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Mary Ann

ARI

Mary Ann, we know from her hand-edited, practice inscrip­tions in the Ayn Rand Archives, that Miss Rand gave a great deal of thought to the inscrip­tions she wrote in books she gave to peo­ple. Can you tell us about the inscrip­tions in the books you received from her?

MARY ANN

I’ll do them in the order she gave them to me. The first one is The Foun­tain­head: “To Mary Ann Rukavina—Thank you for a magnificent per­for­mance and for the inspir­ing way you made use of the phi­los­o­phy of this book—Ayn Rand, May 24, 1955.”

ARI

What was the per­for­mance?

MARY ANN

A lec­ture I gave to my medieval art class. Ayn at­tended. The lec­ture com­pared a modern sus­pen­sion bridge to a nonobjective paint­ing. I asked: what made each possible, and then answered the ques­tion by explain­ing the un­der­ly­ing phi­los­o­phy of each. To connect it to the course, I quoted from Roger Bacon, spe­cif­ical­ly his predic­tions about technology in a future civiliza­tion. To introduce phi­los­o­phy, I quoted from Roark’s speech¹—the paragraph that begins “Man cannot survive except through his mind.” And brought in concepts of identity and causality.

Ayn loved the lec­ture. She said it was the first time, to her knowledge, that The Foun­tain­head had been used in a col­lege class. The next time I saw her, she gave me the inscribed copy of The Foun­tain­head. And a small gold pin in the shape of the dollar sign, inscribed “A is A.”

ARI

Let’s go to the next autograph.

MARY ANN

That was Atlas Shrugged: “To Mary Ann—expect­ing you to fight for Richard Halley as I fought for Hank Rearden.² Ayn, August 15, 1957.”

ARI

Any memories connected with that inscrip­tion?

MARY ANN

Yes, two. One is the night we were given Atlas. She handed the books out, one by one. And of course every­one read his inscrip­tion immediate­ly and thanked her. Everyone felt the same thing: what a pleasure to see Atlas as a real book! To hold it as a physical object! Then, we all sat down and started to read, ignor­ing her complete­ly. This went on for a few minutes, and then Nathan started to laugh and called it to our atten­tion.

ARI

Was she at all offended?

MARY ANN

Just the opposite. She said it was a great compliment to an author, especial­ly since we had all read Atlas in manuscript. She was very pleased, and amused.

ARI

What is the other memory?

MARY ANN

A conversa­tion Ayn and I had a few weeks later, about my inscrip­tion. I raised the subject of how one fights for Richard Halley. And we discussed the forms the battle would take—such as teach­ing and writ­ing. She added that it also included every conversa­tion I might have in which I explained the purpose and mean­ing of art. And then she said some­thing that was then and has always been very important to me.

ARI

What was that?

MARY ANN

She reminded me that her goal was to write fic­tion, to create the kind of characters she admired and wanted to see in real life, and that all her work as a philosopher was for that purpose. She stressed the importance of pur­su­ing values in the way one finds most interest­ing and gives one the most pleasure—as she had done. She said that over the years she had been criticized for not writ­ing her ideas in nonfic­tion form; some peo­ple said it was her duty to do so. She said she would never have given up fic­tion to write philosophical treatises, that do­ing so would have been self-sacrificial. In that conversa­tion she stressed the importance of pur­su­ing personal values, and not un­der­tak­ing any battle as a duty.

ARI

And the next inscrip­tion?

MARY ANN

We the Liv­ing: “To Mary Ann—with my thanks for be­ing a ‘morale-build­ing’ ‘assistant—Ayn, December 24, 1958.” She gave all of us copies on Christmas Eve, which was close to the official publica­tion date in 1959.

ARI

She was referr­ing to your assistance on Atlas Shrugged?

MARY ANN

Yes, but also to other work I had done. After the publica­tion of Atlas, I continued to do small typ­ing jobs for her, from time to time. One of them was typ­ing the Foreword to We the Liv­ing, and there’s an amus­ing story connected with that. But first, if you look at the inscrip­tion, you see that she enclosed “morale-build­ing” with quota­tion marks, and started to put quota­tion marks around “assistant.” She apologized for the mistake, and I assured her that it was all right, that as her assistant I would correct it. Of course, I never did. It’s one of my favorite inscrip­tions.

ARI

What were you do­ing to boost her morale?

MARY ANN

She knew she could count on me to come on time, get right to work, finish assignments, and so forth, in a professional manner. And I loved work­ing for her, I always went in a buoyant mood. She said that lifted her spirits.

ARI

Tell me about the Foreword incident.

MARY ANN

I typed it from the handwritten manuscript, and then I proofread it before giv­ing it to her. She noticed immediate­ly a mistake I had made: I didn’t type “foreword,” I typed “forward.” She was amused by the mistake, and said it was a good Freudian slip, that it meant I was think­ing ahead, look­ing to the future.

ARI

Any other memories of that even­ing?

