From Booklist
*Starred Review* Beautiful, vivacious, stylish, and free-spirited, Reynolds (1901–80) was asked about her “racially ambiguous appearance” so often that she came up with “American cocktail” to describe her “red, white, and black” legacy.” A dancer, actor, psychologist, and teacher, Reynolds recorded this archly witty, sexually frank, nonchalantly confident, yet curiously humble memoir in the mid–1970s, and it is published now for the first time, thanks to its discovery by Cornell professor George Hutchinson. Reynolds jauntily describes her lively, privileged childhood in Chicago and Los Angeles among her extended multiracial family, which included her cousin, Langston Hughes. Stating that she always felt free “to do exactly as I pleased,” Reynolds appeared in The Thief of Bagdad with Douglas Fairbanks, moved to New York, absconded with her college tuition, and headed to Paris in 1928––“Away from the lynchings, away from the Negro problem.” Dizzying tales of famous artists and writers, escapades and affairs, sojourns in Tangiers and London, and harrowing moments as WWII begins are punctuated by confrontations with prejudice and hate. Kudos to Hutchinson for bringing this independent and intrepid citizen of the world back to shimmer and shine among us, carrying forward her “guiding passion to try to improve racial relationships, to get people of different nationalities, colors and religions to understand and appreciate each other.” --Donna Seaman
Review
Beautiful, vivacious, stylish, and free-spirited,
Reynolds (1901–80) was asked about her ‘racially ambiguous appearance’ so often that she came up with ‘American cocktail’ to describe her ‘red, white, and black’ legacy. A dancer, actor, psychologist, and teacher, Reynolds recorded this archly witty, sexually frank, nonchalantly confident, yet curiously humble memoir in the mid-1970s, and it is published now for the first time, thanks to its discovery by Cornell professor
George Hutchinson. Reynolds jauntily describes her lively, privileged childhood in Chicago and Los Angeles among her extended multiracial family, which included her cousin, Langston Hughes… Dizzying tales of famous artists and writers, escapades and affairs, sojourns in Tangiers and London, and harrowing moments as WWII begins are punctuated by confrontations with prejudice and hate. Kudos to Hutchinson for bringing this independent and intrepid citizen of the world back to shimmer and shine among us, carrying forward her ‘guiding passion to try to improve racial relationships, to get people of different nationalities, colors and religions to understand and appreciate each other.’ (Donna Seaman
Booklist (starred review) 2014-02-01)
[This] memoir breezily recount[s] the Zelig-like adventures of a woman who had starred in some of the first black films made in Hollywood, mingled with the Harlem Renaissance elite, been drawn by Man Ray and Matisse in Paris and touched down in Spain during its Civil War, before packing up her Chanel dresses and heading home to a more conventional life as a psychologist… It’s a striking addition, scholars say, to the still-small shelf of published memoirs by African-American women of the early 20th century. (Jennifer Schuessler
New York Times 2014-02-17)
American Cocktail: A ‘Colored Girl’ in the World is the recently discovered memoir of
Anita Reynolds, an irrepressible chameleon who rubbed shoulders with Harlem Renaissance literati, modeled for Coco Chanel and so much more. (
Essence 2014-02-01)
Reynolds’s memoir of her adventures in 1930s Paris and Europe, before World War II drove her back to the United States, was written in the 1970s but was never published. After a brief silent movie career and an ‘uptown/downtown’ period hobnobbing with Harlem’s intelligentsia as well as Greenwich Village’s bohemians, the racially mixed author decamped to Europe at just the right time to meet such luminaries as Man Ray, Antonin Artaud, Louise Bryant, and many others. She lived the Left Bank life, with many forays into respectability (or something like it), traveling between the two worlds effortlessly… Her lavish descriptions of the clothes she wore, the men she loved, and the places where she dined and danced enchant, and her frank discussion of sex is refreshing.
Hutchinson’s detailed chapter notes provide invaluable biographical and cultural info… This title is essential for those who enjoy reading about the African American expat experience, as well as fans of Paris memoirs. (Liz French
Library Journal)
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