Prayers for Gay People

CAPOTE’S SWAN DIVE“LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” THE FIRST STALLMENT OF TMAN CAPOTE’S PLANNED ROMAN à CLEF, ANSWERED PRAYERS, DROPPED LIKE A BOMB ON NEW YORK SOCIETY WHEN APPEARED ESQUIRE’S NOVEMBER 1975 ISSUE. ICED OUT BY THE IENDS HE’D SKEWERED—SUCH OF HIS “SWANS” AS SLIM KEH, GLORIA VANRBILT, AND BABE PALEY—CAPOTE BEGAN HIS SLI TO AN EARLY GRAVE. SAM KASHNER PURSU THE SNDAL’S MYSTERI, CLUDG THE FATE OF THE UNFISHED MANCRIPT.BY SAM KASHNERNOVEMBER 15, 2012SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVE‘HAVE YOU SEEN ESQUIRE?! CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU’RE FISHED,” NEW YORK SOCIETY DOYENNE BABE PALEY ASKED HER IEND SLIM KEH OVER THE TELEPHONE WHEN THE NOVEMBER 1975 ISSUE H THE STANDS. KEH, THEN LIVG AT THE PIERRE HOTEL, SENT THE MAID DOWNSTAIRS FOR A PY. “I READ , AND I WAS ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED,” SHE LATER NFID TO THE WRER GEE PLIMPTON. “THE STORY ABOUT THE SHEETS, THE STORY ABOUT ANN WOODWARD . . . THERE WAS NO QUTN ANYBODY’S MD WHO WAS.”THE STORY THEY WERE READG ESQUIRE WAS “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” BUT WASN’T SO MUCH A STORY AS AN ATOMIC BOMB THAT TMAN CAPOTE BUILT ALL BY HIMSELF HIS U.N. PLAZA APARTMENT AND AT HIS BEACH HOE SAGAPONACK, LONG ISLAND. IT WAS THE FIRST STALLMENT OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, THE NOVEL THAT TMAN BELIEVED WOULD BE HIS MASTERPIECE.HE HAD BOASTED TO HIS IEND MARELLA AGNELLI, WIFE OF GIANNI AGNELLI, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AT FIAT, THAT ANSWERED PRAYERS WAS “GOG TO DO TO AMERI WHAT PROT DID TO FRANCE.” HE ULDN’T STOP TALKG ABOUT HIS PLANNED ROMAN à CLEF. HE TOLD PEOPLE MAGAZE THAT HE WAS NSTCTG HIS BOOK LIKE A GUN: “THERE’S THE HANDLE, THE TRIGGER, THE BARREL, AND, FALLY, THE BULLET. AND WHEN THAT BULLET IS FIRED OM THE GUN, ’S GOG TO E OUT WH A SPEED AND POWER LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN—WHAM!”BUT HE HAD UNWTGLY TURNED THE GUN ON HIMSELF: EXPOSG THE SECRETS OF MANHATTAN’S RICH AND POWERFUL WAS NOTHG SHORT OF SOCIAL SUICI.HE HAD BEEN A LERARY DARLG SCE THE AGE OF 23, WHEN HIS FIRST NOVEL, OTHER VOIC, OTHER ROOMS, WAS PUBLISHED. SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER, 1965, IN COLD BLOOD, HIS EXTRAORDARY “NONFICTN NOVEL” ABOUT THE BTAL MURR OF THE CLUTTERS, A KANSAS FARM FAY, BROUGHT HIM TERNATNAL FAME, SUDN WEALTH, AND LERARY ACLAS BEYOND ANYTHG HE’D EXPERIENCED BEFORE.BUT TRYG TO WRE ANSWERED PRAYERS, AND S EVENTUAL FALLOUT, STROYED HIM. BY 1984, AFTER SEVERAL UNSUCCSFUL STAYS AT DRY-OUT CENTERS SUCH AS HAZELN AND SMHERS, CAPOTE SEEMED TO HAVE GIVEN UP NOT ONLY ON THE BOOK BUT ON LIFE. ABANDONED BY MOST OF HIS SOCIETY IENDS, LOCKED A BTAL, SELF-STCTIVE RELATNSHIP WH A MIDDLE-AGED, MARRIED, FORMER BANK MANAGER OM LONG ISLAND, TMAN WAS WORN OUT. OR HEARTBROKEN.AFTER “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” ONLY TWO MORE OF S CHAPTERS WERE PUBLISHED, BOTH ESQUIRE: “UNSPOILED MONSTERS” (MAY 1976) AND “KATE MCCLOUD” (DECEMBER 1976). (“MOJAVE,” WHICH HAD APPEARED ESQUIRE JUNE 1975, WAS IALLY TEND TO BE PART OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, BUT TMAN CHANGED HIS MD ABOUT S CLN.)TMAN HAD RERD HIS JOURNALS THE OUTLE FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK, WHICH WOULD PRISE SEVEN CHAPTERS. THE REMAG FOUR WERE TLED “YACHTS AND THGS,” “AND AUDREY WILR SANG,” “A SEVERE INSULT TO THE BRA” (WHICH ACRDG TO URBAN LEGEND WAS THE E OF ATH ON DYLAN THOMAS’S ATH CERTIFITE), AND “FATHER FLANAGAN’S ALL-NIGHT NIGGER QUEEN KOSHER CAFé,” THE PROVOTIVE TLE FOR THE TEETH-RATTLG NCLUDG CHAPTER. TMAN CLAIMED HIS JOURNALS HE HAD ACTUALLY WRTEN FIRST.BUT WAS THE NOVEL EVER PLETED? A NUMBER OF TMAN’S IENDS, CLUDG JOANNE CARSON (THE SEND WIFE OF TELEVISN HOST JOHNNY CARSON), SAY THAT HE HAD READ VAR UNPUBLISHED CHAPTERS TO THEM. “I SAW THEM,” JOANNE RELLS. “HE HAD A WRG ROOM MY HOE—HE SPENT A LOT OF TIME HERE BEE WAS A SAFE PLACE AND NOBODY ULD GET TO HIM—AND HE HAD MANY, MANY PAG OF MANCRIPT, AND HE STARTED TO READ THEM. THEY WERE VERY, VERY GOOD. HE READ ONE CHAPTER, BUT THEN SOMEONE LLED, AND WHEN I WENT BACK HE JT PUT THEM ASI AND SAID, ‘I’LL READ THEM AFTER DNER.’ BUT HE NEVER DID—YOU KNOW HOW THAT HAPPENS.”AFTER CAPOTE’S ATH, ON AUGT 25, 1984, JT A MONTH SHY OF HIS 60TH BIRTHDAY, ALAN SCHWARTZ (HIS LAWYER AND LERARY EXECUTOR), GERALD CLARKE (HIS IEND AND BGRAPHER), AND JOE FOX (HIS RANDOM HOE EDOR) SEARCHED FOR THE MANCRIPT OF THE UNFISHED NOVEL. RANDOM HOE WANTED TO REUP SOMETHG OF THE ADVANC HAD PAID TMAN—EVEN IF THAT VOLVED PUBLISHG AN PLETE MANCRIPT. (IN 1966, TMAN AND RANDOM HOE HAD SIGNED A NTRACT FOR ANSWERED PRAYERS FOR AN ADVANCE OF $25,000, WH A LIVERY DATE OF JANUARY 1, 1968. THREE YEARS LATER, THEY RENEGOTIATED TO A THREE-BOOK NTRACT FOR AN ADVANCE OF $750,000, WH LIVERY BY SEPTEMBER 1973. THE NTRACT WAS AMEND THREE MORE TIM, WH A FAL AGREEMENT OF $1 LN FOR LIVERY BY MARCH 1, 1981. THAT ADLE PASSED LIKE ALL THE OTHERS WH NO MANCRIPT BEG LIVERED.)FOLLOWG CAPOTE’S ATH, SCHWARTZ, CLARKE, AND FOX SEARCHED TMAN’S APARTMENT, ON THE 22ND FLOOR OF THE U.N. PLAZA, WH S PANORAMIC VIEW OF MANHATTAN AND THE UNED NATNS. IT HAD BEEN BOUGHT BY TMAN 1965 FOR $62,000 WH HIS ROYALTI OM IN COLD BLOOD. (A IEND, THE SET SIGNER OLIVER SMH, NOTED THAT THE U.N. PLAZA BUILDG WAS “GLAMORO, THE PLACE TO LIVE MANHATTAN” THE 1960S.) THE THREE MEN LOOKED AMONG THE STACKS OF ART AND FASHN BOOKS CAPOTE’S CLUTTERED VICTORIAN STG ROOM AND PORED OVER HIS BOOKSHELF, WHICH NTAED VAR TRANSLATNS AND EDNS OF HIS WORKS. THEY POKED AMONG THE TIFFANY LAMPS, HIS LLECTN OF PAPERWEIGHTS (CLUDG THE WHE ROSE PAPERWEIGHT GIVEN TO HIM BY COLETTE 1948), AND THE DYG GERANIUMS THAT LED ONE WDOW (“BACHELOR’S PLANTS,” AS WRER EDMUND WHE SCRIBED THEM). THEY LOOKED THROUGH DRAWERS AND CLOSETS AND SKS, AVOIDG THE THREE TAXIRMIC SNAK TMAN KEPT THE APARTMENT, ONE OF THEM, A BRA, REARG TO STRIKE.THE MEN SURED THE GUT BEDROOM, AT THE END OF THE HALLWAY—A TY, PEACH-LORED ROOM WH A DAYBED, A SK, A PHONE, AND LAVENR TAFFETA CURTAS. THEN THEY SCEND 15 FLOORS TO THE FORMER MAID’S STUD, WHERE TMAN HAD OFTEN WRTEN BY HAND ON YELLOW LEGAL PADS.“WE FOUND NOTHG,” SCHWARTZ TOLD VANY FAIR. JOANNE CARSON CLAIMS THAT TMAN HAD NFID TO HER THAT THE MANCRIPT WAS TUCKED AWAY A SAFE-POS BOX A BANK CALIFORNIA—MAYBE WELLS FARGO—AND THAT HE HAD HAND HER A KEY TO THE MORNG BEFORE HIS ATH. BUT HE CLED TO TELL HER WHICH BANK HELD THE BOX. “THE NOVEL WILL BE FOUND WHEN WANTS TO BE FOUND,” HE TOLD HER CRYPTILLY.THE THREE MEN THEN TRAVELED TO TMAN’S STIC BEACH HOE, TUCKED AWAY BEHD SCB PE, PRIVET HEDG, AND HYDRANGEA, ON SIX ACR, SAGAPONACK. THEY ENLISTED THE HELP OF TWO OF TMAN’S CLOST IENDS LATER YEARS, JOE PETROCIK AND MYRON CLEMENT, WHO RAN A SMALL P.R. FIRM AND HAD A HOE NEARBY SAG HARBOR.“HE WAS JT A WONRFUL PERSON TO , A GREAT IEND,” CLEMENT RELLS. “TMAN WOULD TALK TO ABOUT ALL THE THGS THAT WERE GOG TO ANSWERED PRAYERS,” SAYS PETROCIK. “I REMEMBER I WAS AT THE OTHER END OF HIS UCH, AND HE’S READG ALL THIS OM A MANCRIPT. THEN HE’D TAKE A BREAK, GET UP, AND POUR HIMSELF A STOLI. BUT THE THG IS, AT THAT TIME, I NEVER SAW THE ACTUAL MANCRIPT. AND THEN OCCURRED TO ME, LATER, JT BEFORE I NODD OFF TO SLEEP, MAYBE HE HAD MA THE WHOLE THG UP. HE WAS SUCH A WONRFUL, WONRFUL ACTOR.”LATER ON, THOUGH, PETROCIK REMEMBERS, HE WAS TRAVELG WH TMAN OM MANHATTAN TO LONG ISLAND WHEN “TMAN HAND ME THE MANCRIPT TO READ ON THE WAY. I ACTUALLY HAD MY HANDS.”BUT AFTER A THOROUGH SEARCH OF THE BEACH HOE, NO MANCRIPT WAS FOUND. NOW, NEARLY 30 YEARS LATER, THE QUTNS REMA: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RT OF ANSWERED PRAYERS? HAD TMAN STROYED , SIMPLY LOST , OR HIDN , OR HAD HE NEVER WRTEN AT ALL? AND WHY ON EARTH DID HE PUBLISH “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965” SO EARLY, NSIRG THE EVABLE BACKLASH?GERALD CLARKE, THOR OF THE MASTERFUL CAPOTE: THE BGRAPHY, RELLS TMAN TELLG HIM, 1972, “I ALWAYS PLANNED THIS BOOK AS BEG MY PRCIPAL WORK. . . . I’M GOG TO LL A NOVEL, BUT ACTUAL FACT ’S A ROMAN à CLEF. ALMOST EVERYTHG IS TE, AND HAS . . . EVERY SORT OF PERSON I’VE EVER HAD ANY ALGS WH. I HAVE A ST OF THOANDS.”MOST POPULARTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALBY SAN CASEYMEGHAN MARKLE S IN HIGHLY RELATABLE LUNCH SELFIE BY KASE WICKMANMELANIA’S TAKE ON DONALD TMP’S FOURTH INDICTMENT IS BASILLY “SUCKS TO BE YOU, PAL”: REPORTBY BS LEVHE HAD BEGUN THKG ABOUT AS EARLY AS 1958 AND WROTE A PLETE OUTLE, AND EVEN AN ENDG. HE ALSO WROTE PART OF A SCREENPLAY THAT YEAR WH THE TLE ANSWERED PRAYERS, ABOUT A MANIPULATIVE SOUTHERN GIGOLO AND HIS UNHAPPY PARAMOUR. THOUGH THE SCREENPLAY WAS APPARENTLY ABANDONED, THE IA TOOK SHAPE AS A LENGTHY, PROTIAN NOVEL. THE TLE IS TAKEN OM ST. TERA OF AVILA, THE 16TH-CENTURY CARMELE NUN, WHO FAMOLY SAID, “MORE TEARS ARE SHED OVER ANSWERED PRAYERS THAN UNANSWERED ON.”IN A LETTER TO RANDOM HOE PUBLISHER AND -FOUNR BENT CERF, WRTEN OM PáROS, GREECE, THE SUMMER OF 1958, TMAN PROMISED THAT HE WAS FACT WORKG ON “A LARGE NOVEL, MY MAGNUM OP, A BOOK ABOUT WHICH I MT BE VERY SILENT. . . . THE NOVEL IS LLED, ‘ANSWERED PRAYERS’; AND, IF ALL GO WELL, I THK WILL ANSWER ME.” BUT BEFORE HE ULD WRE , ANOTHER WORK TOOK OVER TMAN’S LIFE: IN COLD BLOOD. BEGUN 1959, WOULD NSUME SIX YEARS OF HIS LIFE—MOST OF SPENT LIVG KANSAS, A WORLD AWAY OM THE NEW YORK SOCIETY HE LOVED AND OM THE CY WHERE HE FELT HE BELONGED.IN COLD INKIN “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” CAPOTE TURNED HIS DIAMOND-BRILLIANT, DIAMOND-HARD ARTISTRY ON THE HT MON OF NEW YORK SOCIETY FIXTUR: GLORIA VANRBILT, BABE PALEY, SLIM KEH, LEE RADZIWILL, MONA WILLIAMS—ELEGANT, BETIFUL WOMEN HE LLED HIS “SWANS.” THEY WERE VERY SOIGNéE AND VERY RICH AND ALSO HIS BT IENDS. IN THE STORY CAPOTE REVEALED THEIR GOSSIP, THE SECRETS, THE BETRAYALS—EVEN A MURR. “ALL LERATURE IS GOSSIP,” TMAN TOLD PLAYBOY MAGAZE AFTER THE NTROVERSY EPTED. “WHAT GOD’S GREEN EARTH IS ANNA KARENA OR WAR AND PEACE OR MADAME BOVARY, IF NOT GOSSIP?”THE STORY WAS TEND TO BE THE FIFTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOK, S TLE REFERRG TO HENRI SOULé’S CELEBRATED RTRANT, ON EAST 55TH STREET, ACROSS OM THE ST. REGIS HOTEL. IT WAS WHERE THE SWANS GATHERED TO LUNCH AND TO SEE AND BE SEEN. IN THE STORY A LERARY HTLER AND BISEXUAL PROSTUTE NAMED P. B. JON—“JONY”—NS TO “LADY INA COOLBIRTH” ON THE STREET. A MUCH-MARRIED-AND-DIVORCED SOCIETY MATRON, SHE HAS BEEN STOOD UP BY THE DUCHS OF WDSOR, SO SHE V JONY TO JO HER FOR LUNCH AT ONE OF THE VETED TABL AT THE ONT OF THE RTRANT. LADY COOLBIRTH, TMAN’S WORDS, IS “A BIG BREEZY PEPPY BROAD” OM THE AMERIN WT, NOW MARRIED TO AN ENGLISH ARISTOCRAT. IF SHE HAD LOOKED THE MIRROR, SHE WOULD HAVE SEEN SLIM KEH, WHO HAD BEEN WELL AND OFTEN MARRIED, TO FILM DIRECTOR HOWARD HAWKS AND FILM AND THEATRIL PRODUCER LELAND HAYWARD BEFORE WEDDG THE ENGLISH BANKER SIR KENH KEH.THE STORY UNFOLDS AS A LONG, GOSSIPY NVERSATN—A MONOLOGUE, REALLY—LIVERED BY LADY COOLBIRTH OVER UNTLS FLUT OF ROERER CRISTAL CHAMPAGNE. SHE OBSERV THE OTHER LADI WHO LUNCH—BABE PALEY AND HER SISTER BETSEY WHNEY; LEE RADZIWILL AND HER SISTER, JACQUELE KENNEDY; AND GLORIA VANRBILT AND HER IEND CAROL MATTH. OR, AS CAPOTE WROTE, “GLORIA VANRBILT CIC STOKOWSKI LUMET COOPER AND HER CHILDHOOD CHUM, CAROL MARC SAROYAN SAROYAN (SHE MARRIED HIM TWICE) MATTH: WOMEN THEIR LATE THIRTI, BUT LOOKG NOT MUCH REMOVED OM THOSE B DAYS WHEN THEY WERE GRABBG LUCKY BALLOONS AT THE STORK CLUB.” OTHER BOLDFACED NAM WHO APPEAR UNDISGUISED CLU COLE PORTER G ON TO A HANDSOME ITALIAN WAER; PRCS MARGARET, WHO MAK SNI MENTS ABOUT “POUFS”; AND JOE KENNEDY, JUMPG TO BED WH ONE OF HIS DGHTER’S 18-YEAR-OLD SCHOOL CHUMS.LADY COOLBIRTH GRO ABOUT HAVG GOT STUCK AT A DNER NEXT TO PRCS MARGARET, WHO BORED HER TO SEMI-UNNSCNS. AS FOR GLORIA VANRBILT, CAPOTE PRENTS HER AS EMPTY-HEAD AND VA, PECIALLY WHEN SHE FAILS TO REGNIZE HER FIRST HBAND, WHO STOPS BY HER TABLE TO SAY HELLO. (“ ‘OH, DARLG. LET’S NOT BROOD,’ SAYS CAROL NSOLGLY. ‘AFTER ALL, YOU HAVEN’T SEEN HIM OVER TWENTY YEARS.’ ”) WHEN VANRBILT READ THE STORY, SHE SUPPOSEDLY SAID, “THE NEXT TIME I SEE TMAN CAPOTE, I’M GOG TO SP HIS FACE.”