Her Again
Page 31
194“modern woman”: MG.
194Campaigning for the ERA: Howard Kissel, “The Equal Opportunity Politics of Alan Alda,” Chicago Tribune, Aug. 12, 1979.
194He could sense the sadness: Jerry Schatzberg’s quotations are from an author interview, Oct. 6, 2014.
194“I did that film on automatic pilot”: Dworkin, “Meryl Streep to the Rescue!”
194“Oh,” she responded: Recalled by Schatzberg, Oct. 6, 2014.
195“It’s there”: Recalled by Baker, Oct. 9, 2014.
195“I’m actually his lawyer”: Karen Hosler, “Tinseltown Entourage Reveals Star-Struck City,” Baltimore Sun, May 7, 1978.
195“Anytime he wants to change his dialogue”: Recalled by Schatzberg, Oct. 6, 2014.
195“a more lovely, more understanding person”: Dworkin, “Meryl Streep to the Rescue!”
195“It’s a scene that demands”: Jack Kroll, “A Star for the ’80s,” Newsweek, Jan. 7, 1980.
196“It’s true, things do contract in the cold!”: The Seduction of Joe Tynan (Schatzberg, dir.).
196“She looked at the movie”: Kroll, “A Star for the ’80s.”
196“untrue, offensive, cheap”: Elie Wiesel, “Trivializing the Holocaust: Semi-Fact and Semi-Fiction,” New York Times, Apr. 16, 1978.
196“Errol Flynn heroics”: Joseph Papp, “The ‘Holocaust’ Controversy Continues,” New York Times, Apr. 30, 1978.
196In Germany: Nicholas Kulish and Souad Mekhennet, “How Meryl Streep Helped the Nazi Hunters,” www.salon.com, May 9, 2014, from their book The Eternal Nazi: From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim (New York: Doubleday, 2014).
197Wandering Annapolis: Hosler, “Tinseltown Entourage Reveals Star-Struck City.”
197“Hey, Holocaust!”: Scot Haller, “Star Treks,” Horizon, Aug., 1978.
197“I wish I could assign”: MG.
197The day after the Emmys: Tony Scherman, “‘Holocaust’ Survivor Shoots ‘Deer Hunter,’ Shuns Fame,” Feature, Feb., 1979.
198“a big, awkward, crazily ambitious”: Vincent Canby, “Blue-Collar Epic,” New York Times, Dec. 15, 1978.
198“Like the Viet Nam War itself”: Frank Rich, “Cinema: In Hell Without a Map,” Time, Dec. 18, 1978.
198“the mystic bond of male comradeship”: Pauline Kael, “The Current Cinema: The God-Bless-America Symphony,” The New Yorker, Dec. 18, 1978.
199“fighting a phantom”: Leticia Kent, “Ready for Vietnam? A Talk with Michael Cimino,” New York Times, Dec. 10, 1978. Cimino’s later dealings with the press seem to have wounded him; he declined an interview for this book via his associate Joann Carelli, who said, “You can thank your peers for this response.”
200“He was no more a medic”: Biskind, “The Vietnam Oscars.”
200“The political and moral issues”: Tom Buckley, “Hollywood’s War,” Harper’s, Apr. 1979.
200Jan Scruggs, a former infantry corporal: Mary Vespa and Pat Gallagher, “His Dream Was to Heal a Nation with the Vietnam Memorial, but Jan Scruggs’s Healing Isn’t Over Yet,” People, May 30, 1988.
200One veteran who agreed: Michael Booth’s recollections are from an author interview, July 10, 2014.
202“I wanted something my mother”: Bettijane Levine and Timothy Hawkins, “Oscar: Puttin’ on the Glitz,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 6, 1979.
202She even took a dip: Janet Maslin, “At the Movies: Meryl Streep Pauses for Family Matters,” New York Times, Aug. 24, 1979.
202thirteen people had been arrested: Aljean Harmetz, “Oscar-Winning ‘Deer Hunter’ Is Under Attack as ‘Racist’ Film,” New York Times, Apr. 26, 1979.
202“not endorsing anything”: Lance Morrow, “Viet Nam Comes Home,” Time, Apr. 23, 1979.
202“It shows the value of people”: Gussow, “The Rising Star of Meryl Streep.”
203“I see a lot of new faces”: Onstage remarks from the 51st Academy Awards, Apr. 9, 1979.
203“respectful but well short of thunderous”: Charles Champlin, “‘Deer Hunter’—A Life of Its Own,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 11, 1979.
203“racist, Pentagon version of the war”: Morrow, “Viet Nam Comes Home.” Cimino relates his elevator encounter with Fonda in his director’s commentary for The Deer Hunter.
