Here’s a sentence I just wrote:
Rare is the male artist capable of withstanding the blandishments of a determined woman who is intelligent, humorless, sufficiently fawning, and sexually available.
Now guess which woman I had in mind….
UPDATE: We have a winner! Alas, the reader who guessed Alma Mahler signs his/her e-mail only with an address, so I can’t give credit where it’s due, but you know who you are.
Other early guesses included Simone de Beauvoir, Gala Dali, Lil Hardin Armstrong (Louis’ second wife), Lillian Hellman, Bianca Jagger, Mary McCarthy, Marilyn Monroe (but was she really humorless?), Yoko Ono, Judith Regan (whom I hope doesn’t read this blog!), George Sand (extra points for that one), and Elizabeth Taylor.