GORE VIDAL 101/ 411's topics - tribe.net

Gore Vidal at Work on Unfinished Tennessee Williams Play

Gandalf — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:47:55 GMT

Vidal at Work on Unfinished Tennessee Williams Play
By Andrew Gans
and Kenneth Jones
21 Dec 2007

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/113721.html

Gore Vidal, the playwright whose Broadway efforts include A Visit to a Small Planet and the Tony-nominated The Best Man, has completed work on Masks Outrageous and Austere, an unfinished Tennessee Williams play.

The New York Post reports that Cybill Shepherd — under the direction of Peter Bogdanovich — may star in the play's Broadway debut this spring. No dates or theatre have been announced.

Vidal told the New York daily, "Tennessee left about ten pages of the play behind when he died. You could tell where he was going with it. I've tried to get the best of him because I think it's a very good play."

Although Vidal would not elaborate on the plot of Masks Outrageous, a source told the Post that the work concerns a billionairess, the role that will be played by Shepherd, as well as her "gay husband and young male lover."

The play, variously reported over the years as having the title Of Masks Outrageous and Austere and In Masks Outrageous and Austere, was apparently written in the late 1970s or early '80s, around the time of Williams' final Broadway production, Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980). A major production of a shelved Williams play is not unheard of. His early work, Not About Nightingales, set in a stifling prison populated by brutes, was unearthed, revived in London and then moved to Broadway, where it was Tony Award-nominated for Best New Play in 1999. Trevor Nunn directed.

Williams, author of A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rose Tattoo, The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, died in 1983.

Vidal's other work for Broadway includes Romulus, Weekend and An Evening with Richard Nixon and . . . The upcoming new musical A Catered Affair is based on the Vidal film "The Catered Affair" (and the original teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky).

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Gore started a political party!

greg-mooney — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 02:30:58 GMT

I just heard on the radio recently with an interview of Gore Vidal that he started a political party with Dr.Spock! It was in the 60's sometime I think does any know of this? The interview was on 'Radio Nation'.The Nation magizine does it.The host is Laura Flaunders.

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Gore Vidal on Bookworm (3/1/07 @ 14:30PST)

AArtVark — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:04:06 GMT

Catch it today or stream it online... They also podcast and you can find 'em on iTunes...

Gore Vidal (2:30P)Point to Point Navigation (Doubleday)
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw070301gore_vidal
Using his recent memoir as springboard, Gore Vidal nimbly leaps from the history of prose narrative to the contemporary decline of culture in America. He reveals himself, yet again, as a master of all he surveys.

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A recent Interview with Gore Vidal: Counterpunch "I'm Jealous of Cuba"

Will Beat Hippie Raver — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 02:19:01 GMT

http://www.counterpunch.org/

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Gore Vidal in Texas

Tristan — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 21:32:10 GMT

Dear Members,

Gore Vidal was interviewed by a friend of mine during the Texas Book Festival in Austin in October.

The interview was conducted by Miguel Rodriguez for The Texas Observer magazine.

The interview may be read on The Texas Observer web site (the December 1st issue).

Sincerely,

Tristan

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gore vidal quotes

TheNewt — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 23:20:57 GMT

here are some quotes by Gore Vidal that I found and enjoy. Please feel free to add your own favorites.

"The ongoing psychopathic hatred of same-sexuality has made the United States the laughingstock of the civilized world. In most of the First World, monotheism is weak. Where it is weak or nonexistent, private sexual behavior has nothing to do at all with those not involved, much less the law. At least when the Emperor Justinian, a Christian monotheist, decided to outlaw sodomy, he had to come up with a good practical reason, which he did. It is well known, Justinian declared, that buggery is a principal cause of earthquakes, and so must be prohibited. But our monotheists, always eager to hate, still quote Leviticus, as if that loony text had anything useful to say about anything except, perhaps, the inadvisability of eating shellfish in the Jerusalem area." -- Gore Vidal

"Most people are a mixture of impulses if not practices, and what anyone does with a willing partner is of no social or cosmic significance."-Gore Vidal

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Literary and Historical Notes for Tuesday, October 3, 2006:

AArtVark — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 09:41:03 GMT

It's the birthday of American novelist Gore Vidal, born Eugene Luther Vidal, in West Point, New York (1925). He considered going to Harvard for college, but chose to enlist in the Army Reserve Corps instead. For his tour of duty, he became first mate on a transport ship, which gave him lots of time to read, and it inspired his first novel, Williwaw (1946), about a group of sailors caught in a storm.

