Some Background Notes: Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook”

crepe-de-Chine: a very thin crepe of silk or silklike fabric.

Pavillon = New York’s Le Pavillon (1941-1971), once considered the finest French restaurant in the country.

Bettina Aptheker: professor, radical feminist, and author.

Benjamin Sonnenberg: PR man; represented celebrities and others; hosted lavish parties.

Teddy ("Mr. Acapulco") Stauffer: Swiss bandleader (swing music), playboy, and restaurateur. Married the
famous actress Hedy Lamarr and had affairs with other Hollywood notables. Was instrumental in turning
Acapulco into a holiday destination.

apercu: brief, clever summary or review of something.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: novelist (The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night), short story writer (“The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button”), and screenwriter.

“The Eighty-Yard Run”: short story by Irwin Shaw.

Jessica Mitford: American writer; author of The American Way of Death, an exposé of the American funeral
home industry.

Liberty lawn dresses: Liberty is a women’s clothing manufacturer; lawn is a type of material.

Ambrose Bierce: American short story writer, poet, and journalist.

Leland Stanford: American politician and industrialist; founder of Stanford University. He became wealthy
during the California gold rush, not by mining or panning gold but by selling supplies to those who sought it;
hence, £ (for pound sterling) and $ (for the American dollar).

“. . . $650 a month to light the place on the Hudson in which he lived before the Crash”: “The Crash” is a
reference to the stock market crash of 1929; $650 in 1929 is the equivalent of nearly ten thousand dollars today.

Les Paul and Mary Ford, and that song: If you know anything about guitars, you know who Les Paul was. In
just four years, he and his then-wife, Mary Ford, had sixteen top-ten hits. To get a feel for what Didion had in
her head when she wrote about river levees, vodka and orange juice, and echoes, listen to this song, multi-
tracked vocals and all (“How High the Moon,” 1951—nine weeks at #1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NkGf1GHAxhE

Jimmy Hoffa: American labor union leader. President of the Teamster’s Union from 1957-1971, he
“mysteriously” disappeared on July 30th, 1975. His body has never been found.

“. . . girls who travel with the Syndicate: In this context, “Syndicate” is another word for “Mob.” (“Mafia”
describes a Syndicate or Mob associated with a particular region or ethnicity.)

magpie: a very intelligent bird (one of the smartest animals in the world) known for its thievery; magpies like to
collect shiny objects.

Baby Pignatari: Brazilian (by way of Italy) Francisco “Baby” Pignatari was an international playboy and
adventurer who built a postwar industrial empire.