Ruth Ford (1911-2008) reads from Chapter 80 “About Esther Longtree, the Infanticide” of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young. Ford was a model and actress, but was best known as a muse for authors and playwrights. She was a member of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater; its director helped her secure a number of contracts with Hollywood studios. Her apartment in the Dakota in Manhattan functioned as a salon for creative types and intellectuals. Truman Capote and Tennesee Williams were among her many visitors.

In this chapter, Esther Longtree continues to contemplate her life decisions and why she is perpetually pregnant. She wonders what sort of void she is inadvertently trying to fill with her pregnancies. This time, she dwells upon Walter, the one child that she did give birth to. But where is he? Did she kill him? Even Esther wonders about whether or not her first born ever existed.

 © copyright Charles Ruas 2023