He wrote two more novels that were total flops, and then in 1948, he published The City and the Pillar, one of the first American novels ever to realistically portray the life of a homosexual man. But his real success as a novelist came when he started writing historical fiction in his novels Burr (1973), about Vice President Aaron Burr told from the point of view of his illegitimate son, and then Lincoln, which came out in 1984.

Vidal's interest in politics has led him to run for political office twice on a platform advocating taxing churches, nationalizing natural resources, and reorganizing the United States government as a parliamentary system.

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Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir - Nov.2006

AArtVark — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 00:37:25 GMT

Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir
Written by Gore Vidal
Biography & Autobiography | Doubleday | Hardcover | November 2006 | $26.00 | 978-0-385-51721-8 (0-385-51721-1)
http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385517218

About this Book
The brilliant sequel to Gore Vidal’s acclaimed, bestselling memoir, Palimpsest.

In Point to Point Navigation, the celebrated novelist, essayist, critic, and controversialist Gore Vidal ranges freely over his remarkable life with the signature wit and literary elegance that is uniquely his. The title refers to a form of navigation he resorted to as a first mate in the Navy during World War II. As he says, “As I was writing this account of my life and times since Palimpsest, I felt as if I were again dealing with those capes and rocks in the Bering Sea that we had to navigate so often with a compass made inoperable by weather.” It is a beautifully apt analogy for the hazards (mostly) eluded during his eventful life and for the way this memoir proceeds—far from linear but always on course.

From his desks in Ravello and the Hollywood Hills, Gore Vidal travels in memory through the arenas of literature, television, film, theater, politics and international society where he has cut a broad swath, recounting achievements and defeats, friends and enemies made (and on a number of occasions lost). Among the gathering of notables to be found in these pages, sketched with a draftsman’s ease and evoked with the panache of one of our great raconteurs, are Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy, Tennessee Williams (the “Glorious Bird”), Eleanor Roosevelt, Orson Welles, Johnny Carson, Greta Garbo, Federico Fellini, Rudolph Nureyev, Elia Kazan, and Francis Ford Coppola. Some of the book’s most moving pages are devoted to the illness and death of his partner of five decades, Howard Austen, and indeed the book is, among other things, a meditation on mortality written in the spirit of Montaigne.

Elegiac yet vital and even ornery, Point to Point Navigation is a summing-up of Gore Vidal’s time on the planet that manages to be at once supremely entertaining, endlessly provocative, and thoroughly moving.

About the Author
gore vidal is the author of twenty-two novels, five plays, many screenplays, more than two hundred essays, and the critically lauded memoir, Palimpsest. Vidal’s United States (Essays 1952–92) won the 1993 National Book Award. Vidal lives in Los Angeles, California.

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Education of Gore Vidal

marvindublin — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 04:11:42 GMT

http://www.frameline.org/festival/27th/programs/education_of_gore_vidal_the.html

Click click!

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Miscellaneous Kibbles & Bits

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 11:20:02 GMT

http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/desolation/gore-vidal.html

"Robert Graves & the Twelve Caesars"

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I don't remember if I posted this already or not? Hmm.

marvindublin — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 22:22:56 GMT

http://www.angelfire.com/linux/somercet/vidal.html

If so sorry. I'll blame it on my alzheimers. : )

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Voting Is Not The Solution-Time For National Worker Strike/Boycott!

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:53:47 GMT

Voting Is Not The Solution-Time For National Worker Strike/Boycott!
It is time for a NATIONAL STRIKE!
Full Story!
http://dulyconsider.blogspot.com/2006/06/old-style-political-remedies.html

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Gore remains politically active.

marvindublin — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 03:15:06 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20060606/cm_thenation/188858

I love that he is still a voice that commands attention & respect whether one disagrees with him or not. I could be wrong and maybe change my mind at some point but right now I feel like anyone that disagrees with him is a total fool. Too me he is a wise old man that can do no wrong. Sometimes it seems hard for me to find someone to look up too & think of as a role model. This guys at the top of my list.
BOINK!!!

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GV on Charlie Rose...

AArtVark — Wed, 17 May 2006 21:36:26 GMT

Just noodling around and found that google video has the GV appearances on Charlie Rose. The 2003 on is funny as GV starts scolding "Charlie" as if he were scolding a grandson...

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=gore+vidal

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CSPAN2 - Sunday 5/14 @ 17:20PST

AArtVark — Sun, 14 May 2006 05:46:54 GMT

I cought the last two minutes tonight and he was in his best acidic gloomy doom predicting moon inside the BookTV bus...

Set you VCR or TiVo or whatever...

