from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Sanders had grown up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, the son of a Polish immigrant paint salesman who never made enough money to fulfill his wife’s dreams of not living in a rent-controlled apartment. Much of his family was wiped out in Poland during the Holocaust.
He told Biden and his colleagues they could not take anything for granted after January 6. Who says more horror could not happen here?
“As a kid, I read a lot about the Holocaust and Germany in the 1930s,” Sanders later told other. “Germany was one of the most cultured countries in Europe. One of the most advanced countries. So how could a country of Beethoven, of so many great poets and writers, and Einstein, progress to barbarianism?
“How does that happen? We have to tackle that question. And it’s not easy.”
Friday, January 31, 2025
Thursday, January 30, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt eighteen)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
A regular on the nearly six-hour flight returning home on weekends and congressional recesses, Smith had noticed the plane had been mostly empty during the last year due to the pandemic. But this time he was lucky to get a seat. As the crowd grew loud, no one seemed to realize this man who looked like a friendly business traveler was a congressman.
Ugly talk about conspiracies to steal the election from Trump filled the plane. So did chatter about the QAnon group, which passengers said with confidence was a bulwark against a cabal of cannibalistic, anti-Trump pedophiles who worship Satan and run a global child-sex-trafficking ring.
Several passengers also mentioned “6MWE.” Smith did not know what they were talking about. He was horrified to learn, listening as some passengers explained and discussed openly that it meant “6 million weren’t enough,” a reference to the 6 million Jew exterminated in Nazi concentration camps.
A regular on the nearly six-hour flight returning home on weekends and congressional recesses, Smith had noticed the plane had been mostly empty during the last year due to the pandemic. But this time he was lucky to get a seat. As the crowd grew loud, no one seemed to realize this man who looked like a friendly business traveler was a congressman.
Ugly talk about conspiracies to steal the election from Trump filled the plane. So did chatter about the QAnon group, which passengers said with confidence was a bulwark against a cabal of cannibalistic, anti-Trump pedophiles who worship Satan and run a global child-sex-trafficking ring.
Several passengers also mentioned “6MWE.” Smith did not know what they were talking about. He was horrified to learn, listening as some passengers explained and discussed openly that it meant “6 million weren’t enough,” a reference to the 6 million Jew exterminated in Nazi concentration camps.
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt seventeen)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
McCarthy had heard a shot fired. At 2:44 p.m., Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by a police office inside the Capitol as she and others tried to breach a door near lawmakers.
“I’ll put a tweet out,” Trump said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” McCarthy said. “You’ve got to tell them to stop. You’ve got to get them out of here. Get them out of here. Now.”
Trump did not seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. He never asked about McCarthy’s safety. And one remark stood out: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
McCarthy had heard a shot fired. At 2:44 p.m., Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by a police office inside the Capitol as she and others tried to breach a door near lawmakers.
“I’ll put a tweet out,” Trump said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” McCarthy said. “You’ve got to tell them to stop. You’ve got to get them out of here. Get them out of here. Now.”
Trump did not seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. He never asked about McCarthy’s safety. And one remark stood out: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt sixteen)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Quayle turned to Trump’s assertion that the election had been stolen from him. He told Pence those statements were ridiculous and eroded public trust.
“There’s no evidence,” Quayle said.
“Well, there’s some stuff out in Arizona,” Pence said, updating Quayle on the Trump campaign’s legal efforts there. There was a lawsuit in federal court to compel Arizona’s governor to “decertify” Biden’s win in the state, which had enraged Trump ever since Fox News called Arizona for Biden at 11:20 p.m. on election night.
“Mike, I live in Arizona,” Quayle said. “There’s nothing out here.”
Quayle turned to Trump’s assertion that the election had been stolen from him. He told Pence those statements were ridiculous and eroded public trust.
“There’s no evidence,” Quayle said.
“Well, there’s some stuff out in Arizona,” Pence said, updating Quayle on the Trump campaign’s legal efforts there. There was a lawsuit in federal court to compel Arizona’s governor to “decertify” Biden’s win in the state, which had enraged Trump ever since Fox News called Arizona for Biden at 11:20 p.m. on election night.
“Mike, I live in Arizona,” Quayle said. “There’s nothing out here.”
Monday, January 27, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt fifteen)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Barr believed Trump had acquired the worst possible team of attorneys to challenge the election. Rudy Giuliani was in ascension, along with the likes of conservative lawyer Jenna Ellis, whom Barr believed was a moron. And he thought Sidney Powell was certifiable. But Giuliani was the worst—“ a fucking idiot” who had gotten Trump impeached, Barr said. Giuliani was “drinking too much and was desperate for money, representing lowlifes and creeps like Lev Parnas,” the Ukrainian-born American businessman involved in various efforts to assist Trump.
“Sitting around with their shirts open and gold hanging out in the Trump Hotel,” Barr summarized.
Barr believed Trump had acquired the worst possible team of attorneys to challenge the election. Rudy Giuliani was in ascension, along with the likes of conservative lawyer Jenna Ellis, whom Barr believed was a moron. And he thought Sidney Powell was certifiable. But Giuliani was the worst—“ a fucking idiot” who had gotten Trump impeached, Barr said. Giuliani was “drinking too much and was desperate for money, representing lowlifes and creeps like Lev Parnas,” the Ukrainian-born American businessman involved in various efforts to assist Trump.
“Sitting around with their shirts open and gold hanging out in the Trump Hotel,” Barr summarized.
Sunday, January 26, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt fourteen)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Inside the White House press office, inquiries about Powell and Giuliani piled up. A new refrain among junior staffers: Don’t let Rudy in the building. Don’t let Sidney in the building.
But the laughs faded. John McEntee made it clear to many Trump aides that no one should start looking for new jobs. A second term was coming, he vowed. No smile.
McEntee was known as Trump’s favorite enforcer—and had the look. He was tall, fit, and could pass as a Secret Service agent. He had lost his White House job in 2018 for a security reason, which was later found to be concerns over his gambling habit, often betting tens of thousands of dollars at a time.
But when Trump brough back Hicks in February 2020, he brought back McEntee, too. He wanted his core loyalists around.
Inside the White House press office, inquiries about Powell and Giuliani piled up. A new refrain among junior staffers: Don’t let Rudy in the building. Don’t let Sidney in the building.
But the laughs faded. John McEntee made it clear to many Trump aides that no one should start looking for new jobs. A second term was coming, he vowed. No smile.
McEntee was known as Trump’s favorite enforcer—and had the look. He was tall, fit, and could pass as a Secret Service agent. He had lost his White House job in 2018 for a security reason, which was later found to be concerns over his gambling habit, often betting tens of thousands of dollars at a time.
