Viola & Duncan of Fruit Vale

My father told me his mother’s best friend, Viola, was a “fruitcake” and a Isadora Duncan freak. Isadora was born in Oakland – in spite of the need of some historians to get her the hell out of there!

We Presco children knew Viola loved Melba – with a passion! That is Melba and Viola dressed up as dancers in the Oakland Hills near Joaquin Miller’s house, so says the caption on the back. I believe these close friends for life are giving one another a kiss. Did they know Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolklas were lesbians? Consider the book ‘Love Match’ by the author who was working on Christine’s missing biography. Pierrot claims Christine Rosamond read this book, and hired Faulkner after seeing her photo on the jacket.
Hmmmmmmm!

These images are going to the Oakland Museum.

Fruit Vale was a city by itself, founded by refugees of…