#young fran lebowitz

[miss-m-calling]

I am a very angry person. I am angry almost all the time, especially when I’m not alone. I know my anger is disproportionate and I don’t express it. I knew from a really young age: do not act on this.

Fran Lebowitz

[coochiequeens]

Since that post about Martha Gellhorn is popular here's a post about another writer who is more interesting than Hemingway.

Dawn Powell on the beach, circa 1914.

Tim Page, the Estate of Dawn Powell

This is the third story in The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island series from Radio Diaries. You can listen to the next installment on All Things Considered next Monday, and read and listen to previous stories in the series here.

Dawn Powell infiltrated the writing world by hanging out in bars and taverns around New York's Greenwich Village in the 1920s, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Edmund Wilson.

"She came from nowhere, she was no one," writer Fran Lebowitz told Radio Diaries.

But Powell had a voice. She had style. And she rose from obscurity by turning her gaze on the city of New York itself and its cast of characters. Over the coming decades, Powell wrote novels, diaries and more than a dozen plays — earning her renown, and even a National Book Award nomination.

Then, in 1965, she died. What happened next didn't go according to script.

A voice lost to the world

Powell had been clear in her will: she wanted her body to be donated to the Weill Cornell Medical Center for research. Yet five years after her death, when Cornell asked her executor, Jacqueline Rice, what to do with her remains, Rice left the decision up to the center.

So, unbeknownst to her family and friends, Powell was buried on New York's Hart Island — America's largest public cemetery. Then, all of her work went out of print.

A generational talent of New York was buried in its heart, but lost to the world and those who knew her.

Powell circa 1930, and an entry in her diary circa 1914.

Tim Page, the Estate of Dawn Powell

Hart Island, located off the coast of the Bronx, has no headstones and no plaques. It's often seen as a place for those who went unrecognized in their lifetime — not for well-known writers.

Powell had been writing stories since she was a child. Growing up in Ohio, she endured considerable emotional abuse from her stepmother and often used writing as an escape. In 1918, she left Ohio for New York City, with dreams of being a writer.

"She knew that she was smart enough, good enough to be very good in New York, which is the most competitive place in the world," Lebowitz said.

Powell's humble beginnings in the bars of Greenwich Village turned into a career. In the coming years, she wrote witty pieces on New York life for magazines like The New Yorker and Esquire. Her career picked up steam when she began writing novels about New York: satirical, risque fiction about people who'd come to the city from a small town and indulged in its joys and vices. Her most well known novels include A Time to Be Born (1942) and The Wicked Pavilion (1954).

"She was a very smart, tough, sarcastic, woman who put all of that into her books," said Tim Page, a critic and author of Dawn Powell: A Biography. "She made fun of millionaires and communists. She basically thought human beings were silly and frivolous, but she loved them."

Powell's writing reflected her personal life. Her characters were often young people who ached for success and recognition, but rarely got it. Though her work was in the public eye (her last novel, The Golden Spur, was a finalist for the 1963 National Book Award), she did not reach the level of fame of other writers, male or female, in her era.

"Some critics thought she was mean," Page said. "All the very famous women writers were usually ending their stories with a man and a woman falling in love and living happily thereafter. Dawn had seen enough of life to realize, well, sometimes that's the case but it's not what usually happens in the world."

Powell's diary, December 1932.

Tim Page, the Estate of Dawn Powell

Powell struggled with money for much of her life. She and her husband, Joseph Gousha, had a disabled son who needed costly medical care. By the end of her life, she also needed medical care of her own. She developed intestinal cancer, which led to her death.

While her will was specific about her body going to the Weill Cornell Medical Center, it didn't specify what to do with her body after its donation. In addition to being Powell's general executor, Jacqueline Rice was also her literary co-executor, largely responsible for her literary estate. When her client died, Rice simply stopped responding to inquiries from publishers and filmmakers. It was some time before Rice told Powell's family about where she had ended up.

