Parke-Bernet Galleries

The photograph of Greene from 1941 was taken at the sale of Edward Newton’s library, Parke-Bernet Galleries. The bibliographer Emily Millicent Sowerby, for whom Belle Greene was “a person that one is more than glad to have known, and would not have missed knowing for anything,” described the scene in her memoir: “The sale of Mr. Newton’s library was one of the great social functions of the season. . . . Everyone in the book world was present in full evening dress, of course. . . . Life Magazine was taking photographs of everything that was going on and of all the personalities. A photographer to whom Miss Greene was unknown had been instructed to take her photograph, so he leaned over me, and said to her, ‘Do you mind telling me who you are?’ ‘Not at all,’ replied Miss Greene with dignity and politeness. ‘I am Kate Smith, the radio star.’ The photographer was completely floored.” For Sowerby, Greene was “one of the most remarkable personalities” and “wittiest women” she had known.