1 Clarke, Capote, 413.
2 Burstein, “Tiny Yes, But a Terror?” 16.
3 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 222.
4 Dunphy, “Dear Genius,” 27. Dunphy’s memoir is highly fictionalized, including the framing device of Capote’s drunken encounter with a priest questioning his vows; nonetheless, it accurately reflects key moments in Capote’s life, as well as his reactions to various people and places.
5 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 43, 103.
6 Jones refers to the film as An American Tragedy, incorrectly renaming it with the title of Theodore Dreiser’s novel from which it is adapted. Capote’s lawyer Alan Schwartz declares that Answered Prayers “was to be an intricate, exuberant, witty, and mischievous novel, all told through the eyes of a never-to-be-forgotten character who in many ways reminded Truman of Truman himself” (SC 130), and his editor Joseph Fox describes Jones as “a sort of dark Doppelgänger of the author himself” (AP xiv).
7 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 172; Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 246, 248.
8 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 249. For Capote’s animosity toward Hemingway, of whom he baldly stated, “I hated him,” see Brian, “The Importance of Knowing Ernest,” 101.
9 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 275.
10 Warhol, “Sunday with Mister C.,” 30.
11 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 449.
12 Ibid., 43.
13 Ibid., 275.
14 Ibid., 311; Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 159–60; Burke, “Sweeter Options,” 269; Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 168–69.
15 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 243; Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 158.
16 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 159.
17 Brown, “Plate du Jour,” 35–36.
18 Folks, “Southern Renascence,” 835.
19 Allmendinger, “Female Influence,” 53–54.
20 Fowler, introduction, vii.
21 King, “Framework of a Renaissance,” 20.
22 King, A Southern Renaissance, 3.
23 Ibid., 195.
24 Clarke, Capote, 62–63.
25 Brinnin, Truman Capote, 6.
26 Time, “Spare the Laurels”; Trilling, “Fiction in Review,” 133.
27 Robinson, “The Legend of ‘Little T,’” 6.
28 Girson, “’48’s Nine,” 14.
29 Newquist, Counterpoint, 80.
30 Lee, “Southern Gothic,” 220.
31 Gross, Redefining the American Gothic, 59.
32 For a reading of the gothic qualities of In Cold Blood, see Savoy, “The Face of the Tenant.”
33 Norden, “Playboy Interview: Truman Capote,” 53.
34 Capote was acquainted with Harry Kurnitz, the screenwriter of One Touch of Venus, and compared him to Marilyn Monroe in regard to their awkward sociability: “Marilyn Monroe was very amusing when she felt sufficiently relaxed and had had enough to drink. The same might be said of the lamented screen-scenarist Harry Kurnitz, an exceedingly homely gentleman who conquered men, women, and children of all classes with his verbal flights” (MC 253).
35 Hill, “The Art of Fiction XVII: Truman Capote,” 45.
36 Mailer, Advertisements for Myself, 465.
37 Davis, Party of the Century, 251. Capote also uses the memorable phrase “suntanned Uriah Heep” to describe the secretary of the escort service depicted in Answered Prayers (52, 125).
38 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 49.
39 Doty, Making Things Perfectly Queer, xi; see also Doty’s Flaming Classics.
40 French, The South and Film, 3–13.
41 Dunphy, “Dear Genius,” 124; Devlin, Conversations with Tennessee Williams, 354.
42 Windham, Lost Friendships, 39. For Windham’s account of Capote remembering events “the way they should have been,” see in particular the account of Capote’s friendship with André Gide (48–49).
43 This version of the anecdote is taken from Capote’s appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, February 7, 1975. For an additional version of the narrative in which Capote delivers the punch line, see MC 251; for the version in which Tennessee Williams delivers the comic coup de grâce, see PO 503; for the version in which Capote’s companion John O’Shea is the wit, see Brinnin, Truman Capote, 155.
44 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 91.
1 S. Keith, Slim, 226.
2 Dyer, Heavenly Bodies, 2–3.
3 Warhol, “Sunday with Mister C.,” 43.
4 Steinem, “Go Right Ahead,” 150.
5 Clarke, Capote, 149.
6 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 170.