Years later, Powell's great-niece Vicki Johnson was told by her mother about the burial on Hart Island, also known as a Potter's Field.

"My mom told me it was a Potter's Field, and it was just a place where people are buried who didn't have any money or no family to take care of them," Johnson said. "My grandparents would have certainly found a better resting place for her than where she was buried."

The effort to bring Powell's work back

Powell isn't the only well-known person buried on Hart Island. There's former child actor Bobby Driscoll, who starred in some of the most iconic Disney films of the time, like Treasure Island and Peter Pan — and even won a Juvenile Oscar by the age of 13.

Driscol fell into a pattern of substance abuse and run-ins with the law in his teenage years, ranging from drug smuggling to assault. He was found dead in his Greenwich Village apartment at 31. When no one claimed his body, he ended up on Hart Island.

The cemetery is also home to Rachel Humphreys — the muse and lover to Lou Reed, and the inspiration for several songs on his album Coney Island Baby. Though her official cause of death remains unknown, Humphreys died at the age of 37 at St. Clare's hospital, known for housing AIDS patients. Hers was among the many bodies sent to Hart Island during the AIDS epidemic.

Johnson and others insist Powell wouldn't have minded being buried at Hart Island.

"I think she'd be a little amused by the fact that she's buried with a Disney star and a rock and roller," Page said. "She loved New York. She told the truth about New York and I'm not sure she'd want to be anywhere else."

Dawn Powell circa late 1940s, early 1950s.

Tim Page, the Estate of Dawn Powell

Though Powell's descendants have chosen not to remove her body from Hart Island, there has been a considerable effort to unbury her work. In 1987, her writer and friend, Gore Vidal, published an article in The New York Review of Books, praising Powell as one of American literature's lost greats. The article ignited interest in Powell in the writing world.

Steerforth Press also published a volume of Powell's diaries, edited by Page, in 1998. The Library of America put nine of her novels back in print in 2001.

These days, Powell has gained a cult-like following. Celebrities like Julia Roberts and Anjelica Huston have tried turning her books into films, and she's gotten a shout-out on the TV show Gilmore Girls.

"There will come a time when people will realize that she's one of America's greatest writers," Page said.

This story was produced by Mycah Hazel of Radio Diaries. It was edited by Deborah George, Ben Shapiro and Joe Richman. Thanks also to Nellie Gilles, Alissa Escarce, and Lena Engelstein of Radio Diaries.

This story is the third in a series called The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island. You can find other stories from Hart Island on the Radio Diaries Podcast.

[bitter69uk]

I was already an ardent admirer of the work of photographer Peter Hujar (1934 – 1987). After visiting the mesmerizing exhibit “Eyes Open in the Dark” at Raven Row last weekend, I now have a raging, throbbing crush! Seeing Hujar's photos reproduced in books or online doesn’t prepare you for the impact of experiencing them properly displayed as deluxe big gelatin silver prints on a gallery wall. His portraits of Warhol superstars, drag queens, artists and other habitués of the NYC bohemian demimonde are visceral and immediate. His models confront the viewers with direct, almost accusatory eye contact and sensual body language (many of them are reclining). Some of those represented: David Wojnarowicz, Cookie Mueller (seeing Wojnarowicz and Mueller side-by-side is wrenching; even in black-and-white Cookie's eyes are piercing blue), Fran Lebowitz, William S Burroughs, Greer Lankton, Susan Sontag and that gorgeous shot of Peggy Lee looking like a drag queen (I say that with love). Missing from this exhibit: Hujar’s photos of Gary Indiana, young Iggy Pop, John Waters and Divine. The show inevitably feels permeated by death: there are people in hospital beds, Jackie Curtis' "open casket" shot, Candy Darling on her deathbed and the knowledge that Hujar himself and many of his subjects died prematurely in the AIDS crisis. But “Eyes Open in the Dark” is also deeply sexy (Hujar had a good eye for firm male flesh, plus we see his own naked self-portraits – Hujar was one gorgeous hunk of manhood in his own right. Warhol included him in his 1965 13 Most Beautiful Boys film for a good reason). One unexpected aspect: Hujar was brilliant at photographing animals. His studies of dogs, cows and horses capture the innate dignity, gentleness and sweetness in their glistening dark eyes. The soulful “Donkey in Italy” (1978) will haunt me forever! Raven Row does so many things right: admission is free. They are open on Sundays. And visitors receive a complimentary booklet full of photos and essays. The exhibit closes 6 April 2025 – run! Pictured: Cookie Mueller by Peter Hujar, 1981.

