September 30, 1924– Truman Capote:
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
My mother is a very accomplished, intelligent & serious woman, but she always has had a sly interest in show biz & celebrity gossip. She told me the details & intricate ins & outs of the Elizabeth Taylor + Eddie Fisher + Debbie Reynolds = divorces & marriages when I was just 5 years old. I appreciated that she explained that one to me. I remember being 12 years old & my mother giving me the low down on the infamous “party of the century”, Truman Capote’s Black & White Ball.
The now legendary Black & White Masked Ball was this bash that Truman Capote threw at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel on November 28, 1966. The guest of honor was Katharine Graham, president of the Washington Post, but no one had any illusions; the purpose of this gala was to celebrate the host, a serious writer, but also a serious celebrity. There had never been much doubt about the celebrity part of his persona. A decade earlier, he had provocatively styled himself as a male nymphet for his first novel’s jacket photo. Capote had shown a special talent for self-promotion.
What the reading public doubted was Capote’s literary accomplishments. In his early his 40s, after showing much promise, Capote had produced only a few slim volumes of exquisitely written fiction & journalism. But with In Cold Blood, his masterpiece in the new genre “the non-fiction novel” & a milestone in pop culture, Capote had trumped his skeptics.
He decided it was time to celebrate. Capote’s plan was to mix & match people: titled aristocrats with intellectuals with show biz celebrities with his new friends, the ordinary folk from the rural Kansas county where the In Cold Blood murders had occurred. But in this respect, the Black & White Ball fizzled. Jack Dunphy, Capote’s boyfriend stated:
“I’ve never seen such ghettoizing in all my life. No group mixed with another group.”
On the cover of the next issue of Esquire Magazine, under the title: “We Wouldn’t Have Come Even If You Had Invited Us, Truman Capote“, was a photograph of a surly & sad looking group who had not been invited comprising: Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, California Governor Pat Brown, Ed Sullivan, Senator & White House advisor Pierre Salinger, Lynn Redgrave & baseball’s Casey Stengel.
From the moment my mother told me of the Black & White Ball, I became fascinated by Capote, who at 5’3’’ was dubbed the Tiny Terror. I went on to read everything by & about him. I was fascinated by his distinctive, high-pitched voice & odd vocal mannerisms, his offbeat manner of dress & his fabulous stories recited with his special humor when he would appear on TV talk shows. I still own everything written by Capote, plus biographies, diaries & books of letters. He is a member of a handful of authors that make up the special club: Stephen’s Favorite Writers.
Capote had a long standing rivalry with another of my favorites, Gore Vidal. Their rivalry prompted another member of my club, Tennessee Williams, to complain:
“You would think they were running neck & neck for some fabulous gold prize.”
I own a first edition paperback of Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1958) I love all his work, but my very favorite is probably A Christmas Memory (1956). During the holidays I always re-read it & I set a copy out, as part of a Christmas tableau, on the dining table as a holiday ritual.
He was born Truman Streckfus Persons in New Orleans & he left this world in Bel Air in 1984. He was only 59 years old when he was taken by liver cancer & “multiple drug intoxication”. He died at the home of his bff Joanne Carson, ex-wife of Johnny Carson, on whose program Capote had been a frequent guest. His ashes were kept at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in LA, leaving behind, as we used to say, his longtime companion, Dunphy. Dunphy died in 1992. In 1994, both Dunphy & Capote’s ashes were scattered at Crooked Pond, on Long Island, where for decades the couple had maintained a property with an individual house for each of them. Isn’t that a swell idea? Capote also had a home in Palm Springs, a condo in Switzerland that was mostly occupied by Dunphy, & a famous & infamous primary residence at the UN Plaza in NYC.
Capote:
“But I’m not a saint yet. I’m an alcoholic. I’m a drug addict. I’m homosexual. I’m a genius.”
Capote’s estate went to Dunphy who formed a literary trust sustained by revenues from Capote’s works, to fund various literary prizes & grants including the Truman Capote Award For Literary Criticism In Memory Of Newton Arvin, commemorating not only Capote but also his good friend Arvin, a Smith College professor & critic, who lost his job after his homosexuality was exposed in the early 1960s
You need to be familiar with Capote’s life & friends. Begin with Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke, or Bennett Miller‘s long planned, brilliant film Capote (2005), which covers the period when he was working on In Cold Blood. The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards. Philip Seymore Hoffman‘s performance (God rest his soul) as Capote earned him many awards, including: a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Independent Spirit Award & the Oscar for Best Actor.
Just a few weeks ago, The Husband & I caught another film that covers much of the same story, but we had initially skipped because Capote was so well done & this one seemed less dynamic. But I was mistaken, which rarely happens. Infamous (2006), has Toby Jones, convincing as Capote, & the Sandra Bullock as his pal Harper Lee. This movie is an adaptation of Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances & Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career (1997) by George Plimpton. I liked this film even more than Capote. You could think that 2 Capote biopics at the same time as unnecessary, but Infamous is funny & fizzy, & Capote is smart, grave & important. The 2 films make nice bookends (block that metaphor).
We have those 2 excellent films about Truman Capote, but I think a good film about his infamous Black & White Ball might be a rather extraordinary project. Social snubs & rough rivalries swirled through the ballroom at NYC’s Plaza Hotel on that November night in 1966. Tallulah Bankhead insulted Norman Mailer, Lauren Bacall declined all eager dance partners, & the host himself tried to physically block the exit when Frank Sinatra & his wife Mia Farrow departed at midnight.
Famed photographer Harry Benson:
“To this day, that was the biggest party I ever shot. Capote’s ball was unique. Everyone wanted to be there. People who weren’t invited went out of town. I was at the top of the stairs at 9 o’clock & caught Sinatra as he was walking in. He couldn’t get past me. He felt really stupid in that mask. Someone had just yelled to him, ‘Hey, there’s Frankie Batman.’ You can see the anger in his eyes behind the mask. He was this tough guy, thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ Mia Farrow had that precious, elfin look, but she was as tough as nails too. You had to wear a mask, but they all came off in the first hour. Everyone was afraid of Capote, even Norman Mailer. Capote had a name for everyone. He called Jackie Kennedy & Lee Radziwill ‘the geishas’.”
Capote figures in one of my top films of all time, Woody Allen‘s Annie Hall (1977) includes a scene in which Allen & Diane Keaton are observing passersby in the park. Alllen’s character comments: “Oh, there’s the winner of the Truman Capote Look-Alike Contest”. The passerby is actually Truman Capote.
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