Two by Two: Tango, Two-Step, and L.A. Night - Eve Babitz (Proof Copy)
BABITZ, Eve. Two by Two: Tango, Two-Step, and L.A. Night. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Advance Uncorrected Reader’s Proof copy.
201 pp. 8vo. Original printed wrappers, printed label to front wrapper. A very good copy.
In this book Eve Babitz spends two years of her life, ruins nine pairs of shoes, and goes through countless dance partners learning to appreciate and master all the hot dances from foxtrot and two-step to lindy, tango, salsa, and swing. Along the way she meets obsessed dancers and listens night after night as they pour out the secrets of their style—who the best teachers are, where to find the perfect dancing shoes, and how to fall in love with your partner. In her signature style, Eve brings the flirtatious energy of dance alive like no other writer.
Eve Babitz (1943-2021), a native Angelino, was one of LA’s ‘IT’ girls of her era, the ‘louche, wayward, headlong, hidden genius of Los Angeles’ (Lili Anolik, Hollywood’s Eve, 2020). She was the goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky and a graduate of Hollywood High. She became an icon of art and sex when in 1963 she posed naked playing chess with Marcel Duchamp. A remarkable figure in American letters, she is the essential LA writer.
'I still don’t know why people want to dance. But I do know, after reading this charming book, why people will want to read everything by Miss Eve Babitz.' (Joseph Heller)