JOANNA
206“We just assumed”: Robyn Goodman’s quotations are from an author interview, June 5, 2014.
207“international art center”: Grace Glueck, “Art People: The Name’s Only SoSo, But Loft-Rich TriBeCa Is Getting the Action,” New York Times, Apr. 30, 1976.
208Left alone, she started to wonder: The story of the apartment is recounted in Diane de Dubovay, “Meryl Streep,” Ladies’ Home Journal, March, 1980.
208“If you’re going to be an artist”: Donor Highlight, “Don Gummer,” Herron School of Art + Design, www.herron.iupui.edu.
208He was born in Louisville: Biographical information about Don Gummer comes from Irving Sandler, “Deconstructive Constructivist,” Art in America, Jan., 2005.
210Tatami floor mats: Gallery label, Nara and Lana, Indianapolis Museum of Art, www.imamuseum.org.
210“I think he’s trying to say something”: Recalled by Goodman, June 5, 2014.
211“greedy for work”: Michael Arick, dir., Finding the Truth: The Making of “Kramer vs. Kramer,” Columbia TriStar Home Video, 2001.
211“Sam gets away with more”: Mark Singer, “Dealmaker,” The New Yorker, Jan. 11, 1982. Many more wonderful details about Sam Cohn lie therein.
212“a confident staccato”: Ibid.
212“We had a rolling list”: Susan Anderson’s quotations are from an author interview, Oct. 6, 2014.
213“It was never one on one”: Arlene Donovan’s quotations are from an author interview, Sept. 22, 2014.
214Avery got suspicious: The details of Avery Corman’s childhood are recounted in his book My Old Neighborhood Remembered: A Memoir (Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2014), 5–6, 80–86. Otherwise, Corman’s recollections are from an author interview, Sept. 30, 2014.
216“a striking, slender woman”: Avery Corman, Kramer vs. Kramer (New York: Random House, 1977), 6.
216“Feminists will applaud me”: Ibid., 44.
216“linked to his nervous system”: Ibid., 161.
217“That was my main concern”: Judy Klemesrud, “Avery Corman on His Latest Book: A Father’s Love Note to His Family,” New York Times, Oct. 21, 1977. Judy Corman later became the head publicist for Scholastic, Inc., where she oversaw the publicity launch for several Harry Potter books. She died in 2004.
217In 1975, divorces in the United States: Keith Love, “For First Time in U.S., Divorces Pass 1 Million,” New York Times, Feb. 18, 1976.
217“range, depth, and complexity of feeling”: Richard Fischoff’s quotations are from an author interview, Nov. 9, 2014.
218How am I going to do this?: Robert Benton’s quotations, except where noted, are from an author interview, Oct. 15, 2014.
219She wanted to pursue her acting and dancing career: Tony Schwartz, “Dustin Hoffman Vs. Nearly Everybody,” New York Times, Dec. 16, 1979.
219“I was getting divorced”: Stuart Kemp, “Dustin Hoffman Breaks Down While Recounting His Past Movie Choices,” Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 16, 2012.
219“It was almost like group therapy”: Finding the Truth (Arick, dir.).
220“what makes divorce so painful”: Ibid.
220“irksome, brawling scold”: William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act I, Scene ii.
221“I am ashamed”: Ibid., Act V, Scene ii.
221“She swings as sweetly”: Brock Brower, “Shakespeare’s ‘Shrew’ with No Apologies,” New York Times, Aug. 6, 1978.
221When she first met Raúl: Eric Pace, “Raul Julia Is Remembered, with All His Panache,” New York Times, Nov. 7, 1994.
221“The girl is an acting factory!”: Author interview with cast member George Guidall, Dec. 12, 2014.
221“He wants her spirit”: Germaine Greer, The Fem
ale Eunuch (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971), 206.
222“Feminists tend to see this play”: Brower, “Shakespeare’s ‘Shrew’ with No Apologies.” She was paraphrasing Greer, who writes, in The Female Eunuch (206), “Kate’s speech at the close of the play is the greatest defense of Christian monogamy ever written. It rests upon the role of a husband as protector and friend, and it is valid because Kate has a man who is capable of being both, for Petruchio is both gentle and strong (it is a vile distortion of the play to have him strike her ever).”
222“She’s learned how to look”: Jack Kroll, “A Star for the ’80s,” Newsweek, Jan. 7, 1980.
223What an obnoxious pig: Ronald Bergan, Dustin Hoffman (London: Virgin, 1991), 137.
223“an ogre, a princess”: Stephen M. Silverman, “Life Without Mother,” American Film, July–Aug., 1979.
224“She never opened her mouth”: Dustin Hoffman: Private Sessions, A&E, Dec. 21, 2008.