MARY ANN

Yes, one love­ly one. And that was the Christmas tree Frank put up for Leon­ard. Leon­ard loved everyth­ing about the Christmas season, and asked for a tree. So, that year, Frank bought a small, perfect­ly shaped pine, some ornaments, tinsel, lights—the works. And he made a splendid tree. He placed it on a table in a dim­ly lit corner of the liv­ing room, and the tree twinkled and glistened in the semi-darkness. It was a cheer­ful sight. That, incidental­ly, was vintage Frank O’Connor—to create some­thing beauti­ful for a friend he loved.

ARI

Are there other inscrip­tions?

MARY ANN

There are two more, both related to my marriage to Charles. Ayn’s engagement gift to me was a cookbook: Rombauer and Becker, Joy of Cook­ing. The inscrip­tion reads, “To Mary Ann—to make it a joy, think of a certain scene in Chapter II, Part III of ‘Atlas Shrugged‘—with all my best wishes and love, Ayn 10/10/64.”

ARI

And what is that scene?

MARY ANN

Dagny cook­ing breakfast for Galt in the valley. Ayn asked me to promise her that I would use it, even though she autographed it. I did use it, but first I put Saran Wrap over the autographed page to protect it. Soon, the book began to look like a cookbook in use, pages all splattered with food. It must be the on­ly cookbook autographed by Ayn Rand! I love the inscrip­tion. It says so much about her.

ARI

What is that?

MARY ANN

Her focus on values, on mak­ing some­thing that could be bor­ing, like cook­ing, into a romantic episode. It was Ayn’s reminder that a wife can find enjoyment in cook­ing, if it’s for some­one she loves. And Ayn’s sense of drama, too—the philosopher giv­ing some­thing simple, like a cookbook, but with an inscrip­tion referr­ing to a scene in her grand opus. It also reflects her tiddlywink, cheer­ful aspect.

So does the next inscrip­tion, five years later, in the copy she gave me of Night of January 16^th: “To Mary Ann—Happy Wedd­ing Anniversary!—Affec­tionate­ly, Ayn, 1969 (‘The exact date is on the book jacket.’).”

ARI

You were married on January 16?

MARY ANN

Yes. Actual­ly, it was Ayn’s idea. Charles and I were think­ing of gett­ing married ear­ly in January, and sail­ing on a honeymoon cruise on January 17. When Ayn learned this, she suggested we get married the night before, on January 16. “It’s good writ­ing,” she said.

ARI

Were you married in New York?

MARY ANN

Yes. We had a love­ly wed­ding given by Joan and Allan Blumenthal in their apartment. Incidental­ly, Frank gave me away and made my bouquet—a stun­ning ar­range­ment of white calla lilies. So, four years later, to celebrate our anniversary we decided to give each other copies of Night of January 16^th, and I asked Ayn’s secretary to get copies for us and deliver them to Ayn for autographs. She liked the idea and in­sist­ed on giv­ing them to us as her gifts.

ARI

Do you have any other mementos of your friendship?

MARY ANN

I have a few. One is a note she wrote to me. We had planned to meet at her apartment and go to the Roosevelt Hotel for dinner and a lec­ture. When I arrived at the apartment build­ing, the doorman handed me this note from Ayn:

“Dear Mary Ann: Please excuse me. But I had to go out and could not reach you (phoned several times, but you weren’t home). I will not have time to come back home, so I’ll go straight to the Roosevelt Coffee Shop. See you there—and will explain. Love, A.” It’s dated February 1, 1960.

When we did meet, she explained that she had been called to an unexpected business meet­ing with her agent. This note is an example of how scrupulous she was in her dealings with peo­ple.

ARI

In what way?

MARY ANN

Her doorman knew me, and she could easi­ly have asked him to tell me she had to leave and would meet me in the coffee shop. In a real emergency, she would have. But, by writ­ing the note, she let me know that it wasn’t an emergency. She took the time to call me more than once and to write a note confirm­ing our ar­range­ments, say­ing she would explain. She didn’t leave me to worry and wonder.

The other souvenirs are some notes and costume jewelry. There is a darl­ing note from 1962, after I had stayed with Frisco while they were away. “With love and thanks—from Frisco” followed by Ayn’s draw­ing of a paw print.

ARI

What was the occasion for the gift of jewelry?

MARY ANN

Her expression of thanks for the times I had come to stay with Frank while she was hospitalized. There are three pieces, two that she knew I especial­ly liked. One is a necklace in the shape of a snake, made of silver, and green-blue glass and enamel. It always made me think of Cleopatra’s asp. Another is a six-pointed star-shaped brooch, made of pieces of mother-of-pearl, with diamond chips at the star’s points. Someth­ing to be worn, she said, by an elegant and feminine sheriff. And the last is a necklace I had never seen her wear, but which she thought I would like. It’s a series of moonstones suspended from a delicate silver chain. She advised me to wear it against a bare neck, not on cloth­ing, for the best effect.

When she gave them to me, she told me not to put them away as souvenirs, but to wear and enjoy them.

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Copyright 2001 © Mary Ann Sures. Copyright 2001 © Leonard Peikoff. All rights reserved.

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  • Chapter I—Ayn Rand and Mary Ann Sures
    • Meeting Ayn Rand
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    • Finishing Atlas Shrugged
  • Chapter II—Ayn Rand and Charles Sures
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    • Stamp Collecting
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    • Conversations with Mary Ann
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