laird Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
6 As their son would later tell . . . : Ibid.
6 John secured a new salesman job . . . : Entry for John and Thelma Toole.
Polk's New Orleans City Directory 1938
. (New Orleans: R. L. Polk & Company, 1938).
6 And on Friday . . . : “Record of Birth,” Box 3, Folder 14, Toole Papers.
6 After the successful . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
7 Remembering the awkward . . . : Ibid.
7 And outside the hospital . . . : “Phases of the Moon: 1901â2000,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, accessed on June 1, 2011, at
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phases1901.html
; and “The Weather,”
Times Picayune.
Friday, December 17, 1937: 1.
7 Like any Friday night . . . : Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration,
New Orleans City Guide
(New Orleans: Garret County Press, 1938).
Chapter 2: Early Days in Uptown
9 In 1930 Herbert Hoover visualized . . . : Anthony J. Stanonis,
Creating the Big Easy: New Orleans and the Emergence of Modern Tourism
(Athens: University of Greorgia Press, 1918â1945).
9 Surely he had doubts . . . : Douglas Brinkley,
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
(New York: Harper Collins, 2007).
9 By 1938 Mardi Gras . . . : Stanonis,
Creating the Big Easy
.
10 The rundown French Quarter . . . : Ibid.
10 Strip clubs began setting up . . . : Ibid.
10 And in February 1938 . . . : Ibid.
10 A year later, the battlefield . . . : Ibid.
10 Bobby Byrne, a friend of Toole's . . . : Robert Byrne interview by Carmine Palumbo, 1995.
10 And downtown people . . . : Ibid.
10 She always maintained . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series, University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL Lafayette), Sept. 18, 1981.
10 While she observed . . . : Ibid.
10 “We had wicker . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
11 They celebrated a . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”
11 A few weeks . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.
11 In the late . . . : “Infant Photos,” Box 5, Folder 10, Toole Papers.
11 He could have . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
11 Before selling an . . . : Lynda Laird Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
11 If a family . . . : Ibid.
12 His nephew, Harold . . . : Harold Toole, Jr., interview by the author, March 2, 2009.
12 Harold recalls . . . : Ibid.
12 Perhaps eager for . . . : Fletcher,
Ken and Thelma.
12 In a heated . . . : “Speech written by TDT” Box 13, Folder 16. Toole Papers.
12 Before he was . . . : “Infant Photos,” Box 5, Folder 10, Toole Papers.
12 On his first trip . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.
12 At the age . . . : Ibid.
12 And when he . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
13 Thelma wouldn't allow . . . : Harold Toole, Jr., interview by the author, May 9, 2009.
13 But Thelma once . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
13 After his birth . . . : Ibid.
13 On the days . . . : Ibid.
13 On her days . . . : Ibid.
13 She was the . . . : Ibid.
13 And, after a . . . : Ibid.
13 And even as . . . : Ibid.
13 What he didn't know . . . : Ibid.
13 He attended his . . . “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.
13 And at the . . . : Ibid.
14 He once described . . . : Ibid.
14 And one night . . . : Ibid.
14 Entering kindergarten at . . . : Ibid.
14 After one month . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole, “A Mother's Rememberence.”
14 In preparation for . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
14 And he had . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole, “A Mother's Rememberence.”
14 But the psychologist . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
14 “I'll tell you” . . . : Thelma varied in the ways she told this story. At times she claimed that the psychologist told her that Toole lost interest and observed her. At other times Thelma said she supplied the psychologist the reason for her son's loss of interest in the test.
14 His mother often . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.
15 He was “a” . . . : Thelma Ducoing Toole, “A Mother's Rememberence.”
15 The nurses at . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”
15 She even thought . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.
15 “He had the” . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
15 “I want to” . . . :
Ibid
.
15 Thelma celebrated how . . . : “Baby Book,” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.
15 “Those children thought . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
16 Jane Stickney Gwyn . . . : Jane Stickney Gwynn interview by the author, October 2010.
16 As Thelma reported . . . : Rhoda Faust interview by the author, June 10, 2011.
16 On the first . . . : John Geiser interview by the author, June 2008.
16 One day Toole . . . : Ibid.
17 As evident in . . . : “Sheet Music for Piano,” Box 4, Folder 12, Toole Papers.
17 Pictures of him . . . : Oversize Folder 2, Toole Papers.
17 But Thelma maintained . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”
17 “He was an” . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
17 His baby book . . . : “Baby Book” Box 5, Folder 16, Toole Papers.
17 When he came . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
17 When he was . . . : Ibid.
18 When in character . . . : Ibid.
18 He took this . . . : “Achievement Scrap Book,” Box 22, Vol. 1, Toole Papers.
18 In
Mystery at
. . . : Ibid.
