Has Anyone Else Heard This FLW Tale?

Wrightgeek · Post by **Wrightgeek** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:02 am

A New York Times story notes another troubling event involving Wright. When Wright was working in a Chicago studio, he used a T square as a bludgeon in a â€œfight to the finishâ€� with a fellow employee who had wounded him with a drafting knife.

I came across this nugget today in a rather poorly written article in a Rockford, IL newspaper. I have not heard this story about FLW before, and wondered if anyone here had. If so, is the story true, where and when did it occur, and who was the other participant?

Mark Hertzberg · Post by **Mark Hertzberg** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:01 am

I recall Wright recounting a fight with another employee when he was at Adler and Sullivan. I also seem to recall anti-Semitic overtones in his description of that, or another, employee.

Mark Hertzberg

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:23 am

(A version of) the episode is described by Wright himself, in the Autobiography. If no one else gets there first, I'll find and reprint the passages.

SDR

Mark Hertzberg · Post by **Mark Hertzberg** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 11:32 am

Thank you, SDR. I meant to source the episode as being from his autobiography.

Mark Hertzberg

RonMcCrea · Post by **RonMcCrea** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:09 pm

As i recall, Wright, a small man, was being picked on and took some boxing lessons, to good effect.

In "The Fellowship" there are accounts of him getting violent with Olgivanna, and regularly spanking Iovanna. I believe there were also accounts of physical altercations between him and Miriam Noel. Any thoughts or reports on Wright as a man who was violent to women? It seems to me it was all post-Mamah and as he grew older and more crochety.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:38 pm

The source of the apparent antisemitism is FLW's complaint in "An Autobiography" that the Jewish Dankmar Adler hired the sons of his Jewish friends, whether they were adequate to the job or not. If he had complained that Sullivan had given preferential treatment to Irish Catholics, I doubt it would have been seen in as harsh a light. FLW believed in a meritocracy.

When I met the Sturgeses, who were Jewish, Mrs. claimed forthright that FLW often made antisemitic comments in their presence. He was of a generation that was quite open about antisemitic feelings.

He was also not fond of blacks, perhaps in part because of Mamah's tragedy. When he returned to T-West after a trip with Olga to learn that Paul Robeson had visited, been invited to dinner by the fellows and sang in the theater, he went into a rage. Then, after mulling it over, invited Robeson to visit again, at which time he was treated with the respect due him.

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:46 pm

Wright opposed US entry into WW2, as did most midwesterners - perhaps most Americans - before Pearl Harbor. Toker's Fallingwater Rising recollects that he tried to get Kaufman to join him in this opposition, using some such phrase as "the better kind of Jew," that strikes modern readers as grossly offensive. Kaufman didn't go along.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 3:10 pm

Also, somewhere in the auto is the ultimate in offensive words, the unspeakable "N" word, namely the common phrase: "N"-word in a woodpile. I've never known what that means. It may have been excised by now. But back in the day, it was not an uncommon phrase.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 3:16 pm

In An Autobiography, in the section called "Fellowship" beginning with the words "Thus began an association lasting nearly seven years" (p 97), the c. 60-yr-old architect recalls his first months at Adler and Sullivan, where, because he had from the start a special relationship to Sullivan, and because of "the longish hair, flowing tie, and fastidious clothes" as well as a tendency to "mind his own business," the young newcomer is singled out for "baiting" of various kinds. Soon he is invited to join the noontime sparring sessions in the blue-printing room. Feeling strong but with little boxing experience, Wright engages a teacher for twelve lessons over two weeks, to learn some technique. When he is almost done with that, the day arrives for his initial match. Not failing as expected, he instead bloodies the nose of his first opponent -- whereupon the other "shop bully" steps in and puts on the gloves. Thus:

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 3:45 pm

There are stories in "An Autobiography" that ring true, and some that don't. I suspect this tale was at least embroidered.

Wrightgeek · Post by **Wrightgeek** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:49 pm

Fascinating stuff, I didn't know ol' Frank had it in him.

Thanks for all the input in response to my original query, especially to Mark and Stephen.

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:03 pm

Tafel once published an anthology of recollections, mostly by apprentices. One of them recollects Lin Po, the renderer, returning to Taliesin with his new wife. On meeting her, Wright exclaimed "Why do all Chinese women look like Madame Chiang-Kai-Shek?"

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:42 pm

Ed Tafel's second book, "About Wright" (John Wiley & Sons, 1993), contains the following sections:

Letters from FLLW

Relatives: David W, John Lloyd W, Iovanna W, Franklin Porter, Robert Moses ("second cousin by marriage")

Friends: Philip Johnson, Maria Stone

Clients: The Littles, Lee Ackerman, Arthur Miller, the Willitses

Draftsmen: Kamecki Tsuchiura, Donald Walker, Henry Klumb

Apprentices: Bishop, Devane, Howe, Liang, Lockhart, Manny, Mosher, Peters, Rana, Soleri, Weston

Gene Masselink (by Ben Masselink)

Acquaintances: Edward Stanton, Andy Rooney

An Evening at the New School for Social Research, 1980: Anne Baxter, Marshall Erdman, Fred Gutheim, H-R Hitchcock, George Nelson

At Taliesin

Sayings and Happenings

Newspaper Articles

The Aftermath

Letter to Byron Mosher from Edgar Tafel

The Fires

_________________________________

Highly recommended as another source for the Taliesins, the Wrights, and (to a lesser extent) the work . . .

SDR

Deke · Post by **Deke** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:56 pm

As long as we're on the subject of Wright's negative characteristics, is there any truth to a rumor I heard that many letters with politically incorrect content have been withheld from the archives and public view by BBP to protect Wright's image?

Deke

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:59 pm

I've heard from a reputable scholar that the archived letters contain remarks about Jews that said scholar predicted would never be published.

(Worth noting is that all his life he got along fine with Jewish clients and apprentices.)