“I THK TMAN REALLY HURT MY MOTHER,” THE CNN JOURNALIST AND NEWSSTER ANRSON COOPER SAYS TODAY.BUT THE TALE THAT SPREAD LIKE A PRAIRIE FIRE UP PARK AVENUE WAS A THLY DISGUISED ACUNT OF A HUIATG ONE-NIGHT STAND ENDURED BY “SIDNEY DILLON,” A STAND- FOR WILLIAM “BILL” PALEY, THE HEAD OF THE CBS TELEVISN-AND-RAD WORK AND ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN NEW YORK AT THAT TIME. BILL AND TMAN WERE IENDS, BUT TMAN WORSHIPPED HIS WIFE, BARBARA “BABE” PALEY—THE TALL, SLIM, ELEGANT SOCIETY DOYENNE WILY NSIRED TO HAVE BEEN THE MOST BETIFUL AND CHIC WOMAN NEW YORK. OF TMAN’S HT MON SWANS, BABE PALEY WAS THE MOST GLAMORO. TMAN ONCE NOTED HIS JOURNALS, “MRS. P HAD ONLY ONE FLT: SHE WAS PERFECT; OTHERWISE, SHE WAS PERFECT.” THE PALEYS PRACTILLY ADOPTED TMAN; PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE THREE OF THEM AT THE PALEYS’ HOE JAMAI SHOW THE TALL, HANDSOME UPLE WH TY TMAN STANDG BI THEM, WEARG SWIMMG TNKS AND A T-THAT-ATE-THE-NARY SE, AS IF HE WERE THEIR PAMPERED SON.THE ONE-NIGHT STAND THE STORY OCCURS BETWEEN DILLON AND THE DOWDY WIFE OF A NEW YORK ERNOR, POSSIBLY BASED ON NELSON ROCKEFELLER’S SEND WIFE, MARY, KNOWN BY HER NICKNAME “HAPPY.” SHE WAS “A CRETO PROTTANT SIZE FORTY WHO WEARS LOW-HEELED SHO AND LAVENR WATER,” TMAN TTILY WROTE, WHO “LOOKED AS IF SHE WORE TWEED BRASSIER AND PLAYED A LOT OF GOLF.” THOUGH MARRIED TO “THE MOST BETIFUL CREATURE ALIVE,” DILLON SIR THE ERNOR’S WIFE BEE SHE REPRENTS THE ONLY THG THAT LI OUTSI OF DILLON’S GRASP—ACCEPTANCE BY OLD-MONEY WASP SOCIETY, A PLUM NIED DILLON BEE HE IS JEWISH. DILLON SS NEXT TO THE ERNOR’S WIFE AT A DNER PARTY, FLIRTS WH HER, AND V HER UP TO HIS NEW YORK PIED-à-TERRE, AT THE PIERRE, SAYG HE “WANTED HER OPN OF HIS NEW BONNARD.” AFTER THEY HAVE SEX, HE DISVERS THAT HER MENSTAL BLOOD HAS LEFT A STA “THE SIZE OF BRAZIL” ON HIS BEDSHEET. WORRIED THAT HIS WIFE WILL ARRIVE AT ANY MOMENT, DILLON SCBS THE SHEET THE BATHTUB, ON HIS HANDS AND KNE, AND THEN ATTEMPTS TO DRY BY BAKG THE OVEN BEFORE REPLACG ON THE BED.WH HOURS OF THE STORY’S PUBLITN ESQUIRE, ANTIC PHONE LLS WERE MA ALL OVER THE UPPER EAST SI. SLIM LLED BACK BABE, WHO ASKED OF THE SIDNEY DILLON CHARACTER, “YOU DON’T THK THAT ’S BILL, DO YOU?”“OF URSE NOT,” SLIM LIED, BUT SHE HAD HEARD OM TMAN MONTHS EARLIER THAT ED WAS BILL PALEY.BABE WAS HORRIFIED AND HEARTBROKEN. SHE WAS SERLY ILL AT THE TIME WH TERMAL LUNG NCER, AND, STEAD OF BLAMG HER HBAND FOR THE FILY, SHE BLAMED TMAN FOR PUTTG TO PRT. SIR JOHN RICHARDSON, THE ACCLAIMED PISSO BGRAPHER AND VANY FAIR NTRIBUTG EDOR, SAW HER OFTEN DURG THE LAST MONTHS OF HER LIFE. “BABE WAS APPALLED BY ‘LA CôTE BASQUE,’ ” HE RELLS. “PEOPLE ED TO TALK ABOUT BILL AS A PHILANRER, BUT HIS AFFAIRS WEREN’T THE TALK OF THE TOWN UNTIL TMAN’S STORY ME OUT.”BABE WOULD NEVER SPEAK TO TMAN AGA.BUT HER RPONSE PALED PARED WH THE REACTN OF ANOTHER ONE OF TMAN’S SUBJECTS: ANN WOODWARD. SHE HAD ACHIEVED NOTORIETY FOR HAVG SHOT AND KILLED HER HBAND 20 YEARS EARLIER, BUT THE STORY HAD BEEN LARGELY FOTTEN BEFORE “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965” WAS PUBLISHED. WOODWARD—ANN HOPKS TMAN’S STORY—ENTERS THE RTRANT, CREATG AN IMMEDIATE STIR; EVEN THE BOUVIER SISTERS, JACQUELE AND LEE, TAKE NOTE. IN TMAN’S RETELLG OF THE SAGA, ANN IS A BETIFUL REDHEAD OM THE WT VIRGIA HILLS WHOSE MANHATTAN ODYSSEY HAD TAKEN HER OM LL GIRL TO “THE FAVORE LAY OF ONE OF [GANGSTER] FRANKIE COSTELLO’S SHYSTERS,” TO—ULTIMATELY—THE WIFE OF DAVID HOPKS (WILLIAM WOODWARD JR.), A HANDSOME YOUNG SCN OF WEALTH AND “ONE OF THE BLUT OF NEW YORK’S BLUE BLOODS.” ANN IS ANOTHER OF THE MANY HOLLY GOLIGHTLY FIGUR WHO MAKE THEIR APPEARANC THROUGHOUT TMAN’S OVRE—BETIFUL, SOCIAL-CLIMBG WAIFS OM THE RAL SOUTH WHO MOVE TO NEW YORK AND RE-VENT THEMSELV, NOT UNLIKE TMAN’S OWN PERSONAL JOURNEY. BUT ANN NTUED TO PHILANR, AND DAVID—EAGER TO DIVORCE HER—DISVERED THAT SHE HAD FAILED TO DISSOLVE A TEENAGE MARRIAGE UNRTAKEN BACK WT VIRGIA, AND TH THEY WEREN’T LEGALLY MARRIED AFTER ALL. TERRIFIED THAT HE WILL KICK HER OUT, ANN TAK ADVANTAGE OF A RASH OF BREAK-S THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND LOADS A SHOTGUN, WHICH SHE KEEPS BI HER BED. SHE FATALLY SHOOTS DAVID, CLAIMG THAT SHE MISTOOK HIM FOR AN TR. HER MOTHER--LAW, HILDA HOPKS (ELSIE WOODWARD), SPERATE TO AVOID A SNDAL, PAYS OFF THE POLICE, AND AN QUT NEVER BRGS CHARG AGAST ANN FOR MURR.MOST POPULARTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALBY SAN CASEYMEGHAN MARKLE S IN HIGHLY RELATABLE LUNCH SELFIE BY KASE WICKMANMELANIA’S TAKE ON DONALD TMP’S FOURTH INDICTMENT IS BASILLY “SUCKS TO BE YOU, PAL”: REPORTBY BS LEVON OCTOBER 10, 1975, JT A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE NOVEMBER ESQUIRE APPEARED, ANN WOODWARD WAS FOUND AD. MANY BELIEVED THAT SOMEONE HAD SENT HER AN ADVANCE PY OF TMAN’S STORY AND SHE’D KILLED HERSELF, BY SWALLOWG CYANI. “WE’LL NEVER KNOW, BUT ’S POSSIBLE THAT TMAN’S STORY PHED HER OVER THE EDGE,” SAYS CLARKE. “HER TWO SONS LATER MTED SUICI AS WELL.” ANN’S MOTHER--LAW GRIMLY SAID, “WELL, THAT’S THAT. SHE SHOT MY SON, AND TMAN MURRED HER … ”LADI WHO PUNCHLUCKILY FOR TMAN HE WAS ABLE TO HIGHTAIL OUT OF TOWN WHEN “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965” WAS PUBLISHED, TO BEG REHEARSALS FOR HIS FIRST STARRG ROLE A FILM, COLUMBIA PICTUR’ 1976 EDY MURR BY DEATH, PRODUCED BY RAY STARK. ACPANIED BY JOHN O’SHEA, HIS MIDDLE-AGED BANK-MANAGER LOVER OM WANTAGH, LONG ISLAND, TMAN RENTED A HOE AT 9421 LLOYDCRT DRIVE, BEVERLY HILLS. THE MURR-MYSTERY SPOOF, WRTEN BY NEIL SIMON AND DIRECTED BY ROBERT MOORE, ST A NUMBER OF GREAT IC ACTORS ROL PARODYG FAMO TECTIV—PETER FALK AS SAM DIAMOND (SAM SPA), JAM CO AS MILO PERRIER (HERCULE POIROT), PETER SELLERS AS SIDNEY WANG (CHARLIE CHAN), ELSA LANCHTER AS MISS MARBL (MISS MARPLE), AND DAVID NIVEN AND MAGGIE SMH AS DICK AND DORA CHARLTON (NICK AND NORA CHARL). ALEC GUNS PLAYED A BLD BUTLER (AS “THE BUTLER DID ”), AND TMAN PLAYED MR. LNEL TWA, AN ECCENTRIC NNOISSR OF CRIME. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GREAT FUN, BUT TMAN FOUND WORKG ON MURR BY DEATH TO BE GELG. O’SHEA RELLED THAT “HE ED TO GET UP THE MORNG AS IF HE WERE GOG TO THE GALLOWS, STEAD OF THE STUD.”THOUGH HIS SCREEN TIME WAS QUE BRIEF, HE CROWED TO A VISG JOURNALIST ON THE SET OF MURR BY DEATH BURBANK, “WHAT BILLIE HOLIDAY IS TO JAZZ, WHAT MAE WT IS TO TS … WHAT SENAL IS TO SLEEPG PILLS, WHAT KG KONG IS TO PENIS, TMAN CAPOTE IS TO THE GREAT GOD THPIS!” IN REALY HE WAS NOT MUCH OF AN ACTOR, AND HE LOOKED BLOATED AND UNWELL ON-SCREEN. THE REVIEWS WERE NOT KD.WHILE LOS ANGEL, TMAN SPENT MUCH OF HIS TIME AT JOANNE CARSON’S MALIBU HOE. SHE STOOD BY HELPLSLY WHILE HE RATTLED AROUND, STILL STUNNED BY THE REACTN TO “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965.” HE PLAED TO JOANNE, “BUT THEY KNOW I’M A WRER. I DON’T UNRSTAND .”TO Fé SOCIETY, HIS PARTURE OM NEW YORK LOOKED LIKE PURE WARDICE. HE PHONED SLIM KEH, WHOM HE OFTEN LLED “BIG MAMA,” BUT SHE REFED TO TALK TO HIM. UNABLE TO ACCEPT SLIM’S REJECTN, HE BOLDLY SENT HER A BLE ATRALIA AT THE END OF THE YEAR, WHERE SHE WAS SPENDG THE HOLIDAYS: “MERRY CHRISTMAS, BIG MAMA. I’VE CID TO FIVE YOU. LOVE, TMAN.” FAR OM FIVG HIM, SLIM HAD NSULTED A LAWYER ABOUT SUG TMAN FOR LIBEL. BUT WHAT REALLY BROKE HIS HEART WAS THE REACTN OM THE PALEYS.SCREWG UP HIS URAGE, TMAN PHONED BILL PALEY, WHO TOOK THE LL. PALEY WAS CIVIL BUT DISTANT, AND TMAN HAD TO ASK IF HE’D READ THE ESQUIRE STORY. “I STARTED, TMAN,” HE SAID, “BUT I FELL ASLEEP. THEN A TERRIBLE THG HAPPENED: THE MAGAZE WAS THROWN AWAY.” TMAN OFFERED TO SEND HIM ANOTHER PY. “DON’T BOTHER, TMAN. I’M PREOCCUPIED RIGHT NOW. MY WIFE IS VERY ILL.” TMAN WAS VASTATED BY THOSE WORDS—“MY WIFE”—AS IF HIS WIFE WEREN’T BABE PALEY, A WOMAN WHOM TMAN IDOLIZED AND WHOSE IENDSHIP HE HAD LONG TREASURED. NOW SHE WAS MORTALLY ILL, AND HE WASN’T EVEN ALLOWED TO SPEAK TO HER.BABE DIED THE PALEYS’ FIFTH AVENUE APARTMENT ON JULY 6, 1978. TMAN WAS NOT VED TO THE FUNERAL. “THE TRAGEDY IS THAT WE NEVER MA UP BEFORE SHE DIED,” HE TOLD GERALD CLARKE YEARS AFTER HER ATH.‘TMAN’S ‘CôTE BASQUE’ WAS ALL ANYBODY WAS TALKG ABOUT,” LUMNIST LIZ SMH REMEMBERS. SHE WAS ASKED BY CLAY FELKER, THE EDOR OF NEW YORK MAGAZE, TO TERVIEW HIM. “TMAN WAS THRILLED THAT I WAS GOG TO DO . I WENT TO HOLLYWOOD TO TERVIEW HIM. I’LL NEVER FET HOW DISTRGHT HE WAS BEE THE PRSURE WAS BUILDG. IN THE PADRO BAR, THE BEVERLY WILSHIRE, HE SAID, ‘I’M GOG TO LL [FORMER VOGUE EDOR] MRS. VREELAND, AND YOU’LL SEE THAT SHE’S REALLY ON MY SI.’ SO HE ED A BIG CK AND THEY BROUGHT A PHONE [TO THE TABLE]. HE LLED HER. HE SAID, ‘I’M STG HERE WH LIZ SMH, AND SHE TELLS ME THAT EVERYONE IS AGAST ME, BUT I KNOW YOU’RE NOT.’ HE WENT ON AND ON, HOLDG THE PHONE OUT FOR ME TO HEAR.” VREELAND SPOUTED A SERI OF SCTABLE RPONS—“MEANG EVERYTHG AND NOTHG—BUT TMAN DIDN’T GET THE VOTE OF NFINCE HE WAS HOPG FOR.”SMH ME AWAY WORRIED ABOUT TMAN, “BEE SEEMED AS IF HE WAS GOG TO GO ALL TO PIEC. HE WAS THE MOST SURPRISED AND SHOCKED PERSON YOU N IMAGE, AND HE WOULD LL TO ASK ME—TORMENT ME—ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE NEW YORK HAD SAID ABOUT HIM. AFTER ‘LA CôTE BASQUE’ HE WAS NEVER HAPPY AGA.”SMH’S ENSUG ARTICLE, “TMAN CAPOTE HOT WATER,” RAN THE FEBARY 9, 1976, ISSUE OF NEW YORK. “SOCIETY’S SACRED MONSTERS AT THE TOP HAVE BEEN A STATE OF SHOCK,” SMH WROTE. “NEVER HAVE YOU HEARD SUCH GNASHG OF TEETH, SUCH CRI FOR REVENGE, SUCH SHOUTS OF BETRAYAL AND SCREAMS OF OUTRAGE.” IN HER ARTICLE SMH OUTED THOSE SWANS TMAN HAD BOTHERED TO THLY DISGUISE: LADY COOLBIRTH WAS SLIM KEH; ANN HOPKS WAS ANN WOODWARD; SIDNEY DILLON WAS BILL PALEY. “IT’S ONE THG TO TELL THE NASTIT STORY THE WORLD TO ALL YOUR FIFTY BT IENDS,” SMH WROTE. “IT’S ANOTHER TO SEE SET DOWN LD, CENTURY EXPAND TYPE.”AND NOT ONLY DID THE SWANS TURN AGAST HIM, THEIR HBANDS DID AS WELL, EVEN IF THEY WEREN’T MENTNED THE STORY. LOUISE GNWALD, WHO HAD WORKED AT VOGUE BEFORE SHE MARRIED HENRY GNWALD, THE EDOR CHIEF OF TIME INC. MAGAZ, NOTICED THAT TMAN’S IENDSHIPS WH WOMEN WOULD NOT HAVE FLOURISHED HAD HE NOT ALSO CHARMED THEIR HBANDS. “MOST MEN OF THAT ERA,” SHE RELLS, “WERE HOMOPHOBIC—VERY HOMOPHOBIC. BUT TMAN WAS THEIR EXCEPTN, BEE HE WAS SO AMG. NOBODY ME TO THEIR HO THAT THE HBANDS DIDN’T APPROVE OF. IN A WAY, TMAN ULD BE VERY SCTIVE, AND HE WAS A GOOD LISTENER. HE WAS SYMPATHETIC. HE SCED BOTH THE MEN AND THE WOMEN.”BUT AS THE SNDAL UNFOLD, “ARE YOU SEEG TMAN OR ARE YOU NOT?” WAS WHISPERED THROUGHOUT NEW YORK’S HIGH SOCIETY. SLIM KEH WOULD N TO HIM OCSNALLY AT THE RTRANT QUO VADIS, ON EAST 63RD STREET BETWEEN MADISON AND PARK AVENU, BUT SHE “NEVER LOOKED UP AT HIS FACE AGA,” KEH BRAGGED TO GEE PLIMPTON. OSTRACIZG TMAN BEME THE THG TO DO. “IN THE LONG N, THE RICH N TOGETHER, NO MATTER WHAT,” TMAN SAID A 1980 PLAYBOY-MAGAZE TERVIEW. “THEY WILL CLG, UNTIL THEY FEEL ’S SAFE TO BE DISLOYAL, THEN NO ONE N BE MORE SO.”AT LEAST LEE RADZIWILL AND CAROL MATTH, WHO DID NOT E OFF BADLY “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” STOOD UP FOR TMAN. RADZIWILL FELT THAT WAS TMAN WHO HAD BEEN “TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY A LOT OF PEOPLE HE THOUGHT WERE HIS IENDS. AFTER ALL, HE WAS FUN AND TERTG TO TALK TO, AND BRILLIANT. WHY WOULDN’T THEY WANT TO HAVE HIM AROUND? HE WAS ABSOLUTELY SHOCK” ABOUT Fé SOCIETY’S REACTN, SHE RELLS. “HE’D HEAR OF ANOTHER MONUMENT FALLG, AND HE’D SAY, ‘BUT I’M A JOURNALIST—EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT I’M A JOURNALIST!’ I JT DON’T THK HE REALIZED WHAT HE WAS DOG, BEE, GOD, DID HE PAY FOR . THAT’S WHAT PUT HIM BACK TO SER DRKG. AND THEN, OF URSE, THE TERRIBLE FEAR THAT HE ULD NEVER WRE ANOTHER WORD AGA. IT WAS ALL DOWNHILL OM THEN ON.”