[icedteadrinker]

Just saw a clip of a young Fran Lebowitz.. which I've never seen before. And I must say: would

[thoughtportal]

The Booksellers is a 2019 American documentary film that was directed, edited, and produced by D.W. Young. It was executive produced by Parker Posey, who also provides narration in the film. The film explores the world of antiquarian and rare book dealers and their bookstores. It focuses primarily on booksellers in New York City, including Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample and Judith Lowry, the three sisters of the Argosy Book Store; Stephen Massey, founder of Christie’s NY Book Department; and Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of the Strand Bookstore. Other prominent people featured in the film include Fran Lebowitz, Gay Talese, Justin Croft, Zack Hample, Susan Orlean, William S. Reese, A. S. W. Rosenbach, Jay S. Walker, and Kevin Young.

[joe-moi]

Fran Lebowitz had a great response to nepotism in the industry from an article in 1997 vanity fair (also great talk about race in the industry if anyone wants to read the full thing):

"It is now common—and I use the word “common” in its every sense—to see interviews with up-and-coming young movie stars whose parents or even grandparents were themselves movie stars. And when the interviewer asks, “Did you find it an advantage to be the child of a major motion-picture star?” the answer is invariably “Well, it gets you in the door, but after that you’ve got to perform, you’re on your own.” This is ludicrous. Getting in the door is pretty much the entire game, especially in movie acting... "

that's such a good quote! i encourage everyone to read this article because fran is a legend

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week # 147 (Year 3/Week 43):

Loro ("Them"), my 7th decadent film by Paolo Sorrentino, the breakneck, modern-day Fellini. An epic, outrageous, over-the-top look into the outlandish life of charismatic billionaire king Silvio Berlusconi. MTV-style music video of power, sex, ultimate corruption and unlimited money. A sprawling saga of a modern day Citizen Kane, promiscuous, charming and greedy. As well as a young pimp who runs an escort service, and supplies him with a harem of girls.

I love noticing chronological symmetry in movies, for example, at the exact middle of the movie (starting at 1:11), there’s this central, electrifying scene of a telephone sales pitch, even better than DiCaprio selling 40,000 penny stock shares at 'The wolf of Wall Street'. Between serving as a prime minister and serving time, Tony Servillo's Berlusconi, the greatest salesman in Italy, is in a funk, and he needs to find his groove again. So late at night he opens a telephone book at random and calls some old lady from a listing, and in 6 minutes, he sells her an overpriced apartment that have not even been built yet. I wish I could find an isolated clip of that scene somewhere. Bellissimo!

And just today, I read about the real Berlusconi’s need to accumulate, his vast, 25,000 item art collection!

🍿

"Fugayzi, fugazi. It's a whazy. It's a woozie. It's fairy dust..."

So - because of the scene above - I had to stop everything I do, and indulge, one more time with Scorsese's The wolf of Wall Street. A similarly decadent, excessive, cocaine-fueled roller coaster ride of money and addiction. With judge Fran Lebowitz, Spike Jonze as Dwayne, the broker above, and of course Palm Spring's Cristin Milioti as the first wife.

So far I’ve seen only about half of Scorsese’s 42 full features, so after ‘Flower moon’ I’m going to deep dive, and watch all the ones I’ve missed.