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little off the subject but good cause

Thomas — Fri, 05 May 2006 17:56:19 GMT

Hey everyone,

I am doing the AIDS walk this year and I am asking EVERYONE to donate to my name. You can click (or copy and paste) on this link below and it will take you to the webpage to donate. Once there, just type in my name…. J. Thomas Moore, and follow directions. If you do not like using the Internet to do this, you can write a check, money order or give cash to me for the event by filling out the donation form you will see on the webpage and I can drop it off on that day or you can mail it in.

You must donate. IT’S VERY IMPORTANT TO RAISE THIS MONEY.

http://aidswalknewyork2006.kintera.org/faf/search/searchParticipants.asp?ievent=155828&lis=1&kntae155828=

Thank you,
Tommy

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Gore Vidal Interview-part 2

TheNewt — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 07:59:03 GMT

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060308_vidal_terrorism_propaganda_war/
'This Place Is Broken'
Posted on Mar. 7, 2006

By Sheerly Avni

Last week, Gore Vidal spoke with Truthdig’s Sheerly Avni about a range of topics, including this year’s Oscar-nominated films (see Part I). He also commented at length about many of the real-life concerns these films attempt to address, including terrorism, war, propaganda movies and, finally, the troubling relationship between the U.S. government and the American entertainment industry, which Vidal refers to as White House East and White House West.

Sheerly Avni: We were talking about “Munich,” “Paradise Now” earlier, and how both of those films faced the criticism that they were too soft on terrorists.

Gore Vidal: I wish the word terrorist would be erased from our language. All meaning has been pumped out of it by our rulers and their media, who wish to demonize everyone or -thing they dislike starting with Us The People. Certainly under the name of fighting terrorism we are conducting wars with everyone on Earth, shifting feverishly from old loyal employees like Noriega and Saddam Hussein to new servants to be abandoned in due course. We are treacherous friends. Meanwhile, thanks to all this maneuvering, more and more of our freedoms are being erased.

So you would be comfortable using the word fascism to describe the direction we are heading in now?

No, most uncomfortable. After all, the original fascist Mussolini could never explain just what fascism was in his native Italy. Let’s say arbitrary, dictatorial government that says any law may be ignored if the leadership dislikes it in the interest of fighting terrorism, which is… whatever the controlled media tells us that morning. Although the 9/11 bombings released all sorts of fascistic measures, as I listed in my “President Jonah" piece, the detonating trigger was not 9/11 but Oklahoma City. When the federal building was struck, the Clinton administration came up with an anti-terrorist Bill of Wrongs which is still at the heart of the USA Patriot Act and other curtailments of our liberties. And it is also clear that there is no terrorist army supported by an evil empire out there. Angry Muslims who have nothing to lose will always do some suicide bombing, to blow up our buildings and so forth, but with decent intelligence and a moderately competent government we can anticipate them and thwart them.

If I had been in charge of things at the time of 9/11, I would have called the police. You don’t declare war on an innocent – two innocent countries – Afghanistan and Iraq that had nothing to do with September 11th. A bunch of crazy religious zealots from Saudi Arabia did it all, and I would go to Interpol. I’d say, “Arrest these guys”—out of religious frenzy, they’ve just blown up a part of New York, a part of Washington. Arrest them, try them, do whatever you like with them, but get them.

Unfortunately we were waiting for an excuse to attack Iraq and Afghanistan, and establish American bases up and down the Middle East, for all sorts of nefarious purposes, starting, dare I say?, with oil.

How far back does this “waiting” go?

The early terrorism legislation was cooked up by Janet Reno and the Justice Department under Clinton: as usual, a lone crazed killer, T. McVeigh, was found guilty. But it’s my impression that there was a considerable conspiracy, and the FBI didn’t follow up. One newspaper editor, Joel Dyer, got hold of all the FBI interrogations of suspects who might have been involved in the blowing up of the federal building in Oklahoma City. They didn’t follow up on one of them.

I remember reading that you said it would have taken nine people to load the bomb in the truck.

Yes, this skinny little guy could not have loaded it, much less – have you ever driven as much explosives as he is supposed to have driven? A forensic expert in Ireland who had examined a lot of explosions found that the IRA was constantly blowing themselves up, they would put the bomb on a board across their lap, and then drive the car across bumpy roads, and the car would often explode. And all that would be left of the drivers would be the genitals, because they’d been covered by a board.

Everything else blew up, except that treasured part, which would be in the dust under the cars. It was a grimly funny report.

This is old news now, but in terms of terrorism, there was a lot of protest against the Palestinian Oscar nominee, “Paradise Now,” with a 36,000-person petition to get the film dropped from the roster because it sympathized with “terrorists.”