18 And in a . . . : Ibid.
18 Members of the . . . : John Hantel interview by the author, April 13, 2011.
18 However, in Thelma's . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
19 There were many photos . . . : “Scrapbook with photographs,” Box 22, Vol. 2, Toole Papers.
19 He appeared on . . . : “Achievement Scrap Book,” Box 22, Vol. 1, Toole Papers.
19 From September 1948 . . . : Ibid.
19 One of her . . . : Hantel interview by the author, April 13, 2011.
19 Jane Stickney Gwyn . . . : Stickney Gwyn interview by the author, June 2008.
20 One of his . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
20 She recalled her . . . : “Childhood Photos,” Box 5, Folder 11, Toole Papers.
21 In the fall . . . : “Achievement Scrap Book,” Box 22, Vol. 1, Toole Papers.
21 In November of . . . : Ibid.
Chapter 3: Fortier
24 Eventually, in 1969 . . . : Adam Fairclough,
Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana 1915â1972
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1999).
24 He rarely studied . . . : Laborde, “Remembering a Pulitzer Winner.”
24 So impressed with . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
24 Indeed, Toole maintained . . . : “Honor Roll,”
Silver and Blue,
1950â1954.
24 As his mother . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
25 Much like Toole . . . : Myrna Swyers interview by the author, April 13, 2011.
25 Both incredibly bright . . . : “Honor Roll,”
Silver and Blue,
1950â1954.
25 The two friends . . . : Martin interview by the author May 5, 2011.
25 They were both . . . : Ibid.
25 In 1955 he . . . : “Miscellaneous Letters,” Box 1, Folder 13, Toole Papers.
25 Bosley Crowther . . . : Bosley Crowther, “The Screen: Summer Bachelor's Itch,”
New York Times
, June 4, 1955: 9.
25 While Toole and Laird . . . : Ibid.
25 Whenever Toole visited . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
25 One of their . . . : Swyers interview by the author, April 13, 2011.
26 Laird would often say . . . : Ibid.
26 They talked about . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
26 And the Latin . . . : Ibid.
26 Whatever the tragedy . . . : Ibid.
26 Downtown, there was . . . : Ibid.
26 From the Irish . . . : Ibid.
26 And roaming throughout . . . : Ibid.
26 They attended a . . . : Ibid.
26 And one day . . . : Ibid.
27 On the other . . . : Ibid.
28 He feared intruders . . . : Patricia Rickels interview by the author, February 10, 2009.
28 Once he felt . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
28 One day, as . . . : Ibid.
28 “Someone is going” . . . : Ibid.
28 When Lynda, Laird's . . . : Ibid.
29 Toole later confided . . . : Rickels interview by the author, February 10, 2009.
29 The first time . . . : “Cat Nips,”
Silver and Blue
, October 3, 1952: 2.
29 “Social Whirl” focused . . . : “Social Whirl,”
Silver and Blue
, October 3, 1952: 2.
29 It was a movement . . . : Rick Coleman,
Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock âN' Roll
(Boston: Da Capo, 2007).
30 An undisputed innovator . . . : Ibid.
30 Organizations such as . . . : Ibid.
30 Cary Laird asked . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
30 And to Toole's . . . : Ibid.
30 Evenings out for . . . : Jane Pic Adams interview by the author, November 2010.
30 In January of . . . : “Cat Nips,”
Silver and Blue,
January 29, 1954: 2.
31 Her mother, unaware . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
31 Toole told Laird . . . : Ibid.
31 In regard to . . . : Ibid.
31 While she maintained . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
31 According to his . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
31 In “Television, Tomorrow's Entertainment” . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Television, Tomorrow's Entertainment,” Box 1, Folder 20, Toole Papers.
32 In a short . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “The Louisiana Purchase,” Box 1, Folder 20, Toole Papers.
32 In an essay . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Democracy Is What You Make of It,” Box 1, Folder 20, Toole Papers.
33 In 1951 he . . . : “Tarpon's Harrison Wins World's Ring Toss Championship,”
Ess and Bee
, January 26, 1951: 2.
33 In the John Kennedy Toole . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Going Up,” Toole Papers.
34 By 1953 the . . . :
Polk's New Orleans City Directory 1952â1953
(New Orleans: R. L. Polk & Co., 1953).
34 Thelma later explained . . . : Dalt Wonk, “John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey Among the Dunces,”
Dixie
, October 25, 1981: 6â17.
34 In Toole's senior year . . . : Martin interview by the author. (May 5, 2011).
34 In 1954 he . . . : Ibid.
34 Toole rode on . . . : Ibid.
34 He commented that . . . : Ibid.
34 The weekend visit . . . : Ibid.
35 The parade of . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
35 Although, she maintained . . . :
Ibid.
35 He “gasped at” . . . : Martin, “Letter from Lynda,” Box 12, Folder 3, Toole Papers.
35 Back in the . . . : Swyers interview by the author, April 13, 2011.
35 He started muttering . . . : Ibid.