Steinbeck was disgusted and rather bemused at Hemingway's The bet was accepted and O'Hara lost both his cane and the money. Hemingway in a drunken and boarish manner bet O'Hara 50 dollars that he could break the cane over his head. John O'Hara, the short story writer, was also present and had with him an antique walking cane which he had received as a gift from Steinbeck. Nevertheless, Hemingway expressed an interest in meeting Steinbeck in 1944 and, accordingly, Sheean invited Steinbeck and Hemingway to dine with him at Tim Costello's Irish pub on Third Avenue, New York. Writing in John Steinbeck and his Contemporaries, Valerie Hemingway notes that Steinbeck had been 'a thorn in Hemingway's side'.

Sheean had been in Spain with Ernest Hemingway in 1938 and was responsible for the only known meeting between Steinbeck and Hemingway. Working as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune he covered the Spanish Civil War, hence his note about 'Spanish intellectuals in exile'. A film adaptation, entitled Foreign Correspondent and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, was released in 1940. Vincent Sheean (1899-1975), the American journalist and writer, published Personal History in 1935. First edition, first impression, presentation copy inscribed by the author 'For Vincent Sheean, John Steinbeck' and additionally inscribed by the recipient, 'Although it is signed to me, Mr Steinbeck intended this book to go for the Spanish intellectuals in exile - Vincent Sheean'.

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