# Alice B. Toklas

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alice_B._Toklas
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alice_B._Toklas.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_B._Toklas
> Source revision: 1357093217
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

American artist (1877–1967)

Alice B. Toklas Toklas, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949 Born Alice Babette Toklas (1877-04-30)April 30, 1877 San Francisco, California, U.S. Died March 7, 1967(1967-03-07) (aged 89) Paris, France Resting place Père Lachaise Cemetery[1] Education University of Washington Occupation Avant-garde Partner Gertrude Stein (1907–1946)

**Alice Babette Toklas** (April 30, 1877 – March 7, 1967) was an American-born member of the [Parisian avant-garde](/source/Avant-garde) of the early 20th century, and the [life partner](/source/Life_partner) of American writer [Gertrude Stein](/source/Gertrude_Stein).

## Early life

Alice B. Toklas was born in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) into a middle-class [Polish Jewish](/source/History_of_the_Jews_in_Poland) family.[2] Her paternal grandfather was a rabbi,[3] whose son Feivel (usually known as Ferdinand) Toklas moved to San Francisco in 1863. In 1876, Ferdinand Toklas married Emma (Emelia) Levinsky and they had two children: Alice and her brother Clarence Ferdinand (1887–1924).

In 1890, the Toklas family moved to [Seattle](/source/Seattle), where her father was one half of Toklas, Singerman and Company, the city's leading [dry goods](/source/Dry_goods) store.

Toklas was educated in local schools, which included the Mount Rainier Seminary, and attended the [University of Washington](/source/University_of_Washington) where she studied piano.

When her mother became ill, the family moved back to San Francisco. Her mother died in 1897, aged 41.

## Relationship with Gertrude Stein

Five months after the devastating [1906 San Francisco earthquake](/source/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake), Toklas left the city and moved to [Paris](/source/Paris%2C_France). On September 8, 1907, the day after she arrived in Paris, she met Gertrude Stein. This marked the beginning of a relationship which lasted for nearly four decades, ending in 1946 with Stein's death.

Together they hosted a [salon](/source/Salon_(gathering)) in the home they shared at [27 rue de Fleurus](/source/27_rue_de_Fleurus) that attracted expatriate American writers, such as [Ernest Hemingway](/source/Ernest_Hemingway), [F. Scott Fitzgerald](/source/F._Scott_Fitzgerald), [Paul Bowles](/source/Paul_Bowles), [Thornton Wilder](/source/Thornton_Wilder), and [Sherwood Anderson](/source/Sherwood_Anderson) as well as [avant-garde](/source/Avant-garde) painters, including [Picasso](/source/Pablo_Picasso), [Matisse](/source/Henri_Matisse), and [Braque](/source/Georges_Braque).

Acting as Stein's confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic, and general organizer, Toklas remained a background figure, chiefly living in the shadow of Stein, until the publication by Stein of Toklas' "[memoirs](/source/Memoirs)" in 1933 under the teasing title *[The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas](/source/The_Autobiography_of_Alice_B._Toklas)*. It became Stein's best-selling book.[4]

Toklas and Stein drove ambulances in World War I after learning from Parisian taxi drivers.[5]

When World War II broke out in 1939, Stein and Toklas were at their country home, Bilignin, near the Swiss border. Stein and Toklas likely avoided being sent to concentration camps by their obscurity, American citizenship, and the goodness of their neighbors that protected them.[6]

W. G. Rogers wrote in his memoir of the couple, published in 1946, that Toklas "was a little stooped, somewhat retiring and self-effacing. She doesn't sit in a chair, she hides in it; she doesn't look at you, but up at you; she is always standing just half a step outside the circle. She gives the appearance, in short, not of a drudge, but of a poor relation, someone invited to the wedding but not to the wedding feast."[7] [James Merrill](/source/James_Merrill) wrote that before meeting Toklas "one knew about the tiny stature, the sandals, the mustache, the eyes," but he had not anticipated "the enchantment of her speaking voice—like a viola at dusk."[8]

Toklas and Stein remained a couple until Stein's death in 1946.[9]

## Later life, after Stein's death

Toklas's name on the reverse side of Gertrude Stein's marker at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Although Gertrude Stein willed much of her estate to Toklas, including their shared art collection (including works of [Picasso](/source/Pablo_Picasso)) housed in their apartment at 5 rue Christine, the couple's relationship had no legal recognition. As many of the paintings appreciated greatly in value, Stein's relatives took action to claim them, eventually removing them from Toklas's residence and placing them in a bank vault while she was away on vacation. Toklas then relied on contributions from friends as well as her writing to make a living.[10]

