So then we started talking about whom we would have liked to see run for mayor instead. When it was time for LaGuardia to go, who would be next? And then it very quickly turned into this kind of parlor game, everyone having to go around the table and nominate who’d they vote for. So there were professional athletes named, and a religious figure or two, and I believe Dorothy Day was in there, and Dorothy Parker too and I think Fannie was hoping someone would nominate her but no one did. And then when it was Fannie’s turn she said, “Mazie Gordon.” Of course we all said, “Who?” She really treasured it, being able to stump everyone. You know, took a significant sip of wine from her glass, licked her lips, that sort of thing. And then she spilled.
Mazie’s Diary, May 12, 1934
I saw Ben again at our regular spot, this all-night no-name diner by the Brooklyn Bridge. He asked about me helping the bums again. I don’t know why he’s so interested.
He said: I could never do it.
I said: Helping people’s the easy part. It’s the rest of life that’s hard.
George Flicker
About six months after we moved in to Knickerbocker Village I met this nice woman named Alice. She was a nurse at the time, and I had a small accident at a construction site, a brick falling on my hand, and I ended up in the hospital. There, you can still see it, the scar, right there. Alice tended to me with great care. She was from Vermont and had served in the first war and landed in New York City after. She was a very brave and bold woman. We talked about our service and I cracked a joke about people forgetting all the work we did for our country but I wasn’t really kidding, of course. And she said, “Forget about what you did already, what have you done lately?” And it was this real kick in the pants that I needed. I’ve always been a hard worker, but she was right, I needed to stop worrying about the past. Maybe I needed to let it go. Then she told me that she was applying to medical school, she was going to be a doctor. She had her heart set on University of Michigan because they were the first in the country to accept women to their medical school. She had been watching the doctors for years now and she felt that she could do what they did, though she wasn’t so sure they could do what she did. And at the end of this I realized she had cleaned and bandaged my hand and I hadn’t even noticed. She had a magic touch, that Alice. So I said, “But if you go away to Michigan how will I ever see you again?” And she said, “You’ll just have to wait for me to come back.” Well, I married that girl six months later. I wasn’t taking no chances on anyone else snapping her up.
Mazie’s Diary, June 1, 1934
Maybe I had a little roll in the hay with George Flicker last night. Maybe it was all right. Maybe I didn’t mind it one bit.
George Flicker
Are you married? I don’t see a ring on that finger. What are you waiting for? Are you in love? I know, I know, I’m a nudge. Only I loved being in love so much, I only wish the same for the good people I meet.
Mazie’s Diary, July 12, 1934
It was the strangest thing, seeing George tonight, late, after I got home from the streets. He’d waited up for me. I closed my front door and I heard him knocking a minute later. His face seemed more familiar than it ever had before, even though I’ve known him all my life. All of a sudden he was glowing like there was a spotlight on him. He looked so handsome. Every part of his face seemed perfect. I don’t even know where it came from, I never expect to feel anything for any man anymore, at least not in that way. All I knew was I saw a good man next to me in bed.
Phillip Tekverk
Fannie said, “I know a woman of greater compassion than any I have known before.” Someone shouted, “Does that include you?” She said, “I’m not compassionate, I’ve just got a lot of guilt.” Everyone laughed, and she continued. “I know a woman who works long hours in a tiny cage all day long, dealing with the public, which is something none of you could do, you ill-tempered, pampered artists. Then, after fourteen hours in this box, she walks the streets of the Lower East Side helping the homeless and suffering wherever she goes. No matter how filthy or drunk or evil-smelling a bum may be, she treats him as an equal. Just an average woman doing something quite extraordinary. What have you done for humanity lately? Agonize over the placement of a semicolon? This woman gets off her derriere and actually does something important with her life. Mazie Phillips for mayor, I say.” There was probably more to this speech, but this is what I can recall, drunk as I was, old as I am. Everyone hear-hear’ed and cheered, and then moved on to the next subject. I had an idea, though. I told Fannie I wanted to meet her. I said it sounded like she would make a great book, and I wasn’t lying to her when I said that. But also I wanted to get in Fannie’s good graces because I wanted to go to every single dinner party she threw for eternity.
George Flicker
We had a mind to take over the world, Alice and me. She was going to help provide better medical care to women in New York City. She had seen so many immigrants on the Lower East Side show up at her hospital, in her emergency room, with all kinds of diseases that could have been tended to much sooner, if they had spoken English, if they’d had someone to look out for them. A clinic for women; that was her aim. My plan was to own every building on the Lower East Side and to make them livable. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that was impossible. If I could even own one in my lifetime I was going to be one lucky fellow. But if I could just have one to start with I promised myself I’d be the best landlord this city had ever seen. Which I assure you most landlords out there, that is not their mission. So I married my girl and off she went to medical school and we saw each other when we could. We worked very hard for a long time to achieve our dreams. She was my best friend. She was beautiful and brilliant. Her mind and my mind together, we were the tops.
Mazie’s Diary, October 15, 1934
It’s all over with George but he won’t tell me why. He’s never home when he used to be home. I’m not going to track him down. I’ve got better things to do with my time, places to go, people to see.
Fine, he doesn’t want me anymore. I won’t chase after a man.
Mazie’s Diary, November 1, 1934
Closer to forty than thirty. What happens when I get to the other side? Do I tip over?
Mazie’s Diary, November 15, 1934
Cold snap. I bought twenty warm wool blankets and handed them out to whoever needed them on the streets. It was pitch dark, only a handful of stars in the sky. Jeanie came with me to help. She brought with her a floppy, coffee-colored hat, a silky red ribbon gathered at the side of it in an enormous bow. It was a real party, this hat. She told me she hadn’t brought much home with her from out west, but somehow it had made the trip. She had no occasion to wear it anymore, though. She couldn’t bear to look at it any longer, but she couldn’t throw it away either. I put it on, and the sides of it collapsed gently around my face and neck. Musk, smoke, California.
Jeanie said: You look very fetching.
She was wearing her hair in braids like she used to when she was a teenager. Her skin looked better, it glowed like the moon again. She rambled on about her life, how everything was fine, great, better than ever, and I was nodding and believing her. She asked me if I was listening and I snapped to it. She’s helping Ethan out with the horses, and by the end of the day, she smells like dung.