‘UNSPOILED MONSTERS” APPEARED NEXT. IT’S A MORDANTLY FUNNY, HAIR-RAISG, BUT EPLY CYNIL ACUNT OF A FICTNAL WRER NAMED P. B. JON (THE P.B. STANDG FOR PL BUNYAN, CAPOTE NOTED HIS JOURNALS), WHO IS THE JONY “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965.” IT’S A FAR CRY OM THE HONEYSUCKLE LYRICISM OF CAPOTE’S EARLIER WORK, OR THE STARK REPORTAGE OF IN COLD BLOOD; TELLS THE PIRQUE TALE OF YOUNG JON, THE GAY HTLER WHO BEDS MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE IF THEY N FURTHER HIS LERARY REER. KATHERE ANNE PORTER MAK A DISGUISED APPEARANCE, AS DO TENNSEE WILLIAMS, BOTH CEL RITUR. LIKE TMAN, JON IS WRG A NOVEL LLED ANSWERED PRAYERS, EVEN G THE SAME BLACKWG PENCILS TMAN FAVORED. HE’S A CHARMG BUT HARD-BTEN, MALE VERSN OF HOLLY GOLIGHTLY, HAVG PED A CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE TO FLOURISH NEW YORK. HIS IMPOVERISHED PAST, TMAN LATER NFID, WAS BORROWED OM THE LIFE STORY OF PERRY SMH, THE DARK-HAIRED, DARK-EYED MURRER TMAN ME TO KNOW TIMATELY WHILE WRG IN COLD BLOOD. IN A SENSE, P. B. JON IS BOTH TMAN AND PERRY, A FIGURE WHO HNTED TMAN’S LAST AND WHOSE EXECUTN BY HANGG—WHICH TMAN WNSED—WOULD VASTATE HIM EMOTNALLY.THE TLE CHARACTER OF “KATE MCCLOUD,” WHICH FOLLOWED ESQUIRE, WAS MOLED ON MONA WILLIAMS, LATER MONA VON BISMARCK, ANOTHER OFT MARRIED SOCIALE IEND OF TMAN’S WHOSE CLIFF-TOP VILLA ON CAPRI HE’D VISED. OF MONA’S FIVE HBANDS, ONE, JAM IRVG BH, WAS SCRIBED AS “THE HANDSOMT MAN AMERI” AND ANOTHER, HARRISON WILLIAMS, AS “THE RICHT MAN AMERI.” ALSO, LIKE HOLLY GOLIGHTLY, THE RED-HAIRED, GREEN-EYED BETY HAD BEGUN LIFE MORE MOSTLY, THE DGHTER OF A GROOM ON THE KENTUCKY TATE OF HENRY J. SCHLGER, WHO BEME HER FIRST HBAND. A GENERATN OLR THAN TMAN’S OTHER SWANS, SHE WAS NOT GENERALLY REGNIZED AS A MOL FOR KATE MCCLOUD, EXCEPT BY JOHN RICHARDSON, WHO RELLS, “I WAS NVCED WAS MONA— WAS SO OBV.”WHY WAS TMAN SO SURPRISED BY THE REACTN OF HIS SWANS? “I’D NEVER SEEN ANYTHG LIKE ,” CLARKE RELLS. “I READ ‘LA CôTE BASQUE’ ONE SUMMER DAY GLORIA VANRBILT’S SWIMMG POOL THE HAMPTONS WHEN GLORIA AND HER HBAND, WYATT COOPER, WERE AWAY. I WAS READG WHILE TMAN WAS FLOATG THE POOL ON A RAFT. I SAID, ‘PEOPLE AREN’T GOG TO BE HAPPY WH THIS, TMAN.’ HE SAID, ‘NAH, THEY’RE TOO DUMB. THEY WON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE.’ HE ULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG.”SO, WHY DID HE DO ?“I WONR WHETHER HE WASN’T TTG THE LOVE OF HIS IENDS, TO SEE WHAT HE ULD GET AWAY WH. WE HAD TMAN AROUND BEE HE PAID FOR HIS SUPPER,” RICHARDSON SAYS, “BY BEG THE GREAT STORYTELLER THE MARKETPLACE OF MARRAKECH. TMAN WAS A BRILLIANT RANTR. WE’D SAY, ‘OH, DO TELL WHAT MAE WT WAS REALLY LIKE,’ OR WHAT DID HE KNOW ABOUT DORIS DE? AND HE’D GO ON THAT IMABLE VOICE FOR 20 MUT, AND WAS ABSOLUTELY MARVELO, ONE STORY AFTER ANOTHER. AND HE LOVED DOG —HE WAS A SHOW-OFF.”TMAN BRISTLED AT THE IA THAT HE WAS SOME SORT OF MAST OR LAPDOG. “I WAS NEVER THAT,” HE SISTED. “I HAD A LOT OF RICH IENDS. I DON’T PARTICULARLY LIKE RICH PEOPLE. IN FACT, I HAVE A KD OF NTEMPT FOR MOST OF THEM. . . . RICH PEOPLE I KNOW WOULD BE TOTALLY LOST … IF THEY DIDN’T HAVE THEIR MONEY. THAT’S WHY … THEY HANG TOGETHER SO CLOSELY LIKE A BUNCH OF BE A BEEHIVE, BEE ALL THEY REALLY HAVE IS THEIR MONEY.” IN WHAT WOULD BEE A MANTRA OF TMAN’S, HE OFTEN ASKED, “WHAT DID THEY EXPECT? I’M A WRER, AND I E EVERYTHG. DID ALL THOSE PEOPLE THK I WAS THERE JT TO ENTERTA THEM?”BREAKFAST AT STUD 54TMAN’S CLE WAS UNSTOPPABLE. IN ADDN TO HIS ALHOL ABE, HE WAS PARTAKG HEAVILY OF E. HE FELL LOVE WH STUD 54, THE QUTSENTIAL 70S DIS, WHICH OPENED APRIL OF 1977. TMAN SCRIBED AS “THE NIGHTCLUB OF THE FUTURE. IT’S VERY MOCRATIC. BOYS WH BOYS, GIRLS WH GIRLS, GIRLS WH BOYS, BLACKS AND WH, PALISTS AND MARXISTS, CHE AND EVERYTHG ELSE—ALL ONE BIG MIX.” HE SPENT MANY NIGHTS WATCHG OM THE D.J.’S CROW’S NT OVERLOOKG THE DANCE FLOOR—“THE MEN NNG AROUND DIAPERS, CKTAIL WAERS SAT BASKETBALL SHORTS, OFTEN LURED AWAY BY THE CTOMERS”—OR DANCG MADLY BY HIMSELF, LGHG LIGHTEDLY EVERY TIME A GIANT MAN THE MOON SPEND OVER THE DANCE FLOOR BROUGHT A SPOONFUL OF WHE POWR TO S NOSE. BANISHED OM Fé SOCIETY, HE EMBRACED THIS LOUCHE, HEDONISTIC WORLD AND WAS TAKEN UP BY ANDY WARHOL AND THE FACTORY, WHERE DGS FLOWED AS EELY AS GOSSIP HAD AT LA CôTE BASQUE AND QUO VADIS. THE REVELERS AT STUD 54 DIDN’T RE THAT TMAN HAD SPILLED THE BEANS—THEY DIDN’T KNOW OR RE WHO BABE PALEY WAS.V.F. SPECIAL RRPONNT BOB COLACELLO, A FORMER EDOR OF ANDY WARHOL’S INTERVIEW MAGAZE, FOR WHICH TMAN WAS BY THIS TIME WRG A LUMN LLED “CONVERSATNS WH CAPOTE,” FELT THAT “TMAN ENJOYED ALL, BUT I THK THAT EP DOWN HE WISHED THAT HE ULD HAVE JT GONE TO LUNCH WH BABE PALEY.”THE EFFECT OF HIS NEW LIFTYLE WAS VASTATG. HIS WEIGHT BALLOONED, DROWNG HIS ONCE LITE FEATUR ALHOLIC BLOAT. “LONG BEFORE TMAN DIED,” JOHN RICHARDSON RELLS, “I SAW A SORT OF BAG LADY WH TWO ENORMO BAGS WANRG AROUND THE RNER OF LEXGTON AND 73RD, WHERE I LIVED THEN. AND SUDNLY, I REALIZED, CHRIST! IT’S TMAN! I SAID, ‘COME ON BY AND HAVE A CUP OF TEA.’ ” AT THE APARTMENT, RICHARDSON WENT TO THE KCHEN TO MAKE THE TEA, AND BY THE TIME HE GOT BACK, “HALF A BOTTLE OF VODKA—OR STCH OR WHATEVER WAS—WAS GONE. I HAD TO TAKE HIM OUTSI AND GENTLY PUT HIM TO A B.”LEE RADZIWILL RELLS SHE AND TMAN “DRIFTED APART BEE OF HIS DRKG. WE JT FOT ABOUT ONE ANOTHER. I MEAN, I NEVER FOT ABOUT HIM, BUT WE DIDN’T SEE EACH OTHER, BEE HE WASN’T MAKG ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER. IT WAS PIFUL. HEARTBREAKG, BEE THERE WAS NOTHG YOU ULD DO. HE REALLY WANTED TO KILL HIMSELF. IT WAS A SLOW AND PAFUL SUICI.”THE LAST STRAW WAS WHEN TMAN AND JOHN O’SHEA ME TO STAY WH LEE AT TURVILLE GRANGE, HER AND PRCE RADZIWILL’S UNTRY HOE ENGLAND. “THEY WERE NOT GETTG ALONG WELL, TO SAY THE LEAST. I DIDN’T WANT THEM TO E, BEE I KNEW, EVEN BEFORE HE ARRIVED, THAT TMAN WAS TERRIBLE SHAPE. STAS LEFT ME ALONE WH THEM. I SAID, ‘YOU N’T!’ THANK GOD WE HAD A GUTHOE THE URTYARD BEE THEY WERE FIGHTG THE ENTIRE TIME, AND THEY BROKE MOST OF THE FURNURE THE TTAGE. FALLY, THEY LEFT. THAT’S THE LAST TIME I REMEMBER SEEG TMAN.”BUT WHAT REALLY SHATTERED THEIR IENDSHIP WAS THE LAWSU FOR LIBEL BROUGHT AGAST TMAN BY GORE VIDAL. IN AN TERVIEW TMAN HAD GIVEN TO PLAYGIRL MAGAZE, HE RELATED A STORY ABOUT HOW VIDAL “GOT DNK [AND] SULTED JACKIE’S MOTHER” AT A WHE HOE DNER PARTY NOVEMBER 1961 AND WAS BODILY REMOVED OM THE WHE HOE BY BOBBY KENNEDY AND ARTHUR SCHLGER. THE REAL CINT WAS MORE BENIGN—GORE AND BOBBY KENNEDY HAD ED GOTTEN TO AN ARGUMENT, WHEN BOBBY SAW GORE’S HAND RTG ON JACKIE’S SHOULR (“FUCK YOU”S WERE ALLEGEDLY EXCHANGED), BUT THERE WAS NO PHYSIL HEAVE-HO OM THE WHE HOE. GORE WAS CENSED AT TMAN’S STORY, THE CULMATN OF A FD THAT HAD SMOLRED BETWEEN THE TWO MEN FOR S. VIDAL MAND AN APOLOGY AND $1 LN DAMAG.TMAN ENTREATED LIZ SMH TO PERSUA VIDAL TO DROP HIS LAWSU, WHICH HE REFED TO DO. HE THEN ASKED HER TO ASK LEE RADZIWILL TO GIVE A POSN HIS FAVOR, AS HE SAID HE HAD FIRST GOTTEN THE STORY OM LEE, BUT LEE WAS NO LONGER RETURNG TMAN’S LLS. SO THE LUMNIST LLED RADZIWILL AND ASKED HER TO SAY AT LEAST THAT THE CINT HAD FACT OCCURRED, “OTHERWISE, GORE IS GOG TO W THIS LAWSU, AND ’S JT GOG TO CSH TMAN.”RADZIWILL TOLD VANY FAIR, “I KNEW THAT TMAN LOATHED GORE. [VIDAL] WAS A VERY BRILLIANT BUT VERY MEAN MAN. . . . WHEN TMAN ASKED ME TO DO THE POSN FOR HIM, I NEVER KNEW ANYTHG ABOUT POSNS. I WAS VERY UPSET THAT HE LOST. I FELT WAS MY FLT.”THE LAWSU LGERED FOR SEVEN YEARS, UNTIL ALAN SCHWARTZ MA A DIRECT APPEAL TO VIDAL HIMSELF. “LOOK,” HE SAID. “TMAN IS TERRIBLE SHAPE BETWEEN THE DGS AND ALHOL, AND YOU MAY FEEL YOU’VE BEEN LIBELED, BUT I’M SURE YOU DON’T WANT TO BE PART OF A WRER OF TMAN’S GIFTS BEG STROYED.” GORE EVENTUALLY SETTLED FOR A WRTEN APOLOGY.IN JULY 1978, TMAN APPEARED AN EBRIATED STATE ON THE STANLEY SIEGEL SHOW, A LOL MORNG TALK SHOW NEW YORK. TAKG NOTE OF TMAN’S HERENCE DURG THE TERVIEW, SIEGEL, THE HOST, ASKED, “WHAT’S GOG TO HAPPEN UNLS YOU LICK THIS PROBLEM OF DGS AND ALHOL?” TMAN, THROUGH THE FOG OF HIS OWN MISERY, REPLIED, “THE OBV ANSWER IS THAT EVENTUALLY I’LL KILL MYSELF.” THE APPEARANCE WAS SUCH A DISASTER MA HEADL: DRUNK & DOPED, CAPOTE VISITS TV TALK SHOW, THE NEW YORK POST JEERED LATER THAT DAY.TMAN HAD NO RELLECTN OF WHAT HAD OCCURRED ON THE STANLEY SIEGEL SHOW, BUT WHEN HE READ THE PRS ACUNTS HE WAS HORRIFIED. HE NURSED HIS WOUNDS AT A GAY DIS SOHO THAT NIGHT, WH LIZA MNELLI AND STEVE RUBELL, -OWNER OF STUD 54. THE NEXT DAY, ONE OF HIS IENDS, ROBERT MACBRI, A YOUNG WRER TMAN HAD BEIEND A FEW YEARS EARLIER, REMOVED A GUN TMAN KEPT HIS APARTMENT AND LIVERED TO ALAN SCHWARTZ FOR SAFEKEEPG—A GUN THAT HAD BEEN GIVEN TO TMAN BY ALV “AL” DEWEY JR., THE TECTIVE WHO HAD BEEN CHARGE OF THE CLUTTER SE. TMAN WAS THEN BUNDLED UP AND TRANSPORTED TO HAZELN, THE DG-AND-ALHOL REHABILATN CENTER MNOTA, ACPANIED BY C. Z. AND WSTON GUT—THE RARE SOCIAL WHO HAD REMAED LOYAL. AAID HE WOULD BACK OUT, THEY FLEW WH HIM TO THE CLIC, WHERE HE SPENT THE NEXT MONTH. HE ACTUALLY ENJOYED HIS TIME THERE, BUT A FEW WEEKS AFTER BEG DISCHARGED, HE BEGAN DRKG HEAVILY AGA.EXHSTED AND UNWELL, TMAN FOOLISHLY AGREED TO A GELG, 30-LLEGE LECTURE TOUR THE FALL OF 1978. GERALD CLARKE THOUGHT HE HAD EMBARKED UPON SUCH AN ORAL BEE HE NEED TO KNOW THAT HE WAS “STILL LOVED AND ADMIRED,” BUT THE TOUR, TOO, WAS A DISASTER. HE BEME SO HERENT BOZEMAN, MONTANA, THAT HE HAD TO BE RTED OFFSTAGE. BACK ON LONG ISLAND, TMAN NTUED TO SLI. “I WATCH HIM WHEN HE’S SLEEPG,” OBSERVED JACK DUNPHY, TMAN’S FORMER PARTNER AND IEND OF MORE THAN 30 YEARS, “AND HE LOOKS TIRED, VERY, VERY TIRED. IT’S AS IF HE’S AT A LONG PARTY AND WANTS TO SAY GOOD-BYE—BUT HE N’T.”PUBLISH AND PERISH‘I DID STOP WORKG ON ANSWERED PRAYERS SEPTEMBER 1977,” TMAN WROTE THE PREFACE TO HIS 1980 STORY LLECTN, MIC FOR CHAMELEONS. “THE HALT HAPPENED BEE I WAS A HELLUVA LOT OF TROUBLE: I WAS SUFFERG A CREATIVE CRISIS AND A PERSONAL ONE AT THE SAME TIME.” THAT PERSONAL CRISIS WAS JOHN O’SHEA.O’SHEA SEEMED AN UNLIKELY PARTNER FOR TMAN—MARRIED FOR 20 YEARS, WH FOUR CHILDREN—BUT HE WAS “JT THE KD OF MAN TMAN LIKED,” SAID JOE PETROCIK, “A MARRIED, IRISH, CATHOLIC FAY MAN.” O’SHEA WAS AN ASPIRG WRER, AND HE LOVED THE LIFE TMAN TRODUCED HIM TO, AND THE POSSIBILY THAT HE, TOO, ULD HAVE A VIABLE WRG REER. BUT HE LACKED TMAN’S TALENT, CHARM, BRILLIANCE, AND DRIVE. “HE WAS SO ORDARY THAT WAS BREATHTAKG,” CAROL MATTH TOLD GEE PLIMPTON FOR HIS ORAL HISTORY OF CAPOTE, BUT SHE ALSO FELT THAT THE RELATNSHIP HAD “HASTENED TMAN’S ATH.” PERHAPS TMAN WAS TRYG TO PTURE HIS EARLY CHILDHOOD MEMORI OF HIS BLOGIL FATHER, ARCH PERSONS, A RASLLY, STOUT BSMAN AND SOMETHG OF A N MAN. CURLY, O’SHEA’S WIFE AND CHILDREN ADORED TMAN AND DIDN’T SEEM TO RENT THE ROLE HE PLAYED BREAKG UP THEIR FAY. SUCH WAS TMAN’S CHARM.BUT IF THE ARRANGEMENT SUED TMAN PSYCHOLOGILLY—AND SEXUALLY— HAD BEE DISASTRO, EVEN DANGERO. IN LATE 1976, TMAN WAS LOCKED A NASTY BATTLE WH O’SHEA, EXACERBATED WHEN O’SHEA BEME VOLVED WH A WOMAN. CLAIMG THAT O’SHEA HAD N OFF WH THE MANCRIPT OF THE “SEVERE INSULT TO THE BRA” CHAPTER OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, HE SUED HIS FORMER LOVER LOS ANGEL SUPERR COURT, EVENTUALLY DROPPG THE SU 1981. THE TWO MEN RENCILED, THEN BROKE UP, AGA AND AGA. IN AN ATTEMPT AT REVENGE, TMAN HIRED AN ACQUATANCE TO FOLLOW O’SHEA AND TO ROUGH HIM UP. INSTEAD, THE PERSON END UP SETTG O’SHEA’S R ON FIRE.MOST POPULARTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALBY SAN CASEYMEGHAN MARKLE S IN HIGHLY RELATABLE LUNCH SELFIE BY KASE WICKMANMELANIA’S TAKE ON DONALD TMP’S FOURTH INDICTMENT IS BASILLY “SUCKS TO BE YOU, PAL”: REPORTBY BS LEVTMAN’S CLE IS UALLY BLAMED ON THE BACLE ED BY “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” BUT GERALD CLARKE BELIEV THE SEEDS OF HIS SELF-STCTN WERE PLANTED MUCH EARLIER, WHEN HE WAS REARCHG IN COLD BLOOD. HE’D GOTTEN CLOSE TO PERRY SMH DURG THOSE FIVE LONG YEARS OF VISG HIM A BLEAK KANSAS PRISON AND THEN WAG FOR HIM TO BE EXECUTED. IN SOME WAYS, THE TWO MEN WERE ALIKE: SHORT, PACTLY BUILT, ARTISTIC, THE PRODUCTS OF PRIVED EARLY CHILDHOODS— WOULD HAVE BEEN EASY FOR TMAN TO LOOK TO PERRY SMH’S BLACK EY AND THK HE WAS LOOKG AT HIS DARKER TW. “THERE WAS A PSYCHOLOGIL NNECTN BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM,” CLARKE BELIEV. “PERRY’S ATH TOOK OUT OF HIM.” BUT TMAN KNEW THAT THE VALUE OF IN COLD BLOOD “REQUIRED THE EXECUTN TO TAKE PLACE.” HE ULDN’T FISH HIS BOOK OTHERWISE. “HE WROTE THAT HE WANTED THEM TO DIE—THAT STARTED THE CLE.”HE WASN’T PREPARED FOR THE EFFECT OF WATCHG SMH’S EXECUTN BY HANGG. THE MAN SWUNG FOR MORE THAN 10 MUT BEFORE HE WAS PRONOUNCED AD. AFTER LEAVG THE PRISON, TMAN HAD TO PULL HIS R OVER TO THE SI OF THE ROAD, WHERE HE WEPT FOR TWO HOURS. IT’S POSSIBLE THAT THOSE EVENTS SET THE STAGE FOR THE VRL OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, ORIGALLY NCEIVED BY TMAN TO BE “A BETIFUL BOOK WH A HAPPY ENDG”; STEAD BEME A KD OF J’ACCE OF THE RICH AND SOCIALLY PROMENT, REVEALG, IF NOT REVELG , THEIR TREACHERY, CE, VANY, AND MURRO IMPULS. UNR THEIR POLISHED VENEERS, THEY ARE ALL ERS AND HTLERS, LIKE P. B. JON.IT WAS TO HIS AR IEND JOANNE CARSON THAT TMAN TURNED WHEN HE WAS SPERATE STRAS, SICK AND EXHSTED, BUYG A ONE-WAY