The Message of the City. Patricia E. Palermo

       ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Many people helped make this project happen, most especially Tim Page, Powell biographer and editor extraordinaire, without whom it would not even have begun. I thank him first of all for writing her biography; for bringing out his edition of her letters, four of her plays, and a volume of her diaries; for being a tireless champion of Dawn Powell’s works; and for seeing to it that so many of her long-out-of-print novels, plays, and short stories were reissued. I thank Mr. Page for his unfailing generosity, for being not only a tireless correspondent but also a most supportive champion of me and my work; for his sharp and quick editorial eye; for allowing me access to the Powell papers at Columbia University; for sharing with me the two known recordings of Powell’s voice; and for giving me permission to reproduce photographs of Dawn Powell, Joseph Gousha, and other people or locations to which he or the friendly estate of Dawn Powell, represented by the generous and considerate Peter Skolnik, owns the rights. I also thank Mr. Page for kindly providing contact information for Carol Warstler, daughter of Dawn Powell’s younger sister, Phyllis Powell Cook. The very kind Carol Warstler, with whom I have been in touch, sent me a copy of her daughter-in-law Debra Warstler’s thesis on Powell. Indeed, Page has been so selfless and steadfast a friend that I cannot effectively describe all that he has done not only for me but also for Dawn, as he fondly refers to her and as I am sure she would insist he call her. I thank also Vicki Johnson, Carol Warstler’s daughter, for sharing with me a copy of their family tree and also for sending me reproductions of the beautiful artwork done by Powell’s elder sistern, Mabel Powell Pocock.

      I am indebted to renowned Broadway lyricists and composers Lee Adams and Charles Strouse for their communications with me, their always considerate assistance, their interest in my work, and their willingness to share with me their warm memories of Dawn Powell. A special thanks to Charles Strouse for having me up to his place in New York and for taking me to lunch that snowy spring day in April 2007.

      A warm thank-you to Christopher Purdy, Executive Producer of Columbus, Ohio, radio station WOSU, for generously sending me a tape of his “Dawn Powell” radio program; and to Christopher Bennett, director of the Lincoln Library at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, for a lovely and lengthy telephone conversation and for kindly sending me the Lake Erie Bulletin and several copies of the school literary magazine, the Lake Erie Record, on which Powell had acted both as editor and contributor. Kind thanks to Debra Blanchard Remington, director of development and alumni relations at Lake Erie College, for providing me a copy of the very useful May 1940 alumna issue of the Bulletin of Lake Erie College.

      I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Merrill Skaggs and Dr. Robert Ready, both of Drew University, for their suggestions and unfailing support. I wish also to thank Dr. Kathleen Hunter of the College of St. Elizabeth for her unwavering belief in me and for her inspiring words, “The enemy of ‘done’ is ‘perfect.’” Thanks to Lynne McKinery, also of the College of St. Elizabeth, for her tireless support and assistance, and to Art “Vandelay” Layenberger, because he wanted me to.

      I am grateful to Bruce Lancaster, Drew University reference librarian, for taking it upon himself to conduct some additional research that led me, with Tim Page’s help, to Powell’s family; to Kathleen Brennan, for pointing out a New York Times article I otherwise may not have known about; to Kim Macagnone, customer service representative at the Village Voice, for providing me a copy of Michael Feingold’s important piece, “Dawn Powell’s Acid Texts,” which for some reason I could get no other way; to Barbara Meister, librarian at the Ohioana Library Association, for photocopying the rare Powell novel A Man’s Affair for me at no charge; to Jeanine Krattiger, for generously printing out so many copies of this manuscript; to Mary Pradilla, graduate student at the College of St. Elizabeth and alumna of Lake Erie College, who located some information on Cleveland history for

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