7 Clarke, Capote, 181.
8 Gore Vidal reports that Capote told the story thus: “Errol Flynn followed me up to my room at the Beverly Wilshire, and when I refused to have anything to do with him, he threw all my baggage out the window” (Clarke, “Petronius Americanus,” 46).
9 Brinnin, Truman Capote, 37.
10 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 210.
11 Newquist, Counterpoint, 78.
12 Brian, Murderers and Other Friendly People, 101.
13 Kanfer, Somebody, 150.
14 Logan, Movie Stars, Real People, and Me, 101.
15 Thomas, Marlon, 123.
16 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 102.
17 Kael, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 192.
18 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 359.
19 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 172.
20 The Tonight Show, 27 Nov. 1972.
21 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 172.
22 Karpel, “We’d Get Along without You Very Well,” 114.
23 The Tonight Show, 12 Feb. 1973.
24 Karpel, “We’d Get Along without You Very Well,” 114.
25 The Tonight Show, 12 Feb. 1973.
26 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 209.
27 Capote, “Holly and Hemlock,” 3.
28 The Tonight Show, 27 Nov. 1972.
29 Windham, Lost Friendships, 118–19.
30 Lawrence, The Passion of Montgomery Clift, 151.
31 Brickell, O. Henry Memorial Award, xiv.
32 Newquist, Counterpoint, 77; Frankel, “The Author,” 36.
33 Steinem, “A Visit with Truman Capote,” 210.
34 B. Long, “In Cold Comfort,” 128.
35 Brinnin, Truman Capote, 39.
36 Fleming, “The Private World of Truman Capote,” 24.
37 Rolo, “The New Bohemia,” 118.
38 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 269.
39 Kostelanetz, The End of Intelligent Writing, 92.
40 Talley, “An Afternoon with Truman Capote.”
41 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 382.
42 Gill, Here at The New Yorker, 317.
43 Clarke, “The Art of Fiction L: Gore Vidal,” 148. For more of Vidal’s barbs on Capote, see Abbott and Mitzel, “Gore Vidal,” 4, 7–8.
44 Brinnin, Truman Capote, 172.
45 Norden, “Playboy Interview: Truman Capote,” 51.
46 S. Keith, Slim, 230.
47 Brinnin, Truman Capote, 8, 121.
48 Ibid., 149.
49 Devlin, Conversations with Tennessee Williams, 301.
50 Grafton, The Sisters, 223.
51 Smith, “A Success Money Didn’t Buy”; Fremont-Smith, “Literature-by-Consensus.”
52 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 249.
53 Ibid., 248.
54 For the complete guest list, see Davis, Party of the Century, 261–66.
55 Ibid., 164.
56 Ibid., 234.
57 Winn, “Capote, Mailer, and Miss Parker,” 27.
58 Ibid., 27.
59 Mailer, “Of a Small and Modest Malignancy,” 135. For another account of their evening together, see Mailer, “The Capote Perplex.”
60 Winn, “Capote, Mailer, and Miss Parker,” 28.
61 The Dick Cavett Show, 25 Mar. 1971, disc 3, DVD.
62 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 441.
63 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 143.
64 The Dean Martin Show, 24 Jan. 1974, on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts DVD.
65 The Cheap Show, episode 2.
66 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 369.
67 Ibid., 412.
68 Brinnin, Truman Capote, 133.
69 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 15.
70 Warhol, “Sunday with Mister C.,” 37.
71 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 225; Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 421.
72 Grunwald, “The Literary Aquarium of Truman Capote,” 26.
73 Capote quote in Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 174; Simon quote in Plimpton, Truman Capote, 367.
74 Clarke, Capote, 475.
75 Ibid., 475; cf. Greenfeld, “Truman Capote, the Movie Star?” 17.
76 Canby, “Simon’s Breezy ‘Murder by Death.’”
77 Greenfeld, “Truman Capote, the Movie Star?” 17.
78 Capote contradicted himself on the issue of his remuneration for appearing in the film; asked whether he received “a lot of money for his acting debut,” he responded with a determined “Oh Lord no” (Greenfeld, “Truman Capote, the Movie Star?” 17).
79 Greenfeld, “Truman Capote, the Movie Star?” 17.
80 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 144.
