Gerald Williams: In Memorium
Gerald Williams, New York literary icon and longtime contributor to And Then, died on July 17.
A Tribute by Gene Brown
Photo by Gene Brown
On Friday I lost an old friend to pancreatic cancer and Covid-19. Jerry Williams was a warm, totally engaging man and a writer of refined sensibility. Always to my delight, he knew the difference between film as a subject of scholarship and movies as a source of pleasure. Jerry loved to tell stories. Multilingual, as much at home in Amsterdam and Paris as on the Upper West Side, Jerry had known many sides of the literary trade: translating for Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press, which published Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov, as well as lots of pornography; translating art books for publisher Harry N. Abrams; and grinding out a living as an editor at Reader's Digest Books. Just this week, Michael Coughlin Publications in Minnesota announced it will publish Jerry's first novel.
Jerry was also a gourmet cook, who prepared dishes from many cuisines. I'll never forget the day he introduced me to the Brazilian liquor, Cachaca, a glass of which proved conclusively that the Earth does indeed spin on its axis.
We didn't talk much about politics. Why preach to each other's choir? A 6'5" gay Black man, a close friend of Bayard Rustin, the principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, Jerry knew what was what.
Even in the last few weeks, as Jerry knew the end was approaching, we had some terrific conversations about the movies - watching them was one of the few pleasures left to him. In those conversations, under the ultimate threat, I hoped he taught me something about how to live.
Treat yourself to this brief interview he gave to The Massachusetts Review two years ago: https://massreview.org/node/6609.
From Bob Baldock
My earliest memory of our mutual friend is strolling together—each of us carrying and sipping awkwardly from cardboard cartons of cooling onion soup we'd picked up in Les Halles—idly through the streets of Paris, so quiet late night that we could hear the splash of fountains that were blocks away... Long ago and far away, probably 1961, and we remained warm friends ever since, getting together over the years in again and again in Paris, in Amsterdam, in New York City and in Northern California.
I am glad you had some time with him. He was an exceptionally intelligent gentleman, yet modest, always loyal, all in all an individual who truly enhanced this planet.
