Spencer Heath Archive

Item 877

Candid note by Heath’s grandson, Spencer MacCallum, during the time he was sharing Heath’s apartment at 11 Waverly Place, New York City 3. Heath was known by all and sundry, young and old, as “Popdaddy.” This came about when his granddaughter, Beatrice O’Connell, was very small and met her grandfather for the first time. It was explained that he was her mother’s father, whom her mother called “Papa,” just as she had a father, whom she called “Daddy.” So what should she call her grandfather, she wanted to know .. “Papadaddy?” The name “Popdaddy” stuck for the rest of Heath’s life.

November 1, 1955

MacCallum:  “Popdaddy says that many years ago he was attracted to a young lady, but when he took her out once and saw how she went at cutting into a bar of butter, not slicing it at right angles from one end but “sailing into it,” he decided he wouldn’t have any thing more to do with her. He was convinced that she didn’t have any “order in her constitution.” And now he doesn’t remember her name.

Note: Popdaddy doesn’t appear to have any order about his own personal things, but actually he has a real system in a way. His system is illustrated by how he keeps his some-twenty printed pamphlets so that he can always find some. He puts some of each all around, in every place that he can think of among his things and in his apartment and even his car, so that he never has to look for any of one kind of thing very long before he finds it — wherever he is. He does the same with rubber bands, paper clips, stationery, pencils, food (but this usually confined to the kitchen except for candy, nuts, cookies and crackers, etc.), glue, pieces of leather, tin, string, paper bags, etc. Whoops — here he comes. He’s roasting chestnuts.