81 Clarke, Capote, 212.
82 Krebs, Notes on People, 34.
83 The Stanley Siegel Show, 18 July 1978.
84 Norden, “Playboy Interview: Truman Capote,” 53.
85 Packer et al., “We Talk to . . . Truman Capote,” 367.
86 Frost, “When Does a Writer Become a Star?” 23. P. B. Jones, the narrator of Answered Prayers, also voices this sentiment (48).
87 Wenner, “Coda: Another Round with Mr. C,” 54.
88 Medwick, “Truman Capote: An Interview,” 312.
89 Capote, “Elizabeth Taylor,” 151; cf. PO 319.
1 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 28.
2 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 13.
3 The blurb appears on the dust jacket of the original edition of Other Voices, Other Rooms; it is reprinted in Robinson, “The Legend of ‘Little T,’” 6.
4 Newquist, Counterpoint, 80–81.
5 Hill, “The Art of Fiction XVII: Truman Capote,” 45.
6 Benshoff and Griffin, Queer Images, 99.
7 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 90.
8 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 222.
9 Marcus, Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, 19.
10 Landy, Italian Film, 14.
11 Cardullo, “Actor-Become-Auteur,” 174.
12 De Sica, “Hollywood Shocked Me,” 12.
13 De Sica, “De Sica on De Sica,” 31.
14 De Sica, “Hollywood Shocked Me,” 13.
15 Hill, “The Art of Fiction XVII: Truman Capote,” 45.
16 Epstein, Portrait of Jennifer, 293.
17 Leff, commentary track.
18 Selznick, memo to John Huston, undated.
19 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 205–6.
20 Samuels, Encountering Directors, 155.
21 Bosworth, Montgomery Clift, 220.
22 Green, Jennifer Jones, 134.
23 Morris, Huston, We Have a Problem, 182.
24 Epstein, Portrait of Jennifer, 294.
25 Samuels, Encountering Directors, 155.
26 Epstein, Portrait of Jennifer, 294.
27 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 210.
28 Leff, commentary track.
29 Ibid.
30 Bosworth, Montgomery Clift, 221.
31 Capote, Indiscretion of an American Wife screenplay.
32 Hart, “Gay Male Spectatorship and the Films of Montgomery Clift,” 75.
33 Joanne Dru as Tess in Red River.
34 Samuels, Encountering Directors, 155.
35 Leff, commentary track.
36 Time, “Cinema: New Picture.”
37 Ibid.
38 Walsh, review of Indiscretion of an American Wife, 407.
39 Knight, “A Long Wait between Trains,” 25.
40 Catholic World, review of Indiscretion of an American Wife, 143.
41 Newsweek, review of Indiscretion of an American Wife, 104.
42 Hartung, review of Indiscretion of an American Wife, 117.
43 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 106n1, 220.
44 De Sica, “Hollywood Shocked Me,” 13.
45 Cockburn, letter to John Huston, 10 Mar. 1952.
46 Bogart, letter to John Huston, 19 Nov. 1952.
47 Bogart, letter to John Huston, 26 Nov. 1952.
48 Morris, Huston, We Have a Problem, 76.
49 Selznick, interoffice communication to John Huston, 23 Feb. 1953.
50 Huston, An Open Book, 247.
51 Breen, letter to Jess Morgan, 12 Mar. 1952.
52 Breen, letter to Jess Morgan, 13 Feb. 1953.
53 Selznick, interoffice communication to John Huston, 30 Jan. 1953 (also in Selznick, Memo from David O. Selznick, 442–43).
54 D. L. Keith, “An Interview with Truman Capote,” 38.
55 Sims, letter to Morgan Maree, 18 Jun. 1953.
56 Veiller and Viertel, letter to John Huston, 4 Jul. 1953.
57 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 161.
58 Ibid., 163.
59 Huston, An Open Book, 248.
60 R. E. Long, John Huston: Interviews, 130.
61 Green, Jennifer Jones, 141.
62 Hill, “The Art of Fiction XVII: Truman Capote,” 45.
63 Steinem, “Go Right Ahead,” 149.
64 Morley, Larger Than Life, 155.
65 Epstein, Portrait of Jennifer, 298.
66 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 125; cf. Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 213.
