“Failure is always at your heels”: Brown, Let Me Entertain You, 131.
“My darling’s depressions”: HGB, The Late Show, 51.
“a dog-eared manuscript”: Letter from Harper Lee in letters column, “Dear Cosmo,” Cosmopolitan, March 1971.
“I told him to think of sensational things”: Author’s interview with Liz Smith.
Judy Krantz called Helen: Author’s interview with Judith Krantz.
26. COSMO GOES TO HARVARD
The Tonight Show flickered onscreen: Information on the making of the Harvard Lampoon Cosmo parody from author’s interviews with Eric Rayman and Patricia Marx. See also Philip K. Dougherty’s New York Times advertising column, “Cosmopolitan Barb,” which included an interview with Rayman, June 7, 1972. On the choice of Burt Reynolds and Helen’s expectations, see Burt Reynolds’s recollections from his two memoirs, My Life (New York: Hyperion, 1994) and But Enough About Me (New York: G. P. Putnam, 2015).
staffers were having difficulty choosing a victim: History of the Lampoon’s magazine parodies from Jim Downey and Eric Rayman, eds., 100 Years of Harvard Lampoon Parodies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Lampoon, 1970).
Even the conservative moral arbiter: William F. Buckley, “You Are the More Cupcakeable for Being a Cosmopolitan Girl,” National Review, September 22, 1970, 999–1000.
In a priceless memo: From HGB to Richard Deems, December 4, 1968, HGB-SSC, Box 39, Folder 7. Helen also discussed her disappointment with the Coburn photos in Nora Ephron, “If You’re a Little Mouseburger, Come with Me. I Was a Mouseburger and I Will Help You,” originally published in Esquire and reprinted in Ephron’s anthology Wallflower at the Orgy (New York: Ace/Viking, 1973).
“Helen didn’t have to talk me into it”: Reynolds, But Enough About Me, 92.
In the months following the centerfold issue: James Landers, The Improbable First Century of Cosmopolitan Magazine (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2010), 229.
The Lampoon staff had rented: Author’s interviews with Eric Rayman and Patricia Marx; and Bryan Marquard, “Iven DeVore, Celebrated Harvard Anthropologist, Dies at 79,” The Boston Globe, September 29, 2014.
While the children were having their fun: Letter from HGB to Eric Rayman in HGB, Dear Pussycat, 191.
“Untamed Va-jay-jays”: Cover line from Cosmopolitan, May 2010.
In the years from 1965 to 1972: Landers, The Improbable First Century, 229.
Before she left for Arkansas: Gael Greene’s account of her experiences with Burt Reynolds from author’s interview with Greene and from her memoir, Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess (New York: Warner Books, 2006). Burt Reynolds’s recollections from Reynolds, My Life and But Enough About Me.
27. ISN’T SHE LOVELY?
“‘Beauty’ is a word”: Francesco Scavullo in William Norwich, “Francesco Scavullo Showed There Was No Surface in the Public Arena That Couldn’t Be Polished,” The Observer, October 13, 1997.
At Helen’s insistence, cover shoots were minimalist: Details on the process of creating a Cosmo cover in Francesco Scavullo’s studio from author’s interviews with the models Beverly Johnson, Brooke Shields, and Karen Bjornson Macdonald, and with Scavullo’s former studio manager Bob Cass and hairdresser Harry King.
Her most important dictate was this: Memo regarding art format to staff editors from HGB, HGB-SSC, Box 41, Folder 8.
Helen also relied heavily on: Author’s interview with Nick Piazza.
28. HIGH TIDE
“Start the shark!”: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb, cowriter of the Jaws screenplay.
One afternoon in mid-May: David Brown’s description of his father’s death and infidelities from Brown, Let Me Entertain You, 62–64.
Headlines screamed the horrors: The series of shark attacks—historic in their ferocity and clustering—occurred from July 1 to 12, 1916. This time period coincided with the final two weeks of Lillian Brown’s pregnancy. See “Shark Kills Bather Off Jersey Beach,” The New York Times, July 7, 1916. The most comprehensive history of the attacks is Michael Capuzzo, Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence (New York: Broadway Books, 2001). Capuzzo drew his conclusion that “Peter Benchley invoked the shark as the role model for his fictional white shark” after extensive discussions with the ichthyologist George Burgess, a shark expert also quoted in Megan Gambino, “The Shark Attacks That Were the Inspiration for Jaws,” Smithsonian, August 6, 2012.