But when Trump brough back Hicks in February 2020, he brought back McEntee, too. He wanted his core loyalists around.
Saturday, January 25, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt thirteen)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
The next day, November 19, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell held a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington.
Giuliani was sweating and seemed almost like a cartoon caricature. “Did you all watch My Cousin Vinny?” he asked reporters, tying a legal reference to the 1992 comedy.
At one point, a dark brown liquid mixed with beads of sweat rolled down his cheek. The headline in Vanity Fair: “Rudy Giuliani’s hair dye melting off his face was the least crazy part of his batshit-crazy press conference.”
Powell, wearing a leopard print cardigan, went even further than Giuliani, insisting the voting machines made by Dominion, a company headquartered in Toronto and Denver, were part of a global communist conspiracy.
“What we are really dealing with here,” Powell said, “and uncovering more by the day, is the massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba, and likely China in the interference in our elections.”
The next day, November 19, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell held a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington.
Giuliani was sweating and seemed almost like a cartoon caricature. “Did you all watch My Cousin Vinny?” he asked reporters, tying a legal reference to the 1992 comedy.
At one point, a dark brown liquid mixed with beads of sweat rolled down his cheek. The headline in Vanity Fair: “Rudy Giuliani’s hair dye melting off his face was the least crazy part of his batshit-crazy press conference.”
Powell, wearing a leopard print cardigan, went even further than Giuliani, insisting the voting machines made by Dominion, a company headquartered in Toronto and Denver, were part of a global communist conspiracy.
“What we are really dealing with here,” Powell said, “and uncovering more by the day, is the massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba, and likely China in the interference in our elections.”
Friday, January 24, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt twelve)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
The next day, Thursday, November 12, election security groups, including from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Association of State Election Directors, released a joint statement that said, “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.
“All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors.” In bold it added, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
Trump soon fired Department of Homeland Security’s cyber chief, Chris Krebs, by tweet.
The next day, Thursday, November 12, election security groups, including from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Association of State Election Directors, released a joint statement that said, “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.
“All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors.” In bold it added, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
Trump soon fired Department of Homeland Security’s cyber chief, Chris Krebs, by tweet.
Thursday, January 23, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt eleven)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
On November 10, at 8: 10 a.m., Central Intelligence Agency director Gina Haspel, the first woman to head the CIA on a permanent basis, called Milley.
Haspel, who had served 35 years in the CIA, was a trained case officer, tough and skilled at monitoring unstable leaders abroad. She was upset about the dismissal of Esper, and believed Trump wanted to fire her.
“Yesterday was appalling,” Haspel told Milley. “We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum.”
On November 10, at 8: 10 a.m., Central Intelligence Agency director Gina Haspel, the first woman to head the CIA on a permanent basis, called Milley.
Haspel, who had served 35 years in the CIA, was a trained case officer, tough and skilled at monitoring unstable leaders abroad. She was upset about the dismissal of Esper, and believed Trump wanted to fire her.
“Yesterday was appalling,” Haspel told Milley. “We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum.”
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt ten)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Vice President Mike Pence, ever a team player, also refused to publicly accept that Biden had won. He had banked his political future on being embraced by Trump’s voters as the president’s reverent second in command and most logical successor.
“It ain’t over til it’s over,” Pence tweeted on November 9, “and this AIN’T over!”
But Pence’s team did not want to see him get swept into Trump’s election fight.
“Get him the hell out of D.C., the hell out of Crazytown,” Pence’s veteran political adviser, Marty Obst, advised Marc Short, now Pence’s chief of staff.
Short—an intense conservative with deep ties in the business and congressional realms, who had a closely shaved head—started planning day trips for Pence. The vice president, who still headed the White House’s coronavirus task force, would travel to vaccine development sits and manufacturing plants.
Vice President Mike Pence, ever a team player, also refused to publicly accept that Biden had won. He had banked his political future on being embraced by Trump’s voters as the president’s reverent second in command and most logical successor.
“It ain’t over til it’s over,” Pence tweeted on November 9, “and this AIN’T over!”
But Pence’s team did not want to see him get swept into Trump’s election fight.
“Get him the hell out of D.C., the hell out of Crazytown,” Pence’s veteran political adviser, Marty Obst, advised Marc Short, now Pence’s chief of staff.
Short—an intense conservative with deep ties in the business and congressional realms, who had a closely shaved head—started planning day trips for Pence. The vice president, who still headed the White House’s coronavirus task force, would travel to vaccine development sits and manufacturing plants.
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt nine)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Giuliani came in. He was yelling.
“I have 27 affidavits!” Giuliani said, rattling off election claims in various states. Strange, Morgan thought. Just an hour earlier, Giuliani had claimed he had only eight affidavits.
Trump soon called everyone back to the Oval Office. The group circled the president. Giuliani kept yelling, slamming Michigan about supposed fraud.
Giuliani raised his hand. “If you just put me in charge,” he told Trump, we could fix this.
“I have 80 affidavits,” Giuliani said with certainty.
Giuliani came in. He was yelling.
“I have 27 affidavits!” Giuliani said, rattling off election claims in various states. Strange, Morgan thought. Just an hour earlier, Giuliani had claimed he had only eight affidavits.
Trump soon called everyone back to the Oval Office. The group circled the president. Giuliani kept yelling, slamming Michigan about supposed fraud.
Giuliani raised his hand. “If you just put me in charge,” he told Trump, we could fix this.
“I have 80 affidavits,” Giuliani said with certainty.
Monday, January 20, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt eight)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
The mood in the Map Room was beginning to darken.
Three of Trump’s children—Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, his senior adviser—kept showing up and pestering aides. Eric asked for data his father could cite in a speech. He grew frustrated when told the numbers would continue to change. States were still counting.
Fox News’s decision desk called Arizona for Biden shortly before 11:30 p.m., stunning Trump’s crowd. Trump pressed his family members and advisers to tell the network to pull the call back. Fox refused, enraging the president, who said Fox News was now in on the steal.
The mood in the Map Room was beginning to darken.
Three of Trump’s children—Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, his senior adviser—kept showing up and pestering aides. Eric asked for data his father could cite in a speech. He grew frustrated when told the numbers would continue to change. States were still counting.
Fox News’s decision desk called Arizona for Biden shortly before 11:30 p.m., stunning Trump’s crowd. Trump pressed his family members and advisers to tell the network to pull the call back. Fox refused, enraging the president, who said Fox News was now in on the steal.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt seven)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
A large rally at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s 19,000-seat BOK Center was scheduled for June 20, his first in 60 days. City health officials, however, worried about a “super-spreader event,” and urged him to cancel it.
