New Friends

The success of Ballad for Americans allowed Latouche to move into nice quarters in Greenwich Village and marry Theodora Griffis. During this period, that is, the early 1940s, his new friends included Carson McCullers and Leo Lerman. He also continued to befriend notable émigrés, including Brion Gysin, Jimmy Ernst, Yul Brynner, Marlene Dietrich, Eleonora and Francesco von Mendelssohn, Anaïs Nin, and Ruth Yorck. Meanwhile, his interest in the occult was reflected in his friendships with medium Eileen Garrett, palmist Margaret Mamlok, sand astrologers Charles Jayne and Natacha Rambova. He and many of his friends took stimulants under the supervision of Dr. Max Jacobson, with whom Latouche collaborated on some projects, and who became known as the notorious Dr. Feelgood.