Never forget there are 1 billion Muslims on Earth. The United States is far too small a country to play big boss – and now far too insolvent a country; we have no revenues, we can’t repair our own infrastructure, much less rebuild the cities that we’ve just knocked down in the Middle East. I think we should learn a little modesty, we’re not number one! At invoking terrorism, yes, we’re pretty good at provoking people to hate us. In fact we’ve been quite successful at that. But we live in a small country, a vulnerable country, a country with no defenses, only “homeland security.” But there’s no true security here – anyone can do anything he wants and will!

Right, so now we have these proposals to build a wall on the Texas/Mexico border, to fill in the tunnels….

Oh it’s just Looney Time, but you see, we have no educational system for the general public. If you come from a well-to-do family, you get a fairly good education, but you get a lot of propaganda along with it. And we have a media that is quite poisonous and only echoes what the administration—and corporate America, which owns the administration—wants us to hear. So the average person has no information, or what he has is so distorted. How can he make up his mind intelligently on any subject?

As far as the American media goes, though, you’ve spoken out strongly against The New York Times, but I’m thinking now of a Bush-voting friend of mine who gets most of his information from Bill O’Reilly and Fox News. The reason he won’t read The New York Times is that he thinks it’s a left-wing mouthpiece.

Ignorance is an epidemic in our country, and it’s kind of virulent. No, they don’t have any information, they don’t have access to it, and the newspaper they like to hate, they might very well hate for other reasons if they had any other reasons, but they don’t have any. They have no evidence.

Or if they’re told about the lies of Judith Miller—it would take you 10 years to explain who she was and how she got to tell lies. And what the lies were about. There’s no such time for us. By the time you are grown and able to read The New York Times without moving your lips, you’ve been had.

So how can the media get to my red-state friend?

I don’t think you can get to him. You can get to him if something blows up somewhere—he certainly grasps that. I think what’s most apt to be getting to him these days is the firing of people at Ford, and General Motors, and people being out of work. He’s no fool when it comes to his own welfare. If he sees that jobs are drying up, he may be inclined to think “well, we’d better get another war” because he’s learned from experience that when we have a war we have full employment….

In 1940 the Depression had returned. It had not been defeated in ’33 by Roosevelt: alas, it was back, so Roosevelt put 8 billion dollars into defense to build up particularly our air force, and we had full employment for the first time in 50 years. By the time Truman got to be president we were totally militarized, which was a very bad thing for us, but he had thought it was for a good reason. I mean, he feared, as did Dean Acheson and the others, that we would slip back into the Depression unless we had all this fueling, with federal money, of the military-industrial complex, as General Eisenhower so nicely advised us. Having served it all of his life, so he knew what he was talking about.

And the need for war now is systemic. There’s no going back. You can’t just say OK, we’re just stopping and we’re going to cut down the Pentagon budget by 50%, we’ll build some hospitals, we’ll do this, we’ll actually try to educate people.

[If you do] you’ll find a huge movement against it. Look, there are all those enemies out there: The Mexicans are armed with anthrax, and they’re entering El Paso even as we speak though hidden tunnels. Isn’t that good for conspiracy theorists? Those tunnels are great symbols.

And then there are the Canadians. Who knows what they’ll do to us from up north!

[sotto voce] They’re the most vicious of all, because they pretend to be quiet and orderly.

Altogether, this is not a very optimistic prognosis.

Well, I’m not very optimistic. This place is broken. It’s going to take a generation to repair what’s been done to the Bill of Rights, what has been done to the legal system.

Meanwhile, they’ll get a chance to add a couple more Supreme Court justices giving us, for a generation, a very, very right-wing interpretation of our liberties, because they don’t like them.

Quite openly they don’t like the freedoms we have, particularly freedom of speech, so they classify it – Top Secret. Don’t speak, whisper.

What will it take?

Organization, there will be quite a few demagogues who will say let’s burn Lawrence, Kan., like Quantrill, but there will be others, like Huey Long: Every Man a King. Make the Standard Oil pay—which is what he did in Louisiana. Built Tulane, built hospitals, siphoned all that money right into the state so everyone could benefit.

Roosevelt was scared to death of him in 1936, because Huey was going to run on a third ticket. And he could have denied Roosevelt a second term, and Huey’s plan was that he himself would be—in 1940—he would be the Democratic nominee and Roosevelt would be finished. And then we would get Huey Longism, which was true populism. The money was going to go to the people for the things that would make the people’s lives better. Then he was killed in the state capitol at Baton Rouge, by a crazy MD, a doctor, who wasn’t political at all.

Then there were rumors that Roosevelt had hired people to kill him. Seems to me a little far-fetched since I’m pro-Roosevelt.