A day before, Trump told Woodward in an interview the rally would be a huge success.
“I have a rally tomorrow night in Oklahoma,” Trump said. “Over 1.2 million people have signed up. We can only take about 50, 60 thousand. Because, you know, it’s a big arena, right? But we can take 22,000 in one arena, 40,000 in another. We’re going to have two arenas loaded. But think of that. Nobody ever had rallies like that.”
At the rally, the area was only about half-filled, if that, with a sea of empty blue seats facing Trump, partly the result of a social media prank organized by teenage Trump critics. Thousands of them registered for a ticket, never intending to show up.
A large rally at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s 19,000-seat BOK Center was scheduled for June 20, his first in 60 days. City health officials, however, worried about a “super-spreader event,” and urged him to cancel it.
A day before, Trump told Woodward in an interview the rally would be a huge success.
“I have a rally tomorrow night in Oklahoma,” Trump said. “Over 1.2 million people have signed up. We can only take about 50, 60 thousand. Because, you know, it’s a big arena, right? But we can take 22,000 in one arena, 40,000 in another. We’re going to have two arenas loaded. But think of that. Nobody ever had rallies like that.”
At the rally, the area was only about half-filled, if that, with a sea of empty blue seats facing Trump, partly the result of a social media prank organized by teenage Trump critics. Thousands of them registered for a ticket, never intending to show up.
Saturday, January 18, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt six)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
“Mr. President,” Milley said, “I think you should ban the flags, change the names of the bases, and take down the statues.”
He continued, “I’m from Boston, these guys were traitors.”
Someone asked, what about the Confederate dead buried at Arlington National Cemetery?
“Interestingly,” Milley said of the nearly 500 Confederate soldiers buried there, “they’re arranged in a circle and the names on the gravestones are facing inward, and that symbolizes that they turned their back on the Union. They were traitors at the time, they are traitors today, and they’re traitors in death for all of eternity. Change the names, Mr. President.”
“Mr. President,” Milley said, “I think you should ban the flags, change the names of the bases, and take down the statues.”
He continued, “I’m from Boston, these guys were traitors.”
Someone asked, what about the Confederate dead buried at Arlington National Cemetery?
“Interestingly,” Milley said of the nearly 500 Confederate soldiers buried there, “they’re arranged in a circle and the names on the gravestones are facing inward, and that symbolizes that they turned their back on the Union. They were traitors at the time, they are traitors today, and they’re traitors in death for all of eternity. Change the names, Mr. President.”
Friday, January 17, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt five)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Milley decided to apologize publicly but did not give Trump advance warning.
On June 11, at a videotaped talk at the National Defense University graduation, Milley said, “As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched, and I am not immune.
“As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week, that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society,” he said. “I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I’ve learned from, and I sincerely hope we call all learn from it.
“Embrace the Constitution, keep it close to your heart. It is our North Star.”
Milley decided to apologize publicly but did not give Trump advance warning.
On June 11, at a videotaped talk at the National Defense University graduation, Milley said, “As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched, and I am not immune.
“As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week, that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society,” he said. “I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I’ve learned from, and I sincerely hope we call all learn from it.
“Embrace the Constitution, keep it close to your heart. It is our North Star.”
Thursday, January 16, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt four)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
“Mr. President,” Barr said, “if it comes to keeping law and order on the streets, I would not hesitate to use regular troops, believe me, if we had to. But we don’t have to. They’re not necessary,” he said. “You got a lot of stuff going on in different cities, but they’re manageable, if the cities step up. They have the adequate resources to do it, especially if they use their National Guard or their state police.
“It looks like a lot because of the way the media is covering it. But some of these cities are like 300 people on a street corner and a burning car in the background. You don’t need the 82nd Airborne Division.”
But Trump was adamant: He wanted the storied 82nd Airborne, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the military’s elite crisis responded, to arrive in Washington before sunset when a protest was planned in Lafayette Square, the seven-acre park between the White House and St. John’s Church.
Esper explained to Trump the 82nd was trained to take the fight to the enemy with the biggest, most modern weapons. They were not trained in crowd control and civil unrest. They were exactly the wrong troops for the job.
“Mr. President,” Barr said, “if it comes to keeping law and order on the streets, I would not hesitate to use regular troops, believe me, if we had to. But we don’t have to. They’re not necessary,” he said. “You got a lot of stuff going on in different cities, but they’re manageable, if the cities step up. They have the adequate resources to do it, especially if they use their National Guard or their state police.
“It looks like a lot because of the way the media is covering it. But some of these cities are like 300 people on a street corner and a burning car in the background. You don’t need the 82nd Airborne Division.”
But Trump was adamant: He wanted the storied 82nd Airborne, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the military’s elite crisis responded, to arrive in Washington before sunset when a protest was planned in Lafayette Square, the seven-acre park between the White House and St. John’s Church.
Esper explained to Trump the 82nd was trained to take the fight to the enemy with the biggest, most modern weapons. They were not trained in crowd control and civil unrest. They were exactly the wrong troops for the job.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt three)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Stephen Miller, the 34-year-old director of White House speechwriting and one of Trump’s most conservative senior advisers, was a hardliner on the unrest. Several colleagues believed he was responsible for stoking and spinning up the president about the violence.
Articulate and harsh, and known for his fitted suits and skinny ties, Miller had helped draft Trump’s “American carnage” inaugural address and had been the architect of the controversial travel ban for Muslim-majority countries. He seemed to forever be lingering in the Oval Office, waiting for an opportunity to push his agenda.
If there were ever a modern-day Rasputin, Joint Chiefs chairman Milley had concluded it was Miller.
Stephen Miller, the 34-year-old director of White House speechwriting and one of Trump’s most conservative senior advisers, was a hardliner on the unrest. Several colleagues believed he was responsible for stoking and spinning up the president about the violence.
Articulate and harsh, and known for his fitted suits and skinny ties, Miller had helped draft Trump’s “American carnage” inaugural address and had been the architect of the controversial travel ban for Muslim-majority countries. He seemed to forever be lingering in the Oval Office, waiting for an opportunity to push his agenda.
If there were ever a modern-day Rasputin, Joint Chiefs chairman Milley had concluded it was Miller.
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt two)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
During an interview with Trump on March 19, Woodward asked the president if he ever sat down with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to get a tutorial on the science behind the virus.
“Yes, I guess,” Trump said, “but honestly there’s not a lot of time for that, Bob. This is a busy White House. We’ve got a lot of things happening. And then this came up.”