67 Huston, An Open Book, 247. For Capote’s account of this wrestling match, see Bogdanovich, “Bogie in Excelsis,” 98–99.
68 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 215, 217; cf. Brinnin, Truman Capote, 83.
69 Ebert, “Beat the Devil.”
70 Sontag, “Notes on ‘Camp,’” 279, 280.
71 Ibid., 282.
72 Kael, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 235.
73 For a brief overview of Holliday’s queer pulp fiction, see Stryker, Queer Pulp, 41.
74 Youngkin, The Lost One, 370. Ironically and appositely, Don Lee Keith in “An Interview with Truman Capote” describes Capote as “a kind of cherubic Peter Lorre” (40).
75 Kanfer, Tough without a Gun, 174.
76 R. E. Long, John Huston: Interviews, 46.
77 Bogdanovich, “Bogie in Excelsis,” 94.
78 Anderson, “In Brief: Beat the Devil,” 148; Morris, Huston, We Have a Problem, 80 (cf. Thomson, Showman, 586).
79 Marple, review of Beat the Devil, 143; Anderson, “In Brief: Beat the Devil,” 148.
80 H.H.T., “The Screen in Review,” 11.
81 Barnes, “The Director on Horseback,” 281, 285.
82 Film Society Review, review of Beat the Devil.
83 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 130.
84 Morris, Huston, We Have a Problem, 83.
85 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 130.
86 Sennett, Masters of Menace, 177.
87 R. E. Long, John Huston: Interviews, 130; Huston, An Open Book, 248.
88 R. E. Long, John Huston: Interviews, 79.
89 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 225.
90 Pratley, The Cinema of John Huston, 103.
91 Kael, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 236.
92 Sinyard, Jack Clayton, 84.
93 Rebello, “Jack Clayton’s The Innocents,” 52.
94 Ibid., 52.
95 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 334; Ruas, Conversations with American Writers, 40.
96 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 129.
97 Sinyard, Jack Clayton, 91.
98 Clarke, Capote, 334.
99 James, The Turn of the Screw, 132.
100 Wilson, “The Ambiguity of Henry James,” 130; Sinyard, Jack Clayton, 93.
101 Palmer, “Cinematic Ambiguity,” 189.
102 Rebello, “Jack Clayton’s The Innocents,” 53. James’s governess is unnamed; Archibald names the character Miss Giddens in his play, and Capote maintains this editorial decision.
103 Mazzella, “‘The story . . . held us,” 12.
104 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 158–59.
105 Gow, “The Way Things Are,” 14.
106 Clarke, Capote, 334.
107 Kael, I Lost It at the Movies, 166.
108 Palmer, “Cinematic Ambiguity,” 206.
109 “The Innocents: Trailer.”
110 Kincaid, Child-Loving, 3.
111 Recchia, “An Eye for an I,” 30.
112 James, The Turn of the Screw, 28–29.
113 Shurlock, letter to Frank McCarthy, undated.
114 Archibald, The Innocents, 108.
115 This dialogue, with its focus on contamination and corruption, echoes James’s (17).
116 The film’s costumes were designed by Motley, the company name of the sisters Margaret Harris, Sophie Harris, and Elizabeth Montgomery Wilmot.
117 Palmer, “Cinematic Ambiguity,” 202.
118 Gow, “The Way Things Are,” 12.
119 Archibald, The Innocents, 101.
120 For Haya Clayton’s crediting of this line to Mortimer, see Sinyard, Jack Clayton, 91.
121 Archibald, The Innocents, 76–77. In his two-act play Archibald uses this scene as the climax of act 1.
122 Anthony Stevens declares, “A single foot is phallic, as when fitting into a shoe” (Ariadne’s Clue, 406). Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant agree: “Both Jungian and Freudian analysts would see phallic significance in the foot” (A Dictionary of Symbols, 399).
123 Archibald and Capote, The Innocents screenplay, 98.
124 For Archibald’s phrasing, see The Innocents, 129.
125 James, The Turn of the Screw, 132.
126 Archibald and Capote, The Innocents screenplay, 133.
127 Ibid., 136.
128 Sinyard, Jack Clayton, 106.
129 Rebello, “Jack Clayton’s The Innocents,” 55.
130 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 331.