225“funny-looking kid”: Finding the Truth (Arick, dir.).
226“All my friends at one point”: Susan Dworkin, “Meryl Streep to the Rescue!,” Ms., Feb., 1979.
226“dilemma of how to be a woman”: MG.
226Part of her wished: Ibid.
226“The more I thought about it”: Kroll, “A Star for the ’80s.”
226While brushing her teeth one morning: MG.
226“I did Kramer vs. Kramer before I had children”: Ken Burns, “Meryl Streep,” USA Weekend, Dec. 1, 2002.
227“My character wouldn’t live”: Recalled by Fischoff, Nov. 9, 2014.
227Dustin slapped her hard: As told by Streep on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, BBC One, July 4, 2008, and recalled by Fischoff and Benton.
227“Don’t make me go in there!”: Robert Benton, dir., Kramer vs. Kramer, Columbia Pictures, 1979.
229“very, very lucky”: Juliet Taylor’s quotations are from an author interview, Nov. 17, 2014.
229“more of an authors’ idea”: E-mail to author from Marshall Brickman, Nov. 6, 2014.
229“I think he just hated my character”: Rachel Abramowitz, “Streep Fighter,” Premiere, June, 1997.
229“Woody would say”: Finding the Truth (Arick, dir.).
230“Let’s pretend that we’ve just made passionate love”: Recalled by Karen Ludwig in an author interview, Oct. 16, 2014.
230“I don’t think Woody Allen even remembers me”: de Dubovay, “Meryl Streep.”
230“On a certain level”: Ibid.
231“You’re an actor, then”: Recalled by Hoffman in Finding the Truth (Arick, dir.).
232“artistic differences”: Clarke Taylor, “‘Kramer’: Love on the Set,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12, 1978.
232She was taken aback: Author interview with Jane Alexander, May 8, 2015.
232“somebody’s wife or somebody’s mother”: Kramer vs. Kramer (Benton, dir.).
232“Meryl, why don’t you stop”: Christian Williams, “Scenes from the Battle of the Sexes,” Washington Post, Dec. 17, 1982.
233“See that glass there on the table?”: Recalled by Hoffman in Finding the Truth (Arick, dir.).
233“Don’t talk to me that way”: Kramer vs. Kramer (Benton, dir.).
233“Next time you do that”: Nick Smurthwaite, The Meryl Streep Story (New York: Beaufort Books, 1984), 53.
233“Dear Mr. Papp”: NYSF, Box 2-122.
234“my horse, my ox, my ass”: William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act III, Scene ii.
235“but she was not injured”: NYSF, Box 5-121.
235“I can’t believe how many people”: Christopher Dixon, dir., Kiss Me, Petruchio, 1981.
235“I feel very ambiguous”: Ibid.
236“When you give”: Ibid.
236“Joe had no problem”: Helen Epstein, Joe Papp: An American Life (Boston: Little, Brown, 1994), 335.
237Tweed Courthouse: The history of the courthouse appears on its webpage at www.nyc.gov.
237“Because he’s my child”: The first version of the speech appears in the shooting script, dated Sept. 5, 1978, provided to the author by Richard Fischoff. The second is transcribed from the final film.
240“longest personal relationship”: Kramer vs. Kramer (Benton, dir.).
240Before the take, Dustin had gone over: Hoffman himself tells this story, with some pride, in Finding the Truth (Arick, dir.).
241“I didn’t get over it”: de Dubovay, “Meryl Streep.”
242“Homicides”: Recalled by Hoffman in Finding the Truth (Arick, dir.).
243“She does the right thing”: MG.
243“What immense support”: NYSF, Box 1-173.
243“unspeakably touched”: Epstein, Joe Papp: An American Life, 427. Papp’s eventual successor was JoAnne Akalaitis. He died on Oct. 31, 1991.
244“After I left”: Benton, Kramer vs. Kramer, shooting script, Sept. 5, 1978.
245“This is a mature actress”: Mel Gussow, “Stage: ‘Alice’ Downtown, with Meryl Streep,” New York Times, Dec. 29, 1978.
245“I woke up this morning”: As transcribed from the final film.
246“This is the season of Meryl Streep”: MG.
247“non-pro”: “Births,” Variety, Nov. 28, 1979.
247The First Twelve Months of Life: Streep talks about her preparations for motherhood and the trip to Europe in her interview tapes for Diane de Dubovay’s March, 1980, profile in Ladies’ Home Journal, provided to the author by the de Dubovay family.
247“the most natural thing in the world”: de Dubovay, “Meryl Streep.”
247“My work has been very important”: Ibid.
248At the insistence of Lew Wasserman: Alan Alda, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself (New York: Random House, 2007), 116.