FDR gave a presidential address from the Academy Awards thanking them for being so patriotic. How much has Hollywood changed since you first started working there, in terms of its relationship to the government?

The change had started much earlier than Roosevelt. The change began with Woodrow Wilson.... The whole country did not want to go to war in Europe, nor did we care about whether Germany organized Europe or whether France organized Europe. It was not a matter of concern to the average American. Nor should it have been. There was no Hitler in Germany. Those days, there was the Kaiser, he was no worse than the French leaders, so it was just a continuation of that long war that had gone on and off and on for centuries between [the] French and Germany. Who’s the heir to Charlemagne? That’s what it was about.

Wilson wanted to go to the war very early, and the American people didn’t. So he found a great public relations man called George Creel…. And George Creel, he sent out to Hollywood to get people to make anti-German movies. So we had nothing but blind nuns being raped by German soldiers. “The Huns are coming! The Huns are coming!” A lot of those movies were made, and then others to show how great the British were, how great the French were. And Wilson, he was shameless; he went so far as to put himself into a number of movies.

That’s how it all started, the marriage between Washington and Hollywood. And I remember when I was first under contract to MGM, in about ’54, I had nothing but déjà vu every time I looked around the Thalberg Building. I said, “What does this remind me of?” These little offices, these whitewashed walls and powerful producers on every other floor, talented people like Scott Fitzgerald working in little cubbyholes….

And I said, “This is the White House. This is the White House West, the Thalberg Building. And the White House itself is the Thalberg Building East. And they’re bound to marry.

With an oligarchy bureau chief on each side.

Yes, and George Creel was the bridge.

How was that marriage going in the ’60s?

In the ’60s, well, it got a big boost when Jack got to be president. Everybody out here was very pro-Kennedy. So it looked like a new generation had picked up the torch, and would “Bear any burden” – a pretty terrible inaugural speech, when you think about it. It was sort of a period of nostalgia: “Since You Went Away,” “Best Years of Our Lives,” it was putting a golden haze over WWII and perhaps over Korea, which had been a total mess. It was getting us comfortable and relaxed, homebodies at last, but really once again, to march and follow the flag, wherever it might lead.

That’s what Kennedy’s speech was about: We will bear any burden. To which the answer is, well, why? We’re not in charge of the world. There are a lot of places that we have no business bearing any other burden.

So does the marriage ever get rocky? In the ’70s when you have start having these more acerbic films, you have people like Robert Altman....

Oh yes, and as Vietnam got worse, that was what the ’70s were about, and the movies began to push back, and you have Altman doing it with satire wonderfully well, and quite a few others making their contributions, showing that war is hell… not too much picking of sides either.

Woodrow Wilson would have seen to it that we did.

And then we have Reagan….

“It’s morning in America,” he said – just as night fell.

And Clinton, the most telegenic president we’ve ever had.

Probably the most intelligent one we’ve ever had. It does not necessarily make him the very best, but certainly he was the only one who understood economics and could get up and explain it to the public—for example his first State of the Union. The teleprompter broke down, he did the entire speech from memory; now that’s over two hours of nothing but statistics and analysis. It was a brilliant coup of memory and showed that he thoroughly understood what he was talking about, he wasn’t reading.

What were some of his big errors?

Well, ending welfare as we have known it brought on disastrous effects. The business about “don’t ask, don’t tell,” whatever that was about. People who were interested in same sex in the services, so the officers were not supposed to ask questions and they weren’t supposed to give answers. This proved to be totally disastrous. And still is, to the extent that it’s enforced.

If Washington West is Democrat and liberal and Washington East is Republican, who gets custody of how the nation thinks?

Hollywood won’t. Washington East picks up all the marbles: They have the Congress, they have the courts, and of course they have the executives.

They also have the Christian right, making advances in Hollywood. What about that?

Oh they all get locked up as rapists sooner or later. [chuckles]

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Gore Vidal on Charlie Rose

AArtVark — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 09:48:06 GMT

Sorry - this is in reference to a couple years ago.

Anyone catch that? It was fucking hilarious because Charlie Rose is being his usual pushy self trying to put words into his guest's mouths... and at one point Gore says, "Listen Charlie." and he had a great look on his face like a grandfather scolding a child for his own good and feeling bad about it at the same time - it was quite priceless. I love hearing him speak because he doesn't mince his words and he's old enough where he just doesn't give a damn if you believe him or not, but he's gonna sure as hell tell you the answer to the question that was asked whether you want to hear it or not.