🍿

Another film I’ve been re-watching over and over, Paweł Pawlikowski's heartbreaking romance Cold War. When I saw it the first time, I thought it was very complex (maybe I was stoned), but it's actually extremely simple, accessible and direct. Joanna Kulig's ethereal beauty and the powerful life force of her character 'Zula' are unforgettable. 10/10.

[Waiting for his next film, The island, with Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara.]

🍿

John le Carré X 3:

🍿 Errol Morris's most recent documentary, The Pigeon Tunnel, a lengthy conversation with the fascinating writer le Carré. Based on his auto-biography of the same name. It's mostly about deceit and betrayals, as well as his tortured relationship with his larger-than-life conman father, "Ronnie". Lots of elaborate re-enactments, staged and fanciful. My best friend Danny (RIP) used to be an avid le Carré reader and fan.

🍿 First watch: The masterful The spy who came in from the cold. The first classic film adaptation and based on his spectacularly successful debut novel. Double and triple crossing in the dark days of the cold War. It was supposed to be the Anti-James Bond, and established a prolific genre of 'Flawed Spies', "a bunch of seedy squalid bastards like me, little men, drunkards, queers, henpecked husbands, civil servants playing 'Cowboys and Indians' to brighten their rotten little lives." Magnificent Richard Burton play.

[I also have to dig in and do a Martin Ritt marathon one day!]

🍿 Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy (the 2011 film, not the Alec Guinness TV series): A slow, melancholic and perfectly atmospheric thriller, with an all-star cast (Including a cameo of le Carré himself! Photo Above). Gary Oldman's vacant gaze got me to want watching his complete filmography. Also, it's funny how many movies open or end with Charles Trenet's La Mer!

Superb! 9/10.

🍿

2 horror films from British director Steve McQueen:

🍿 While waiting for his latest ‘Occupied City’, I caught his horrifying directorial debut Hunger from 2008. A re-telling of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike, where 10 IRA volunteers starved themselves to death, as a protest against the British government. It is told from inside the prison cells. Very few films were able to transfer the horror and hopelessness of being abused by ruthless authorities like this one.

And in the middle of this gruesome narrative, there's an astounding scene, unbroken and shot with a static camera on Bobby Sands and a priest who came to see him, talking that lasts for 17 minutes. Simply amazing.

Best and most chilling film experience of the week.

Like Norm McDonald used to say (about Hitler): 'The more I learn about Margaret Thatcher, the more I don't care for her'.

🍿 Western Deep, a 2002 short, an near-abstract poem about the workers / slaves who work at the world's deepest gold mine in South Africa. Dark, jarring and claustrophobic. 1/10.

[Now that I've seen McQueen's 4 features, I have to move on to his 'Small Axe' television anthology.]

🍿

My first 2 films by Romanian Cristian Mungiu:

🍿 His latest contemplative drama R.M.N. is set in a backwater multi-ethnic village in Transylvania, where long-simmering tensions erupt over questions of national identity, globalization, prejudices and xenophobia. It opens with pig slaughtering, and ends with an old man who hangs himself in the forest. It's harsh, and coarse, and repressive. But it's told in a sublime style. And in the middle of all the ugliness and misogyny, a woman practices her cello by playing Yumeji's haunting theme from 'In the mood for love'. 9/10.

🍿 So I finally also saw his highly-acclaimed 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days from 2007, considered as 'one of the greatest films of the 21 century'. But the depressing story of a desperate young woman who's trying to obtain an illegal abortion in the last dark days of communist Romania, was as pleasant as a visit to Nicolae Ceaușescu's dungeon: Dingy, stressfully-ugly and miserable.

🍿

“…Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?…”

Airplane!, another re-watch of this classic evergreen - the No. 1 modern American comedy on most lists? With cameos by Ethel Merman, young Mike Ehrmantraut and James Howe, one of the most prolific character actors of all time, as a Japanese general committing Harakiri. Isn't it strange that the guy who played Ted Striker never had a career in Hollywood after that?