Years after his success with both Jaws and Jaws II, Peter Benchley denied that the Jersey attacks—unique in history—were the model for his horror scenarios. Benchley rued the massive shark hunting endangering the species and became a spokesman for the Oceans Program in the National Council of Environmental Defense.
In the wake of their banishment: Description of how Brown and Zanuck ran the company on both coasts from author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb.
Enter Lyn Tornabene: Author’s interviews with Lyn Tornabene. Information on Norman Darer from CBS report to stockholders, 1973.
Having read the manuscript: Background on the making of Jaws from author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb, and from his book The Jaws Log (New York: Newmarket, 1975).
Around Thanksgiving of that year: Letter about the comet to HGB from Mary, HGB-SSC, Box 6, Folder 2.
Within the film industry: On David trying to game the bestseller system, author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb.
In April 1974: Supreme Court decision and the arts from David A. Cook, Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 282. On Helen and Jackie Susann at the panel, Barbara Seaman, Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (New York: William Morrow, 1987), 443, 449. David on Susann’s death, Brown, Let Me Entertain You, 165–66.
“Dick and David had innocently assumed”: Gottlieb, The Jaws Log, chaps. 7–12 for accounts of filming mishaps. See also Reader’s Digest, www.rd.com/culture/jaws-movie-trivia-facts/.
“it happened before!”: From Jaws, screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, 1975.
Oscar Dystel and David Brown reveled: Photographs of all Jaws merchandising in Gottlieb, The Jaws Log (photo insert), show the full panoply of Jaws-related products, including the Bantam paperback’s illustration on movie posters, T-shirts, and the lot. Production and revenue information from “Jaws: How ‘Massive’ Promotion Built a Summer Blockbuster,” The Hollywood Reporter, June 9, 2015, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jaws-how-massive-promotion-built-799579.
Worldwide grosses to date: The original Jaws movie, released June 20, 1975, grossed $260,000,000 domestically and $210,653,00 foreign, according to www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=jaws.htm.
“I always have, always”: HGB, The Late Show, 285.
“So when the millions were pouring in”: Author’s interview with Carl Gottlieb.
“I’m getting these phone calls”: Author’s interviews with Lyn Tornabene.
In 1976, Alice Mason, a prominent: Author’s interview with Alice Mason.
“It was supposed to be tacky over there”: Olivia Barker, “‘Cosmo’ Editor Elevates Retro Chic to Classic,” USA Today, February 8, 2007.
Alice Mason was the sort of broker: Author’s interview with Alice Mason.
Penthouse 22D: Real estate specs from listing of the Brown apartment by Sotheby’s in late 2015. The Browns gave a house tour, with photographs, to USA Today in 2007: Barker, “‘Cosmo’ Editor Elevates Chic to Classic.”
He was certainly in a position: David’s portfolio and earnings discussed in Steven Flax, “A Boffo, Socko Portfolio,” Forbes, April 13, 1981.
The architectural critic Paul Goldberger: Author’s interview with Paul Goldberger. See also Goldberger’s column “Design Notebook,” The New York Times, February 16, 1978; and Micki Goldberg, “Gurley Show,” New York Post, January 25, 2007.
The Browns were well settled: HGB, “Step into My Parlor,” November 1976.
The turn of the yea
r brought another Oscar race: John Corry’s society column, “New Yorkers, etc.,” The New York Times, March 30, 1977.
29. VICTORY LAP
“My only previous exposure”: Author’s interview with Bobbe Stultz.
Mary Alford watched from her front door: Helen’s Holiday Inn perks, letters to Holiday Inn proprietors, HGB-SSC, Box 13, Folder 8. Description of the Alfords’ problems, HGB letter to Elizabeth Bilheimer, HGB-SSC, Box 6, Folder 8.
When Cleo turned eighty-five: Letter from HGB to Cleo in HGB, Dear Pussycat, 337–42.
She had written a very different letter to Mary: HGB to Mary Alford, HGB-SSC, Box 6, Folder 2.
At 2:00 p.m. on Halloween: Obituary of Cleo Fred Sisco Gurley Bryan, Carroll County Tribute, October 29, 1980. Also, author’s interview with Randy High, associate with the Nelson Funeral Service, Berryville, Arkansas.
Joni Evans, an editor: Author’s interviews with Joni Evans.
The Cosmo juggernaut was growing: Rise in subscriptions, James Landers, The Improbable First Century of Cosmopolitan Magazine (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2010), 288.
“Flick your tongue around”: HGB, Having It All, 225.
The language in the magazine: Landers, The Improbable First Century, 266.
