4pQonT

EZRA POUND 141
possible; hit them with hammers and then placed them about on
the floor." 20
It was Ford's misfortune to stumble occasionally over these
works, as no English gentleman ever looks where he is going. Although
bruised, Ford was no action-taker of the type described by
Shakespeare, and he never sued.
With or without Pound's cooperation, the first number of the
transatlantic review appeared in January, 1924. It was short-lived.
Ford later said that the first number went fine, but that the second
and third issues fell absolutely dead. Some of the failure to capitalize
on the initial success may be laid to the unusual staff. The first
assistant editor was a White Russian refugee, who departed in
anger when he learned that Ford had had lunch with a Jew. He
was succeeded by Hemingway, who was quite conscientious.
Ford's principle objection to Hemingway was his predilection for
the poetry of a lady known as the Baronin Elsa von Freytag
Loringhofen. One of the sights of Paris, she went about in a hat
which was simply an inverted coal-scuttle. For a time, she was
to be seen with shaved head, which she had lacquered vermilion,
and wearing a black crepe mourning dress. Her poetry, which
Margaret Anderson sometimes printed in The Little Review, was
passable for the Jazz Age, but Ford refused to have it in his magazine.
Hemingway would include it in the copy for each issue, and
patiently Ford would take it out again.
At last, Ford had to go to New York to deliver some lectures,
and he left the magazine in Hemingway's hands. The issue, which
Ford found satisfactory in every other respect, contained some
poems by the Baronin.
Ford supposed that he would be relieved of this cross when the
Baronin approached him and asked his assistance in getting her a
visa. In this instance, Ford was glad to be of service. He sent her
to the British Embassy in Paris with his recommendation. For the
occasion, the Baronin wore a brassiere of milk tins, which were
strung together on a dog-chain. On her head was pertly perched a
plum-cake. She was thrown out of the Embassy, and the officials
indignantly cancelled the Empire's subscription to the transatlantic
review.
Thwarted in her desire to go to London, the Baronin stopped