131 Kael, I Lost It at the Movies, 167–68.
132 Crowther, “The Innocents”; America, review of The Innocents, 481.
133 Knight, “Innocents Abroad,” 39.
134 McCall’s, review of The Innocents.
135 Newsweek, review of The Innocents, 53.
136 Variety, review of The Innocents.
137 Kauffman, “Ghosts, Grime, and Grandeur,” 20; Time, “Cinema: Evil Emanations.”
138 Gill, review of The Innocents.
139 Hanson, “Screwing with Children in Henry James,” 388.
140 Archibald and Capote, The Innocents screenplay, 10.
1 Clarke, Capote, 225.
2 Drutman, “Capote: End of the Affair.”
3 McFarlane, Novel to Film, 12.
4 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 157–58.
5 Clarke, Capote, 269.
6 Zoerink, “Truman Capote Talks,” 128.
7 Capote frequently commented on the appropriateness of various actresses for playing Holly Golightly. In a 1966 interview he opined that he “would have liked to see a kid called Tuesday Weld play” the role (Capote, “Capote on Theatre,” 13); he also declared that Jodie Foster would be “ideal for the part” if a remake were made (Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 158). Of Mary Tyler Moore’s performance as Holly in the Broadway production of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Capote stated, “When I first watched her play this part in the musical I didn’t like her,” but he conceded that, after adjusting his expectations for the role, he “began to like Mary Tyler Moore very much and see she has a great quality” (Capote, “Capote on Theatre,” 13).
8 Jurow, Marty Jurow Seein’ Stars, 75. On Strasberg’s influence on Monroe, see Summers, Goddess, esp. 162–63.
9 Jurow, Marty Jurow Seein’ Stars, 74.
10 Ibid., 75. Capote said in a 1966 interview that “when Shirley Maclaine was first around, you know 15 years ago, she would have been very good” (Capote, “Capote on Theatre,” 13).
11 Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, 204.
12 Jurow, Marty Jurow Seein’ Stars, 77–78.
13 Zoerink, “Truman Capote Talks,” 128.
14 Spoto, Enchantment, 203.
15 Mohrt, The Givenchy Style, 10.
16 Ibid., 82.
17 Jurow, Marty Jurow Seein’ Stars, 74.
18 Shearer, Patricia Neal, 213.
19 “Breakfast at Tiffany’s: The Making of a Classic.”
20 Gristwood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 72.
21 Shepherd, commentary track; “Breakfast at Tiffany’s: The Making of a Classic.”
22 Gristwood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 126.
23 Ebsen, The Other Side of Oz, 191.
24 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 157–58.
25 Marx, The Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, 216; Weiler, “The Screen: ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’” 28.
26 Marill, Mickey Rooney, 46; Shepherd, commentary track.
27 “Breakfast at Tiffany’s: The Making of a Classic.”
28 Rooney, Life Is Too Short, 264. Rooney adds that “the whole damn movie was just too too precious.”
29 Shepherd, letter to Y. Frank Freeman, 16 Apr. 1959; cf. Gristwood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 34.
30 Corliss, “Radley Metzger, Aristocrat of the Erotic,” 23.
31 Clarke, Capote, 314. Donald Windham claims the title Breakfast at Tiffany’s was originally his, for an unfinished book “about sex between servicemen and civilians during the war” (Lost Friendships, 57).
32 Haskell, From Reverence to Rape, 251.
33 Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang, 727. This usage of “maude” is dated to the 1940s.
34 Partridge, A Dictionary of the Underworld, 462.
35 In Capote’s novella, Smith moves into Holly’s apartment, not Paul’s, after she leaves New York City.
36 Descriptions of scenes not appearing in the final cut of the film refer to George Axelrod’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, first draft, 24 Aug. 1959. These lines appear on page 144.
37 Shurlock, letter to Luigi Luraschi, 17 Aug. 1960.
38 These lines from the film mirror Capote’s words, at BT 26.
39 Lehman and Luhr, Blake Edwards, 1:61–62.
40 Wasson, A Splurch in the Kisser, 59.
41 “A Golightly Gathering.”
