ABSTRACT
Berryman left his preparatory school after just five years. In the annual exams he had achieved an average grade of 78 and did not anticipate much difficulty in being admitted to Columbia College in the fall. Although he professed among his ‘vocational experiences’, a number of money-making odd jobs such as tutoring, chauffeuring, gardening, and selling magazines, he spent most of the summer of 1932 playing games and going to the movies. He persevered at contract bridge and chess, and spoiled himself by buying a bargain tennis racquet in order to emulate Ellsworth Vines, his hero of the season. At the cinema he marvelled at Jean Harlow (wearing ‘stunning clothes, concealing nothing’) in RedHeaded Woman, and sat through two consecutive performances of the Paul Muni film Scarface. He beguiled at least one long day in July with abstracting three-letter words from the slogan ‘Get Phillips Magnesia Toothpaste’ for a contest. His listless habits promised no better things to come. Intellectually he excelled, but lazy ways during his freshman years at Columbia culminated in his failing an exam, losing his scholarship, and dropping out of college for a while.
