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Salinger's Former Date Kisses & Tells
By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 14, 2010
Modified Feb 15, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 14, 2010
Modified Feb 15, 2010
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Though J.D. Salinger kept his life well-guarded, with his passing some bits of it are now popping up in print. Today the NY Times talks to one Upper East Side woman, now 83 years old, who once went on a blind date with the author.
In 1946, the then 20-year-old Alice Sheba (a pen name) accepted an invitation for a double date from a colleague and her husband (Salinger's literary agent at the time); the foursome went to dinner followed by dancing at the Village Vanguard. Salinger was going through a divorce at the time—from his first wife Sylvia (a French woman he met in Europe—and Sheba still lived with her parents.
She recalls, “I knew that sexually speaking, I knew nothing. I was inexperienced and it was going to stay that way.” She did get a kiss from the author that night, however, who would go on to publish Catcher in the Rye years later. He would also go on to write the short story “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes,” which she thinks could be about her—as that was the color of the eyeshadow she wore on her one and only date with the man she knew as "Jerry."
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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