PLANE TICKET TO LOS ANGEL ON AUGT 23, 1984. TWO DAYS LATER, JOANNE ENTERED THE GUT BEDROOM TO FD TMAN STGGLG FOR BREATH, HIS PULSE ALARMGLY WEAK. SHE SAID THAT TMAN SPOKE OF HIS MOTHER AND THEN UTTERED THE PHRAS “BETIFUL BABE” AND “ANSWERED PRAYERS.” AGAST HIS WISH, SHE LLED THE PARAMEDICS, BUT BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVED TMAN WAS AD.AS FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RT OF THE MANCRIPT, NO ONE REALLY KNOWS. IF WAS STOWED AWAY A GREYHOUND B POT, POSSIBLY NEBRASKA, WHERE HE HAD STOPPED DURG HIS 1978 LLEGE TOUR, AS JOE PETROCIK BELIEV, OR A SAFE-POS BOX SOMEWHERE, AS JOANNE CARSON BELIEV, HAS NEVER SURFACED. ALAN SCHWARTZ SAYS THAT O’SHEA “CLAIMED TMAN HAD WRTEN THE BOOK, CLAIMED HE HAD STASHED AWAY, BUT WE NEVER FOUND A CLUE THAT HE DID.” ANOTHER THEORY IS THAT TMAN STROYED HIMSELF, REALIZG, PERHAPS, THAT DIDN’T E UP TO HIS PROTIAN STANDARD. JACK DUNPHY, WHO DIED 1992, BELIEVED THAT, AFTER THE PUBLITN OF “KATE MCCLOUD,” 1976, TMAN NEVER WROTE ANOTHER LE OF THE BOOK.GERALD CLARKE WROTE HIS BGRAPHY, “ALL THAT THE WORLD WILL EVER SEE OF TMAN’S MAGNUM OP IS THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY PAG THAT RANDOM HOE PUBLISHED 1987. . . . LIKE OTHER UNFISHED NOVELS—DICKENS’ THE MYSTERY OF EDW DROOD, FOR EXAMPLE, OR FZGERALD’S THE LAST TYON—THE ABBREVIATED ANSWERED PRAYERS [NSISTG OF “UNSPOILED MONSTERS,” “KATE MCCLOUD,” AND “LA CôTE BASQUE”] IS TANTALIZGLY PLETE. YET, LIKE THEM, IS SUBSTANTIAL ENOUGH TO BE READ, ENJOYED AND, TO A LIMED GREE, JUDGED ON S OWN MERS.” CLARKE BELIEV THAT TMAN SIMPLY ABANDONED THE NOVEL.AS FOR TMAN’S POSTHUMO REPUTATN, JOHN RICHARDSON SAYS, “I THK THAT THE GOSSIPY PART WILL FALL AWAY, AND HE’LL BE REMEMBERED AS A VERY BRILLIANT WRER WHO, LIKE SO MANY OTHER WRERS, DIED OF DRK. HE JOS A TRADN. HIS NAME—’S SUCH AN UNFETTABLE NAME—WILL BE REMEMBERED.”TMAN WAS “A GIANT TALENT, BUT AFTER SO MUCH FAME AND FORTUNE, HE SLID DOWNHILL,” RELLS LIZ SMH. “HE HAD LOVED ALL THOSE BETIFUL WOMEN SO MUCH, BUT THEY NEVER RETURNED HIS LOVE. I STILL MISS HIM. NEW YORK DON’T SEEM TO HAVE EPIC CHARACTERS LIKE TMAN CAPOTE ANYMORE. THERE ARE NO MAJOR WRERS TODAY THAT MATTER THE WAY THAT HE MATTERED.”LOUISE GNWALD AGRE. “THERE’S NO ONE LIKE HIM ANYMORE, NOT THAT THERE EVER WAS ANYONE LIKE HIM. JT AS THERE ARE NO PLAC LIKE LA CôTE BASQUE. IT’S ALL CHANGED. TMAN WOULDN’T REGNIZE NEW YORK ANYMORE. IT’S GHOSTLY.”THERE WAS A MEMORY THAT TMAN LIKED TO RELATE, ABOUT A HKY BOY OM HIS CHILDHOOD MONROEVILLE, ALABAMA, WHO SPENT AN ENTIRE SUMMER DIGGG A HOLE HIS BACKYARD. “WHY’RE YOU DOG THAT?” TMAN HAD ASKED. “TO GET TO CHA. SEE, THE OTHER SI OF THIS HOLE, THAT’S CHA.” TMAN WOULD LATER WRE, “WELL, HE NEVER GOT TO CHA; AND MAYBE I’LL NEVER FISH ANSWERED PRAYERS; BUT I KEEP ON DIGGG! ALL THE BT, T.C.”SAM KASHNER
ANSWERED PRAYER: “PRAYERS FOR BOBBY” IS A GROUNDBREAKG GAY TV {FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}MOVIBY ALEXANR STEVENSONJANUARY 14, 2009/12:16 AMBY ALEXANR STEVENSONJANUARY 14, 2009 / 12:16 AM{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","HEADLE":"ANSWERED PRAYER: “PRAYERS FOR BOBBY” IS A GROUNDBREAKG GAY TV MOVIE","DATEPUBLISHED":"2009-01-14T05:16:40.000+0000","DATEMODIFIED":"2009-01-14T05:16:40.000+0000","IMAGE":{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","WIDTH":1920,"HEIGHT":1080},"URL":","THOR":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"LOGO TV"},"MAENTYOFPAGE":{"@TYPE":"WEBPAGE","@ID":"},"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","@ID":","NAME":"LOGO TV","URL":","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT"}},"CREATOR":"ALEXANR STEVENSON","KEYWORDS":"THE BACKLOT","ARTICLESECTN":"MOVI"}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}IT’S AN ADMTEDLY GRIPPG STORY: A NSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN WOMAN REF TO ACCEPT HER GAY TEENAGE SON, HOUNDG HIM TO “CHANGE” TO THE POT WHERE HE MS SUICI. BUT THEN, OVERE BY THE REALIZATN OF WHAT SHE HAS DONE, THE WOMAN T HERSELF, RENOUNC HER PREV ANTI-GAY BELIEFS, AND BE A CSAR FOR GLBT YOUTH AND GAY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}PERHAPS ’S NOT SURPRISG THAT THE REAL-LIFE STORY OF MARY GRIFFH OF WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA, HAS NOW BEE PRAYERS FOR BOBBY, A TV MOVIE STARRG SIGOURNEY WEAVER AIRG ON LIFETIME LATER THIS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}AND YET, AS EXTRAORDARY AS THE STORY IS, WAS ANYTHG BUT AN EASY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“MAKG MOVI IS HARD ENOUGH,” SAYS DANIEL SLAK, ONE OF THE FILM’S EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS. “BUT WHEN YOU HAVE A MOVIE ABOUT TEEN SUICI, A WOMAN QUTNG HER FAH, AND GAY RIGHTS, THAT’S A HOT POTATO.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE FISHED FILM IS NOT YOUR TYPIL TV MOVIE. UNLIKE MOST PREV GAY TV MOVI, THE FILMMAKERS DON’T DANCE AROUND THE ISSU; THEY TACKLE RELIGN HEAD-ON, MAKG THE EXPLIC NNECTN BETWEEN ANTI-GAY RELIG BELIEFS AND THE OPPRSN OF GAY PEOPLE. AS THE RECENT NTROVERSY OVER CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSN 8 SHOWED, RELIG BELIEFS ARE STILL THE PRIMARY — MAYBE THE ONLY REMAG — ARGUMENT AGAST SAME-SEX EQUALY. IN THE AFTERMATH OF THAT FIGHT, THE MOVIE FEELS EERILY NTEMPORARY SPE BEG SET THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}RYAN KELLEY, HENRY CZERNY, AND SIGOURNEY WEAVER A SCENE OM PRAYERS FOR {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“I KNOW A VERY RELIG FAY, AND THEY DO THK THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS AN ABOMATN,” SAYS STAR SIGOURNEY WEAVER. “I’M HOPG THAT THIS FILM WILL BEG TO OPEN THEIR EY — IF NOT THE OLR GENERATN, THEN PERHAPS THE YOUNGER ONE.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}IT ALL BEGAN WHEN MARY REFED TO ACCEPT THAT HER TEENAGE SON, BOBBY, WAS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT WAS JT IGNORANCE,” SAYS MARY GRIFFH NOW. “I BELIEVED WHAT MY CHURCH SAID ABOUT GAY PEOPLE. I N FIVE MYSELF FOR THAT, BUT I HAD A HARD TIME FIVG THE CHURCH.” GRIFFH STILL LIV WALNUT CREEK, BUT NO LONGER ATTENDS THE SAME {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE REAL MARY GRIFFH WH HER SON, {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}GRIFFH’S HEARTBREAKG STORY EVENTUALLY ATTRACTED THE TERT OF A GAY JOURNALIST, LEROY AARONS, WHO WORKED WH THE FAY ON A BOOK, PRAYERS FOR BOBBY, PUBLISHED 1995. IT TURNED OUT THAT BOBBY HAD KEPT A DIARY OF HIS THOUGHTS AND FEELGS DURG THE STGGLE WH HIS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT JT FLOORED ME, TOOK MY BREATH AWAY,” SLAK SAID. “I’M 43-YEARS-OLD. IF HE [WERE] ALIVE TODAY, BOBBY WOULD BE 45. NETY PERCENT OF THE BOOK RONATED ON A PERSONAL LEVEL: ROCKY HORROR, ANA BRYANT. I SAW MYSELF THE BOOK.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SLAK AND TAAFFE OPTNED THE PROJECT, ORIGALLY TENDG TO BE A FEATURE FILM. BUT THE RULTG SCREENPLAY ATTRACTED THE ATTENTN OF SAN SARANDON, WHO HAD BEEN APPROACHED BY NBC TO DO A TV {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“THEY WANTED SOMETHG NTROVERSIAL, EMMY LIBER,” SLAK SAYS. “THIS IS WHAT MA FIRST THK OF TV. [THE MEDIUM] HAS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS. CABLE WORKS ARE STEPPG UP, TAKG ON MORE FEATURE FILM-LIKE PROPERTI. TALENT, A-LIST ACTORS AND DIRECTORS ARE RPONDG.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE NBC AL DIDN’T WORK OUT, AND SARANDON MOVED ON, BUT SLAK AND TAAFFE KEPT PCHG THE PROJECT. IN 2000, THEY MANAGED TO SELL TO LIFETIME WH SELA WARD ATTACHED TO PLAY MARY GRIFFH. BUT THAT AL DIDN’T PAN OUT {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}A FEW YEARS LATER, THEY SOLD YET AGA, TO SHOWTIME, AS A VEHICLE FOR CHRISTE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}INCREDIBLY, THAT AL ALSO FELL THROUGH, AND AT THE END OF 2007, SLAK HAD ALMOST GIVEN UP ON TV FOR GOOD. HE AND TAAFFE WERE ALL SET TO FALLY PRODUCE AS THE FEATURE FILM THEY HAD ORIGALLY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}JT BEFORE THEY WERE ABOUT TO START PRODUCTN, LIFETIME EXPRSED TERT AGA, THIS TIME WH SIGOURNEY WEAVER THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“I THOUGHT HOW WONRFUL WE ULD PUT THIS [CLASSIC BOOK] ANOTHER FORM, FOR FAI TO EXPERIENCE,” WEAVER SAYS. “IT WAS DRIVEN BY A MMENT TO BOBBY. HOPEFULLY ’LL START A DIALOGUE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO THK THIS ISSUE [OF HOMOSEXUALY] IS BLACK AND WHE.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}WEAVER AND SAN RUTTAN (RIGHT) FILMG A SCENE OM PRAYERS FOR {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SOON THE PRODUCERS HAD ASSEMBLED THE RT OF AN IMPRSIVE ST THAT CLUS LA LAW’S SAN RUTTAN AND FRASIER’S DAN BUTLER, WHO IS OPENLY GAY AND WHO PLAYS A MISTER THAT MARY REACHED OUT TO AT THE METROPOLAN COMMUNY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}STT BAILEY, THE STAR OF THE MTV SERI SATS AND SNERS, PLAYS BOBBY’S BOYIEND, DAVID. AND THE FILM IS DIRECTED BY RSELL MULHY, WHO HAS DIRECTED EVERYTHG OM HIGHLANR TO THE MIC VIOS OF DURAN DURAN, ELTON JOHN, AND GEE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“I WAS REALLY QUE THRILLED,” MARY GRIFFH SAID WHEN SHE LEARNED THAT HER STORY WOULD FALLY BE TOLD ON SCREEN. “HOW ULD I OBJECT TO THIS TERRIFIC ACTRS AND ALL THE PEOPLE?”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}ONE GREAT IRONY IS THAT MANY MORE PEOPLE WILL PROBABLY SEE PRAYERS FOR BOBBY AS A HEAVILY-PROMOTED LIFETIME TV MOVIE THAN MIGHT HAVE SEEN AS A SMALLER FEATURE. AND YET, THE FILMMAKERS CLAIM THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO MAKE MAJOR PROMIS ON EHER THEIR VISN OR THEIR {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“PREDOMANTLY, ’S THE ORIGAL SCRIPT, THE ORIGAL VISN AND ORIGAL WORK WE STARTED WH BY [WRER] KATIE FORD, WHO HAS BEEN WH OM DAY ONE,” SLAK SAYS. “THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY WHO WANTED TO CHANGE , TEMPER , ADD MELODRAMA. BUT THE THREE OF , [FORD, TAAFFE, AND MYSELF], WE STUCK TO OUR GUNS.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}INED, THE STORY IS TOLD WH SUBTLETY AND SOPHISTITN, AND THE PERFORMANC — PECIALLY RYAN KELLEY AS BOBBY AND WEAVER, WHO WILL ALMOST CERTALY BE THE NNG FOR AN EMMY — ARE EXCELLENT. IT MAY BE THE BT TV MOVIE ON GAY ISSU EVER, PRECISELY BEE THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHG UT OR WATERED DOWN S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}RYAN KELLEY AND SIGOURNEY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}PHOTO CRED: ANGELA WEISS/GETTY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“THIS IS A FILM THAT IS ABOUT REALIZATN AND REACHG OUT AND MAKG AMENDS AND DOG EVERYTHG YOU N TO LOVE THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE,” WEAVER SAYS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SLAK MAK CLEAR THAT THIS PROJECT IS A LABOR OF LOVE FOR EVERYONE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT’S A TELEVISN FILM,” HE SAYS. “IT’S NOT THE SE THAT ANYONE’S GETTG RICH. BUT HOPEFULLY WE’LL LEAVE SOMETHG BEHD THAT WILL MAKE A {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}HOPEFULLY MIGHT SAVE SOME LIV.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}FOR MORE RMATN ON THE FILM, OR TO SEND FEEDBACK TO FILMMAKERS, VIS THE MOVIE’S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;CLEAR:BOTH;}THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;MARG:0 TO;WIDTH:90%;M-WIDTH:288PX;MAX-WIDTH:1440PX;M-HEIGHT:194PX;}LATT NEWS
PRAYERS FOR GAY PEOPLE

