On top of her many overlapping sex and love affairs, Lillian Hellman also once got married—and when she did, her biographer Deborah Martinson writes, “As was the custom, she left work to become a full-time housewife.” A stunning line, especially in light of Hellman’s extraordinary unconventionality, entertainingly detailed in Ms. Martinson’s new biography. Custom? This Read More
On top of her many overlapping sex and love affairs, Lillian Hellman also once got married—and when she did, her biographer Deborah Martinson writes, “As was the custom, she left work to become a full-time housewife.” A stunning line, especially in light of Hellman’s extraordinary unconventionality, entertainingly detailed in Ms. Martinson’s new biography. Custom? Read More
Imaginary Friends, which is about those two mortal enemies, Lillian Hellman and Mary McCarthy, is Nora Ephron’s first play, unfortunately. In the usual way, we would try to be kind about any first-time playwright who fouls up as badly as this. We might say, for instance, “We very much look forward to Ms. Ephron’s second Read More
Tallulah Bankhead, as some wiseacre once observed, was a lot of things to a lot of people, but she never was a bore. I knew her briefly, but well, before she died of pneumonia brought on by her own excesses in 1968 at age 66. I always seem to meet the great ones when they’re Read More
