Dorothy Parker Comes Home
October 19, 2020 6:46 AM Subscribe
What is the best magazine interview–ever–that Dorothy Parker sat down for? This one. Journalist Gloria Steinem was 30 and Parker was 71 when they met in the winter of 1964-65 for a long chat that ended up as a 2,300 word article in the New York edition of The Ladies Home Journal. (Also: Ms. Parker has again come home to New York.)
I liked it better when she was still interred in Baltimore.
posted by sonascope at 8:10 AM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by sonascope at 8:10 AM on October 19, 2020 [2 favorites]
Now that she’s buried in a cemetery, I wonder how many people will go and leave one perfect rose?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:23 AM on October 19, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:23 AM on October 19, 2020 [5 favorites]
I wonder how many people will go and leave one perfect rose?
Of course we know what she'd prefer. Might be difficult to bring, though.
posted by martin q blank at 8:58 AM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
Of course we know what she'd prefer. Might be difficult to bring, though.
posted by martin q blank at 8:58 AM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
I was a little annoyed when I heard about the urn being moved. I have read so much about Parker, and very little of it concerned her family, none of it good. What right have they to her? But then, what right have I to her, I guess. Possibly she had a better relationship with some of them than I know about. And in any case, the NAACP never asked for her ashes, or even her estate. They were kind to keep them so well.
The interview was lovely. She seemed happier than I had heard she was in old age. I was glad to see that she finally had some harsh words for Hemingway. She idolized that man, and he repaid her by reading a humiliating poem about her in public.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:52 AM on October 19, 2020 [5 favorites]
The interview was lovely. She seemed happier than I had heard she was in old age. I was glad to see that she finally had some harsh words for Hemingway. She idolized that man, and he repaid her by reading a humiliating poem about her in public.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:52 AM on October 19, 2020 [5 favorites]
These days it would be odd not not mention the source of Parker's infirmity - her alcoholism and smoking. The Steinem piece is sweet and a bit awed. It left me appreciating that we do now acknowledge previously forbidden topics like substance use and mental health.
posted by latkes at 9:58 AM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by latkes at 9:58 AM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
I love this. Also (and forgive me if this has already been posted) this has been one of my favorite magazine stories this year.
posted by thivaia at 12:15 PM on October 19, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 12:15 PM on October 19, 2020 [3 favorites]
Bless you, Mrs. Parker. There are a lot of things your Constant Readers would love to show you.
You know, the odd thing about being old is that you see something–something especially good or rotten or funny, and you think, ‘Oh I must show this to so-and-so, it’s just his sort of thing.’” She smiled, and walked slowly to the door. “And what’s odd is–there are so many gaps in the circle now–that so-and-so is gone.”
posted by lon_star at 1:59 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
You know, the odd thing about being old is that you see something–something especially good or rotten or funny, and you think, ‘Oh I must show this to so-and-so, it’s just his sort of thing.’” She smiled, and walked slowly to the door. “And what’s odd is–there are so many gaps in the circle now–that so-and-so is gone.”
posted by lon_star at 1:59 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
From the New Yorker article thivaia linked:
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:15 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
On August 22nd, Parker’s birthday, Fitzpatrick put on a blue seersucker suit and brought her ashes to Woodlawn for her reburial... Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Parker’s grandnieces, who are elderly, couldn’t attend. But twelve other witnesses gathered in masks, social-distancing... The cabaret singer Bill Zeffiro sang a song that Parker wrote the lyrics for, “I Wished on the Moon,”Zeffiro’s name was familiar to me because of his involvement in Marx Brothers tribute shows with historian and Groucho impersonator Noah Diamond. Groucho’s brother Harpo was a fellow Algonquin Round Table regular.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:15 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
I recently found in my closet my sign poster (Keb' Mo, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ani Difranco and Joan Osborne) from the 1997 Voters for Choice concert in Washington, DC. , which I promptly framed.
I started volunteering for the organization that also put on the annual concert when I lived in LA, and after moving back to DC in 1995 I would occasionally "work" an event when called upon in exchange for an all access pass.
For the '97 concert my job was to pick up Keb' Mo and Gloria Steinem from National Airport (fuck referring to it by that other name) and bring them to their hotel in Dupont Circle.
They were both so polite to one another, and to me. I remember Ms Steinem asking Keb' (real name Kevin Moore) if he preferred that she introduce him at the show as "Keb'" or "Kevin," and his response that when performing he is Keb', but that she could say what she pleased.
Keb' for his part was also very nice to me. I ended up also driving him from the hotel to the venue -- Constitution Hall, where sound goes to die. I had been given strict orders to get him to the church on time so to speak. He asked to make a quick stop for gum and batteries. Now while he had recently won a Grammy, he wasn't that well known, but I still insisted he stay in the van while I popped in to the corner CVS to get what he needed. He was so nice that had he need recognized he would have stayed and chatted all night.
Ms. Steinem was 63 at the time of that concert, and now she's 86. Good on her. Odd thinking about her interviewing Parker at 71.
Oh, and I'm getting old too.
Sorry. Got distracted. That was a nice article. Thanks for the post.
posted by terrapin at 4:32 PM on October 19, 2020 [10 favorites]
I started volunteering for the organization that also put on the annual concert when I lived in LA, and after moving back to DC in 1995 I would occasionally "work" an event when called upon in exchange for an all access pass.
For the '97 concert my job was to pick up Keb' Mo and Gloria Steinem from National Airport (fuck referring to it by that other name) and bring them to their hotel in Dupont Circle.
They were both so polite to one another, and to me. I remember Ms Steinem asking Keb' (real name Kevin Moore) if he preferred that she introduce him at the show as "Keb'" or "Kevin," and his response that when performing he is Keb', but that she could say what she pleased.
Keb' for his part was also very nice to me. I ended up also driving him from the hotel to the venue -- Constitution Hall, where sound goes to die. I had been given strict orders to get him to the church on time so to speak. He asked to make a quick stop for gum and batteries. Now while he had recently won a Grammy, he wasn't that well known, but I still insisted he stay in the van while I popped in to the corner CVS to get what he needed. He was so nice that had he need recognized he would have stayed and chatted all night.
Ms. Steinem was 63 at the time of that concert, and now she's 86. Good on her. Odd thinking about her interviewing Parker at 71.
Oh, and I'm getting old too.
Sorry. Got distracted. That was a nice article. Thanks for the post.
posted by terrapin at 4:32 PM on October 19, 2020 [10 favorites]
I really enjoyed this. Parker is always on my list of "if you could meet one celebrity..." even though (and possibly because) I doubt she'd think I was worth her time.
I had never seen the Richard Avedon portrait before, and while I don't think a portraitist owes their subjects a flattering picture, it did seem more cruel than representational.
posted by Mchelly at 11:07 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
I had never seen the Richard Avedon portrait before, and while I don't think a portraitist owes their subjects a flattering picture, it did seem more cruel than representational.
posted by Mchelly at 11:07 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
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