Woodward asked, was there a moment where you said to yourself, this is the leadership test of a lifetime? “No,” Trump said.
During an interview with Trump on March 19, Woodward asked the president if he ever sat down with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to get a tutorial on the science behind the virus.
“Yes, I guess,” Trump said, “but honestly there’s not a lot of time for that, Bob. This is a busy White House. We’ve got a lot of things happening. And then this came up.”
Woodward asked, was there a moment where you said to yourself, this is the leadership test of a lifetime? “No,” Trump said.
Monday, January 13, 2025
the last book I ever read (Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, excerpt one)
from Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:
Trump’s personality confounded Ryan, who told friends he had never met another human being like him.
Throughout the 2016 campaign, Ryan had been supportive of the Republican nominees, whom most GOP leaders doubted would be able to win. But his support of Trump started to crack that October, when Ryan publicly said he was “sickened” by Trump’s lewd, caught-on-tape comments about women, which were revealed by The Washington Post.
Once Trump won, Ryan was caught off guard. He now had to deal with him. Ryan, as speaker, was second in the line of presidential succession, right behind Vice President Mike Pence. There was no avoiding it.
Trump’s personality confounded Ryan, who told friends he had never met another human being like him.
Throughout the 2016 campaign, Ryan had been supportive of the Republican nominees, whom most GOP leaders doubted would be able to win. But his support of Trump started to crack that October, when Ryan publicly said he was “sickened” by Trump’s lewd, caught-on-tape comments about women, which were revealed by The Washington Post.
Once Trump won, Ryan was caught off guard. He now had to deal with him. Ryan, as speaker, was second in the line of presidential succession, right behind Vice President Mike Pence. There was no avoiding it.
Sunday, January 12, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt thirteen)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
When Warner, who was in New York, learned what Nichols had done, he ordered McEwen to fire Nichols. When McEwen summoned Nichols to his office and gave him the news, Mike was quick on his feet, offering an ingenious—and, ultimately, helpful—quid pro quo. If Warner gave him until the end of the week to edit the last reels, he would invite his friend Jacqueline Kennedy to the all-important Catholic Legion screening. By then, Warner was aware of Nichols’s friendship with the former first lady, as paparazzi shots had been published of the two of them dancing together at Arthur, the popular nightclub on the former site of El Morocco in midtown Manhattan opened by Sybil Burton (Richard’s ex-wife). Nichols knew that Mrs. Kennedy loved Albee’s play. As a Catholic, as a universally sympathetic figure after the assassination of her husband, and as the other most famous woman in the world, her opinion would likely hold sway with the monsignor. Warner was persuaded enough to grant Mike this final wish, and indignant enough to order Lehman to rehire North immediately.
When Warner, who was in New York, learned what Nichols had done, he ordered McEwen to fire Nichols. When McEwen summoned Nichols to his office and gave him the news, Mike was quick on his feet, offering an ingenious—and, ultimately, helpful—quid pro quo. If Warner gave him until the end of the week to edit the last reels, he would invite his friend Jacqueline Kennedy to the all-important Catholic Legion screening. By then, Warner was aware of Nichols’s friendship with the former first lady, as paparazzi shots had been published of the two of them dancing together at Arthur, the popular nightclub on the former site of El Morocco in midtown Manhattan opened by Sybil Burton (Richard’s ex-wife). Nichols knew that Mrs. Kennedy loved Albee’s play. As a Catholic, as a universally sympathetic figure after the assassination of her husband, and as the other most famous woman in the world, her opinion would likely hold sway with the monsignor. Warner was persuaded enough to grant Mike this final wish, and indignant enough to order Lehman to rehire North immediately.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt twelve)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
In 1965, Mike Nichols was more famous than Andy Warhol. Unbeknownst to Nichols, Lehman, or anyone else at Warner Brothers, in the spring of that year, when the production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was just gearing up in Hollywood, Warhol set out to make his own unscripted film version of the Edward Albee play. Warhol personally knew the experimental filmmaker Marie Menken and her poet husband, Willard Maas, who had been Albee’s colleagues at Wagner College—and the likely primary inspiration for his characters George and Martha. Warhol intended to make a film of Willard and Marie fighting. “Menken and Maas were notorious bickerers and heavy drinkers whose weekend salons at their rooftop apartment in Brooklyn Heights were typically marked by the pair’s rambunctious and theatrical sparring,” according to Sheldon Renan, the film historian, who was part of Warhol’s crew that day, along with Factory stalwarts John Hawkins, Gerard Malanga, Edie Sedgwick, Ronald Tavel, and Chuck Wein.
The resulting sixty-seven-minute film, called Bitch, was shot in the Menken-Maas living room in Warhol’s signature home-movie documentary style. Willard and Marie, drunk on a Sunday afternoon, sit amid an eclectic array of Victorian-style furniture trading insults and barbs. “You don’t seem to be able to finish your sentences,” Willard says to Marie, making tongue-in-cheek mockery of her drunkenness. “We usually have a monologue of a hundred thousand hours about anything. You could be one of the great bores of all time.” She nods off for a minute, then picks up the thread. “I happen to be your wife,” and that’s a big job,” Marie says, waving her arm toward him. Willard sips his drink and responds in a kind of taunting singsong. “You are not so easy to live with,” he says. “You think I’m so hard to live with? You are the problem,” Marie ponders this and holds out her glass for another drink. “You don’t know what it’s like to be married,” she says, as if to herself. “He gives me hell all the time.” Before the hour is up, John Hawkins, Gerard Malanga, and Edie Sedwick enter the frame, respectively, sitting down and draping themselves around each other as Willard and Marie each embrace one or the other of “the guests,” who are there to keep the conversation going. Because Willard and Marie were so drunk, Warhol did not get the verité hyperbole he was hoping for on camera. Still, the film remains in the Warhol archive as a notable example of his early filmmaking—and a telling document. You can glean the way Albee absorbed the tenor of Willard and Marie’s controversial style—their unfiltered honesty and barbed affection—to create the characters of George and Martha.
In 1965, Mike Nichols was more famous than Andy Warhol. Unbeknownst to Nichols, Lehman, or anyone else at Warner Brothers, in the spring of that year, when the production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was just gearing up in Hollywood, Warhol set out to make his own unscripted film version of the Edward Albee play. Warhol personally knew the experimental filmmaker Marie Menken and her poet husband, Willard Maas, who had been Albee’s colleagues at Wagner College—and the likely primary inspiration for his characters George and Martha. Warhol intended to make a film of Willard and Marie fighting. “Menken and Maas were notorious bickerers and heavy drinkers whose weekend salons at their rooftop apartment in Brooklyn Heights were typically marked by the pair’s rambunctious and theatrical sparring,” according to Sheldon Renan, the film historian, who was part of Warhol’s crew that day, along with Factory stalwarts John Hawkins, Gerard Malanga, Edie Sedgwick, Ronald Tavel, and Chuck Wein.
