A Nation of Irvings
Nollso, John
John Nollson A NATION OF IRVINGS One crucial distinction between Washington, D.C., and New York City is that in Washington one almost never encounters anyone named Irving. Even in New York, where...
...Rock Creek Park was the site of a gigantic rock concert, followed by a massive gathering known simply as an Irv-In...
...But all this was daydreaming, as Wilkens soon realized...
...Everyone who was anyone in political Washington turned out for the opening...
...They were led by Irving and Esther Seligman, who also brought along their daughter, Courtney...
...He had pushed through the memorable exhibition, "Honor Thy Irving," and had followed it up with the even more widely-attended display, "A Nation of Irvings...
...And busloads of ordinary Irvings were brought down from New York City-accountants, furriers, beer distributors, divorce lawyers, carpet wholesalers, paint salesmen, morticians, piano tuners, orthodontists...
...All this was characteristic of the elan and daring that Wilkens had brought to the otherwise stodgy profession of museum administration...
...The rapid proliferation of Jasons, Scotts, and Michaels threatens to make the Irving an endangered species...
...Meanwhile, something else had occurred to Wilkens...
...Its members included Irving Babbit, Irving Berlin, Irving Caesar, Irving Crane, Irving Horowitz, Irving Howe, Clifford Irving, Julius Erving, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Washington Irving, Irving Kristol, Irving Lazar, Irving R. Levine, and Irving Shapiro...
...Wilkens thought in larger, more monumental, indeed genuinely monumental, terms...
...It was estimated that $7 million could be raised in this way...
...Even in New York, where Irvings almost surely originated, they are becoming a rare breed...
...Months passed, and the dedication of the new Hall of Irvings was imminent...
...Funds earmarked for this purpose were deposited in a special escrow account at the Irving Trust Company in New York City...
...He could never get it past his superiors...
...This is of substantial interest to students of Americana...
...Is it really the case that we will come to think of the Irving as a meteor which flashed across the sky, providing brief but intense illumination, then burning up or somehow escaping the earth's gravitation and passing into the cosmos...
...If this were true, one needed only to enlist the political acumen of Robert Strauss and the awesome musical reputation of Richard Strauss to create yet another new Hall in the Smithsonian Institution...
...And yet both Levis and Strausses were in as much peril as Irvings...
...It was agreed that a nationwide fund-raising effort would be launched...
...The Board held its meetings in a small house in Irvington, New Jersey...
...A Board of Advisors was appointed...
...Others might seek to reconstruct an ancient Assyrian palace under a plexiglass roof...
...A living monument to the Irving, now that was something you could sink your teeth into...
...The Dallas Cowboys played a special exhibition game in their stadium in Irving, Texas...
...Or will we come to recognize the Irving as a permanent link in the Great Chain of Being...
...One conjured up a mental picture of Bernard-Henri Levy, the new philosopher, and Seymour Levy, the old baker of rye bread that one needn't be Jewish to love...
...The City Council agreed to a special set of traffic regulations so that a block party could be held on Irving Street...
...Jason Wilkens, whose father was of course named Irving, had taken the lead in his capacity as Associate Curator of the historical collections...
...One day he was struck by the curious fact that Levi Strauss the pantsmaker and Levi-Strauss the structuralist both had the same name...
...It was the most brilliant assemblage of eminent Irvings in a single room since Irving Jefferson dined alone...
...Now he wished to make the Irving a permanent feature of the Museum of History and Technology by opening a Hall of Irvings...
...Sophisticated analysis of computer lists revealed the name of every American who had an uncle named Irving, and they would be contacted directly...
...One thought immediately of Leo Strauss, the philosopher, and Lewis Strauss, Eisenhower's old friend...
...By passage of a concurrent resolution, Congress established a National Irving Week...
...Some came out of polite curiosity, others merely to gawk...
...It fell to the Smithsonian Institution, as is customary in these cases, to fix the Irving firmly in the American tradition...
...Were there not almost as many Americans who had an Uncle Levi as an Uncle Irving...
Vol. 12 • August 1979 • No. 8