In 1954, Toklas published *[The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook](/source/The_Alice_B._Toklas_Cookbook)*, a book that mixes reminiscences and recipes. The most famous recipe, contributed by her friend [Brion Gysin](/source/Brion_Gysin), is for "[Haschich](/source/Hashish) Fudge", a mixture of fruit, nuts, spices, and "[canibus sativa](/source/Cannabis_sativa)" [*[sic](/source/Sic)*] or marijuana. The "Haschich Fudge" recipe appeared in the British edition of the book, but it was left out of the first United States edition published by [Harper & Brothers](/source/HarperCollins). It was included in the second American edition and became popular within the [1960s counterculture](/source/1960s_counterculture) movement. She and the recipe were referenced in the 1968 film, *[I Love You, Alice B. Toklas](/source/I_Love_You%2C_Alice_B._Toklas)*, starring [Peter Sellers](/source/Peter_Sellers),[11] as well as the 1969 *[Bewitched](/source/Bewitched)* episode, "Tabitha's Weekend". When Tabitha asked if Endora could have a cookie, Endora asked Phyllis Stephens (Tabitha's other grandmother), "They wouldn't by chance be from an Alice B. Toklas recipe?" [12] The cookbook has been translated into numerous languages.

A second cookbook followed in 1958, *Aromas and Flavors of Past and Present*. However, Toklas did not approve of it, as it was heavily annotated by [Poppy Cannon](/source/Poppy_Cannon), an editor at *[House Beautiful](/source/House_Beautiful)* magazine. Toklas also wrote articles for several magazines and newspapers, including *[The New Republic](/source/The_New_Republic)* and *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

In 1963, Toklas published her autobiography *What Is Remembered*, which ends abruptly with the death of Stein.[13]

Toklas's later years were very difficult because of poor health and financial problems. She converted to the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church) in 1957.[14][15] She died in poverty at the age of 89, and is buried next to Stein in [Père Lachaise Cemetery](/source/P%C3%A8re_Lachaise_Cemetery), [Paris](/source/Paris), France;[16] her name is engraved on the back of Stein's headstone.[17]

## Legacy

*[I Love You, Alice B. Toklas](/source/I_Love_You%2C_Alice_B._Toklas)* is a 1968 film starring Peter Sellers that references Toklas's cannabis brownies, which play a significant role in the plot.[11] [Marianne's Ice Cream](/source/Marianne's_Ice_Cream) in [Santa Cruz, California](/source/Santa_Cruz%2C_California), created an ice cream flavor (without cannabis) called "Alice B. Toklas' Fudge Brownie" in honor of the brownies in Sellers' film.[18]

The [Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club](/source/Alice_B._Toklas_LGBTQ_Democratic_Club) is a political organization founded in San Francisco in 1971.

[Samuel Steward](/source/Samuel_Steward), who met Toklas and Stein in the 1930s, edited *Dear Sammy: Letters from Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas* (1977), and also wrote two mystery novels featuring Stein and Toklas as characters: *Murder Is Murder Is Murder* (1985) and *The Caravaggio Shawl* (1989).

In the 1980s, [Jacquie Phelan](/source/Jacquie_Phelan), a mountain bike racer and founder of the first all-women's mountain biking club, raced under the pseudonym "Alice B. Toe Clips" in reference to Toklas.[19]

The [San Francisco Board of Supervisors](/source/San_Francisco_Board_of_Supervisors) voted in 1998 to rename a block of Myrtle Street between Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco as Alice B. Toklas Place, since Toklas was born one block away on O'Farrell Street.[20][21]

Toklas has been portrayed on-screen by [Wilfrid Brambell](/source/Wilfrid_Brambell) in the 1978 Swedish film *[The Adventures of Picasso](/source/The_Adventures_of_Picasso)*, by [Linda Hunt](/source/Linda_Hunt) in the 1987 film *[Waiting for the Moon](/source/Waiting_for_the_Moon_(film))*;[22] by [Alice Dvoráková](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alice_Dvor%C3%A1kov%C3%A1&action=edit&redlink=1) in the 1993 television series *[The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles](/source/The_Young_Indiana_Jones_Chronicles)*;[23] and by [Thérèse Bourou-Rubinsztein](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Bourou-Rubinsztein&action=edit&redlink=1) in the 2011 film *[Midnight in Paris](/source/Midnight_in_Paris)*.[24]

