1935 So Red the Nose or Breath in the Afternoon

Iloarh Bradford^s

JOHN HENRY €<»ektail

1RAW EGG (whole and unbeaten) 1 JIGGER GOOD CORN WHISKY Drink in One Single Gulp Roark bradford writes from New Orléans, "My drink- ing habits are practically confined to drip coffee, Mint Juleps, and the 'John Henry.' I paint badly but most enthusiastically, and for subjects I use the many Negro Baptist and Methodist churches in Louisiana. The churches are ail alike yet they differ in détails which makes painting them an exciting divertisement. "I play a lousy but sturdy game of golf. And I fish like nobody's business: red fish, tarpon, shark and stingray. I mess around with the piano, guitar and a five-string banjo. I wish somebody would tell me what in hell to do with the fifth string. I eat two dozen oysters every day including May, June, July and August, and the oysters down here are big- ger, fatter and juicier than Eastern bivalves. "I like baseball and polo, but tennis puts me to sleep. I likeEleanor Powell andBill Robinson (I tap a little myself) but l'd like to lay adagio dancers end to end. If I don't bave ham and eggs once a day, I feel gypped. I wouldn't want to be anything else in the world but a writer, but l'd rather die than get at the typewriter. I hate to shave: the patriarchs were right."