The resulting sixty-seven-minute film, called Bitch, was shot in the Menken-Maas living room in Warhol’s signature home-movie documentary style. Willard and Marie, drunk on a Sunday afternoon, sit amid an eclectic array of Victorian-style furniture trading insults and barbs. “You don’t seem to be able to finish your sentences,” Willard says to Marie, making tongue-in-cheek mockery of her drunkenness. “We usually have a monologue of a hundred thousand hours about anything. You could be one of the great bores of all time.” She nods off for a minute, then picks up the thread. “I happen to be your wife,” and that’s a big job,” Marie says, waving her arm toward him. Willard sips his drink and responds in a kind of taunting singsong. “You are not so easy to live with,” he says. “You think I’m so hard to live with? You are the problem,” Marie ponders this and holds out her glass for another drink. “You don’t know what it’s like to be married,” she says, as if to herself. “He gives me hell all the time.” Before the hour is up, John Hawkins, Gerard Malanga, and Edie Sedwick enter the frame, respectively, sitting down and draping themselves around each other as Willard and Marie each embrace one or the other of “the guests,” who are there to keep the conversation going. Because Willard and Marie were so drunk, Warhol did not get the verité hyperbole he was hoping for on camera. Still, the film remains in the Warhol archive as a notable example of his early filmmaking—and a telling document. You can glean the way Albee absorbed the tenor of Willard and Marie’s controversial style—their unfiltered honesty and barbed affection—to create the characters of George and Martha.
Friday, January 10, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt eleven)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
The entire cast and crew finally returned to Los Angeles on September 21, 1965, after almost a full month of shooting on location in Northampton. Years later, Nichols would reflect on the decision to shoot the exteriors of Virginia Woolf at Smith College. “It was a symptom of how green I was and how little I knew,” Nichols told Soderbergh. “And how very bossy. If everyone weren’t so scared to tell me, it all could have been shot on the back lot with no compromise whatsoever. There was no artistic superiority in going to Smith College. But I didn’t know that. I thought it had to be in a real place …. The ‘bergin’ speech could have been done on any stage in the world. But I was dumb. And I mistrusted all the Hollywood stuff and I wanted to be sure it was real.”
The entire cast and crew finally returned to Los Angeles on September 21, 1965, after almost a full month of shooting on location in Northampton. Years later, Nichols would reflect on the decision to shoot the exteriors of Virginia Woolf at Smith College. “It was a symptom of how green I was and how little I knew,” Nichols told Soderbergh. “And how very bossy. If everyone weren’t so scared to tell me, it all could have been shot on the back lot with no compromise whatsoever. There was no artistic superiority in going to Smith College. But I didn’t know that. I thought it had to be in a real place …. The ‘bergin’ speech could have been done on any stage in the world. But I was dumb. And I mistrusted all the Hollywood stuff and I wanted to be sure it was real.”
Thursday, January 9, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt ten)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
On the set of Virginia Woolf, “I certainly wasn’t confident,” Nichols said during that television interview. “I didn’t know how to shoot a movie.” Nichols agreed with Lehman about shooting the film in sequence—not unlike a play—and they were setting up the production schedule toward that end. He later reflected that “you can actually watch me learning as I go.” In conceptualizing the first scene, for example, Nichols planned to introduce George and Martha as they came through the front door, with the camera positioned inside the house. But he couldn’t figure out where the camera was supposed to be to get opening shots that zero in on their faces. “Won’t the front door hit the camera?” he asked his good friend Anthony Perkins, who was staying with him before production began. Perkins explained that that’s what long lenses were for, a revelation to Nichols. He had so much to learn about the technical aspects of shooting a movie; the even greater challenge, though, was how to conjure a performance out of an actor for the camera versus a live theater audience.
In the weeks before the actors arrived, Nichols embarked on his own tutorial in moviemaking. He took over one of the Warner Brothers screening rooms and summoned more than half a dozen films to watch in a series of afternoon screenings. One, A Streetcar Named Desire, had been shot by Harry Stradling, the veteran cinematographer assigned by Warner Brothers to shoot Virginia Woolf. Nichols also screened his beloved A Place in the Sun, which starred a much younger Taylor. “It depressed Mike because he realized that one cannot become George Stevens on one’s first attempt, no matter how hard one tries,” Lehman reported in his journal. “What I think he forgets is that he can become Mike Nichols on his first attempt, and that might be more interesting, particularly for this picture.” One afternoon, Mike asked Ernie to see if he couldn’t get the studio to pay the $350 necessary to obtain several foreign films: Francois Truffaut’s Jules and Jim and The 400 Blows, and Federico Fellini’s 8 ½. “Hacks only imitate,” Mike explained. “We artists steal.” Lehman and others joined him for these screenings. Another film that Mike selected was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, which takes place entirely in a single apartment, just as Virginia Woolf takes place almost entirely in George and Martha’s living room. Mike wanted to understand how Hitchcock handled such a limited set, which was not unlike shooting an entire movie as if it were onstage.
On the set of Virginia Woolf, “I certainly wasn’t confident,” Nichols said during that television interview. “I didn’t know how to shoot a movie.” Nichols agreed with Lehman about shooting the film in sequence—not unlike a play—and they were setting up the production schedule toward that end. He later reflected that “you can actually watch me learning as I go.” In conceptualizing the first scene, for example, Nichols planned to introduce George and Martha as they came through the front door, with the camera positioned inside the house. But he couldn’t figure out where the camera was supposed to be to get opening shots that zero in on their faces. “Won’t the front door hit the camera?” he asked his good friend Anthony Perkins, who was staying with him before production began. Perkins explained that that’s what long lenses were for, a revelation to Nichols. He had so much to learn about the technical aspects of shooting a movie; the even greater challenge, though, was how to conjure a performance out of an actor for the camera versus a live theater audience.