In 2020, artist [Maira Kalman](/source/Maira_Kalman), along with her son Alex Kalman, created and published a short film adaptation of *The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas* called "My Name is Alice B. Toklas."[25]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 44876-44877). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Green, David B. (March 7, 2016) [March 7, 2016]. ["This Day in Jewish History | 1967: Gertrude Stein's Lesbian Lover, Hash Brownie Publicist, Dies in Penury"](https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2016-03-07/ty-article/1967-gertrude-steins-lover-dies-poor/0000017f-e6c7-da9b-a1ff-eeef006d0000). *Haaretz*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20221203200727/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2016-03-07/ty-article/1967-gertrude-steins-lover-dies-poor/0000017f-e6c7-da9b-a1ff-eeef006d0000) from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Malcolm, Janet. ["Strangers in Paradise: How Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas got to Heaven"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/11/13/strangers-in-paradise). *The New Yorker*. Retrieved March 15, 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Souhami, Diana – *Gertrude and Alice: Gertrude Stein and Alice B.Toklas*, London: Pandora, 1991. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0044408338](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0044408338)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Nichols, Nancy. *Women Behind the Wheel (An Unexpected and Personal History of the Car)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Et Tu, Gertrude? Stein and Toklas: The World War II Years"](http://www.nickharvilllibraries.com/2/post/2018/08/gertrude-stein-and-alice-b-toklas-the-world-war-ii-years.html). *Nick Harvill Libraries*. Retrieved July 23, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Rogers_7-0)** Rogers, W. G. *When This You See Remember Me: GERTRUDE STEIN in Person*, New York: Rinehart & Co., 1946.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Merrill_8-0)** Merrill, James (1993). *A Different Person: A Memoir*. New York: Alfred P. Knopf. p. 75.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Alice B. Toklas Life Stories, Books, & Links"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140301205854/http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/alice.b.toklas.asp). Todayinliterature.com. Archived from [the original](http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/alice.b.toklas.asp) on March 1, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Wagner-Martin, Linda – *Favored Strangers: Gertrude Stein and Her Family*, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995, p. 269.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-goaskalice_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-goaskalice_11-1) Eplett, Layla. ["Go Ask Alice: The History of Toklas' Legendary Hashish Fudge"](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/food-matters/go-ask-alice-the-history-of-toklas-8217-legendary-hashish-fudge/). *Scientific American Blog Network*. Retrieved February 8, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** [""Bewitched" Tabitha's Weekend (TV Episode 1969) - Plot - IMDb"](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0523228/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl). *[IMDb](/source/IMDb)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["The True Story of Alice B. Toklas | University of Iowa Press - The University of Iowa"](https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/true-story-alice-b-toklas). *uipress.uiowa.edu*. March 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Green, David B. (March 7, 2016). ["This Day in Jewish History | 1967: Gertrude Stein's Lesbian Lover, Hash Brownie Publicist, Dies in Penury"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190719083411/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1967-gertrude-stein-s-lover-dies-poor-1.5413810). *Haaretz*. Archived from [the original](https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1967-gertrude-stein-s-lover-dies-poor-1.5413810) on July 19, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Winslow, Art (October 6, 2007). ["Behind the facade"](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-10-06-0710040408-story.html). *Chicago Tribune*. Retrieved April 30, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Wilson, Scott. *Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons*, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 44876-44877). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Linzie, Anna (2006), [*The True Story of Alice B. Toklas: A Study of Three Autobiographies*](https://books.google.com/books?id=XGqCcEtct2oC&pg=PA1), University of Iowa Press, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-87745-985-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87745-985-9)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["About Us | Marianne's Ice Cream"](https://mariannesicecream.com/about/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["On the Road with Alice B. Toeclips – Charlie Kelly MTB Pioneer"](https://fattireflyer.com/2023/01/02/on-the-road-with-alice-b-toeclips/). January 2, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Herscher, Elaine (July 1, 1998), ["Paving the Way for Gays: S.F. may name street for lesbian Alice B. Toklas"](http://www.sfgate.com/c/a/1998/07/01/MN25307.DTL), *San Francisco Chronicle*, retrieved November 8, 2009

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["Board of Supervisors : September 22, 1998"](http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=2728). City and County of San Francisco. September 22, 1998. Retrieved November 8, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** ["""American Playhouse" Waiting for the Moon (TV Episode 1987) – IMDb"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094286/?ref_=ttmi_tt). *[IMDb](/source/IMDb)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** [""The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" Paris, September 1908 (TV Episode 1993) – IMDb"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0752184/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt). *[IMDb](/source/IMDb)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** ["Midnight in Paris (2011) – IMDb"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605783/t). *[IMDb](/source/IMDb)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** ["My Name is Alice B. Toklas"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP8dnCJ_LIA). February 20, 2020 – via YouTube.

