@@@@@ "He said it was 'too rich' Does that strike
@@@@@
"He said it was 'too rich' Does that strike a
chord with you, Edgar?"
616
I smiled"Why do you suppose Elizabeth turned Big
Pink into an artist's retreat? Was she always a
patron of the arts?"
She looked surprised"Your friend didn't tell you?
Perhaps he doesn't knowAccording to local legend,
Elizabeth was once an artist of some note
herself
"What do you mean, according to local legend?"
"There's a story - for all I know it's pure myth -
that she was a child prodigyThat she painted
beautifully, while very young, and then just
stopped
"Did you ever ask her?"
"Of course, silly manAsking people things is
what I do She was swaying a bit on her feet now,
the Sophia Loren eyes noticeably bloodshot
"What did she say?"
"That there was nothing to itShe said, 'Those
who can, doAnd those who can't support those who
can'"
"Sounds good to me," I said
"Yes, it did to me, too," Mary said, taking
another sip from her Waterford tumbler"The only
problem I had with it was I didn't believe it
617
"Why not?"
"I don't know, I just didn'tI had an old friend
named Aggie Winterborn who used to do the adviceto-
the-lovelorn column in the Tampa Trib, and I
happened to mention the story once to herThis
was around the time Dalí was favoring the Suncoast
with his presence, maybe 1980We were in a bar
somewhere - in those days we were always in a bar
somewhere - and the conversation had turned to how
legends are builtI mentioned the story of how
Elizabeth had supposedly been a baby Rembrandt as
an example of that, and Aggie - long dead, God
rest her - said she didn't think that was a legend,
she thought it was the truth, or a version of it
She said she'd seen a newspaper story about it
"Did you ever check?" I askedI don't write everything I know"
- she tipped me a wink - "but I like to know
everything
"What did you find?"
"Noth