CAPOTE’S SWAN DIVE“LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” THE FIRST STALLMENT OF TMAN CAPOTE’S PLANNED ROMAN à CLEF, ANSWERED PRAYERS, DROPPED LIKE A BOMB ON NEW YORK SOCIETY WHEN APPEARED ESQUIRE’S NOVEMBER 1975 ISSUE. ICED OUT BY THE IENDS HE’D SKEWERED—SUCH OF HIS “SWANS” AS SLIM KEH, GLORIA VANRBILT, AND BABE PALEY—CAPOTE BEGAN HIS SLI TO AN EARLY GRAVE. SAM KASHNER PURSU THE SNDAL’S MYSTERI, CLUDG THE FATE OF THE UNFISHED MANCRIPT.BY SAM KASHNERNOVEMBER 15, 2012SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVE‘HAVE YOU SEEN ESQUIRE?! CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU’RE FISHED,” NEW YORK SOCIETY DOYENNE BABE PALEY ASKED HER IEND SLIM KEH OVER THE TELEPHONE WHEN THE NOVEMBER 1975 ISSUE H THE STANDS. KEH, THEN LIVG AT THE PIERRE HOTEL, SENT THE MAID DOWNSTAIRS FOR A PY. “I READ , AND I WAS ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED,” SHE LATER NFID TO THE WRER GEE PLIMPTON. “THE STORY ABOUT THE SHEETS, THE STORY ABOUT ANN WOODWARD . . . THERE WAS NO QUTN ANYBODY’S MD WHO WAS.”THE STORY THEY WERE READG ESQUIRE WAS “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” BUT WASN’T SO MUCH A STORY AS AN ATOMIC BOMB THAT TMAN CAPOTE BUILT ALL BY HIMSELF HIS U.N. PLAZA APARTMENT AND AT HIS BEACH HOE SAGAPONACK, LONG ISLAND. IT WAS THE FIRST STALLMENT OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, THE NOVEL THAT TMAN BELIEVED WOULD BE HIS MASTERPIECE.HE HAD BOASTED TO HIS IEND MARELLA AGNELLI, WIFE OF GIANNI AGNELLI, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AT FIAT, THAT ANSWERED PRAYERS WAS “GOG TO DO TO AMERI WHAT PROT DID TO FRANCE.” HE ULDN’T STOP TALKG ABOUT HIS PLANNED ROMAN à CLEF. HE TOLD PEOPLE MAGAZE THAT HE WAS NSTCTG HIS BOOK LIKE A GUN: “THERE’S THE HANDLE, THE TRIGGER, THE BARREL, AND, FALLY, THE BULLET. AND WHEN THAT BULLET IS FIRED OM THE GUN, ’S GOG TO E OUT WH A SPEED AND POWER LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN—WHAM!”BUT HE HAD UNWTGLY TURNED THE GUN ON HIMSELF: EXPOSG THE SECRETS OF MANHATTAN’S RICH AND POWERFUL WAS NOTHG SHORT OF SOCIAL SUICI.HE HAD BEEN A LERARY DARLG SCE THE AGE OF 23, WHEN HIS FIRST NOVEL, OTHER VOIC, OTHER ROOMS, WAS PUBLISHED. SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER, 1965, IN COLD BLOOD, HIS EXTRAORDARY “NONFICTN NOVEL” ABOUT THE BTAL MURR OF THE CLUTTERS, A KANSAS FARM FAY, BROUGHT HIM TERNATNAL FAME, SUDN WEALTH, AND LERARY ACLAS BEYOND ANYTHG HE’D EXPERIENCED BEFORE.BUT TRYG TO WRE ANSWERED PRAYERS, AND S EVENTUAL FALLOUT, STROYED HIM. BY 1984, AFTER SEVERAL UNSUCCSFUL STAYS AT DRY-OUT CENTERS SUCH AS HAZELN AND SMHERS, CAPOTE SEEMED TO HAVE GIVEN UP NOT ONLY ON THE BOOK BUT ON LIFE. ABANDONED BY MOST OF HIS SOCIETY IENDS, LOCKED A BTAL, SELF-STCTIVE RELATNSHIP WH A MIDDLE-AGED, MARRIED, FORMER BANK MANAGER OM LONG ISLAND, TMAN WAS WORN OUT. OR HEARTBROKEN.AFTER “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” ONLY TWO MORE OF S CHAPTERS WERE PUBLISHED, BOTH ESQUIRE: “UNSPOILED MONSTERS” (MAY 1976) AND “KATE MCCLOUD” (DECEMBER 1976). (“MOJAVE,” WHICH HAD APPEARED ESQUIRE JUNE 1975, WAS IALLY TEND TO BE PART OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, BUT TMAN CHANGED HIS MD ABOUT S CLN.)TMAN HAD RERD HIS JOURNALS THE OUTLE FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK, WHICH WOULD PRISE SEVEN CHAPTERS. THE REMAG FOUR WERE TLED “YACHTS AND THGS,” “AND AUDREY WILR SANG,” “A SEVERE INSULT TO THE BRA” (WHICH ACRDG TO URBAN LEGEND WAS THE E OF ATH ON DYLAN THOMAS’S ATH CERTIFITE), AND “FATHER FLANAGAN’S ALL-NIGHT NIGGER QUEEN KOSHER CAFé,” THE PROVOTIVE TLE FOR THE TEETH-RATTLG NCLUDG CHAPTER. TMAN CLAIMED HIS JOURNALS HE HAD ACTUALLY WRTEN FIRST.BUT WAS THE NOVEL EVER PLETED? A NUMBER OF TMAN’S IENDS, CLUDG JOANNE CARSON (THE SEND WIFE OF TELEVISN HOST JOHNNY CARSON), SAY THAT HE HAD READ VAR UNPUBLISHED CHAPTERS TO THEM. “I SAW THEM,” JOANNE RELLS. “HE HAD A WRG ROOM MY HOE—HE SPENT A LOT OF TIME HERE BEE WAS A SAFE PLACE AND NOBODY ULD GET TO HIM—AND HE HAD MANY, MANY PAG OF MANCRIPT, AND HE STARTED TO READ THEM. THEY WERE VERY, VERY GOOD. HE READ ONE CHAPTER, BUT THEN SOMEONE LLED, AND WHEN I WENT BACK HE JT PUT THEM ASI AND SAID, ‘I’LL READ THEM AFTER DNER.’ BUT HE NEVER DID—YOU KNOW HOW THAT HAPPENS.”AFTER CAPOTE’S ATH, ON AUGT 25, 1984, JT A MONTH SHY OF HIS 60TH BIRTHDAY, ALAN SCHWARTZ (HIS LAWYER AND LERARY EXECUTOR), GERALD CLARKE (HIS IEND AND BGRAPHER), AND JOE FOX (HIS RANDOM HOE EDOR) SEARCHED FOR THE MANCRIPT OF THE UNFISHED NOVEL. RANDOM HOE WANTED TO REUP SOMETHG OF THE ADVANC HAD PAID TMAN—EVEN IF THAT VOLVED PUBLISHG AN PLETE MANCRIPT. (IN 1966, TMAN AND RANDOM HOE HAD SIGNED A NTRACT FOR ANSWERED PRAYERS FOR AN ADVANCE OF $25,000, WH A LIVERY DATE OF JANUARY 1, 1968. THREE YEARS LATER, THEY RENEGOTIATED TO A THREE-BOOK NTRACT FOR AN ADVANCE OF $750,000, WH LIVERY BY SEPTEMBER 1973. THE NTRACT WAS AMEND THREE MORE TIM, WH A FAL AGREEMENT OF $1 LN FOR LIVERY BY MARCH 1, 1981. THAT ADLE PASSED LIKE ALL THE OTHERS WH NO MANCRIPT BEG LIVERED.)FOLLOWG CAPOTE’S ATH, SCHWARTZ, CLARKE, AND FOX SEARCHED TMAN’S APARTMENT, ON THE 22ND FLOOR OF THE U.N. PLAZA, WH S PANORAMIC VIEW OF MANHATTAN AND THE UNED NATNS. IT HAD BEEN BOUGHT BY TMAN 1965 FOR $62,000 WH HIS ROYALTI OM IN COLD BLOOD. (A IEND, THE SET SIGNER OLIVER SMH, NOTED THAT THE U.N. PLAZA BUILDG WAS “GLAMORO, THE PLACE TO LIVE MANHATTAN” THE 1960S.) THE THREE MEN LOOKED AMONG THE STACKS OF ART AND FASHN BOOKS CAPOTE’S CLUTTERED VICTORIAN STG ROOM AND PORED OVER HIS BOOKSHELF, WHICH NTAED VAR TRANSLATNS AND EDNS OF HIS WORKS. THEY POKED AMONG THE TIFFANY LAMPS, HIS LLECTN OF PAPERWEIGHTS (CLUDG THE WHE ROSE PAPERWEIGHT GIVEN TO HIM BY COLETTE 1948), AND THE DYG GERANIUMS THAT LED ONE WDOW (“BACHELOR’S PLANTS,” AS WRER EDMUND WHE SCRIBED THEM). THEY LOOKED THROUGH DRAWERS AND CLOSETS AND SKS, AVOIDG THE THREE TAXIRMIC SNAK TMAN KEPT THE APARTMENT, ONE OF THEM, A BRA, REARG TO STRIKE.THE MEN SURED THE GUT BEDROOM, AT THE END OF THE HALLWAY—A TY, PEACH-LORED ROOM WH A DAYBED, A SK, A PHONE, AND LAVENR TAFFETA CURTAS. THEN THEY SCEND 15 FLOORS TO THE FORMER MAID’S STUD, WHERE TMAN HAD OFTEN WRTEN BY HAND ON YELLOW LEGAL PADS.“WE FOUND NOTHG,” SCHWARTZ TOLD VANY FAIR. JOANNE CARSON CLAIMS THAT TMAN HAD NFID TO HER THAT THE MANCRIPT WAS TUCKED AWAY A SAFE-POS BOX A BANK CALIFORNIA—MAYBE WELLS FARGO—AND THAT HE HAD HAND HER A KEY TO THE MORNG BEFORE HIS ATH. BUT HE CLED TO TELL HER WHICH BANK HELD THE BOX. “THE NOVEL WILL BE FOUND WHEN WANTS TO BE FOUND,” HE TOLD HER CRYPTILLY.THE THREE MEN THEN TRAVELED TO TMAN’S STIC BEACH HOE, TUCKED AWAY BEHD SCB PE, PRIVET HEDG, AND HYDRANGEA, ON SIX ACR, SAGAPONACK. THEY ENLISTED THE HELP OF TWO OF TMAN’S CLOST IENDS LATER YEARS, JOE PETROCIK AND MYRON CLEMENT, WHO RAN A SMALL P.R. FIRM AND HAD A HOE NEARBY SAG HARBOR.“HE WAS JT A WONRFUL PERSON TO , A GREAT IEND,” CLEMENT RELLS. “TMAN WOULD TALK TO ABOUT ALL THE THGS THAT WERE GOG TO ANSWERED PRAYERS,” SAYS PETROCIK. “I REMEMBER I WAS AT THE OTHER END OF HIS UCH, AND HE’S READG ALL THIS OM A MANCRIPT. THEN HE’D TAKE A BREAK, GET UP, AND POUR HIMSELF A STOLI. BUT THE THG IS, AT THAT TIME, I NEVER SAW THE ACTUAL MANCRIPT. AND THEN OCCURRED TO ME, LATER, JT BEFORE I NODD OFF TO SLEEP, MAYBE HE HAD MA THE WHOLE THG UP. HE WAS SUCH A WONRFUL, WONRFUL ACTOR.”LATER ON, THOUGH, PETROCIK REMEMBERS, HE WAS TRAVELG WH TMAN OM MANHATTAN TO LONG ISLAND WHEN “TMAN HAND ME THE MANCRIPT TO READ ON THE WAY. I ACTUALLY HAD MY HANDS.”BUT AFTER A THOROUGH SEARCH OF THE BEACH HOE, NO MANCRIPT WAS FOUND. NOW, NEARLY 30 YEARS LATER, THE QUTNS REMA: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RT OF ANSWERED PRAYERS? HAD TMAN STROYED , SIMPLY LOST , OR HIDN , OR HAD HE NEVER WRTEN AT ALL? AND WHY ON EARTH DID HE PUBLISH “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965” SO EARLY, NSIRG THE EVABLE BACKLASH?GERALD CLARKE, THOR OF THE MASTERFUL CAPOTE: THE BGRAPHY, RELLS TMAN TELLG HIM, 1972, “I ALWAYS PLANNED THIS BOOK AS BEG MY PRCIPAL WORK. . . . I’M GOG TO LL A NOVEL, BUT ACTUAL FACT ’S A ROMAN à CLEF. ALMOST EVERYTHG IS TE, AND HAS . . . EVERY SORT OF PERSON I’VE EVER HAD ANY ALGS WH. I HAVE A ST OF THOANDS.”MOST POPULARTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALBY SAN CASEYMEGHAN MARKLE S IN HIGHLY RELATABLE LUNCH SELFIE BY KASE WICKMANMELANIA’S TAKE ON DONALD TMP’S FOURTH INDICTMENT IS BASILLY “SUCKS TO BE YOU, PAL”: REPORTBY BS LEVHE HAD BEGUN THKG ABOUT AS EARLY AS 1958 AND WROTE A PLETE OUTLE, AND EVEN AN ENDG. HE ALSO WROTE PART OF A SCREENPLAY THAT YEAR WH THE TLE ANSWERED PRAYERS, ABOUT A MANIPULATIVE SOUTHERN GIGOLO AND HIS UNHAPPY PARAMOUR. THOUGH THE SCREENPLAY WAS APPARENTLY ABANDONED, THE IA TOOK SHAPE AS A LENGTHY, PROTIAN NOVEL. THE TLE IS TAKEN OM ST. TERA OF AVILA, THE 16TH-CENTURY CARMELE NUN, WHO FAMOLY SAID, “MORE TEARS ARE SHED OVER ANSWERED PRAYERS THAN UNANSWERED ON.”IN A LETTER TO RANDOM HOE PUBLISHER AND -FOUNR BENT CERF, WRTEN OM PáROS, GREECE, THE SUMMER OF 1958, TMAN PROMISED THAT HE WAS FACT WORKG ON “A LARGE NOVEL, MY MAGNUM OP, A BOOK ABOUT WHICH I MT BE VERY SILENT. . . . THE NOVEL IS LLED, ‘ANSWERED PRAYERS’; AND, IF ALL GO WELL, I THK WILL ANSWER ME.” BUT BEFORE HE ULD WRE , ANOTHER WORK TOOK OVER TMAN’S LIFE: IN COLD BLOOD. BEGUN 1959, WOULD NSUME SIX YEARS OF HIS LIFE—MOST OF SPENT LIVG KANSAS, A WORLD AWAY OM THE NEW YORK SOCIETY HE LOVED AND OM THE CY WHERE HE FELT HE BELONGED.IN COLD INKIN “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” CAPOTE TURNED HIS DIAMOND-BRILLIANT, DIAMOND-HARD ARTISTRY ON THE HT MON OF NEW YORK SOCIETY FIXTUR: GLORIA VANRBILT, BABE PALEY, SLIM KEH, LEE RADZIWILL, MONA WILLIAMS—ELEGANT, BETIFUL WOMEN HE LLED HIS “SWANS.” THEY WERE VERY SOIGNéE AND VERY RICH AND ALSO HIS BT IENDS. IN THE STORY CAPOTE REVEALED THEIR GOSSIP, THE SECRETS, THE BETRAYALS—EVEN A MURR. “ALL LERATURE IS GOSSIP,” TMAN TOLD PLAYBOY MAGAZE AFTER THE NTROVERSY EPTED. “WHAT GOD’S GREEN EARTH IS ANNA KARENA OR WAR AND PEACE OR MADAME BOVARY, IF NOT GOSSIP?”THE STORY WAS TEND TO BE THE FIFTH CHAPTER OF THE BOOK, S TLE REFERRG TO HENRI SOULé’S CELEBRATED RTRANT, ON EAST 55TH STREET, ACROSS OM THE ST. REGIS HOTEL. IT WAS WHERE THE SWANS GATHERED TO LUNCH AND TO SEE AND BE SEEN. IN THE STORY A LERARY HTLER AND BISEXUAL PROSTUTE NAMED P. B. JON—“JONY”—NS TO “LADY INA COOLBIRTH” ON THE STREET. A MUCH-MARRIED-AND-DIVORCED SOCIETY MATRON, SHE HAS BEEN STOOD UP BY THE DUCHS OF WDSOR, SO SHE V JONY TO JO HER FOR LUNCH AT ONE OF THE VETED TABL AT THE ONT OF THE RTRANT. LADY COOLBIRTH, TMAN’S WORDS, IS “A BIG BREEZY PEPPY BROAD” OM THE AMERIN WT, NOW MARRIED TO AN ENGLISH ARISTOCRAT. IF SHE HAD LOOKED THE MIRROR, SHE WOULD HAVE SEEN SLIM KEH, WHO HAD BEEN WELL AND OFTEN MARRIED, TO FILM DIRECTOR HOWARD HAWKS AND FILM AND THEATRIL PRODUCER LELAND HAYWARD BEFORE WEDDG THE ENGLISH BANKER SIR KENH KEH.THE STORY UNFOLDS AS A LONG, GOSSIPY NVERSATN—A MONOLOGUE, REALLY—LIVERED BY LADY COOLBIRTH OVER UNTLS FLUT OF ROERER CRISTAL CHAMPAGNE. SHE OBSERV THE OTHER LADI WHO LUNCH—BABE PALEY AND HER SISTER BETSEY WHNEY; LEE RADZIWILL AND HER SISTER, JACQUELE KENNEDY; AND GLORIA VANRBILT AND HER IEND CAROL MATTH. OR, AS CAPOTE WROTE, “GLORIA VANRBILT CIC STOKOWSKI LUMET COOPER AND HER CHILDHOOD CHUM, CAROL MARC SAROYAN SAROYAN (SHE MARRIED HIM TWICE) MATTH: WOMEN THEIR LATE THIRTI, BUT LOOKG NOT MUCH REMOVED OM THOSE B DAYS WHEN THEY WERE GRABBG LUCKY BALLOONS AT THE STORK CLUB.” OTHER BOLDFACED NAM WHO APPEAR UNDISGUISED CLU COLE PORTER G ON TO A HANDSOME ITALIAN WAER; PRCS MARGARET, WHO MAK SNI MENTS ABOUT “POUFS”; AND JOE KENNEDY, JUMPG TO BED WH ONE OF HIS DGHTER’S 18-YEAR-OLD SCHOOL CHUMS.LADY COOLBIRTH GRO ABOUT HAVG GOT STUCK AT A DNER NEXT TO PRCS MARGARET, WHO BORED HER TO SEMI-UNNSCNS. AS FOR GLORIA VANRBILT, CAPOTE PRENTS HER AS EMPTY-HEAD AND VA, PECIALLY WHEN SHE FAILS TO REGNIZE HER FIRST HBAND, WHO STOPS BY HER TABLE TO SAY HELLO. (“ ‘OH, DARLG. LET’S NOT BROOD,’ SAYS CAROL NSOLGLY. ‘AFTER ALL, YOU HAVEN’T SEEN HIM OVER TWENTY YEARS.’ ”) WHEN VANRBILT READ THE STORY, SHE SUPPOSEDLY SAID, “THE NEXT TIME I SEE TMAN CAPOTE, I’M GOG TO SP HIS FACE.”