## Further reading

- [Malcolm, Janet](/source/Janet_Malcolm). *Two Lives (Gertrude and Alice)*; [Yale University Press](/source/Yale_University_Press); September 2008; 240 pp; [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0300143102](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0300143102)

- Salinger, Sylvia; Bennett, Albert S. (ed.). *Just a Very Pretty Girl From the Country: Sylvia Salinger's Letters from France 1912–1913*. Southern Illinois Press, 1987. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8093-1329-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8093-1329-4)

- [Simon, Linda](/source/Linda_Simon). *The Biography of Alice B. Toklas*. Lincoln: [University of Nebraska Press](/source/University_of_Nebraska_Press), 1991. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0803292031](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0803292031)

- [Souhami, Diana](/source/Diana_Souhami). *Gertrude and Alice*. London: Pandora, 1991. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0044408338](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0044408338)

- [Stendhal, Renate](/source/Renate_Stendhal) (ed.). *Gertrude Stein In Words and Pictures: A Photobiography*. [Algonquin Books](/source/Workman_Publishing_Company#Imprints_and_distribution), 1989. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-945575-99-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-945575-99-8); [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-945575-99-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-945575-99-3)

## External links

[Library resources](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library) about
 **Alice B. Toklas**

- [Online books](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=viaf&su=5059351&library=OLBP)

- [Resources in your library](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=viaf&su=5059351)

- [Resources in other libraries](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=viaf&su=5059351&library=0CHOOSE0)

**By Alice B. Toklas**

- [Resources in your library](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?at=viaf&au=5059351)

- [Resources in other libraries](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?at=viaf&au=5059351&library=0CHOOSE0)

- [Biography portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Biography)
- [LGBTQ portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:LGBTQ)

- [Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Collection](https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.steincol), Yale Collection of American Literature. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

- [Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Papers](https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.stein), Yale Collection of American Literature. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

- [Alice B. Toklas Collection](https://web.archive.org/web/20100711080237/http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?id=ark%3A%2F88435%2F1c18df81v) from the [Manuscript Division of the Princeton University Library](http://www.princeton.edu/~rbsc/department/manuscripts/)

- [Alice Babette Toklas](http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/toklas-alice-babette) from the Jewish Women's Archive

- [Blog discussing Gertrude Stein](http://www.quotinggertrudestein.com) written by Gertrude Stein scholar, Renate Stendhal, author of "Gertrude Stein in Words and Pictures"

- [San Francisco Block Book (1894) page 107](https://archive.org/stream/handyblockbookof1894hick#page/n210/mode/1up) showing Western Addition, Block 60, Louis Levinsky residence (922 O'Farrell Street, home of Mr. Levinsky's teenage granddaughter, Alice B. Toklas)

- [Alice B Awards](http://www.alicebawards.org/about.html)

v t e Gertrude Stein Fiction Three Lives (1909) The Making of Americans (1925) Paris France (1940) Ida: A Novel (1941) Memoirs The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933) Everybody's Autobiography (1937) Plays A List (1923) Poetry Tender Buttons (1914) If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso (1924) Libretto Four Saints in Three Acts (1934) Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (1938) The Mother of Us All (1947) Portrayals Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1905-06 painting) Gertrude Stein (1923 statue, cast 1992) Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century (1980 painting) Waiting for the Moon (1987 film) Midnight in Paris (2011 film) 27 (2014 opera) Genius (2018 television series) Related Leo Stein (brother) Alice B. Toklas The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book 27 rue de Fleurus "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" Lost Generation Gertrude and Alice (1991 book)

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Japan Italy Czech Republic Spain Portugal Netherlands Norway Latvia Greece Korea Sweden Poland Vatican Israel Catalonia Belgium Croatia Academics CiNii Artists ULAN People Trove LibraryThing Deutsche Biographie DDB Other IdRef Open Library NARA SNAC 2 Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alice B. Toklas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_B._Toklas) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_B._Toklas?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.