In January 1980, Cosmo had invited: Survey findings as presented in Linda Wolfe, The Cosmo Report: Female Sexual Behavior (New York: Arbor House, 1981).
“It was her idea”: Author’s interviews with Joni Evans and Michael Korda.
Having seen the splashy New York magazine: Jesse Kornbluth, “The Queen of the Mouseburgers,” New York magazine, September 27, 1982.
She shot Deems a long note: Letters and notes between Richard Deems and HGB, dated only 1982, HGB-SSC, Box 39, Folder 7.
Neither party brought up: Exchange with Steinem, ibid. Also, CKVP.
Perhaps fancying herself: Information on the day-to-day running of Cosmopolitan, its personnel, and fees from author’s interviews with Cindy Spengler, Bobbe Stultz, Betty Sargent, John Searles, Judi Drogin-Feldman, Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner, and Claudia Payne.
Cindy Spengler has vivid memories: Author’s interviews with Cindy Spengler.
30. THIN ICE
“It’s bad enough”: Elizabeth Taylor, from the website for her AIDS foundation at http://elizabethtayloraidsfoundation.org/.
Helen had certainly heard the news: “Way Bandy, Makeup Artist and Best-Selling Writer, Dies,” The New York Times, August 15, 1986; on Carangi, Justine Elias, “A Chic Heroine but Not a Pretty Story,” The New York Times Magazine, January 25, 1998. Scavullo quote and memorial service information from Steven Fried, Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia (New York: Pocket Books, 1993), 389. Scene with Angelina Jolie in 1998 HBO movie Gia. Further details in Alana Nash, “The Model Who Invented Heroin Chic,” The New York Times, September 7, 1997.
Her thinking was woefully uninformed: Some early mentions and articles on AIDS in Cosmopolitan include a brief mention in the “Your Body” column, August 1983; “Is There Gay Life After AIDS?,” December 1985; “Crucial Sexual Dilemmas of the 1980s,” January 1986; “Whatever Happened to Great Sex?,” August 1987; and “What’s Everybody Doing About Sex?,” April 1988.
“Don’t be one of those women”: Section on friends’ reactions to Helen’s AIDS ignorance from author’s interviews with Liz Smith, Judith Krantz, and Alex Mayes Birnbaum.
Helen wouldn’t let it rest: Quotations and assertions from Dr. Robert E. Gould, “Reassuring News About AIDS: A Doctor Tells You Why You May Not Be at Risk,” Cosmopolitan, January 1988.
Soon after the article hit the stands: Interview with Maxine Wolfe, ACT UP member who planned and participated in the Cosmo protest. Video of event, along with video of the Phil Donohue and Nightline segments devoted to the controversy, is archived at the Lesbian Herstory Museum in Brooklyn. See also documentary on the Cosmo AIDS protests, Doctors, Liars and Women: AIDS Activists Say No to Cosmo (produced by Jean Carlomusto and Maria Maggenti, 1988).
“We have come so far in relieving women”: HGB on Nightline, January 21, 1988. Article including some transcript from that broadcast, Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, “Cosmo’s Deadly Advice to Women About AIDS,” Seattle Times, July 30, 1993. Letter to HGB from Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, HGB-SSC, Box 8, Folder 6.
In Cosmo, the contretemps: HGB, “Step into My Parlor,” April 1988.
she would even refuse: HGB, Dear Pussycat, 291.
There was another, more personal disruption: The Brown/Zanuck split details and David’s commentary are drawn from Joanne Kaufman, “Starting Over,” Vanity Fair, October 1988; and Marlys J. Harris, The Zanucks of Hollywood: The Dark Legacy of an American Dynasty (New York: Crown, 1989), 295–96. Also, on Helen’s attitude toward Lili Fini Zanuck, author’s interview with Lois Cahall, a personal friend of Helen’s.
“I am a very complicated older man”: Kaufman, “Starting Over.”
The former Time managing editor Henry Grunwald: Author’s interview with Louise Grunwald on party details and the Grunwalds’ relationship with the Browns.
“I’ve concluded that Helen is like Salome”: Richard Deems remarks from a program from Helen’s twenty-fifth anniversary party, LSP-UTA. Photos of the event from twenty-fifth anniversary issue, HGB-SSC, Box 44, Folder 7.
That night David Brown and Richard Zanuck: Information on Thalberg Award and past recipients at www.oscars.org/governors/thalberg.
“Abelardo dear”: Letter to Abelardo Menendez in HGB, Dear Pussycat, 240.
