Empty Mansions

but returned to her ancestral home rather than submit to a life behind barbed wire in the Japanese American internment camps established during World War II. Now, however, Josui finds herself feeling as out of place in Japan as she did in America. Hers is a story of beauty and pain, of a woman’s quiet, dignified courage as she attempts to move from one culture to another—not unlike Huguette’s own story.
    • • •
    Caterina Marsh said that neither Huguette nor her hobbies seemed the least bit odd—once you talked with her.
    “We are all taken by customs and culture,” she said. “I have a brother who became fascinated by trains. There’s nothing strange about having a fascination like collecting stamps.
    “She developed an incredible knowledge about the art and culture of Japan. It was astonishing what she knew, all the legends and folklore. To me, she was the last of an era.
    “We are all a little peculiar, as she would say.”
THE GOOD FAIRY

 
    H UGUETTE ’ S FAVORITE MAGAZINE in her youth was a popular French weekly for young girls,
La Semaine de Suzette
, which holds an important place in the collective memory of France.
Suzette
included games, crafts, recipes, and dress patterns for the doll Bleuette. Available only through the magazine from 1905 to 1960, Bleuette was about eleven inches high, about half the size of today’s American Girl dolls. Most important, the magazine included stories with lavish color illustrations.
    Huguette did more than fondly remember or collect these souvenirs of her youth. In her middle age, she applied her own brand of generosity, reaching out to the magazine’s illustrators, becoming their patron, their friend, and their savior. An entire generation of the greatest illustrators in France found themselves blessed by an unseen benefactor from America.
    She remembered one illustrator in particular from
Suzette
, and also from her books of fairy tales and fables, filled with “Le Maître Chat” (the mischievous Puss in Boots), “Le Petit Poucet” (the tiny Tom Thumb), and “Cendrillon” (the underdog Cinderella). His name was Félix Lorioux. American audiences may not know that name, but they’re certainly familiar with this one: Walt Disney.
    Lorioux was an early inspiration to Disney, who worked in France after the Great War in 1919. Lorioux was hired by Disney to illustrate early Mickey Mouse books, including the French version of
Mickey and Minnie
. In 1916, Lorioux had created the character of a comic goose in a sailor suit, a goose that looks a lot like Donald Duck. A humble man, Lorioux was often credited by others for creating Donald Duck, but Disney published his illustrations for decades without crediting him. As a silent protest or wink, Lorioux would hide the names of his family in his drawings for Disney.
    In France, Lorioux is as well known as, say, Beatrix Potter is in England. Lorioux illustrated more than one hundred books and has beencalled one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Whom did he influence? Well, to name one,Picasso, who riffed on Lorioux’s tragicomic Don Quixote.
    In her forties, Huguette went looking for Félix Lorioux. In 1950, Artine Courbalk, a French bookbinder in New York who had known Huguette since childhood, sought out Lorioux on her instructions. Courbalk was the intermediary, a courier for instructions from Huguette to the arts. In his many letters to Lorioux, Courbalk offered a detailed portrait of Huguette’s personality. He described her, in French, as a “rare bird,” very kind, compassionate, and generous, who “always keeps her smile, the smile of a child.” She doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, never seems to age, and doesn’t wear makeup—“she is ravishing and does not need it.” Courbalk explained that Huguette lived in a separate apartment from her mother, though they were “very close and inseparable.” He said Huguette suffered from epistolophobia—the fear of writing letters—which is why she mostly used the telephone and sent telegrams. He tipped off Lorioux that Huguette was “rich, very rich,” and capricious, confiding that her whims “are really a command, and will be well paid for.” He said she wants light colors, pastels, and fairy scenes and doesn’t like to hear bad news or to express any criticism. In short, Courbalk described Huguette as “a comet.”
    Through Courbalk, Huguette commissioned works from Lorioux—starting with illustrated legends