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Escort Sundries Billed to Gore Vidal as told by Stephen Fry


Rod Hagen
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There was a very good interview with Stephen Fry in the Sunday NYTimes magazine, you should read the whole thing:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/03/magazine/stephen-fry-interview.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

 

Long ago, I (Rod Hagen) made myself available to Vidal twice, and both times he wasn't interested. My loss.

 

Anyway, here's the relevant bit:

Can you remember a good Gore Vidal story? The best Gore Vidal story I have you’ll probably find unprintable, but it amuses me. I was visiting him in America at one point, and he was coming to England. He said, “I’m debating whether to stay at Claridge’s or the Savoy,” and I said, “The Savoy’s a bit down-at-heel at the moment.” He said: “Yes, I’d heard that. I think I will make it Claridge’s. I am fond of the Savoy, however, for a very particular reason — it’s a literary reason.” So I said: “Oh, is that because of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald staying there in the good old days? Or because Oscar Wilde was there in the 1890s?” He said: “No, no. It’s far more literary than that.” He said: “I was there, oh, some years ago now, and I picked up the Yellow Pages and let my fingers do the walking, as the advertisement said, and found an agency. I thought, Oh, hello, here we go, and the agency duly were obliging and sent a young man to see me in the suite. We had agreed on a sum on the telephone, and we got down to it. At one point, he said, ‘I don’t do that.’ And I said: ‘Don’t be absurd. Of course you do.’ So all went perfectly well, and then I gave him his 30 pounds, and he said, ‘It’s got to be an extra 30.’ I said, ‘I agreed on a price with the agency, and I don’t propose to diverge from it now.’ And he started cutting up rough. He threw an ashtray at my head, which I had to duck to avoid, and so I pressed the bell, which was very handily placed in the wall above the head of the bed. In due course, a floor manager in a swallowtail coat and striped trousers appeared. I said: ‘Could you please remove this young man? He’s being a thoroughgoing nuisance.’ And the young man said, ‘He owes me an extra 30 quid.’ Then the floor manager said, ‘You come with me, young sir,’ and he got rid of the gentleman and I thought no more about it. But two days later I was checking out, and as I was paying the bill, I saw that at the foot of the column of figures it said, ‘Sundries: 30 pound.’ I thought the use of the word ‘sundries’ was inspired, and I have been fond of the Savoy ever since.”

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