Zora! by Dennis Brindell Fradin

Author:Dennis Brindell Fradin [Fradin, Judith Bloom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I really should not extend my congratulations to you on this day, but to all those who have been fortunate enough to touch you. It is you who give out life and light and we who receive. May I be spared for a long long time so that I may throw back a bit of the radiance you shed on me. My most pure and uprushing love, darling flower.

Most devotedly,

Zora

Mrs. Mason may have gagged on all the sugar in this note. Yet something about Zora appealed to Godmother, and she kept her on her payroll for two more years. Langston Hughes and Louise Thompson would suffer a quite different fate at the hands of Godmother.

More trouble about Mule Bone was on the way. Despite their allowances from Godmother, Zora and Langston were barely scraping by financially and couldn't afford to pay Louise for typing their play. Without first clearing it with Zora, Langston worked out a deal with Louise. Instead of paying her a few dollars per day for typing, they would later split the profits earned by Mule Bone three ways. Besides giving Louise a one-third interest in Mule Bone, Langston offered her the job of business manager if and when the play opened on Broadway.

When she learned about the agreement made privately between Langston and Louise, Zora flew into a rage that dwarfed Godmother's explosion. She was fond of Louise, Zora told Langston, but who ever heard of a typist getting a one-third interest in a play?

In all probability, Louise, who was a former college teacher, made suggestions and corrections that improved Mule Bone as she typed it. But Zora was right. It was extremely unusual to offer the typist a third of the profits from a play. Still, the extent of Zora's anger shocked Langston, who had simply thought that offering Louise a piece of the action was a nice way to include a friend in their venture while settling their debt to her.

Several explanations have been offered for Zora's wrath. Perhaps she was counting on the profits from Mule Bone as her ticket to independence from Godmother. Perhaps what galled her was that the deal had been made behind her back—much like Godmother's reaction when she learned that Zora and Langston had been writing their comedy without telling her. It has been suggested that Zora secretly had a crush on Langston and became jealous of the attention he was heaping on Louise. The likeliest explanation is that Zora had looked forward to collaborating with Langston for years, and felt hurt and resentful that he was treating Louise as an equal partner. In any case, Zora and Langston's friendship seriously deteriorated around mid-1930 because of their disagreement over Louise's role in Mule Bone.

The summer of 1930 should have been a joyous time for Langston Hughes, whose first novel was published in July. But it proved to be one of the most miserable summers of his life. Just before Not Without Laughter came off the presses, Godmother told him some bad news.

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