Twice Over Lightly: New York Then and Now

by Helen Hayes, Anita Loos

A memoir of New York from the First Lady of American Theatre. With companion Anita Loos, no corner of the big city is left unexplored or unremarked upon.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

343 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am sure I read this long ago…I could not pass the book up at a book sale. How could I pass up Helen Hayes and Anita Loos (Gentleman Prefer Blondes) ? And am very happy I bought it to re-read.

It was published in 1972. I am barely into the book and they are chatting about the World Trade Center, which they said would be completed in 1973. I let out a little sigh after reading that.

Anita Loos did the narration or writing. It is charming how they are “rediscovering” New York. They come across the very early and humble beginnings of the South Street Seaport. Visited off beat places and the little known or odd destinations and discovering very interesting things. Places such as Bellevue Hospital, Atlas Barber School, the tugboat company that hauled trash to Staten Island, Federal Reserve Bank. They even discussed Palisades Park….(which at the end of the book, the owner Irving Rosenthal had to sell.) And it was interesting!

Personal anecdotes from both ladies also made this engaging.

In a discussion about the decline of theater goers…Anita paraphrased Helen…”for the theater to be successful once again, actors and playwrights must love their audience and not their ego.”
This to me is still so very true.

Another nugget of a line I like that to me explains looking back to my younger days, is said by Helen, “when I think of what that old place meant to me in the magical days when I had no memories, only hopes.”

It’s a sweet book.

[NOLaBookish aka blue-collared mind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anita Loos was my first favorite author when I moved to New Orleans and started reading books I found at all of the used book stores in the Quarter;
not only a favorite for her titles ""Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes", "A Cast of Thousands", "Kiss Hollywood Goodbye", "A Girl Like I", but also because she was unapologetically acerbic, an iconoclast (except for her adoration of H.L. Mencken) and an honest example of the Jazz Age sensibility for all of her life.
This, her last book, was written with long time pal actress Helen Hayes who spent a year together (in proper suits and pearls and handbags) walking around early 1970s hippie-filled New York City, peering into dark corners. It is hilarious and sweet, so I re-read it when life gets a bit too much in my modern life.

[Sharonlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, it's been so long, I can't remember this book. I even thought I'd had it autographed by the second author, Anita Loos, but when I was looking at it a while back, it turns out that it was signed by Helen Hayes herself. There was a reading at the bookstore I was managing at the time at South Street Seaport, I recall that much at least.

[Sandym24 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming look at NYC in the 1970’s by two older New York women, one an award winning actress and one a screen play writer. They were spunky and open minded and highlighted some New York establishments through their eyes.

[Cheryl Gatling]

In 1972, when this book was published, Helen Hayes was a famous actor, and Anita Loos was a famous writer. They talked between themselves about how people were always putting New York City down as dirty and dangerous. They agreed that there were still lots of positive things about New York, and they decided to spend a year exploring the city, and writing a book about it. This is the book.

The book is written in Anita’s voice. It makes sense that she would do the actual writing, since she was the writer. Helen provided colorful commentary on the things they saw, and lots of anecdotes about people she knew in the theater. Also, Helen Hayes’s name opened doors. Literally. In one scene they go to visit a historical mansion, but find it closed. Their driver says, “But this is Miss Helen Hayes.” The caretaker comes down and lets them in. (In 1972, Helen Hayes and Anita Loos were both famous, but Helen was famouser.)

So Helen and Anita’s tour of New York is different from the tour you or I would take. In almost all cases they get a personal tour, often by the boss of whatever the place is. They tour Bellevue Hospital with the director of nurses. At the UN they meet with delegate Shirley Temple Black. They have lunch with Cardinal Cooke of St Patrick’s Cathedral at his house. They meet the mayor John Lindsay and his wife at Gracie Mansion.

They visit an assortment of schools: an astrology school, a barber school, a charm school, a drama school. They visit the Brooklyn Museum. They go to a Mets game at Shea Stadium. They visit the Salvation Army. They visit the library (escorted by the wife of the President of the Library). They go to parties, plays, interesting private homes, street festivals. I think the peak of it all was that they got to ride on a garbage barge.

I felt like I didn’t “get” the title, but the tone of the book is light. Whenever possible, it’s perky and witty. Anecdotes (often from Helen) about back stories and side tangents are thrown in. Name dropping of now-dead, and partially-forgotten famous people is liberal. There are references to crime and economic depression, but they are in passing. The general effect is wholesome and fun. The book reminded me of our own family newsletter, The Gatling Gazette, where we tell friends and family what we did, which is usually nothing much, but we try to make it interesting.