“I THK TMAN REALLY HURT MY MOTHER,” THE CNN JOURNALIST AND NEWSSTER ANRSON COOPER SAYS TODAY.BUT THE TALE THAT SPREAD LIKE A PRAIRIE FIRE UP PARK AVENUE WAS A THLY DISGUISED ACUNT OF A HUIATG ONE-NIGHT STAND ENDURED BY “SIDNEY DILLON,” A STAND- FOR WILLIAM “BILL” PALEY, THE HEAD OF THE CBS TELEVISN-AND-RAD WORK AND ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN NEW YORK AT THAT TIME. BILL AND TMAN WERE IENDS, BUT TMAN WORSHIPPED HIS WIFE, BARBARA “BABE” PALEY—THE TALL, SLIM, ELEGANT SOCIETY DOYENNE WILY NSIRED TO HAVE BEEN THE MOST BETIFUL AND CHIC WOMAN NEW YORK. OF TMAN’S HT MON SWANS, BABE PALEY WAS THE MOST GLAMORO. TMAN ONCE NOTED HIS JOURNALS, “MRS. P HAD ONLY ONE FLT: SHE WAS PERFECT; OTHERWISE, SHE WAS PERFECT.” THE PALEYS PRACTILLY ADOPTED TMAN; PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE THREE OF THEM AT THE PALEYS’ HOE JAMAI SHOW THE TALL, HANDSOME UPLE WH TY TMAN STANDG BI THEM, WEARG SWIMMG TNKS AND A T-THAT-ATE-THE-NARY SE, AS IF HE WERE THEIR PAMPERED SON.THE ONE-NIGHT STAND THE STORY OCCURS BETWEEN DILLON AND THE DOWDY WIFE OF A NEW YORK ERNOR, POSSIBLY BASED ON NELSON ROCKEFELLER’S SEND WIFE, MARY, KNOWN BY HER NICKNAME “HAPPY.” SHE WAS “A CRETO PROTTANT SIZE FORTY WHO WEARS LOW-HEELED SHO AND LAVENR WATER,” TMAN TTILY WROTE, WHO “LOOKED AS IF SHE WORE TWEED BRASSIER AND PLAYED A LOT OF GOLF.” THOUGH MARRIED TO “THE MOST BETIFUL CREATURE ALIVE,” DILLON SIR THE ERNOR’S WIFE BEE SHE REPRENTS THE ONLY THG THAT LI OUTSI OF DILLON’S GRASP—ACCEPTANCE BY OLD-MONEY WASP SOCIETY, A PLUM NIED DILLON BEE HE IS JEWISH. DILLON SS NEXT TO THE ERNOR’S WIFE AT A DNER PARTY, FLIRTS WH HER, AND V HER UP TO HIS NEW YORK PIED-à-TERRE, AT THE PIERRE, SAYG HE “WANTED HER OPN OF HIS NEW BONNARD.” AFTER THEY HAVE SEX, HE DISVERS THAT HER MENSTAL BLOOD HAS LEFT A STA “THE SIZE OF BRAZIL” ON HIS BEDSHEET. WORRIED THAT HIS WIFE WILL ARRIVE AT ANY MOMENT, DILLON SCBS THE SHEET THE BATHTUB, ON HIS HANDS AND KNE, AND THEN ATTEMPTS TO DRY BY BAKG THE OVEN BEFORE REPLACG ON THE BED.WH HOURS OF THE STORY’S PUBLITN ESQUIRE, ANTIC PHONE LLS WERE MA ALL OVER THE UPPER EAST SI. SLIM LLED BACK BABE, WHO ASKED OF THE SIDNEY DILLON CHARACTER, “YOU DON’T THK THAT ’S BILL, DO YOU?”“OF URSE NOT,” SLIM LIED, BUT SHE HAD HEARD OM TMAN MONTHS EARLIER THAT ED WAS BILL PALEY.BABE WAS HORRIFIED AND HEARTBROKEN. SHE WAS SERLY ILL AT THE TIME WH TERMAL LUNG NCER, AND, STEAD OF BLAMG HER HBAND FOR THE FILY, SHE BLAMED TMAN FOR PUTTG TO PRT. SIR JOHN RICHARDSON, THE ACCLAIMED PISSO BGRAPHER AND VANY FAIR NTRIBUTG EDOR, SAW HER OFTEN DURG THE LAST MONTHS OF HER LIFE. “BABE WAS APPALLED BY ‘LA CôTE BASQUE,’ ” HE RELLS. “PEOPLE ED TO TALK ABOUT BILL AS A PHILANRER, BUT HIS AFFAIRS WEREN’T THE TALK OF THE TOWN UNTIL TMAN’S STORY ME OUT.”BABE WOULD NEVER SPEAK TO TMAN AGA.BUT HER RPONSE PALED PARED WH THE REACTN OF ANOTHER ONE OF TMAN’S SUBJECTS: ANN WOODWARD. SHE HAD ACHIEVED NOTORIETY FOR HAVG SHOT AND KILLED HER HBAND 20 YEARS EARLIER, BUT THE STORY HAD BEEN LARGELY FOTTEN BEFORE “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965” WAS PUBLISHED. WOODWARD—ANN HOPKS TMAN’S STORY—ENTERS THE RTRANT, CREATG AN IMMEDIATE STIR; EVEN THE BOUVIER SISTERS, JACQUELE AND LEE, TAKE NOTE. IN TMAN’S RETELLG OF THE SAGA, ANN IS A BETIFUL REDHEAD OM THE WT VIRGIA HILLS WHOSE MANHATTAN ODYSSEY HAD TAKEN HER OM LL GIRL TO “THE FAVORE LAY OF ONE OF [GANGSTER] FRANKIE COSTELLO’S SHYSTERS,” TO—ULTIMATELY—THE WIFE OF DAVID HOPKS (WILLIAM WOODWARD JR.), A HANDSOME YOUNG SCN OF WEALTH AND “ONE OF THE BLUT OF NEW YORK’S BLUE BLOODS.” ANN IS ANOTHER OF THE MANY HOLLY GOLIGHTLY FIGUR WHO MAKE THEIR APPEARANC THROUGHOUT TMAN’S OVRE—BETIFUL, SOCIAL-CLIMBG WAIFS OM THE RAL SOUTH WHO MOVE TO NEW YORK AND RE-VENT THEMSELV, NOT UNLIKE TMAN’S OWN PERSONAL JOURNEY. BUT ANN NTUED TO PHILANR, AND DAVID—EAGER TO DIVORCE HER—DISVERED THAT SHE HAD FAILED TO DISSOLVE A TEENAGE MARRIAGE UNRTAKEN BACK WT VIRGIA, AND TH THEY WEREN’T LEGALLY MARRIED AFTER ALL. TERRIFIED THAT HE WILL KICK HER OUT, ANN TAK ADVANTAGE OF A RASH OF BREAK-S THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND LOADS A SHOTGUN, WHICH SHE KEEPS BI HER BED. SHE FATALLY SHOOTS DAVID, CLAIMG THAT SHE MISTOOK HIM FOR AN TR. HER MOTHER--LAW, HILDA HOPKS (ELSIE WOODWARD), SPERATE TO AVOID A SNDAL, PAYS OFF THE POLICE, AND AN QUT NEVER BRGS CHARG AGAST ANN FOR MURR.MOST POPULARTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALBY SAN CASEYMEGHAN MARKLE S IN HIGHLY RELATABLE LUNCH SELFIE BY KASE WICKMANMELANIA’S TAKE ON DONALD TMP’S FOURTH INDICTMENT IS BASILLY “SUCKS TO BE YOU, PAL”: REPORTBY BS LEVON OCTOBER 10, 1975, JT A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE NOVEMBER ESQUIRE APPEARED, ANN WOODWARD WAS FOUND AD. MANY BELIEVED THAT SOMEONE HAD SENT HER AN ADVANCE PY OF TMAN’S STORY AND SHE’D KILLED HERSELF, BY SWALLOWG CYANI. “WE’LL NEVER KNOW, BUT ’S POSSIBLE THAT TMAN’S STORY PHED HER OVER THE EDGE,” SAYS CLARKE. “HER TWO SONS LATER MTED SUICI AS WELL.” ANN’S MOTHER--LAW GRIMLY SAID, “WELL, THAT’S THAT. SHE SHOT MY SON, AND TMAN MURRED HER … ”LADI WHO PUNCHLUCKILY FOR TMAN HE WAS ABLE TO HIGHTAIL OUT OF TOWN WHEN “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965” WAS PUBLISHED, TO BEG REHEARSALS FOR HIS FIRST STARRG ROLE A FILM, COLUMBIA PICTUR’ 1976 EDY MURR BY DEATH, PRODUCED BY RAY STARK. ACPANIED BY JOHN O’SHEA, HIS MIDDLE-AGED BANK-MANAGER LOVER OM WANTAGH, LONG ISLAND, TMAN RENTED A HOE AT 9421 LLOYDCRT DRIVE, BEVERLY HILLS. THE MURR-MYSTERY SPOOF, WRTEN BY NEIL SIMON AND DIRECTED BY ROBERT MOORE, ST A NUMBER OF GREAT IC ACTORS ROL PARODYG FAMO TECTIV—PETER FALK AS SAM DIAMOND (SAM SPA), JAM CO AS MILO PERRIER (HERCULE POIROT), PETER SELLERS AS SIDNEY WANG (CHARLIE CHAN), ELSA LANCHTER AS MISS MARBL (MISS MARPLE), AND DAVID NIVEN AND MAGGIE SMH AS DICK AND DORA CHARLTON (NICK AND NORA CHARL). ALEC GUNS PLAYED A BLD BUTLER (AS “THE BUTLER DID ”), AND TMAN PLAYED MR. LNEL TWA, AN ECCENTRIC NNOISSR OF CRIME. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GREAT FUN, BUT TMAN FOUND WORKG ON MURR BY DEATH TO BE GELG. O’SHEA RELLED THAT “HE ED TO GET UP THE MORNG AS IF HE WERE GOG TO THE GALLOWS, STEAD OF THE STUD.”THOUGH HIS SCREEN TIME WAS QUE BRIEF, HE CROWED TO A VISG JOURNALIST ON THE SET OF MURR BY DEATH BURBANK, “WHAT BILLIE HOLIDAY IS TO JAZZ, WHAT MAE WT IS TO TS … WHAT SENAL IS TO SLEEPG PILLS, WHAT KG KONG IS TO PENIS, TMAN CAPOTE IS TO THE GREAT GOD THPIS!” IN REALY HE WAS NOT MUCH OF AN ACTOR, AND HE LOOKED BLOATED AND UNWELL ON-SCREEN. THE REVIEWS WERE NOT KD.WHILE LOS ANGEL, TMAN SPENT MUCH OF HIS TIME AT JOANNE CARSON’S MALIBU HOE. SHE STOOD BY HELPLSLY WHILE HE RATTLED AROUND, STILL STUNNED BY THE REACTN TO “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965.” HE PLAED TO JOANNE, “BUT THEY KNOW I’M A WRER. I DON’T UNRSTAND .”TO Fé SOCIETY, HIS PARTURE OM NEW YORK LOOKED LIKE PURE WARDICE. HE PHONED SLIM KEH, WHOM HE OFTEN LLED “BIG MAMA,” BUT SHE REFED TO TALK TO HIM. UNABLE TO ACCEPT SLIM’S REJECTN, HE BOLDLY SENT HER A BLE ATRALIA AT THE END OF THE YEAR, WHERE SHE WAS SPENDG THE HOLIDAYS: “MERRY CHRISTMAS, BIG MAMA. I’VE CID TO FIVE YOU. LOVE, TMAN.” FAR OM FIVG HIM, SLIM HAD NSULTED A LAWYER ABOUT SUG TMAN FOR LIBEL. BUT WHAT REALLY BROKE HIS HEART WAS THE REACTN OM THE PALEYS.SCREWG UP HIS URAGE, TMAN PHONED BILL PALEY, WHO TOOK THE LL. PALEY WAS CIVIL BUT DISTANT, AND TMAN HAD TO ASK IF HE’D READ THE ESQUIRE STORY. “I STARTED, TMAN,” HE SAID, “BUT I FELL ASLEEP. THEN A TERRIBLE THG HAPPENED: THE MAGAZE WAS THROWN AWAY.” TMAN OFFERED TO SEND HIM ANOTHER PY. “DON’T BOTHER, TMAN. I’M PREOCCUPIED RIGHT NOW. MY WIFE IS VERY ILL.” TMAN WAS VASTATED BY THOSE WORDS—“MY WIFE”—AS IF HIS WIFE WEREN’T BABE PALEY, A WOMAN WHOM TMAN IDOLIZED AND WHOSE IENDSHIP HE HAD LONG TREASURED. NOW SHE WAS MORTALLY ILL, AND HE WASN’T EVEN ALLOWED TO SPEAK TO HER.BABE DIED THE PALEYS’ FIFTH AVENUE APARTMENT ON JULY 6, 1978. TMAN WAS NOT VED TO THE FUNERAL. “THE TRAGEDY IS THAT WE NEVER MA UP BEFORE SHE DIED,” HE TOLD GERALD CLARKE YEARS AFTER HER ATH.‘TMAN’S ‘CôTE BASQUE’ WAS ALL ANYBODY WAS TALKG ABOUT,” LUMNIST LIZ SMH REMEMBERS. SHE WAS ASKED BY CLAY FELKER, THE EDOR OF NEW YORK MAGAZE, TO TERVIEW HIM. “TMAN WAS THRILLED THAT I WAS GOG TO DO . I WENT TO HOLLYWOOD TO TERVIEW HIM. I’LL NEVER FET HOW DISTRGHT HE WAS BEE THE PRSURE WAS BUILDG. IN THE PADRO BAR, THE BEVERLY WILSHIRE, HE SAID, ‘I’M GOG TO LL [FORMER VOGUE EDOR] MRS. VREELAND, AND YOU’LL SEE THAT SHE’S REALLY ON MY SI.’ SO HE ED A BIG CK AND THEY BROUGHT A PHONE [TO THE TABLE]. HE LLED HER. HE SAID, ‘I’M STG HERE WH LIZ SMH, AND SHE TELLS ME THAT EVERYONE IS AGAST ME, BUT I KNOW YOU’RE NOT.’ HE WENT ON AND ON, HOLDG THE PHONE OUT FOR ME TO HEAR.” VREELAND SPOUTED A SERI OF SCTABLE RPONS—“MEANG EVERYTHG AND NOTHG—BUT TMAN DIDN’T GET THE VOTE OF NFINCE HE WAS HOPG FOR.”SMH ME AWAY WORRIED ABOUT TMAN, “BEE SEEMED AS IF HE WAS GOG TO GO ALL TO PIEC. HE WAS THE MOST SURPRISED AND SHOCKED PERSON YOU N IMAGE, AND HE WOULD LL TO ASK ME—TORMENT ME—ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE NEW YORK HAD SAID ABOUT HIM. AFTER ‘LA CôTE BASQUE’ HE WAS NEVER HAPPY AGA.”SMH’S ENSUG ARTICLE, “TMAN CAPOTE HOT WATER,” RAN THE FEBARY 9, 1976, ISSUE OF NEW YORK. “SOCIETY’S SACRED MONSTERS AT THE TOP HAVE BEEN A STATE OF SHOCK,” SMH WROTE. “NEVER HAVE YOU HEARD SUCH GNASHG OF TEETH, SUCH CRI FOR REVENGE, SUCH SHOUTS OF BETRAYAL AND SCREAMS OF OUTRAGE.” IN HER ARTICLE SMH OUTED THOSE SWANS TMAN HAD BOTHERED TO THLY DISGUISE: LADY COOLBIRTH WAS SLIM KEH; ANN HOPKS WAS ANN WOODWARD; SIDNEY DILLON WAS BILL PALEY. “IT’S ONE THG TO TELL THE NASTIT STORY THE WORLD TO ALL YOUR FIFTY BT IENDS,” SMH WROTE. “IT’S ANOTHER TO SEE SET DOWN LD, CENTURY EXPAND TYPE.”AND NOT ONLY DID THE SWANS TURN AGAST HIM, THEIR HBANDS DID AS WELL, EVEN IF THEY WEREN’T MENTNED THE STORY. LOUISE GNWALD, WHO HAD WORKED AT VOGUE BEFORE SHE MARRIED HENRY GNWALD, THE EDOR CHIEF OF TIME INC. MAGAZ, NOTICED THAT TMAN’S IENDSHIPS WH WOMEN WOULD NOT HAVE FLOURISHED HAD HE NOT ALSO CHARMED THEIR HBANDS. “MOST MEN OF THAT ERA,” SHE RELLS, “WERE HOMOPHOBIC—VERY HOMOPHOBIC. BUT TMAN WAS THEIR EXCEPTN, BEE HE WAS SO AMG. NOBODY ME TO THEIR HO THAT THE HBANDS DIDN’T APPROVE OF. IN A WAY, TMAN ULD BE VERY SCTIVE, AND HE WAS A GOOD LISTENER. HE WAS SYMPATHETIC. HE SCED BOTH THE MEN AND THE WOMEN.”BUT AS THE SNDAL UNFOLD, “ARE YOU SEEG TMAN OR ARE YOU NOT?” WAS WHISPERED THROUGHOUT NEW YORK’S HIGH SOCIETY. SLIM KEH WOULD N TO HIM OCSNALLY AT THE RTRANT QUO VADIS, ON EAST 63RD STREET BETWEEN MADISON AND PARK AVENU, BUT SHE “NEVER LOOKED UP AT HIS FACE AGA,” KEH BRAGGED TO GEE PLIMPTON. OSTRACIZG TMAN BEME THE THG TO DO. “IN THE LONG N, THE RICH N TOGETHER, NO MATTER WHAT,” TMAN SAID A 1980 PLAYBOY-MAGAZE TERVIEW. “THEY WILL CLG, UNTIL THEY FEEL ’S SAFE TO BE DISLOYAL, THEN NO ONE N BE MORE SO.”AT LEAST LEE RADZIWILL AND CAROL MATTH, WHO DID NOT E OFF BADLY “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” STOOD UP FOR TMAN. RADZIWILL FELT THAT WAS TMAN WHO HAD BEEN “TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY A LOT OF PEOPLE HE THOUGHT WERE HIS IENDS. AFTER ALL, HE WAS FUN AND TERTG TO TALK TO, AND BRILLIANT. WHY WOULDN’T THEY WANT TO HAVE HIM AROUND? HE WAS ABSOLUTELY SHOCK” ABOUT Fé SOCIETY’S REACTN, SHE RELLS. “HE’D HEAR OF ANOTHER MONUMENT FALLG, AND HE’D SAY, ‘BUT I’M A JOURNALIST—EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT I’M A JOURNALIST!’ I JT DON’T THK HE REALIZED WHAT HE WAS DOG, BEE, GOD, DID HE PAY FOR . THAT’S WHAT PUT HIM BACK TO SER DRKG. AND THEN, OF URSE, THE TERRIBLE FEAR THAT HE ULD NEVER WRE ANOTHER WORD AGA. IT WAS ALL DOWNHILL OM THEN ON.”‘UNSPOILED MONSTERS” APPEARED NEXT. IT’S A MORDANTLY FUNNY, HAIR-RAISG, BUT EPLY CYNIL ACUNT OF A FICTNAL WRER NAMED P. B. JON (THE P.B. STANDG FOR PL BUNYAN, CAPOTE NOTED HIS JOURNALS), WHO IS THE JONY “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965.” IT’S A FAR CRY OM THE HONEYSUCKLE LYRICISM OF CAPOTE’S EARLIER WORK, OR THE STARK REPORTAGE OF IN COLD BLOOD; TELLS THE PIRQUE TALE OF YOUNG JON, THE GAY HTLER WHO BEDS MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE IF THEY N FURTHER HIS LERARY REER. KATHERE ANNE PORTER MAK A DISGUISED APPEARANCE, AS DO TENNSEE WILLIAMS, BOTH CEL RITUR. LIKE TMAN, JON IS WRG A NOVEL LLED ANSWERED PRAYERS, EVEN G THE SAME BLACKWG PENCILS TMAN FAVORED. HE’S A CHARMG BUT HARD-BTEN, MALE VERSN OF HOLLY GOLIGHTLY, HAVG PED A CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE TO FLOURISH NEW YORK. HIS IMPOVERISHED PAST, TMAN LATER NFID, WAS BORROWED OM THE LIFE STORY OF PERRY SMH, THE DARK-HAIRED, DARK-EYED MURRER TMAN ME TO KNOW TIMATELY WHILE WRG IN COLD BLOOD. IN A SENSE, P. B. JON IS BOTH TMAN AND PERRY, A FIGURE WHO HNTED TMAN’S LAST AND WHOSE EXECUTN BY HANGG—WHICH TMAN WNSED—WOULD VASTATE HIM EMOTNALLY.THE TLE CHARACTER OF “KATE MCCLOUD,” WHICH FOLLOWED ESQUIRE, WAS MOLED ON MONA WILLIAMS, LATER MONA VON BISMARCK, ANOTHER OFT MARRIED SOCIALE IEND OF TMAN’S WHOSE CLIFF-TOP VILLA ON CAPRI HE’D VISED. OF MONA’S FIVE HBANDS, ONE, JAM IRVG BH, WAS SCRIBED AS “THE HANDSOMT MAN AMERI” AND ANOTHER, HARRISON WILLIAMS, AS “THE RICHT MAN AMERI.” ALSO, LIKE HOLLY GOLIGHTLY, THE RED-HAIRED, GREEN-EYED BETY HAD BEGUN LIFE MORE MOSTLY, THE DGHTER OF A GROOM ON THE KENTUCKY TATE OF HENRY J. SCHLGER, WHO BEME HER FIRST HBAND. A GENERATN OLR THAN TMAN’S OTHER SWANS, SHE WAS NOT GENERALLY REGNIZED AS A MOL FOR KATE MCCLOUD, EXCEPT BY JOHN RICHARDSON, WHO RELLS, “I WAS NVCED WAS MONA— WAS SO OBV.”WHY WAS TMAN SO SURPRISED BY THE REACTN OF HIS SWANS? “I’D NEVER SEEN ANYTHG LIKE ,” CLARKE RELLS. “I READ ‘LA CôTE BASQUE’ ONE SUMMER DAY GLORIA VANRBILT’S SWIMMG POOL THE HAMPTONS WHEN GLORIA AND HER HBAND, WYATT COOPER, WERE AWAY. I WAS READG WHILE TMAN WAS FLOATG THE POOL ON A RAFT. I SAID, ‘PEOPLE AREN’T GOG TO BE HAPPY WH THIS, TMAN.’ HE SAID, ‘NAH, THEY’RE TOO DUMB. THEY WON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE.’ HE ULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG.”SO, WHY DID HE DO ?“I WONR WHETHER HE WASN’T TTG THE LOVE OF HIS IENDS, TO SEE WHAT HE ULD GET AWAY WH. WE HAD TMAN AROUND BEE HE PAID FOR HIS SUPPER,” RICHARDSON SAYS, “BY BEG THE GREAT STORYTELLER THE MARKETPLACE OF MARRAKECH. TMAN WAS A BRILLIANT RANTR. WE’D SAY, ‘OH, DO TELL WHAT MAE WT WAS REALLY LIKE,’ OR WHAT DID HE KNOW ABOUT DORIS DE? AND HE’D GO ON THAT IMABLE VOICE FOR 20 MUT, AND WAS ABSOLUTELY MARVELO, ONE STORY AFTER ANOTHER. AND HE LOVED DOG —HE WAS A SHOW-OFF.”TMAN BRISTLED AT THE IA THAT HE WAS SOME SORT OF MAST OR LAPDOG. “I WAS NEVER THAT,” HE SISTED. “I HAD A LOT OF RICH IENDS. I DON’T PARTICULARLY LIKE RICH PEOPLE. IN FACT, I HAVE A KD OF NTEMPT FOR MOST OF THEM. . . . RICH PEOPLE I KNOW WOULD BE TOTALLY LOST … IF THEY DIDN’T HAVE THEIR MONEY. THAT’S WHY … THEY HANG TOGETHER SO CLOSELY LIKE A BUNCH OF BE A BEEHIVE, BEE ALL THEY REALLY HAVE IS THEIR MONEY.” IN WHAT WOULD BEE A MANTRA OF TMAN’S, HE OFTEN ASKED, “WHAT DID THEY EXPECT? I’M A WRER, AND I E EVERYTHG. DID ALL THOSE PEOPLE THK I WAS THERE JT TO ENTERTA THEM?”BREAKFAST AT STUD 54TMAN’S CLE WAS UNSTOPPABLE. IN ADDN TO HIS ALHOL ABE, HE WAS PARTAKG HEAVILY OF E. HE FELL LOVE WH STUD 54, THE QUTSENTIAL 70S DIS, WHICH OPENED APRIL OF 1977. TMAN SCRIBED AS “THE NIGHTCLUB OF THE FUTURE. IT’S VERY MOCRATIC. BOYS WH BOYS, GIRLS WH GIRLS, GIRLS WH BOYS, BLACKS AND WH, PALISTS AND MARXISTS, CHE AND EVERYTHG ELSE—ALL ONE BIG MIX.” HE SPENT MANY NIGHTS WATCHG OM THE D.J.’S CROW’S NT OVERLOOKG THE DANCE FLOOR—“THE MEN NNG AROUND DIAPERS, CKTAIL WAERS SAT BASKETBALL SHORTS, OFTEN LURED AWAY BY THE CTOMERS”—OR DANCG MADLY BY HIMSELF, LGHG LIGHTEDLY EVERY TIME A GIANT MAN THE MOON SPEND OVER THE DANCE FLOOR BROUGHT A SPOONFUL OF WHE POWR TO S NOSE. BANISHED OM Fé SOCIETY, HE EMBRACED THIS LOUCHE, HEDONISTIC WORLD AND WAS TAKEN UP BY ANDY WARHOL AND THE FACTORY, WHERE DGS FLOWED AS EELY AS GOSSIP HAD AT LA CôTE BASQUE AND QUO VADIS. THE REVELERS AT STUD 54 DIDN’T RE THAT TMAN HAD SPILLED THE BEANS—THEY DIDN’T KNOW OR RE WHO BABE PALEY WAS.V.F. SPECIAL RRPONNT BOB COLACELLO, A FORMER EDOR OF ANDY WARHOL’S INTERVIEW MAGAZE, FOR WHICH TMAN WAS BY THIS TIME WRG A LUMN LLED “CONVERSATNS WH CAPOTE,” FELT THAT “TMAN ENJOYED ALL, BUT I THK THAT EP DOWN HE WISHED THAT HE ULD HAVE JT GONE TO LUNCH WH BABE PALEY.”THE EFFECT OF HIS NEW LIFTYLE WAS VASTATG. HIS WEIGHT BALLOONED, DROWNG HIS ONCE LITE FEATUR ALHOLIC BLOAT. “LONG BEFORE TMAN DIED,” JOHN RICHARDSON RELLS, “I SAW A SORT OF BAG LADY WH TWO ENORMO BAGS WANRG AROUND THE RNER OF LEXGTON AND 73RD, WHERE I LIVED THEN. AND SUDNLY, I REALIZED, CHRIST! IT’S TMAN! I SAID, ‘COME ON BY AND HAVE A CUP OF TEA.’ ” AT THE APARTMENT, RICHARDSON WENT TO THE KCHEN TO MAKE THE TEA, AND BY THE TIME HE GOT BACK, “HALF A BOTTLE OF VODKA—OR STCH OR WHATEVER WAS—WAS GONE. I HAD TO TAKE HIM OUTSI AND GENTLY PUT HIM TO A B.”LEE RADZIWILL RELLS SHE AND TMAN “DRIFTED APART BEE OF HIS DRKG. WE JT FOT ABOUT ONE ANOTHER. I MEAN, I NEVER FOT ABOUT HIM, BUT WE DIDN’T SEE EACH OTHER, BEE HE WASN’T MAKG ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER. IT WAS PIFUL. HEARTBREAKG, BEE THERE WAS NOTHG YOU ULD DO. HE REALLY WANTED TO KILL HIMSELF. IT WAS A SLOW AND PAFUL SUICI.”THE LAST STRAW WAS WHEN TMAN AND JOHN O’SHEA ME TO STAY WH LEE AT TURVILLE GRANGE, HER AND PRCE RADZIWILL’S UNTRY HOE ENGLAND. “THEY WERE NOT GETTG ALONG WELL, TO SAY THE LEAST. I DIDN’T WANT THEM TO E, BEE I KNEW, EVEN BEFORE HE ARRIVED, THAT TMAN WAS TERRIBLE SHAPE. STAS LEFT ME ALONE WH THEM. I SAID, ‘YOU N’T!’ THANK GOD WE HAD A GUTHOE THE URTYARD BEE THEY WERE FIGHTG THE ENTIRE TIME, AND THEY BROKE MOST OF THE FURNURE THE TTAGE. FALLY, THEY LEFT. THAT’S THE LAST TIME I REMEMBER SEEG TMAN.”BUT WHAT REALLY SHATTERED THEIR IENDSHIP WAS THE LAWSU FOR LIBEL BROUGHT AGAST TMAN BY GORE VIDAL. IN AN TERVIEW TMAN HAD GIVEN TO PLAYGIRL MAGAZE, HE RELATED A STORY ABOUT HOW VIDAL “GOT DNK [AND] SULTED JACKIE’S MOTHER” AT A WHE HOE DNER PARTY NOVEMBER 1961 AND WAS BODILY REMOVED OM THE WHE HOE BY BOBBY KENNEDY AND ARTHUR SCHLGER. THE REAL CINT WAS MORE BENIGN—GORE AND BOBBY KENNEDY HAD ED GOTTEN TO AN ARGUMENT, WHEN BOBBY SAW GORE’S HAND RTG ON JACKIE’S SHOULR (“FUCK YOU”S WERE ALLEGEDLY EXCHANGED), BUT THERE WAS NO PHYSIL HEAVE-HO OM THE WHE HOE. GORE WAS CENSED AT TMAN’S STORY, THE CULMATN OF A FD THAT HAD SMOLRED BETWEEN THE TWO MEN FOR S. VIDAL MAND AN APOLOGY AND $1 LN DAMAG.TMAN ENTREATED LIZ SMH TO PERSUA VIDAL TO DROP HIS LAWSU, WHICH HE REFED TO DO. HE THEN ASKED HER TO ASK LEE RADZIWILL TO GIVE A POSN HIS FAVOR, AS HE SAID HE HAD FIRST GOTTEN THE STORY OM LEE, BUT LEE WAS NO LONGER RETURNG TMAN’S LLS. SO THE LUMNIST LLED RADZIWILL AND ASKED HER TO SAY AT LEAST THAT THE CINT HAD FACT OCCURRED, “OTHERWISE, GORE IS GOG TO W THIS LAWSU, AND ’S JT GOG TO CSH TMAN.”RADZIWILL TOLD VANY FAIR, “I KNEW THAT TMAN LOATHED GORE. [VIDAL] WAS A VERY BRILLIANT BUT VERY MEAN MAN. . . . WHEN TMAN ASKED ME TO DO THE POSN FOR HIM, I NEVER KNEW ANYTHG ABOUT POSNS. I WAS VERY UPSET THAT HE LOST. I FELT WAS MY FLT.”THE LAWSU LGERED FOR SEVEN YEARS, UNTIL ALAN SCHWARTZ MA A DIRECT APPEAL TO VIDAL HIMSELF. “LOOK,” HE SAID. “TMAN IS TERRIBLE SHAPE BETWEEN THE DGS AND ALHOL, AND YOU MAY FEEL YOU’VE BEEN LIBELED, BUT I’M SURE YOU DON’T WANT TO BE PART OF A WRER OF TMAN’S GIFTS BEG STROYED.” GORE EVENTUALLY SETTLED FOR A WRTEN APOLOGY.IN JULY 1978, TMAN APPEARED AN EBRIATED STATE ON THE STANLEY SIEGEL SHOW, A LOL MORNG TALK SHOW NEW YORK. TAKG NOTE OF TMAN’S HERENCE DURG THE TERVIEW, SIEGEL, THE HOST, ASKED, “WHAT’S GOG TO HAPPEN UNLS YOU LICK THIS PROBLEM OF DGS AND ALHOL?” TMAN, THROUGH THE FOG OF HIS OWN MISERY, REPLIED, “THE OBV ANSWER IS THAT EVENTUALLY I’LL KILL MYSELF.” THE APPEARANCE WAS SUCH A DISASTER MA HEADL: DRUNK & DOPED, CAPOTE VISITS TV TALK SHOW, THE NEW YORK POST JEERED LATER THAT DAY.TMAN HAD NO RELLECTN OF WHAT HAD OCCURRED ON THE STANLEY SIEGEL SHOW, BUT WHEN HE READ THE PRS ACUNTS HE WAS HORRIFIED. HE NURSED HIS WOUNDS AT A GAY DIS SOHO THAT NIGHT, WH LIZA MNELLI AND STEVE RUBELL, -OWNER OF STUD 54. THE NEXT DAY, ONE OF HIS IENDS, ROBERT MACBRI, A YOUNG WRER TMAN HAD BEIEND A FEW YEARS EARLIER, REMOVED A GUN TMAN KEPT HIS APARTMENT AND LIVERED TO ALAN SCHWARTZ FOR SAFEKEEPG—A GUN THAT HAD BEEN GIVEN TO TMAN BY ALV “AL” DEWEY JR., THE TECTIVE WHO HAD BEEN CHARGE OF THE CLUTTER SE. TMAN WAS THEN BUNDLED UP AND TRANSPORTED TO HAZELN, THE DG-AND-ALHOL REHABILATN CENTER MNOTA, ACPANIED BY C. Z. AND WSTON GUT—THE RARE SOCIAL WHO HAD REMAED LOYAL. AAID HE WOULD BACK OUT, THEY FLEW WH HIM TO THE CLIC, WHERE HE SPENT THE NEXT MONTH. HE ACTUALLY ENJOYED HIS TIME THERE, BUT A FEW WEEKS AFTER BEG DISCHARGED, HE BEGAN DRKG HEAVILY AGA.EXHSTED AND UNWELL, TMAN FOOLISHLY AGREED TO A GELG, 30-LLEGE LECTURE TOUR THE FALL OF 1978. GERALD CLARKE THOUGHT HE HAD EMBARKED UPON SUCH AN ORAL BEE HE NEED TO KNOW THAT HE WAS “STILL LOVED AND ADMIRED,” BUT THE TOUR, TOO, WAS A DISASTER. HE BEME SO HERENT BOZEMAN, MONTANA, THAT HE HAD TO BE RTED OFFSTAGE. BACK ON LONG ISLAND, TMAN NTUED TO SLI. “I WATCH HIM WHEN HE’S SLEEPG,” OBSERVED JACK DUNPHY, TMAN’S FORMER PARTNER AND IEND OF MORE THAN 30 YEARS, “AND HE LOOKS TIRED, VERY, VERY TIRED. IT’S AS IF HE’S AT A LONG PARTY AND WANTS TO SAY GOOD-BYE—BUT HE N’T.”PUBLISH AND PERISH‘I DID STOP WORKG ON ANSWERED PRAYERS SEPTEMBER 1977,” TMAN WROTE THE PREFACE TO HIS 1980 STORY LLECTN, MIC FOR CHAMELEONS. “THE HALT HAPPENED BEE I WAS A HELLUVA LOT OF TROUBLE: I WAS SUFFERG A CREATIVE CRISIS AND A PERSONAL ONE AT THE SAME TIME.” THAT PERSONAL CRISIS WAS JOHN O’SHEA.O’SHEA SEEMED AN UNLIKELY PARTNER FOR TMAN—MARRIED FOR 20 YEARS, WH FOUR CHILDREN—BUT HE WAS “JT THE KD OF MAN TMAN LIKED,” SAID JOE PETROCIK, “A MARRIED, IRISH, CATHOLIC FAY MAN.” O’SHEA WAS AN ASPIRG WRER, AND HE LOVED THE LIFE TMAN TRODUCED HIM TO, AND THE POSSIBILY THAT HE, TOO, ULD HAVE A VIABLE WRG REER. BUT HE LACKED TMAN’S TALENT, CHARM, BRILLIANCE, AND DRIVE. “HE WAS SO ORDARY THAT WAS BREATHTAKG,” CAROL MATTH TOLD GEE PLIMPTON FOR HIS ORAL HISTORY OF CAPOTE, BUT SHE ALSO FELT THAT THE RELATNSHIP HAD “HASTENED TMAN’S ATH.” PERHAPS TMAN WAS TRYG TO PTURE HIS EARLY CHILDHOOD MEMORI OF HIS BLOGIL FATHER, ARCH PERSONS, A RASLLY, STOUT BSMAN AND SOMETHG OF A N MAN. CURLY, O’SHEA’S WIFE AND CHILDREN ADORED TMAN AND DIDN’T SEEM TO RENT THE ROLE HE PLAYED BREAKG UP THEIR FAY. SUCH WAS TMAN’S CHARM.BUT IF THE ARRANGEMENT SUED TMAN PSYCHOLOGILLY—AND SEXUALLY— HAD BEE DISASTRO, EVEN DANGERO. IN LATE 1976, TMAN WAS LOCKED A NASTY BATTLE WH O’SHEA, EXACERBATED WHEN O’SHEA BEME VOLVED WH A WOMAN. CLAIMG THAT O’SHEA HAD N OFF WH THE MANCRIPT OF THE “SEVERE INSULT TO THE BRA” CHAPTER OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, HE SUED HIS FORMER LOVER LOS ANGEL SUPERR COURT, EVENTUALLY DROPPG THE SU 1981. THE TWO MEN RENCILED, THEN BROKE UP, AGA AND AGA. IN AN ATTEMPT AT REVENGE, TMAN HIRED AN ACQUATANCE TO FOLLOW O’SHEA AND TO ROUGH HIM UP. INSTEAD, THE PERSON END UP SETTG O’SHEA’S R ON FIRE.MOST POPULARTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALBY SAN CASEYMEGHAN MARKLE S IN HIGHLY RELATABLE LUNCH SELFIE BY KASE WICKMANMELANIA’S TAKE ON DONALD TMP’S FOURTH INDICTMENT IS BASILLY “SUCKS TO BE YOU, PAL”: REPORTBY BS LEVTMAN’S CLE IS UALLY BLAMED ON THE BACLE ED BY “LA CôTE BASQUE 1965,” BUT GERALD CLARKE BELIEV THE SEEDS OF HIS SELF-STCTN WERE PLANTED MUCH EARLIER, WHEN HE WAS REARCHG IN COLD BLOOD. HE’D GOTTEN CLOSE TO PERRY SMH DURG THOSE FIVE LONG YEARS OF VISG HIM A BLEAK KANSAS PRISON AND THEN WAG FOR HIM TO BE EXECUTED. IN SOME WAYS, THE TWO MEN WERE ALIKE: SHORT, PACTLY BUILT, ARTISTIC, THE PRODUCTS OF PRIVED EARLY CHILDHOODS— WOULD HAVE BEEN EASY FOR TMAN TO LOOK TO PERRY SMH’S BLACK EY AND THK HE WAS LOOKG AT HIS DARKER TW. “THERE WAS A PSYCHOLOGIL NNECTN BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM,” CLARKE BELIEV. “PERRY’S ATH TOOK OUT OF HIM.” BUT TMAN KNEW THAT THE VALUE OF IN COLD BLOOD “REQUIRED THE EXECUTN TO TAKE PLACE.” HE ULDN’T FISH HIS BOOK OTHERWISE. “HE WROTE THAT HE WANTED THEM TO DIE—THAT STARTED THE CLE.”HE WASN’T PREPARED FOR THE EFFECT OF WATCHG SMH’S EXECUTN BY HANGG. THE MAN SWUNG FOR MORE THAN 10 MUT BEFORE HE WAS PRONOUNCED AD. AFTER LEAVG THE PRISON, TMAN HAD TO PULL HIS R OVER TO THE SI OF THE ROAD, WHERE HE WEPT FOR TWO HOURS. IT’S POSSIBLE THAT THOSE EVENTS SET THE STAGE FOR THE VRL OF ANSWERED PRAYERS, ORIGALLY NCEIVED BY TMAN TO BE “A BETIFUL BOOK WH A HAPPY ENDG”; STEAD BEME A KD OF J’ACCE OF THE RICH AND SOCIALLY PROMENT, REVEALG, IF NOT REVELG , THEIR TREACHERY, CE, VANY, AND MURRO IMPULS. UNR THEIR POLISHED VENEERS, THEY ARE ALL ERS AND HTLERS, LIKE P. B. JON.IT WAS TO HIS AR IEND JOANNE CARSON THAT TMAN TURNED WHEN HE WAS SPERATE STRAS, SICK AND EXHSTED, BUYG A ONE-WAY PLANE TICKET TO LOS ANGEL ON AUGT 23, 1984. TWO DAYS LATER, JOANNE ENTERED THE GUT BEDROOM TO FD TMAN STGGLG FOR BREATH, HIS PULSE ALARMGLY WEAK. SHE SAID THAT TMAN SPOKE OF HIS MOTHER AND THEN UTTERED THE PHRAS “BETIFUL BABE” AND “ANSWERED PRAYERS.” AGAST HIS WISH, SHE LLED THE PARAMEDICS, BUT BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVED TMAN WAS AD.AS FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RT OF THE MANCRIPT, NO ONE REALLY KNOWS. IF WAS STOWED AWAY A GREYHOUND B POT, POSSIBLY NEBRASKA, WHERE HE HAD STOPPED DURG HIS 1978 LLEGE TOUR, AS JOE PETROCIK BELIEV, OR A SAFE-POS BOX SOMEWHERE, AS JOANNE CARSON BELIEV, HAS NEVER SURFACED. ALAN SCHWARTZ SAYS THAT O’SHEA “CLAIMED TMAN HAD WRTEN THE BOOK, CLAIMED HE HAD STASHED AWAY, BUT WE NEVER FOUND A CLUE THAT HE DID.” ANOTHER THEORY IS THAT TMAN STROYED HIMSELF, REALIZG, PERHAPS, THAT DIDN’T E UP TO HIS PROTIAN STANDARD. JACK DUNPHY, WHO DIED 1992, BELIEVED THAT, AFTER