Maybe it's time for Edgar Wright to re-make 'Airplane 2024!'?

🍿

5 more by female directors:

🍿 Elaine May's Mikey and Nicky, a dark dialogue-rich, two-person crime drama about old friendship and betrayal over one long night in Philadelphia. John Cassavetes is a small-time hood with a contract out on his life. And Peter Falk is his lifelong friend who may or may not be trying to help him escape his fate. A nuanced portrayal of fragile masculinity.

🍿 The royal hotel, my second film by Australian Kitty Green, and also starring Julia Garner, playing another powerless young woman suffering male abuse and exploitation (after 'The Assistant'). Two young backpackers take a job at an outback bar, in "the middle of nowhere". A scary, ominous thriller with escalating threats and an uncomfortable sense of mortal danger. Too unpleasant for me - 4/10.

🍿 Bus Girl is the first film directed by Jessica Henwick, who plays the 2nd girl in 'The Royal Hotel'. A cute little culinary fantasy, shot entirely on a cell phone. 6/10.

🍿 Aurora’s Sunrise, my second Armenian film (after ‘The colour of pomegranates’). An adult animated feature about the Albanian genocide, through the eyes of a real life young woman, who survived the hellish years, and escaped to America, where she became celebrated Hollywood star in 1919, when she played herself in 'Carnival of souls'.

Ethnic cleansing, mass murder, exterminations, cruelty and hatred ... Armenians, Jews, Palestinians, Uygurs, American Indians, Tutsis... It's always the same fucking thing!

(Via).

🍿 Affairs of the Art, a British-Canadian craziness by Joanna Quinn, nominated in 2021 for best animated short. Spectacular and surrealistic visuals about a 59-year-old lady, a zany artist at heart, and her fully-eclectic family. Very Roald Dahl. 9/10.

🍿

On the fringe, a recent Spanish social drama with Penélope Cruz. Stressful and depressive story about folks that are being evicted from their homes. Focus on grey, marginalized and helpless people, ground up by bureaucracy, nickel and dimed by poverty, lack of time and resources is a tough watch. Especially when the story is not wrapped up with optimism or a happy end. 6/10.

🍿

“I’m glad we had this conversation…”

Viking, an alternative, "indie" science fiction allegory, scientifically naive, and featuring low-low tech and drama. An odd, simulated Canadian proximation. In spite of mirroring some scenes from '2001' and 'The Shining', it's not close to either one. Meh. 2/10.

🍿

"Kill the wabbit!"

Chuck Jones's What's Opera, Doc?, considered to be the greatest animated short film of all time. A 7 minutes riff on Wagner's Nibelung and Disney's Fantasia, and the first cartoon short to be selected for preservation for the National Film Registry. With Mel Blanc and Elmer Fudd.

🍿

... No fellow could ignore / The little girl next door / She sure looked sweet in her first evening gown / Now there's a charge for what she used to give for free ... 

"Today, I learned" that satirist & mathematician Tom Lehrer is still alive, at ninety five! He was extremely popular in the 60's and basically retired in 1972. Also, that [like Jonas Salk] he transferred all the songs he ever recorded to the public domain - "For the greater good!"

In 1967, he recorded his excellent Copenhagen concert for posterity. Delightful!

2 extras: I got it from Agnes (which is about the spread of VD), and Bergman's actor Lars Ekborg’s singing I Tom Lehrers vackra värld in Swedish.