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Gore Vidal Interview-part 1

TheNewt — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 07:55:07 GMT

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060303_gore_vidal_sex_oscars/
Gore Vidal on 'Capote,' 'Brokeback Mountain' --and Why 'Match Point' Is the Best Picture of 2005
Posted on Mar. 3, 2006

By Sheerly Avni

Prize-winning novelist, essayist, playwright and screenwriter Gore Vidal sat down with Truthdig’s Sheerly Avni on March 2 in the living room of his home in Hollywood. He spoke candidly about America’s prudishness, his admiration for Ang Lee, and Truman Capote’s Proust complex.

Sheerly Avni: Let’s start with “Brokeback Mountain.”

Gore Vidal: I liked it, I’m a great fan of Ang Lee. He did the best Civil War movie ever made, called “Ride With The Devil.” And it was really, really good. Lee had an extraordinary feeling, for somebody from Taiwan, for the American Civil War. It was just fascinating. So I was eager to see the movie about the two sheepherders, actually is what they are, they’re not cowboys. You can see there’s not a cow in the movie, just a lot of sheep. You can see how the two sheepherders might get tired of the sheep and begin to look to each other, as a kind of variation on a theme. I liked it, I thought it was quite moving, obviously thematically it’s important to do a picture like that about two ordinary men, seized at a time in which all this is forbidden and so on.

It would have been nice, at the same time, if…it would have been better had they started with Kinsey, which was practically erased by the Academy, to which, alas, I belong. I thought that was a terrible error, because it was the best movie of last year, and informative and instructive: You learned a lot about the nature of human sexuality, that there isn’t just one good team and one bad team and one healthy team and one sick team. It’s not that at all.

Sex is a continuum. You go through different phases along life’s way … and if you don’t, you’ve been sort of cheated.

If this film were to win an Oscar, would it be a step forward in tolerance? How important is Hollywood in this equation?

Well, it never has been, and I don’t see why it should be suddenly now. That it was made at all and that it was made so honestly and so well is a good thing, better than to make a mess out of it, or not try at all….

Look, homophobia is fed into every child in the United States at birth. It is unrelenting, it never lets up. They asked a whole raft of high school boys across the country a couple years ago, one of those polls about what they would most like to be in life, and what … they would hate to be, and so forth, and what they would most hate to be was homosexual.

There wasn’t anyone, not one, who just skipped the question. They all said “oh no, that’s the worst thing you could be.”

To get over that training, that’s generation after generation. And it has not done the character of our nation much good. And that’s why we are a joke to the rest of the world, because we carry on about sexual matters everyone else has forgotten about.

Mitterrand had his mistress at his deathbed, no problem.

No problem. And the events that befell poor President Clinton were all done because he wanted healthcare for everyone in the country, so you get him on dalliance with Monica in the White House. A matter of no importance at all—and no one’s business at all, except his. And that was interesting because that was the impeachment of a president for something that he had done, which was fibbing about—did he know her in the biblical sense. So they say, “That’s perjury, we don’t want a liar for president.” Look what we’ve got now; we don’t get the truth—ever. This was all cooked up to destroy the most intelligent politician in the history of the United States. And like a fool, he agreed to answer the questions. If I were he I would have ordered Starr out of the White House, and said, “If you come back I’ll have you arrested.” It’s as simple as that. And he would have won anyway, as it was proved. There are times that you must stand up and your private life is private and public life is public.

So will this movie change anything? I think it might give some people a little more heart that what they’re doing is not so unusual. It is traditional, it is biologically correct; mammals have been performing same-sexual acts ever since the first mammal was created. I was not present, alas, at the time, but mammals do behave like that and to say they don’t or to try to frighten them as all those schoolboys have been frightened … well that kind of indoctrination is awful, it makes us seem like a very stupid country to other people, with stupid laws. People are in prison for having done “unnatural acts” as they call it.

Who is to say what is an unnatural act if it is natural for a person to [interrupts himself, affecting an outraged voice]—“Oh, but then you’re in favor of murder!” They go straight from sex to murder so quickly, just as they do in print. Sex and violence! Sex-and-violence! This is the only place on Earth that the two things are one word: sexandviolence! Well, sex has nothing to do with violence unless it’s rape, and then we have other laws to take care of that.

May we ask you about “Capote”?

Oh, Capote. [Sighs.] I spent half a century trying to avoid him, in life, and now suddenly I’m surrounded by him.

He was a pathological liar. He couldn’t tell the truth about anything, and he’d make it up as he went along. He always wore dark glasses, and his eyes would drop behind the dark glasses, and he would seem to be looking down at his nose, and then as he got more and more frenzied—the lies really very frenzied, they were orgasmic—you would start to see the eyes begin to roll up to see if you’d fallen for what he was saying.

And it was always about famous people, some he’d barely heard of before. I remember he told me once “I’m the American Proust.”