In the weeks before the actors arrived, Nichols embarked on his own tutorial in moviemaking. He took over one of the Warner Brothers screening rooms and summoned more than half a dozen films to watch in a series of afternoon screenings. One, A Streetcar Named Desire, had been shot by Harry Stradling, the veteran cinematographer assigned by Warner Brothers to shoot Virginia Woolf. Nichols also screened his beloved A Place in the Sun, which starred a much younger Taylor. “It depressed Mike because he realized that one cannot become George Stevens on one’s first attempt, no matter how hard one tries,” Lehman reported in his journal. “What I think he forgets is that he can become Mike Nichols on his first attempt, and that might be more interesting, particularly for this picture.” One afternoon, Mike asked Ernie to see if he couldn’t get the studio to pay the $350 necessary to obtain several foreign films: Francois Truffaut’s Jules and Jim and The 400 Blows, and Federico Fellini’s 8 ½. “Hacks only imitate,” Mike explained. “We artists steal.” Lehman and others joined him for these screenings. Another film that Mike selected was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, which takes place entirely in a single apartment, just as Virginia Woolf takes place almost entirely in George and Martha’s living room. Mike wanted to understand how Hitchcock handled such a limited set, which was not unlike shooting an entire movie as if it were onstage.
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt nine)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
At twenty, Nichols saw Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in the film he would come to call his Bible—George Stevens’s A Place in the Sun. The experience was as revelatory about movies as Streetcar had been about theater. It is a mournful film about a poor yet appealing young man thrust into a glamorous circle he cannot resist. His inexperience is challenged, his moral compass goes haywire, and his life is destroyed. At the time, Nichols identified with Clift’s character, feeling himself to be a rube, too, and wondering how he would find his own way into a more cultivated world. The film is shot in a lush black and white that underscores its moodiness. Stevens luxuriates in long takes that, like still photographs, allow the eye to linger and the viewer to contemplate the characters, as well as the details of their circumstances. Nichols later claimed to have seen the film about 150 times, mostly when he was in his twenties. Throughout his life, A Place in the Sun would be the movie he would mine for inspiration. As Mark Harris writes in his biography of Nichols, “It was his core text when he prepared to direct Taylor himself in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the length of each shot in the stillness of Stevens’s camera strongly influenced his approach to [his next film], The Graduate.”
At twenty, Nichols saw Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in the film he would come to call his Bible—George Stevens’s A Place in the Sun. The experience was as revelatory about movies as Streetcar had been about theater. It is a mournful film about a poor yet appealing young man thrust into a glamorous circle he cannot resist. His inexperience is challenged, his moral compass goes haywire, and his life is destroyed. At the time, Nichols identified with Clift’s character, feeling himself to be a rube, too, and wondering how he would find his own way into a more cultivated world. The film is shot in a lush black and white that underscores its moodiness. Stevens luxuriates in long takes that, like still photographs, allow the eye to linger and the viewer to contemplate the characters, as well as the details of their circumstances. Nichols later claimed to have seen the film about 150 times, mostly when he was in his twenties. Throughout his life, A Place in the Sun would be the movie he would mine for inspiration. As Mark Harris writes in his biography of Nichols, “It was his core text when he prepared to direct Taylor himself in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the length of each shot in the stillness of Stevens’s camera strongly influenced his approach to [his next film], The Graduate.”
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt eight)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
During that run, Nichols met Edward Albee, and they had dinner together one night before curtain. It makes sense that they would find each other. They were close to the same age; both were considered intellectually fashionable and outré. The Zoo Story had opened off-Broadway that January. Albee had already seen An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May once and offered suggestions about several scenes—notes that Nichols respected but did not honor. He later reflected that he did not think either of them was influenced by the other, yet, from the first, he sensed a certain empathy with Albee: Both of them had “outsider feelings.” For Nichols, those feelings could be traced back to his childhood as a German immigrant (born Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky) who arrived in America at age seven now speaking a word of English. On top of that, when he was four, an allergic reaction to medication brough about a lifetime alopecia-like affliction, which left him unable to grow hair. Nichols wore wigs his entire life. Meanwhile, Albee, as an adopted child, felt like an immigrant in his own family. He and Nichols shared a sense of alienation and unhappiness about their respective student years at boarding schools. While Nichols found Albee austere and socially restrained, “I felt a real connection to him and almost an affection obviously because of his mind and his work, but also because of his wry cordiality.”
During that run, Nichols met Edward Albee, and they had dinner together one night before curtain. It makes sense that they would find each other. They were close to the same age; both were considered intellectually fashionable and outré. The Zoo Story had opened off-Broadway that January. Albee had already seen An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May once and offered suggestions about several scenes—notes that Nichols respected but did not honor. He later reflected that he did not think either of them was influenced by the other, yet, from the first, he sensed a certain empathy with Albee: Both of them had “outsider feelings.” For Nichols, those feelings could be traced back to his childhood as a German immigrant (born Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky) who arrived in America at age seven now speaking a word of English. On top of that, when he was four, an allergic reaction to medication brough about a lifetime alopecia-like affliction, which left him unable to grow hair. Nichols wore wigs his entire life. Meanwhile, Albee, as an adopted child, felt like an immigrant in his own family. He and Nichols shared a sense of alienation and unhappiness about their respective student years at boarding schools. While Nichols found Albee austere and socially restrained, “I felt a real connection to him and almost an affection obviously because of his mind and his work, but also because of his wry cordiality.”
Monday, January 6, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt seven)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
As for guiding and pacing the actors, Bergman later suggested that Virginia Woolf did not even need a director. “If they are very good actors, they will find it,” he said. “They will find a rhythm of their own. I’m sure of that. I am convinced. It’s not so difficult. You can read [the play]—and it’s all there.” Ten years later, Bergman would write and direct Scenes from a Marriage, initially produced for Swedish television and, eventually, presented as a film in the United States. It is not hard to see the DNA of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? written all over it: Scenes anatomizes what is by all appearances an ideal marriage as it slowly deteriorates. As the frustrated wife becomes less tolerant of her husband’s egotistical buffoonery, the couple’s arguments grow increasingly bitter and more honest until, eventually, they divorce.
In New York, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? played a total of 644 performances, all of them sold out. The production won a Tony Award in 1963 for Best Play, and Hagen and Hill each won Tonys for Best Actor and Best Actress, as did Schneider for his direction. The New York Drama Critics’ Circle awarded it best play. Then came a big slap in the face: in May 1963, the Pulitzer Board of Trustees announced that there would be no prize for Drama that year. This was a direct and intentional snub of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?--the only play nominated that year in a season that included the Broadway production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Thousand Clowns, and Beyond the Fringe.
