Key West a Moveable Feast for Hemingway Fans

Kermit “Shine” Forbes remembers throwing his first punch at Ernest Hemingway. It was in a boxing ring in the 1930s, but neither had gloves on and neither expected to be fighting.

Hemingway was the referee, and Forbes was coaching a young boxer who was having a hard time with a more experienced pro. Forbes threw a towel into the ring three times to try to stop the fight. Hemingway refused, hurling the towel in Forbes’ face the third time around.

“I went into the ring and took a poke at him,” says Forbes, 83, recalling how the big man blocked the punch and others jumped in before another could be thrown.

“Some of the boys said, ‘You know who you just took a poke at?’ I said, ‘Some old bum trying to pick up a nickel or a dime to get himself a drink.’ ‘No, you just took a poke at Ernest Hemingway.’ ”

Forbes, then 23, didn’t recognize the name at the time, but he got to know Hemingway before the writer moved out of the city in 1939. Today it’s impossible to live in Key West or visit the island without feeling his presence--especially as the Hemingway Days Festival prepares to mark 100 years since the writer was born.

(Hemingway killed himself with a shotgun at his home in Ketchum, Idaho, less than three weeks before his 61st birthday in July 1961, and seven years after winning the Nobel Prize.)

Hemingway’s famous beard pops out at visitors in Key West bars, souvenir shops and bookstores. His two-story white Spanish colonial house with green shutters, second-floor wraparound porch, lush gardens and swimming pool is a must-see tourist stop.

The 10-day festival, which began Friday and runs through July 25, celebrates the writer’s work and personality. It features a short story competition, book readings and literary tours. It also salutes Hemingway’s thirst for adventure with a marlin fishing tournament and a running of the bulls. (A real bull is there for exhibition; the life-size wood-and-fiberglass bulls run on wheels.)

One of the most popular events is the Papas on Parade, when about 100 Hemingway look-alikes walk from Sloppy Joe’s, where Hemingway would throw back Scotch-and-waters, to his home on Whitehead Street less than a mile away.

The festival provides a focus on Hemingway, but his presence is felt year-round.

“There are people who come into town and go to every bookstore just to see the Hemingway that’s available,” says Bill Flagg, owner of Bargain Books, which sells used books.

“The normal question is: ‘Where is your Hemingway section?’ And No. 2 is: ‘Which books did he write while he was here?’ I have it written down somewhere because I can never remember,” says Flagg, wearing a Garfield, the cat, T-shirt that reads “For Whom the Dinner Bell Tolls.”

Flagg’s shop, a cavernous establishment that houses thousands of paperbacks, has a shelf at the front where Hemingway novels sit under the sign Local Authors.

Another shelf has a collection of books about Hemingway. Framed portraits of the writer adorn the walls, and a signed first-edition hardcover of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is squirreled away in a safe in the back room. The asking price: $4,500.

Flagg freely concedes that the best shop for rare Hemingways is about a mile away, Key West Island Book Store. “We’re like the ‘Sanford and Sons’ and he’s like the Tiffany’s.”

Librarian Anne Hoover says she also collects as much Hemingway as possible, noting that out-of-towners often come in to research the author. The interest of the locals keeps his books among the heaviest circulated.

“Anything I find on Hemingway, from ‘The Hemingway Cookbook’ to ‘The Hemingway Women,’ I like to add to the collection,” she says, standing near a display of Hemingway books at the front of the Key West library.

Forbes says Hemingway is more important to Key West now than when he lived here. Others agree, noting that he probably was able to work without all the attention the city now gives him.

“I don’t think he had nearly as many people making a big pilgrimage as they do now,” Hoover said. “But I do understand that he had quite a few people come up to the door and interrupt his writing and say, ‘I just wanted to meet you.’ They were gruffly turned away.”

After Forbes realized who Hemingway was, he, too, made his way to the Hemingway home and rang the bell. He apologized, and the two later sparred on friendly terms.

“He wasn’t no boxer; he was just a big man. He wore big gloves--16 ounces,” Forbes says. “He’d knock you down, but it didn’t hurt you. It was like pillows.”

Now Forbes, who still has the large arms and wide shoulders of a fighter, looks forward to reliving those memories during Hemingway Days. He’ll be lacing up the gloves again with some of the look-alikes.