So I said, “So who’s your Mme Verdurin?”

“Who?”

He had not heard of one of Proust’s principal characters. He was confidently illiterate. It’s highly suitable that he would become iconic, because he didn’t know anything, and never told the truth. Doesn’t he fit in the age of Bush?

Did you find the movie to be an accurate reflection of his personality?

Well no, but it wasn’t supposed to be. It was a good movie, and they touched upon his treachery towards the two boys. He wants them to swing, because if they don’t he can’t finish his book and if he hasn’t finished his book, he’s in trouble.

Kenneth Tynan, a great critic of that period, did an attack on “In Cold Blood.” It ran in The Observer in London. The headline was “For Cold Cash,” which was about the right tone, and that was pretty much the tone of the movie. The movie is quite brave about showing somebody who did not have any redeeming characteristics, nor did they pretend he had.

And how about the book itself?

Oh, I couldn’t read it. I read a bit of it in The New Yorker and thought; I’m not interested in murders, and pointless ones at that! I don’t know what excitement he got out of it. Obviously some voyeuristic aspect of himself was well served by contemplating it.

In the film he had a frightening way of being able to create an empathetic connection with whomever he was trying to seduce at the time. Did he have that in real life as well?

Yes, he was a very astute flatterer.

Doesn’t sound like it worked so well on you.

No, it didn’t. We were always linked, my first bestselling novel was in 1948 and his was also published in 1948. He was a year older than—I was 23, he was 24. And there we were, our names were forever linked on the bestseller list, and he started saying things about me, which people were delighted to hear.

But I just avoided him for years…. You know, there is a second Capote movie coming up, and I’m in it. I’m being played by quite a good British actor—Rupert Everett. I ran into him recently, and he told me he was playing me, and so I said well, have a good time, and he said, “You know I’ve been complaining it’s such a small part.”

I said, “Because I avoided Capote!” [Laughs.]

And finally, which film do you think should win?

“Match Point” [which was not nominated]. I loved it. Woody Allen was the best filmmaker who was presented to us, and it’s one of his best movies. It’s realism. Life is mostly luck! And the protagonist is a lucky guy. The fact that he’s a bad guy is neither here nor there. Bad guys do very well too.

It’s a very cold, dissecting movie. There’s not a lot of love there.

I don’t go to movies for love, do you?

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 0 replies

I created this tribe because......

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:22:34 GMT

the GORE VIDAL tribe that alreadys existed with 6 members 3 posts & 1 pictures moderator started this exchange less than 15 minutes after I joined his tribe. Too bad. I decided Gore Vidal is bigger than that & deserves better. Below is the bs that started it all. lol

Why don't you try giving someone a chance before you start throwing negativity in their face? This has been a real treat! Thanks for the positive experience.

Mick wrote:
> Well, if you don't enjoy it, you can leave. I am
> putting you on my ignore list.
>
> Marvin wrote:
> > If I don't remember it's simply because I don't
> > remember. This is not enjoyable & is offensive.
> > Argument can be a good thing too. Just ask Gore
> > Vidal. His career was built on it! I ido argue
> > with people from time to time but it's usually
> > because I think they are being rude to myself
> or
> > others or sometimes I disagree with what they
> > have to say. I prefer responding to not
> > responding. I hope I can enjoy this tribe as
> > well after your message.
> > Mick wrote:
> > > If you don't remember it's probably because
> you
> > > argue with so many people.
> > > I'm glad you like Gore Vidal, I hope you find
> > > this Tribe enjoyable and fruitful.
> > > The message is not meant to be offensive,
> just
> > > honest. I stand by my words.
> > >
> > >
> > > Marvin wrote:
> > > > I don't know what youre talking about
> unless
> > > > youre referring to a few months ago when
> > "
> > > > Sunny" from Satan's Clubhouse & a
> couple
> > > > other tribes decided to go psycho on me.
> What
> > > > behavior in what tribes are you referring
> to?
> > > > "If I do any bullshit in this
> > tribe"?
> > > > I'm here because I like Gore Vidal & am
> > hoping
> > > > to find out more about him and share what
> > > > kibbles & bits I can. This message is
> pretty
> > > > offensive and not very welcoming to the
> > tribe.
> > > > Mick wrote:
> > > > > I've never done this before but there's a
> > > first
> > > > > time for everything! I am aware of your
> > > > > behaviour in other tibes and I have
> crossed
> > > > > swords with you once in another tribe. If
> > you
> > > > do
> > > > > any bullshit in this tribe I will boot
> your
> > > ass
> > > > > out. No warnings just out. That said, I
> > hope
> > > > you
> > > > > enjoy this tribe and become the sort of
> > tribe
> > > > > member I think you can be. Whatever
> happens
> > > > > depends on your behaviour.