🍿

The Insurrectionist next door, my first documentary by Alexandra Pelosi, Nancy's daughter. She was trying to humanize about a dozen individuals who participate in the January 6 attack, by befriending them and their their families, and by allowing all of them to explain that they were "just at the wrong place at the wrong time". In the end, it was just sad to see the poor children who had to cry goodbye when their father went to jail.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[pinknoiseinpyongyang]

Fran Lebowitz on Life

I had a very happy childhood – I know that’s against the law. Everybody is suited to certain times of life and I was very suited to being a child. I am very suited to having no responsibilities. I was really looking forward to my first day at kindergarten. I was only five. The day ended with me sitting in the corner with a Band-Aid over my mouth and holding up a sign saying: “I am a chatterbox.” Now I get paid for what I was punished for. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey – a very beautiful, old pre-revolutionary war town. There was a portrait of George Washington in every single public room of every single building in the entire town. George Washington was a big part of my childhood. Algebra was the end of school for me. I only had half a brain. Fractions were hard enough. I still count on my fingers. I stopped playing the cello after my grandmother gave me a Pablo Casals record. When I heard what could be done on that instrument I thought, forget it, I could never do that. I am a perfectionist – and not just with myself. Nothing is more contagious than a bad idea. Happiness is a sensation, a fleeting thing. To me, it’s a pleasure, and there are moments of pleasure and sometimes even days of pleasure. I’m not like, “Why am I not happy all the time?” That’s a thing that came from Los Angeles. I am a very angry person. I am angry almost all the time, especially when I’m not alone. I know my anger is disproportionate and I don’t express it. I knew from a really young age: do not act on this.  It’s imperative to me that people I spend time with have a good sense of humour. I don’t mean that they’re funny. I just mean that they know that things can be funny. Most things, other than tragedy, of which there is an over-abundance, are funny. I hate money. I hate it physically; I hate having to earn it. But I’m also extremely materialistic, so I hate money, but I love things, you know? Like clothes, apartments… People used to say, “If I was a millionaire…” Now they say, “If I was a billionaire…” I always say to these people: “Do you know how much a billion is?” And they really don’t. A couple of years ago I heard the word trillion. No one should ever use that word unless they are an astronomer. Romantic relationships are not choices, they are some chemical response you have to someone. Friendships are, to me, the most important relationships in life, because they are the only wholly chosen relationships. I believe I am an excellent friend. Toni Morrison was a very close friend of mine. She probably had the biggest influence on me – she was one of the few people I actually listened to. When she died I spoke at her memorial service. I said: “For more than 40 years she was at least two of my four closest friends.” She was also the only wise person I have ever known and she just had this immense humanity. She once said to me, “You are always right, but never fair.” What she meant was I don’t give everybody the same credence for just being human. And that’s true, I don’t. But she did. I find any food preparation to be immensely tedious. But, of course, I love to eat.  I absolutely don’t care about how I’m remembered. I think people who care about this believe in life after death, which means you don’t believe in death. To me, it’s like someone asking me what I’d like for dinner after I die. You know what? I’m good.

— Fran Lebowitz June 29, 2024, interview with Genevieve Fox, The Guardian (permalink)

[infinitemovielist]

[dakotadanger]

The Booksellers (2019) is a documentary about independent booksellers, and particularly the business of rare and antiquarian books. These are people whose whole lives revolve around books, collectors and buyers with tens of thousands of books in their collection. Through interviews with a wide cast of subjects, the film examines the history of books and the changing industry, trends in rare books, and the particular joy of collecting.

People get really romantic when they talk about books, and this is a romantic documentary. The subjects all hold different views on their passion though. Some of them are like dragons hoarding their proud collections, and others are happy just to hold a book for awhile and pass it on to someone else who’s drawn to it. The older people moan about how the industry has been ruined by the internet, which has certainly changed the thrill of hunting for a rare treasure. But the younger booksellers are optimistic for the future, full of ideas and ideals for what bookselling can be.

This is a really fascinating, beautiful documentary that explores the world of bookselling. At times it’s almost disgusting to me how books are a display of wealth for some people. I’m sure they enjoy reading, but one man boasts about his extravagant private library, and it’s this beautiful thing that only he gets to enjoy. You didn’t “inherit the collecting gene,” you inherited wealth and you’re spending it on yourself. I much prefer the sellers, who collect books only to see them leave again.