It wasn’t as bad as the AIDS debacle: HGB, “At Work, Sexual Electricity Sparks Creativity,” The Wall Street Journal, October 29, 1991.
She welcomed her newly hired: Author’s interview with Betty Sargent.
“a girl who really knows her onions”: Letter to HGB from composer Irving Berlin, HGB-SSC, Box 6, Folder 7.
31: A SORT OF CRISIS
“It’s not true that”: Brown, Brown’s Guide to the Good Life, 5.
In October 1993, David Brown: Death record of Bruce Brown from Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014. Two women close to David Brown—his longtime friend Alex Mayes Birnbaum and his production partner Kit Golden—did confirm in interviews that Bruce Brown died of AIDS in Philadelphia, but both were unsure of the date. Kit Golden recalls mailing checks for Bruce’s care to an address in Philadelphia. Both stated that David Brown was in Canada when the call came. Further discussion of the silence around the death from author’s interviews with Marc Haefele, Bill Kortum, and Amy Levin Cooper. Marc Haefele’s blog post on the occasion of Helen’s death and the mystery around Bruce is at www.scpr.org/blogs/offramp/2012/08/29/9615/helen-gurley-browns-deleted-stepson/.
There is only one potential clue: HGB, The Late Show, 163.
Besides a smart, scholarly book: Bruce Brown, Marx, Freud, and the Critique of Everyday Life (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1973, reprinted in 2009). Mentions of Bruce Brown’s death: “The birth of my first and only son,” from Brown, Let Me Entertain You, 81; and “Not having children pains me,” from Brown, Brown’s Guide to the Good Life, 35.
“I did know that David had a son”: Author’s interview with Michael Korda.
“There’s a side to David”: Author’s interview with Gloria Vanderbilt.
32. THE POLITBURO MUST FALL
“Someone asked me”: Liz Smith remarks from a “roast” of HGB, LSP-UTA.
some pretty young woman: HGB, The Late Show, 12.
“Shrink listened”: Ibid., 14.
“1,400 people turned out for our press”: HGB letter to Liz Smith, May 3, 1994, from LSP-UTA. Details on George Green’s launch of a Russian edition of Cosmo in Jean Rosenthal, “Can You Say ‘Cosmo’ in Russian?” Yale Insights, Yale School of Management, April 28, 2009, http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/can-you-say-cosmo-russian. See also Margaret Shapiro’s “Post-Communist Cosmo Girl,” The Washington Post, April 29, 1994; and “Sex Please, We’re Russian,” The Economist, May 7, 1994. Helen’s note, with a clipping of the art
icle from David’s copy of The Economist, from CKVP.
The international ad/editorial partnerships: Author’s interview with Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner.
But she did make time to deal with: Author’s interview with Robin LoGuidice, friend and later attorney and executor of Charlotte Kelly Veal.
There was nothing Helen could do: Account of Charlotte Veal’s firing from Robin LoGuidice and from “Carlotta,” a long poem Helen wrote about her friend, in CKVP.
“The body was in shape”: Veal manuscript on getting face-lift, ibid. Also, correspondence in CKVP between Dr. Helen Colen and Veal, between HGB and Colen, and Helen’s letter with terms of agreement for the free face-lift to Dr. Colen, reprinted in HGB, Dear Pussycat, 98.
“I quit that”: HGB, The Late Show, 147.
“Jesus, the things you do”: HGB, Having It All, 181. Discussions of Helen’s breast enlargement, David’s regretting it, and the uses of Crisco for surgical scars in HGB, I’m Wild Again, 128–31.
Helen was displaying her new: Author’s interview with John Searles.
Increasingly, there were signs: Helen’s various public fits of anger from author’s interview with Alex Birnbaum; upending tray on airplane, HGB, I’m Wild Again, 200; screaming-baby incident from HGB, The Late Show, 30. Police report from San Antonio and description of arrest, LSP-UTA and draft of column item.
Gil Maurer had invited: Author’s interview with Bonnie Fuller. See also Carl Swanson, “What Makes Bonnie Run?” New York magazine, July 14, 2003.
“Probably the best interview”: HGB, I’m Wild Again, 37.
Not that Helen was downplaying the devastation: Ibid., 29–31.
Friends of the Browns: Author’s interview with Alex Witchel.
She told Liz Smith: Letter from HGB to Liz Smith, LSP-UTA.
There was a fudge brownie cake: Party details in Helen’s thank-you letter for her party, and photos, LSP-UTA.
“Helen, if you’ll cut a tape”: HGB, I’m Wild Again, 30.
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