248“Though the movie has no answers”: Frank Rich, “Grownups, A Child, Divorce, And Tears,” Time, Dec. 3, 1979.
249“‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ is a Manhattan movie”: Vincent Canby, “Screen: ‘Kramer vs. Kramer,’” New York Times, Dec. 19, 1979.
249the U.S. gross: Box Office Mojo.
249“difficult to escape”: Gary Arnold, “‘Kramer vs. Kramer’: The Family Divided,” Washington Post, Dec. 19, 1979.
250“I keep thinking of Joanna”: Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, “‘Kramer vs. Kramer’: Madonna, Child, and Mensch,” Ms., Jan., 1980.
250dungarees on MacDougal Street: MG.
250Hawaiian jacket: Mel Gussow, “The Rising Star of Meryl Streep,” New York Times Magazine, Feb. 4, 1979.
250She was partial to pearl earrings: Joan Juliet Buck, “More of a Woman,” Vogue, June, 1980.
250“Hello . . . um . . .”: Paul Gray, “A Mother Finds Herself,” Time, Dec. 3, 1979.
250“reality of life”: de Dubovay, “Meryl Streep.”
250male contraception: “Meryl Streep,” People, Dec. 24, 1979.
251“less glamorous than Gary”: Tony Scherman, “‘Holocaust’ Survivor Shoots ‘Deer Hunter,’ Shuns Fame,” Feature, Feb., 1979.
251“charismatic leaders are very interesting”: MG.
251The Postman Always Rings Twice: Kroll, “A Star for the ’80s.”
251“full of shit”: MG.
251“put his life on the line”: Kroll, “A Star for the ’80s.”
251the new “slink”: MG.
251“cry of a bird”: Buck, “More of a Woman.”
251“tapered candle”: Dworkin, “Meryl Streep to the Rescue!”
251“Flemish master’s angel”: “People Are Talking About . . . ,” Vogue, July, 1979.
251Portrait of a Lady in Yellow: Buck, “More of a Woman.”
251“merulean . . . more than just a gorgeous face”: Gray, “A Mother Finds Herself.”
251“identify with Medea”: Buck, “More of a Woman.”
251“Cinderella story”: Gray, “A Mother Finds Herself.”
251“go with the flow”: de Dubovay, “Meryl Streep.”
251Alexandria, Virginia: MG.
252“excessive hype”: John Skow, “What Makes Meryl Magic,” Tim
e, Sept. 7, 1981.
252“I think that the notion”: Buck, “More of a Woman.”
252“Dustin has a technician’s thoroughness”: Schwartz, “Dustin Hoffman Vs. Nearly Everybody.”
252“I hated her guts”: Kroll, “A Star for the ’80s.”
252“the first American woman”: Ibid.
253“didn’t feel anything”: Bob Greene, “Streep,” Esquire, Dec., 1984.
253“middling successful actor”: Buck, “More of a Woman.”
253New Year’s Eve party: The details of the party come from Charles Champlin, “An ‘A’ Party for Woody,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 4, 1980.
254homesteaders on a vast frontier: de Dubovay, “Meryl Streep.”
254“the Lady”: Buck, “More of a Woman.”
254“left-wing Communist Jewish”: Woody Allen, dir., Annie Hall, United Artists, 1977.
255“Put me on the moon”: David Rosenthal, “Meryl Streep Stepping In and Out of Roles,” Rolling Stone, Oct. 15, 1981.
255At the Golden Globes: As told by Streep on The Graham Norton Show, BBC, Jan. 9, 2015.
256“My mom cried four times”: Beverly Beyette, “Justin Henry: A Little Speech, Just in Case . . . ,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 14, 1980.
256“glorious heritage”: Onstage remarks from the 52nd Academy Awards, Apr. 14, 1980.
258“Well, the soap opera won”: The details of the press conference come from Lee Grant, “Oscars Backstage: A Predictable Year,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 15, 1980, and from “‘Kramer’ Family Faces the Hollywood Press,” UPI, Apr. 15, 1980.
259“They relate to Miranda”: Commencement address delivered by Meryl Streep at Barnard College, May 17, 2010.
259“someone left an Oscar in here!”: “The Crossed Fingers Worked, but Then Meryl Left Her Oscar in the John,” People, Apr. 28, 1980.
PHOTOS SECTION
At the prom with Mike Booth.
Courtesy of the Bernardsville Public Library Local History Collection
“The girls didn’t buy it,” she said of her high school persona. “They didn’t like me; they sniffed it out, the acting.”
Courtesy of C. Otis Sweezey
As Miss Julie at Vassar in December, 1969. It was the first serious play she ever saw, and she was starring in it.