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 1 reply

Bibliography & more

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 11:12:27 GMT

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/vidal_g.html

I think this is incomplete but still pretty thorough. Will be a good tool for me next time I need to decide which G.V. book to buy next.

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 1 reply

Imperial America

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 11:03:16 GMT

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=0641689349&itm=3

The 3rd book in what is now considered a trilogy. I'm not certain but I think Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace, Dreaming War & Imperial America are the last three books he's written? In that order. I could be wrong though. He sure does write alot! : )

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 1 reply

GORE VIDAL QUOTES

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 11:15:44 GMT

three quotes by Gore Vidal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Politics and Government
Today’s public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can’t read them either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Politics and Government
Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Entertainment • Words of Wisdom
Never pass up the opportunity to have sex or be on television

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 0 replies

Dreaming War

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:58:10 GMT

When Gore Vidal's recent New York Times bestseller Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace was published, the Los Angeles Times described Vidal as the last defender of the American republic. In Dreaming War, Vidal continues this defense by confronting the Cheney-Bush junta head on in a series of devastating essays that demolish the lies American Empire lives by, unveiling a counter-history that traces the origins of America's current imperial ambitions to the experience of World War Two and the post-war Truman doctrine. And now, with the Cheney-Bush leading us into permanent war, Vidal asks whose interests are served by this doctrine of pre-emptive war? Was Afghanistan turned to rubble to avenge the 3,000 slaughtered on September 11? Or was "the unlovely Osama chosen on aesthetic grounds to be the frightening logo for our long contemplated invasion and conquest of Afghanistan?" After all he was abruptly replaced with Saddam Hussein once the Taliban were overthrown. And while "evidence" is now being invented to connect Saddam with 9/11, the current administration are not helped by "stories in the U.S. press about the vast oil wealth of Iraq which must- for the sake of the free world- be reassigned to U.S. consortiums."

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 0 replies

Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:56:28 GMT

There has been a clammy near-silence from the serious political writers when it comes to criticism of our country's handling of the aftermath of 911. The silence only deepens when one looks for reasoned assessments of what we've done to merit such desperate acts.

Gore Vidal is one of only a handful of thinkers who have broken that silence, daring to expose a shameful trend in American government. He says America's, no, a small clique of the rich's, penchant for control of the world has led to a parade of deceit and murder which is totally at odds with what America is supposed to stand for.

In explaining his points about terrorism and the rogue actions of our government, Vidal draws more on material about Tim McVeigh instead of Osama Bin Laden. Vidal actually had correspondence with McVeigh, initiated by the self-confessed bomber before his execution this year. He considers McVeigh quite different from the lone madman mask that the media have willingly pasted on to his face. He even questions the "lone" part.

I don't agree with everything that he says, and many things are offered only as possibilities with little evidence, but his thought carries an impressive weight nonetheless. Essays like this don't come very often; it should be read by everyone

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 0 replies

UNITED STATES - ESSAYS 1952 - 1992

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:38:53 GMT

http://www.thehighhat.com/Potlatch/005/vidal.html

I'm reading this book right now & think it's good. He is a really smart guy.

posted in GORE VIDAL 101/ 411 - 0 replies

Sexually Speaking

marvindublin — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:34:51 GMT

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/books/99/08/05/SEXUALLY_SPEAKING.html

I have not read this book yet but it looks good.

GORE VIDAL 101/ 411's topics - tribe.net

Gore Vidal at Work on Unfinished Tennessee Williams Play

Gore started a political party!

Gore Vidal on Bookworm (3/1/07 @ 14:30PST)

A recent Interview with Gore Vidal: Counterpunch "I'm Jealous of Cuba"

Gore Vidal in Texas

gore vidal quotes

Literary and Historical Notes for Tuesday, October 3, 2006:

Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir - Nov.2006

Education of Gore Vidal

Miscellaneous Kibbles & Bits

I don't remember if I posted this already or not? Hmm.

Voting Is Not The Solution-Time For National Worker Strike/Boycott!

Gore remains politically active.

GV on Charlie Rose...

CSPAN2 - Sunday 5/14 @ 17:20PST

little off the subject but good cause

Gore Vidal Interview-part 2

Gore Vidal on Charlie Rose

Gore Vidal Interview-part 1

I created this tribe because......

Bibliography & more

Imperial America

GORE VIDAL QUOTES

Dreaming War

Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace

UNITED STATES - ESSAYS 1952 - 1992

Sexually Speaking

Wikipedia G.V. Bio