THE PUBLITN OF “KATE MCCLOUD,” 1976, TMAN NEVER WROTE ANOTHER LE OF THE BOOK.GERALD CLARKE WROTE HIS BGRAPHY, “ALL THAT THE WORLD WILL EVER SEE OF TMAN’S MAGNUM OP IS THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY PAG THAT RANDOM HOE PUBLISHED 1987. . . . LIKE OTHER UNFISHED NOVELS—DICKENS’ THE MYSTERY OF EDW DROOD, FOR EXAMPLE, OR FZGERALD’S THE LAST TYON—THE ABBREVIATED ANSWERED PRAYERS [NSISTG OF “UNSPOILED MONSTERS,” “KATE MCCLOUD,” AND “LA CôTE BASQUE”] IS TANTALIZGLY PLETE. YET, LIKE THEM, IS SUBSTANTIAL ENOUGH TO BE READ, ENJOYED AND, TO A LIMED GREE, JUDGED ON S OWN MERS.” CLARKE BELIEV THAT TMAN SIMPLY ABANDONED THE NOVEL.AS FOR TMAN’S POSTHUMO REPUTATN, JOHN RICHARDSON SAYS, “I THK THAT THE GOSSIPY PART WILL FALL AWAY, AND HE’LL BE REMEMBERED AS A VERY BRILLIANT WRER WHO, LIKE SO MANY OTHER WRERS, DIED OF DRK. HE JOS A TRADN. HIS NAME—’S SUCH AN UNFETTABLE NAME—WILL BE REMEMBERED.”TMAN WAS “A GIANT TALENT, BUT AFTER SO MUCH FAME AND FORTUNE, HE SLID DOWNHILL,” RELLS LIZ SMH. “HE HAD LOVED ALL THOSE BETIFUL WOMEN SO MUCH, BUT THEY NEVER RETURNED HIS LOVE. I STILL MISS HIM. NEW YORK DON’T SEEM TO HAVE EPIC CHARACTERS LIKE TMAN CAPOTE ANYMORE. THERE ARE NO MAJOR WRERS TODAY THAT MATTER THE WAY THAT HE MATTERED.”LOUISE GNWALD AGRE. “THERE’S NO ONE LIKE HIM ANYMORE, NOT THAT THERE EVER WAS ANYONE LIKE HIM. JT AS THERE ARE NO PLAC LIKE LA CôTE BASQUE. IT’S ALL CHANGED. TMAN WOULDN’T REGNIZE NEW YORK ANYMORE. IT’S GHOSTLY.”THERE WAS A MEMORY THAT TMAN LIKED TO RELATE, ABOUT A HKY BOY OM HIS CHILDHOOD MONROEVILLE, ALABAMA, WHO SPENT AN ENTIRE SUMMER DIGGG A HOLE HIS BACKYARD. “WHY’RE YOU DOG THAT?” TMAN HAD ASKED. “TO GET TO CHA. SEE, THE OTHER SI OF THIS HOLE, THAT’S CHA.” TMAN WOULD LATER WRE, “WELL, HE NEVER GOT TO CHA; AND MAYBE I’LL NEVER FISH ANSWERED PRAYERS; BUT I KEEP ON DIGGG! ALL THE BT, T.C.”SAM KASHNER

“Most men of that era, ” she rells, “were homophobic—very homophobic. ” It’s a far cry om the honeysuckle lyricism of Capote’s earlier work, or the stark reportage of In Cold Blood; tells the pirque tale of young Jon, the gay htler who beds men and women alike if they n further his lerary reer.

ANSWERED PRAYER: “PRAYERS FOR BOBBY” IS A GROUNDBREAKG GAY TV {FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}MOVIBY ALEXANR STEVENSONJANUARY 14, 2009/12:16 AMBY ALEXANR STEVENSONJANUARY 14, 2009 / 12:16 AM{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","HEADLE":"ANSWERED PRAYER: “PRAYERS FOR BOBBY” IS A GROUNDBREAKG GAY TV MOVIE","DATEPUBLISHED":"2009-01-14T05:16:40.000+0000","DATEMODIFIED":"2009-01-14T05:16:40.000+0000","IMAGE":{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","WIDTH":1920,"HEIGHT":1080},"URL":","THOR":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"LOGO TV"},"MAENTYOFPAGE":{"@TYPE":"WEBPAGE","@ID":"},"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","@ID":","NAME":"LOGO TV","URL":","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT"}},"CREATOR":"ALEXANR STEVENSON","KEYWORDS":"THE BACKLOT","ARTICLESECTN":"MOVI"}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}IT’S AN ADMTEDLY GRIPPG STORY: A NSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN WOMAN REF TO ACCEPT HER GAY TEENAGE SON, HOUNDG HIM TO “CHANGE” TO THE POT WHERE HE MS SUICI. BUT THEN, OVERE BY THE REALIZATN OF WHAT SHE HAS DONE, THE WOMAN T HERSELF, RENOUNC HER PREV ANTI-GAY BELIEFS, AND BE A CSAR FOR GLBT YOUTH AND GAY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}PERHAPS ’S NOT SURPRISG THAT THE REAL-LIFE STORY OF MARY GRIFFH OF WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA, HAS NOW BEE PRAYERS FOR BOBBY, A TV MOVIE STARRG SIGOURNEY WEAVER AIRG ON LIFETIME LATER THIS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}AND YET, AS EXTRAORDARY AS THE STORY IS, WAS ANYTHG BUT AN EASY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“MAKG MOVI IS HARD ENOUGH,” SAYS DANIEL SLAK, ONE OF THE FILM’S EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS. “BUT WHEN YOU HAVE A MOVIE ABOUT TEEN SUICI, A WOMAN QUTNG HER FAH, AND GAY RIGHTS, THAT’S A HOT POTATO.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE FISHED FILM IS NOT YOUR TYPIL TV MOVIE. UNLIKE MOST PREV GAY TV MOVI, THE FILMMAKERS DON’T DANCE AROUND THE ISSU; THEY TACKLE RELIGN HEAD-ON, MAKG THE EXPLIC NNECTN BETWEEN ANTI-GAY RELIG BELIEFS AND THE OPPRSN OF GAY PEOPLE. AS THE RECENT NTROVERSY OVER CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSN 8 SHOWED, RELIG BELIEFS ARE STILL THE PRIMARY — MAYBE THE ONLY REMAG — ARGUMENT AGAST SAME-SEX EQUALY. IN THE AFTERMATH OF THAT FIGHT, THE MOVIE FEELS EERILY NTEMPORARY SPE BEG SET THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}RYAN KELLEY, HENRY CZERNY, AND SIGOURNEY WEAVER A SCENE OM PRAYERS FOR {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“I KNOW A VERY RELIG FAY, AND THEY DO THK THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS AN ABOMATN,” SAYS STAR SIGOURNEY WEAVER. “I’M HOPG THAT THIS FILM WILL BEG TO OPEN THEIR EY — IF NOT THE OLR GENERATN, THEN PERHAPS THE YOUNGER ONE.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}IT ALL BEGAN WHEN MARY REFED TO ACCEPT THAT HER TEENAGE SON, BOBBY, WAS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT WAS JT IGNORANCE,” SAYS MARY GRIFFH NOW. “I BELIEVED WHAT MY CHURCH SAID ABOUT GAY PEOPLE. I N FIVE MYSELF FOR THAT, BUT I HAD A HARD TIME FIVG THE CHURCH.” GRIFFH STILL LIV WALNUT CREEK, BUT NO LONGER ATTENDS THE SAME {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE REAL MARY GRIFFH WH HER SON, {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}GRIFFH’S HEARTBREAKG STORY EVENTUALLY ATTRACTED THE TERT OF A GAY JOURNALIST, LEROY AARONS, WHO WORKED WH THE FAY ON A BOOK, PRAYERS FOR BOBBY, PUBLISHED 1995. IT TURNED OUT THAT BOBBY HAD KEPT A DIARY OF HIS THOUGHTS AND FEELGS DURG THE STGGLE WH HIS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT JT FLOORED ME, TOOK MY BREATH AWAY,” SLAK SAID. “I’M 43-YEARS-OLD. IF HE [WERE] ALIVE TODAY, BOBBY WOULD BE 45. NETY PERCENT OF THE BOOK RONATED ON A PERSONAL LEVEL: ROCKY HORROR, ANA BRYANT. I SAW MYSELF THE BOOK.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SLAK AND TAAFFE OPTNED THE PROJECT, ORIGALLY TENDG TO BE A FEATURE FILM. BUT THE RULTG SCREENPLAY ATTRACTED THE ATTENTN OF SAN SARANDON, WHO HAD BEEN APPROACHED BY NBC TO DO A TV {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“THEY WANTED SOMETHG NTROVERSIAL, EMMY LIBER,” SLAK SAYS. “THIS IS WHAT MA FIRST THK OF TV. [THE MEDIUM] HAS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS. CABLE WORKS ARE STEPPG UP, TAKG ON MORE FEATURE FILM-LIKE PROPERTI. TALENT, A-LIST ACTORS AND DIRECTORS ARE RPONDG.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE NBC AL DIDN’T WORK OUT, AND SARANDON MOVED ON, BUT SLAK AND TAAFFE KEPT PCHG THE PROJECT. IN 2000, THEY MANAGED TO SELL TO LIFETIME WH SELA WARD ATTACHED TO PLAY MARY GRIFFH. BUT THAT AL DIDN’T PAN OUT {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}A FEW YEARS LATER, THEY SOLD YET AGA, TO SHOWTIME, AS A VEHICLE FOR CHRISTE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}INCREDIBLY, THAT AL ALSO FELL THROUGH, AND AT THE END OF 2007, SLAK HAD ALMOST GIVEN UP ON TV FOR GOOD. HE AND TAAFFE WERE ALL SET TO FALLY PRODUCE AS THE FEATURE FILM THEY HAD ORIGALLY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}JT BEFORE THEY WERE ABOUT TO START PRODUCTN, LIFETIME EXPRSED TERT AGA, THIS TIME WH SIGOURNEY WEAVER THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“I THOUGHT HOW WONRFUL WE ULD PUT THIS [CLASSIC BOOK] ANOTHER FORM, FOR FAI TO EXPERIENCE,” WEAVER SAYS. “IT WAS DRIVEN BY A MMENT TO BOBBY. HOPEFULLY ’LL START A DIALOGUE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO THK THIS ISSUE [OF HOMOSEXUALY] IS BLACK AND WHE.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}WEAVER AND SAN RUTTAN (RIGHT) FILMG A SCENE OM PRAYERS FOR {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SOON THE PRODUCERS HAD ASSEMBLED THE RT OF AN IMPRSIVE ST THAT CLUS LA LAW’S SAN RUTTAN AND FRASIER’S DAN BUTLER, WHO IS OPENLY GAY AND WHO PLAYS A MISTER THAT MARY REACHED OUT TO AT THE METROPOLAN COMMUNY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}STT BAILEY, THE STAR OF THE MTV SERI SATS AND SNERS, PLAYS BOBBY’S BOYIEND, DAVID. AND THE FILM IS DIRECTED BY RSELL MULHY, WHO HAS DIRECTED EVERYTHG OM HIGHLANR TO THE MIC VIOS OF DURAN DURAN, ELTON JOHN, AND GEE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“I WAS REALLY QUE THRILLED,” MARY GRIFFH SAID WHEN SHE LEARNED THAT HER STORY WOULD FALLY BE TOLD ON SCREEN. “HOW ULD I OBJECT TO THIS TERRIFIC ACTRS AND ALL THE PEOPLE?”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}ONE GREAT IRONY IS THAT MANY MORE PEOPLE WILL PROBABLY SEE PRAYERS FOR BOBBY AS A HEAVILY-PROMOTED LIFETIME TV MOVIE THAN MIGHT HAVE SEEN AS A SMALLER FEATURE. AND YET, THE FILMMAKERS CLAIM THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO MAKE MAJOR PROMIS ON EHER THEIR VISN OR THEIR {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“PREDOMANTLY, ’S THE ORIGAL SCRIPT, THE ORIGAL VISN AND ORIGAL WORK WE STARTED WH BY [WRER] KATIE FORD, WHO HAS BEEN WH OM DAY ONE,” SLAK SAYS. “THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY WHO WANTED TO CHANGE , TEMPER , ADD MELODRAMA. BUT THE THREE OF , [FORD, TAAFFE, AND MYSELF], WE STUCK TO OUR GUNS.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}INED, THE STORY IS TOLD WH SUBTLETY AND SOPHISTITN, AND THE PERFORMANC — PECIALLY RYAN KELLEY AS BOBBY AND WEAVER, WHO WILL ALMOST CERTALY BE THE NNG FOR AN EMMY — ARE EXCELLENT. IT MAY BE THE BT TV MOVIE ON GAY ISSU EVER, PRECISELY BEE THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHG UT OR WATERED DOWN S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}RYAN KELLEY AND SIGOURNEY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}PHOTO CRED: ANGELA WEISS/GETTY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“THIS IS A FILM THAT IS ABOUT REALIZATN AND REACHG OUT AND MAKG AMENDS AND DOG EVERYTHG YOU N TO LOVE THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE,” WEAVER SAYS {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SLAK MAK CLEAR THAT THIS PROJECT IS A LABOR OF LOVE FOR EVERYONE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT’S A TELEVISN FILM,” HE SAYS. “IT’S NOT THE SE THAT ANYONE’S GETTG RICH. BUT HOPEFULLY WE’LL LEAVE SOMETHG BEHD THAT WILL MAKE A {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}HOPEFULLY MIGHT SAVE SOME LIV.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}FOR MORE RMATN ON THE FILM, OR TO SEND FEEDBACK TO FILMMAKERS, VIS THE MOVIE’S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;CLEAR:BOTH;}THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;MARG:0 TO;WIDTH:90%;M-WIDTH:288PX;MAX-WIDTH:1440PX;M-HEIGHT:194PX;}LATT NEWS

He nursed his wounds at a gay dis SoHo that night, wh Liza Mnelli and Steve Rubell, -owner of Stud 54. It’s an admtedly grippg story: a nservative Christian woman ref to accept her gay teenage son, houndg him to “change” to the pot where he ms suici. But then, overe by the realizatn of what she has done, the woman t herself, renounc her prev anti-gay beliefs, and be a csar for GLBT youth and gay rights.

“But when you have a movie about teen suici, a woman qutng her fah, and gay rights, that’s a hot potato.

Unlike most prev gay TV movi, the filmmakers don’t dance around the issu; they tackle relign head-on, makg the explic nnectn between anti-gay relig beliefs and the opprsn of gay people.

In the aftermath of that fight, the movie feels eerily ntemporary spe beg set the Kelley, Henry Czerny, and Sigourney Weaver a scene om Prayers for Bobby“I know a very relig fay, and they do thk that homosexualy is an abomatn, ” says star Sigourney Weaver.

”It all began when Mary refed to accept that her teenage son, Bobby, was gay. “I believed what my church said about gay people. ” Griffh still liv Walnut Creek, but no longer attends the same real Mary Griffh wh her son, BobbyGriffh’s heartbreakg story eventually attracted the tert of a gay journalist, Leroy Aarons, who worked wh the fay on a book, Prayers for Bobby, published 1995.

Hopefully ’ll start a dialogue for the people who thk this issue [of homosexualy] is black and whe.

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