As for guiding and pacing the actors, Bergman later suggested that Virginia Woolf did not even need a director. “If they are very good actors, they will find it,” he said. “They will find a rhythm of their own. I’m sure of that. I am convinced. It’s not so difficult. You can read [the play]—and it’s all there.” Ten years later, Bergman would write and direct Scenes from a Marriage, initially produced for Swedish television and, eventually, presented as a film in the United States. It is not hard to see the DNA of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? written all over it: Scenes anatomizes what is by all appearances an ideal marriage as it slowly deteriorates. As the frustrated wife becomes less tolerant of her husband’s egotistical buffoonery, the couple’s arguments grow increasingly bitter and more honest until, eventually, they divorce.
In New York, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? played a total of 644 performances, all of them sold out. The production won a Tony Award in 1963 for Best Play, and Hagen and Hill each won Tonys for Best Actor and Best Actress, as did Schneider for his direction. The New York Drama Critics’ Circle awarded it best play. Then came a big slap in the face: in May 1963, the Pulitzer Board of Trustees announced that there would be no prize for Drama that year. This was a direct and intentional snub of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?--the only play nominated that year in a season that included the Broadway production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Thousand Clowns, and Beyond the Fringe.
Sunday, January 5, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt six)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
The film version of Eugene O’Neill’s play Long Day’s Journey into Night, directed by Sidney Lumet, opened in movie theaters the same week as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. Albee claimed that Virginia Woolf owes a thematic debt to O’Neill, the older playwright, who wrote characters that cannot survive without their illusions. Both Friedan and Yates are among Albee’s generation of writers and intellectuals who questioned those illusions—the pretenses of society that function as emotional armor. “Virginia Woolf says get rid of them,” Albee said, in contrast to O’Neill. “My play is about people of more than average intelligence getting to the point where they can’t any longer exist with a whole series of games, tricks, and false illusions, and then knocking down the entire untenable superstructure. The end result? Something may or may not be built in its place.”
Nancy Kelly, who would later star as Martha in the national tour of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, remembered Walter Kerr passing the Billy Rose Theatre every day and hearing couples in line to buy tickets bickering about which one was dragging the other to see the play. “He said that the play comes to life outside the theater,” she recalled. “Albee always said that Act Four of the play was when the audience leaves the theatre, and the couples argue all the way home.”
The film version of Eugene O’Neill’s play Long Day’s Journey into Night, directed by Sidney Lumet, opened in movie theaters the same week as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. Albee claimed that Virginia Woolf owes a thematic debt to O’Neill, the older playwright, who wrote characters that cannot survive without their illusions. Both Friedan and Yates are among Albee’s generation of writers and intellectuals who questioned those illusions—the pretenses of society that function as emotional armor. “Virginia Woolf says get rid of them,” Albee said, in contrast to O’Neill. “My play is about people of more than average intelligence getting to the point where they can’t any longer exist with a whole series of games, tricks, and false illusions, and then knocking down the entire untenable superstructure. The end result? Something may or may not be built in its place.”
Nancy Kelly, who would later star as Martha in the national tour of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, remembered Walter Kerr passing the Billy Rose Theatre every day and hearing couples in line to buy tickets bickering about which one was dragging the other to see the play. “He said that the play comes to life outside the theater,” she recalled. “Albee always said that Act Four of the play was when the audience leaves the theatre, and the couples argue all the way home.”
Saturday, January 4, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt five)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
The same year Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opened, Richard Yates’s novel Revolutionary Road was nominated for the National Book Award. “This novel locates the new American tragedy squarely on the field of marriage,” wrote Alfred Kazin in a blurb used on the original book jacket. The novel is about the Wheelers, a couple who first meet at a party in Manhattan. April is an aspiring actress, and Frank, a longshoreman with a college degree, talks of his ambition to become a writer. Both express the desire to live unique and original lives. They marry, one thing leads to another, and we find them settled in conventional suburban Connecticut with a house and two kids. Frank commutes daily to his job in the city as a junior executive in a large corporation, and April fulfills the domestic obligations of a housewife and mother—so quickly have they conformed to a version of the American dream that was not what they intended.
Yates puts his finger on the existential heart of the novel in a conversation between Frank and a lunch guest. Frank condemns “the hopeless emptiness of everything in this country,” and his visitor eagerly agrees: “Now you’ve said it. The hopeless emptiness. Hell, plenty of people are on to the emptiness part; out where I used to work, on the Coast, that’s all we ever talked about. We’d sit around talking about emptiness all night. Nobody ever said ‘hopeless,’ though; that’s where we’d chicken out. Because maybe it does take a certain amount of guts to see the emptiness, but it takes a whole hell of a lot more to see the hopelessness.”
The same year Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opened, Richard Yates’s novel Revolutionary Road was nominated for the National Book Award. “This novel locates the new American tragedy squarely on the field of marriage,” wrote Alfred Kazin in a blurb used on the original book jacket. The novel is about the Wheelers, a couple who first meet at a party in Manhattan. April is an aspiring actress, and Frank, a longshoreman with a college degree, talks of his ambition to become a writer. Both express the desire to live unique and original lives. They marry, one thing leads to another, and we find them settled in conventional suburban Connecticut with a house and two kids. Frank commutes daily to his job in the city as a junior executive in a large corporation, and April fulfills the domestic obligations of a housewife and mother—so quickly have they conformed to a version of the American dream that was not what they intended.
Yates puts his finger on the existential heart of the novel in a conversation between Frank and a lunch guest. Frank condemns “the hopeless emptiness of everything in this country,” and his visitor eagerly agrees: “Now you’ve said it. The hopeless emptiness. Hell, plenty of people are on to the emptiness part; out where I used to work, on the Coast, that’s all we ever talked about. We’d sit around talking about emptiness all night. Nobody ever said ‘hopeless,’ though; that’s where we’d chicken out. Because maybe it does take a certain amount of guts to see the emptiness, but it takes a whole hell of a lot more to see the hopelessness.”
Friday, January 3, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt four)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
Tennessee Williams attended one of the preview performances and concluded that the play is “one of those works that extend the frontiers of the stage.” Gore Vidal’s sister, Nina Steers, sent Wilder a note after the opening to say that both she and Gore adored the play, and offered to throw an opening night party should it come to Washington. Elizabeth Ashley, the Broadway actress who won a Tony that year for Take Her, She’s Mine, attended the opening night performance. “I remember being enthralled and overwhelmed by it,” she said. “Uta Hagen was this acting legend; finally seeing her was just extraordinary. Rarely do you see a great actor strip off the skins to where you see raw, naked, primal power.” Colleen Dewhurst, who had been offered the role of Martha for the matinee cast, and had to decline because of a previous commitment, was there on opening night, as well. “There was an air of excitement in the audience that went beyond my wildest expectations,” she said. “This was not just a special opening night. Both the playwright and the cast made theater history that night.” Among those who saw it in the opening weeks was the playwright A. R. Gurney. “I was teaching at M.I.T. at the time,” Gurney said, “and introductory course to Western Culture—Sophocles, ‘The Confessions of St. Augustine’—and I added Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to the list as soon as I got back.”
