STORIES THAT REALLY DID HAPPEN, RE-CALLED BY HARRY HARPER
SALVADOR DALI AND BARRY HUMPHRIES
Gotham Book Mart, 41 West 47th Street, New York, November 1963
One afternoon in November 1963, Barry Humphries, then 29 years old, finds himself atop a ladder in the rare book room of Gotham Book Mart in New York. At that moment, Salvador Dali walks in, prepared for a signing event for his latest work, The Diary Of A Genius.
Accompanying him is his 69-year-old wife Gala, known for her insatiable interest in younger men.
With a hint of servility, Humphries descends and introduces himself to Dali, who has long been an admired figure for him. Dali expresses his longstanding desire to travel to Australia to study Aboriginal cave art. He then transitions into what Humphries perceives as ‘a sort of gibberish, his whimsical interpretation of Aboriginal language’.
The bookshop manager is eager to commence the signing session, but Gala Dali has different intentions.
‘She started stroking my rather lackluster hair and suggested that we all head back to the St Regis Hotel right away,’ Humphries recalls.
Feeling a mix of excitement and trepidation due to Gala’s notorious reputation as a sexual predator, Humphries knows that she often has a continuous stream of younger lovers to combat her fears of aging. Nevertheless, he joins the Dalis to the St Regis Hotel, where the staff are quite accustomed to seeing Salvador walk his pet ocelot on a leash in the hallways. Throughout their journey, Dali maintains an ongoing stream of banter about Aboriginal culture.
Once inside the suite, Gala produces a large pair of scissors and, gripping the back of Humphries’ head firmly with her left hand, begins to chop away at his hair. Snip! Snip!
Fortunately, Humphries manages to wriggle away from her grasp with only minimal hair loss. Shortly after, Salvador and Gala erupt into an intense and personal argument, with Salvador waving his arms and shouting curses, while Gala fires back in French.
Feeling somewhat out of place, Barry Humphries quietly slips away, returning to the outside world.
by Harry Harper
