by Betsy Israel
13
Time put Joan Baez on its cover in 1962, featuring not a picture of Joan but a painting, a dark Modigliani-esque blur (her features are so crooked she seems as if she might fall apart). Details from the story: “She walks straight to the microphone and begins to sing. No patter. No show business. She usually wears a sweater and skirt or a simple dress…. She is 21 and palpably nubile. But there is little sex in that clear flow of sound… it has in it reminders of black women wailing in the night…. She is a lovely girl who has always attracted numerous boys. But her wardrobe would not fill a hatbox.”
14
No matter how radical you were, it was hard to get a break. Feminist Kate Millet, author, bisexual, artist, and one of the few women to have it out publicly with Norman Mailer, was promoting a book. Her mother, who approved of her daughter’s work, or at least some of it, nevertheless had to express herself defiantly in 1971: “Kate is really missing the boat if she appears on the Mike Douglas Show without washing her hair.”
15
A random excerpt from one recent bridal publication on the subject of a “budget-conscious but still gloriously Luxe event.” We learn, for example, that a 750-milliliter bottle of Moët et Chandon Brut Imperial costs $45.50, if you know where to shop; 100 guest invitations, depending on paper weight and calligraphic style, cost a minimum of $1,000, although that’s conservative and does not take into account, in some stores, the envelopes and reply cards. The catering for 150 guests, as estimated by three much-in-demand New York caterers: $25,000; tux rental: $170; bridal gown, $1,800–$2,500, although there’s a lot of latitude here; some go as high as $3,500. Then flowers. All we learn is that the floral package—bouquets, arrangements, boutonnieres—starts at $1,000 for “a small wedding party.” Pictures, unless you have a talented and friendly relative, will run $4,500–$5,000 and the his ’n’ her 18-karat-gold rings will cost upward of $800. Finally, the cake, or what were formerly cakes and now look like little Busby Berkeley sets with twirling staircases lined by cherubs and angels instead of girls with harps, begin at $5,000.