[watchingalotofmovies]

The Booksellers

The Booksellers    [trailer]

A behind-the-scenes look at the New York rare book world.

Interesting documentary, you can almost smell the books. Not unlike many of the shown bookshelves, it also feels at times a bit sprawling and unfocused.

The people portrayed are all very dedicated and passionate. But you also realise that it's often about the object than the content of a book.

The doc also could've been titled the book collectors.

[randomrichards]

THE BOOKSELLERS

[texburgher]

A super interesting pairing of host and guest: Damon Young interviewing Fran Lebowitz on Friday night in Pittsburgh. (I fanboy’d out a little when Damon’s dad later and unexpectedly asked me to take a picture of him and his son.)

[fashionbooksmilano]

Oscar Night from the Editors of Vanity Fair

75 Years of Hollywood Parties

Graydon Carter and David Friend with an afterword by Dominick Dunne

Alfred A.Knopf, New York 2004, 384 pages, 30x37x6cm., ISBN 9781400042487, Special Limited Edition

euro 80,00

email if you want to buy :booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

From the first Academy Awards black-tie dinner dance in 1929 to the glittering Vanity Fair gala in 2004, from the 1940s gatherings at the most fashionable nightspots in Los Angeles–Ciro’s, Mocambo, Romanoff’s, Chasen’s–to the star-studded parties thrown by legendary agent Swifty Lazar from the 1960s to the 1990s, here is a photo history of all those events, presented by Graydon Carter and David Friend. More than five hundred archival and personal black-and-white and color photographs–many never seen before–have been collected in Oscar Night. There is an afterword by Dominick Dunne and a look at every detail, from menus to matchbooks to seating charts. You’ll see intimate and unposed photographs of such classic icons as Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Gloria Swanson, David O. Selznick, and Alfred Hitchcock, among many others, at the formal dinners of the 1930s through the 1950s. Here also are amazing photographs of another generation of icons at the exclusive Governors Balls: Jack Nicholson, John Travolta, and John Belushi, Dennis Hopper with Michelle Phillips, and a very young Ali MacGraw dancing with Robert Evans. And here is a mix of New York and Hollywood at Swifty’s parties, with pictures of Bianca Jagger, Sam Shepard, Michael Caine, David Geffen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Ahmet Erteguns. Here, too, is the Hollywood that gathers today at the Vanity Fair Oscar party: Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger, Oprah Winfrey, Nicole Kidman, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron, Sofia Coppola, Sigourney Weaver, Fran Lebowitz, Sean Combs, and Renée Zellweger. Irresistibly sumptuous–and juicy–Oscar Night is a book full of elegance and egos, of glamorous pictures that you will want to look at again and again.

22/02/22

orders to:     booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

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[lulacarson]

i would like to take this time to remind everyone that when fran lebowitz was young, she attended an Episcopalian day school until she was thrown out for “non-specific surliness.” goals tbh

[deepartnature]

The Booksellers (2019)

“The Booksellers is a 2019 American documentary film that was directed, edited, and produced by D.W. Young. It was also executive produced by Parker Posey, who provides narration in the film. The film explores the world of antiquarian and rare book dealers and their bookstores. It focuses primarily on booksellers in New York City, including Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample and Judith Lowry, the three sisters of the Argosy Book Store; Stephen Massey, founder of Christie’s NY Book Department; and Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of the Strand Bookstore. Other prominent people featured in the film include Fran Lebowitz, Gay Talese, Justin Croft, Zack Hample, Susan Orlean, William S. Reese, A. S. W. Rosenbach, Jay S. Walker, and Kevin Young....”

Wikipedia

NPR: 'The Booksellers' Speaks Volumes About Old Books And Those Who Love Them

YouTube: The Booksellers Movie Trailer (2020) , Documentary Movies Series