Eugene Walter

Eugene Ferdinand Walter, Jr. (November 30, 1921 – March 29, 1998) was an American screenwriter, poet, short-story author, actor, puppeteer, gourmet chef, cryptographer, translator, editor, costume designer and well-known raconteur. During his years in Paris, he was nicknamed Tum-te-tum. His friend Pat Conroy observed that Walter had lived a "pixilated wonderland of a life." Walter was labeled "Mobile's Renaissance Man" because of his diverse activities in many areas of the arts. In later life, he maintained a connection with Mobile by carrying a shoebox of Alabama red clay around Europe.

Walter was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, which he described as "a separate kingdom. We are not North America; we are North Haiti." He claimed that he ran away from home at the age of three and was raised by his paternal grandparents. He and Truman Capote became acquainted in Mobile, attending matinees at the Saenger Theatre downtown together as children. His grandparents both died while he was about ten years old. After largely living on the streets for a time, he was eventually taken in by Hammond Bokenham Gayfer, heir to Gayfers Department Store in downtown Mobile. Gayfer died in 1938, again leaving Walter to fend for himself.

During World War II, Walter spent three years in the Aleutian Islands as an Army cryptographer. He relocated to New York City afterward and became a resident of Greenwich Village during the post-WWII years. During this time he pioneered an early form of happening by staging a spontaneous and unannounced group performance with his friends in the sculpture garden of the Museum of Modern Art.

Walter then gained transatlantic passage of a freighter carrying ice cream to Europe during the late 1940s. He lived in Paris during much of the 1950s, where he helped launch the Paris Review, living across the street from the publication's office and contributing to the earliest issues with text, art and interviews. His short story "Troubador" appeared in the first issue. His Paris Review interviews included Isak Dinesen [1] and Robert Penn Warren. [2] In 1960, for Transatlantic Review, he interviewed Gore Vidal. [3] Eventually, Walter moved from Paris to Rome at the request of Marguerite Caetani, Princess di Bassiano, to edit her literary journal Botteghe Oscure.

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