EN PASSANT

March 1968, Volume IV, Number vii

***SINCLAIR LEWIS AND THE CHESSBOARD***

BY D. E. KEELER

Berkeley

I received recently (in reply to an enquiry) a letter from San Francisco writer Barnaby Conrad. I give part of the letter here.

"I met Sinclair Lewis in Santa Barbara, where I was teaching school. He said, 'Do you play chess?' and I said no. 'I'll give you a month to learn,' he said, 'then come East as my secretary.'"

"This is what I did. Mr. Lewis was not a good chess player (nor am I), but he put great store by it and looked forward to his two games a day with great anticipation. I soon found that if he lost, he went into a foul mood…. Other friends and visitors, such as Bennet Cerf and Carl Van Doren and John Gunther came [to play chess with Lewis]."