Perhaps the most meaningful response came from John Steinbeck, who had just won the Nobel Prize in literature. He was present on opening night and, afterward, sent a note of congratulations to Albee: “The flash of the moment of truth is blinding …. When Walt Whitman sent his home-printed copies of Leaves of Grass to the so-called giants of his time, only Emerson deigned to reply. He said—and I want to plagiarize—‘I salute you on the threshold of a great career.’ Isn’t it interesting that only the vulgar papers found your play vulgar? But that was inevitable, I guess,” He added, “I want to see it again and again.”
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?vpaid its investors back in only thirty-one performances. “Broadway did make a difference,” wrote Gussow. “Albee was put on a pedestal, occasionally knocked down from that pedestal; repeatedly interviewed, he was quoted, courted, and invited.” Barely a month after the opening, Albee was honored with an invitation to the White House as part of a delegation of tastemakers to meet President John F. Kennedy.
Tennessee Williams attended one of the preview performances and concluded that the play is “one of those works that extend the frontiers of the stage.” Gore Vidal’s sister, Nina Steers, sent Wilder a note after the opening to say that both she and Gore adored the play, and offered to throw an opening night party should it come to Washington. Elizabeth Ashley, the Broadway actress who won a Tony that year for Take Her, She’s Mine, attended the opening night performance. “I remember being enthralled and overwhelmed by it,” she said. “Uta Hagen was this acting legend; finally seeing her was just extraordinary. Rarely do you see a great actor strip off the skins to where you see raw, naked, primal power.” Colleen Dewhurst, who had been offered the role of Martha for the matinee cast, and had to decline because of a previous commitment, was there on opening night, as well. “There was an air of excitement in the audience that went beyond my wildest expectations,” she said. “This was not just a special opening night. Both the playwright and the cast made theater history that night.” Among those who saw it in the opening weeks was the playwright A. R. Gurney. “I was teaching at M.I.T. at the time,” Gurney said, “and introductory course to Western Culture—Sophocles, ‘The Confessions of St. Augustine’—and I added Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to the list as soon as I got back.”
Perhaps the most meaningful response came from John Steinbeck, who had just won the Nobel Prize in literature. He was present on opening night and, afterward, sent a note of congratulations to Albee: “The flash of the moment of truth is blinding …. When Walt Whitman sent his home-printed copies of Leaves of Grass to the so-called giants of his time, only Emerson deigned to reply. He said—and I want to plagiarize—‘I salute you on the threshold of a great career.’ Isn’t it interesting that only the vulgar papers found your play vulgar? But that was inevitable, I guess,” He added, “I want to see it again and again.”
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?vpaid its investors back in only thirty-one performances. “Broadway did make a difference,” wrote Gussow. “Albee was put on a pedestal, occasionally knocked down from that pedestal; repeatedly interviewed, he was quoted, courted, and invited.” Barely a month after the opening, Albee was honored with an invitation to the White House as part of a delegation of tastemakers to meet President John F. Kennedy.
Thursday, January 2, 2025
the last book I ever read (Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, excerpt three)
from Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Philip Gefter:
It would be ten years later, long after his meeting with Wilder, that Albee wrote his first one-act play. He completed The Zoo Story in February 1958—one month shy of his thirtieth birthday. It took him less than three weeks to write it, pecking away at the kitchen table of his walk-up apartment on a standard typewriter he had “liberated” from Western Union, using yellow copy paper he had also stolen from his employed. He called the process of writing the play an “explosion,” the dialogue just flowing out of him from the very first line. “I have been to the zoo,” one character, Jerry, says to a stranger on a park bench, who ignores him. “I said, ‘I’ve been to the zoo,’” he repeats. “MISTER, I’VE BEEN TO THE ZOO,” he yells, finally getting the stranger’s attention. One critic with a cynical eye later described the one-act as a play about “a homosexual who, despising the square world and unable to live in his own, tricks an inoffensive stranger into killing him.” While there is a modicum of truth in that assessment, The Zoo Story cannot be so offhandedly simplified. Albee wrote The Zoo Story the same year that The Human Condition, by Hannah Arendt, was published, and the latter’s sweeping thesis about the dehumanization of the individual in society is more consistent with what The Zoo Story is about. Arendt warned against “our diminishing human agency and political freedom, and the paradox that as human powers increase through technological and humanistic inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of our actions.” In The Zoo Story, Jerry rants on and on in this vein, too, indignant, disconsolate, until he arrives at an even more pointedly existential conclusion about our helplessness in society, which he delivers with the thud-a-dud actuality of fact. “I have learned that neither kindness nor cruelty by themselves, independent of each other, creates any effect beyond themselves, and I have learned that the two combined, together, at the same time, are the teaching emotion. And what is gained is loss.”
It would be ten years later, long after his meeting with Wilder, that Albee wrote his first one-act play. He completed The Zoo Story in February 1958—one month shy of his thirtieth birthday. It took him less than three weeks to write it, pecking away at the kitchen table of his walk-up apartment on a standard typewriter he had “liberated” from Western Union, using yellow copy paper he had also stolen from his employed. He called the process of writing the play an “explosion,” the dialogue just flowing out of him from the very first line. “I have been to the zoo,” one character, Jerry, says to a stranger on a park bench, who ignores him. “I said, ‘I’ve been to the zoo,’” he repeats. “MISTER, I’VE BEEN TO THE ZOO,” he yells, finally getting the stranger’s attention. One critic with a cynical eye later described the one-act as a play about “a homosexual who, despising the square world and unable to live in his own, tricks an inoffensive stranger into killing him.” While there is a modicum of truth in that assessment, The Zoo Story cannot be so offhandedly simplified. Albee wrote The Zoo Story the same year that The Human Condition, by Hannah Arendt, was published, and the latter’s sweeping thesis about the dehumanization of the individual in society is more consistent with what The Zoo Story is about. Arendt warned against “our diminishing human agency and political freedom, and the paradox that as human powers increase through technological and humanistic inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of our actions.” In The Zoo Story, Jerry rants on and on in this vein, too, indignant, disconsolate, until he arrives at an even more pointedly existential conclusion about our helplessness in society, which he delivers with the thud-a-dud actuality of fact. “I have learned that neither kindness nor cruelty by themselves, independent of each other, creates any effect beyond themselves, and I have learned that the two combined, together, at the same time, are the teaching emotion. And what is gained is loss.”
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