The ladies say that their intention was to change people’s opinion about New York, to show them that there are lots of good things out there, if they just get out and see them. They also say they hope the book might inspire people in other cities to explore their own hometowns. And I think they book actually did that for me. I have been thinking of revisiting all the local museums and attractions where I live. Although my name certainly opens no doors!

[Michele Cacano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this 5 stars for the following reasons:
1. Enjoyable reading
2. Author personality
3. Historical reference
4. Cultural perspective
5. I'm a big fan of both 1920s arts and NYC history

Written from Anita Loos's voice, she includes conversations with her friend Helen Hayes, and gives readers a good idea of the thoughts, opinions, hopes, and ideas of both ladies. I wish there more photos, though!

I love reading about urban evolution, particularly through a lens of the arts. We get a taste of the old Broadway, théâtre district, and more from the 1920s and '30s, although Anita is more an actual denizen of the city than Helen, since Helen married and moved to Nyack early on.

They seem to know everyone: directors of stage and screen, choreographers, designers, business folk, philanthropists, museum directors and curators, chefs, and board members of every institution from Bellevue to the Bronx Zoo. It is great fun traveling with these two elders through hippie Greenwich Village, the Metropolitan Museum back rooms, barber school, and charm school. The day spent on a garbage scow is unforgettable; wish I could've been there!

At the end of their adventures, they seem to have realized that despite the loss of many of their favorite places of the past, and some apparently diminished glamor, the city is ever changing and the spirit of innovation and creativity will never die. New York calls to artists and entrepreneurs from all over the globe, to come and build their dreams. A new adventure awaits them each and every day, if only they would step outside their doors and embrace it.

[Yehudit Reishtein]

A lighthearted tour of unusual, non-tourist places in New York, in which the reader meets many behind-the-scenes people who make the city what it is. Helen Hayes and Anita Loos, both famous women in New York in the late 1960's, have entree into all sort of places where ordinary people never get to go (like the home of the Archbishop of New York (Terrence Cardinal Cooke at that time), and that of the Mayor (John Lindsay). They get a tour of the New York Public Library from the wife of the President of the Library, and of theaters with the producers and managers. We also get to travel with them on a tugboat that pushes garbage scows, and to a school of astrology, a barber college, Bellevue Hospital, to dinner at Shea stadium with the owner of the Mets, to the Metropolitan Opera, and to private homes in unique places.

It seems like a fun way to get to know a city, but it only works if you're a world famous actress and writer of famous plays and movies.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoping this book would read something like "two old rich broads take Manhattan," I picked up a copy eagerly. I had no inclination of who Anita Loos and Helen Hayes might be, so I'm grateful to this little memoir for introducing me to these important American cultural figures. It's what you might call "edumucation."

Sadly, the praise stops about there. I was under the impression I might get to see Anita and Helen, members of an elite class, rediscover the city they spent their lives in, reconciling their old ways with an evolving city and society. Nope, not really. The duo did visit some interesting places in their travels, but the bulk of the book is the two reminiscing about friends that are only tangentially related to the topic at hand.

The book's jacket summarizes the thesis of Twice Over Lightly: the authors want people to explore their environments and break away from their ruts. Easy for them to say. They had an "in" at every interesting place in one of the most interesting cities in the world. I'm not even allowed to see the kitchen of my favorite restaurant.

Vaguely racist and meandering as all hell. Points for making me laugh out loud numerous times. I recognize that this book was published in 1972. It has little to do with how I feel about it. Rather shortsighted of the authors, though, to assume future readers could give a damn about so many inside jokes and referential topics. Consider the subtitle "New York Then and Now." This book's "now" is nearly 50 years old.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intimate travelogue of two famous New Yorkers who make a plan to get to know their city better in 1972, when they are in their twilight years. The narrative is lively and engaging, and they certainly do see a wide cross-section that includes all five boroughs. Their fame and privilege get them into a lot of places, and the name-dropping does get a bit tiresome after a while. The book is told in first person from Anita Loos's point of view, so maybe Helen Hayes can move over a little, even though it is her presence that gets them the entree into an awful lot of places. It's an entertaining read that, forty-five years later, feels historic.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things Anita Loos disdains about 1970s New York:
- The addition of a "Black literature" collection to the New York Public Library, as it will take over the "Western canon"
- Marijuana smokers finding pipes are more efficient and economical to smoke out of.
- Orphans receiving $5 each to buy themselves a gift at Christmas.
(more TK)

Things Anita Loos likes about 1970s New York:
- Riding on tugboats towing trash barges.