42 Krämer, “The Many Faces of Holly Golightly,” 63.
43 Axelrod, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, first draft, 29.
44 Ibid., 30.
45 Shurlock, letter to Luigi Luraschi, 17 Aug. 1960.
46 These lines from the film mirror Capote’s words, at BT 82.
47 Shearer, Patricia Neal, 212.
48 “Breakfast at Tiffany’s: The Making of a Classic”; Neal, As I Am, 213.
49 Axelrod, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, first draft, 26.
50 Ibid., 47.
51 These lines from the film mirror Capote’s words, at BT 67.
52 Shurlock, letter to Luigi Luraschi, 17 Aug. 1960; this letter is reproduced in part in Gristwood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 80–81.
53 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 330.
54 Wilcox, “The Other Truman,” 56.
55 Norden, “Playboy Interview: Truman Capote,” 169.
56 Lehman and Luhr, “I love New York!” 31.
1 Capote’s “creation” of the genre of nonfiction novel, as well as the paradoxical term itself, has elicited much critical debate, particularly at the time of In Cold Blood’s publication. Phillip Tompkins, discerning numerous factual inaccuracies in In Cold Blood, trenchantly wonders, “We might ask of the ‘nonfiction novel’ that it contain no fiction. And if it does, why does it?” (“In Cold Fact,” 125). See also Heyne, “Toward a Theory of Literary Nonfiction,” and Hollowell, “Capote’s In Cold Blood: The Search for Meaningful Design.”
2 Steinem, “A Visit with Truman Capote,” 240.
3 Alexander, “A Nonfictional Visit with Truman Capote.”
4 Plimpton, “The Story behind a Nonfiction Novel,” 42.
5 S. Keith, Slim, 229.
6 Ibid., 229.
7 Steinem, “A Visit with Truman Capote,” 240; cf. Daniel, Tough as Nails, 171.
8 Newsweek, “Cutting Room.”
9 Capote, telegram to Richard Brooks.
10 Clarke, Capote, 385.
11 Tallmer, “Truman Capote, Man about Town”; cf. PO 270.
12 In another interview Capote stated that because In Cold Blood is documentary, Brooks “has to stay with the facts but he’s fully entitled to recreate those facts in his imagistic terms” (Drutman, “Capote: End of the Affair”).
13 Clarke, Capote, 385.
14 Information on credits is in file “IN COLD BLOOD—casting,” Margaret Herrick Library Archive 3-f.143.
15 Bart, “‘In Cold Blood’—Firing Line.”
16 Daniel, Tough as Nails, 175.
17 Bart, “‘In Cold Blood’—Firing Line.”
18 Hamilton, letter to Richard Brooks, 27 Aug. 1966.
19 Blake credits Capote with enhancing his performance: “He taught me more about acting than anyone. . . . He always called me ‘Bobby B.’ Just be yourself, Bobby B. Let it come from inside of you” (Grobel, Conversations with Capote, opposite p. 86).
20 Howard, “A Nightmare Lived Again,” 104b. Given Blake’s trial for the 2001 murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley, this frank self-assessment of his murderous impulses from 1967 takes on a chilling air. Blake was acquitted of the murder charge but was found liable for wrongful death in a civil suit filed by Bakley’s children.
21 Howard, “A Nightmare Lived Again,” 104a–104.
22 Beaver, Dictionary of Film Terms, 250–51.
23 Hallam, Realism and Popular Cinema, 4.
24 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 186.
25 “In Cold Blood: Trailer.”
26 Hallam, Realism and Popular Cinema, 106.
27 Parker, Screening the Sexes, 296.
28 Black, The Reality Effect, 113.
29 Russo, The Celluloid Closet, 135.
30 Daniel, Tough as Nails, 178–79.
31 Plimpton, “The Story behind a Nonfiction Novel,” 39.
32 Bannerman, “Capote’s Unanswered Questions.”
33 Voss, Truman Capote and the Legacy of “In Cold Blood,” 113.
34 Ibid., 104–5.
35 In her analysis of pedophilia and its perpetrators, Sarah Goode concludes that “somewhere in the region of one in every five men is likely to have some degree of sexual attraction to children” (Understanding and Addressing, 20). Goode’s findings are sufficiently disturbing, yet it is clear that Hickock’s need to see himself as normal only cloaks his sexual abnormality.
36 Dalzell, The Slang of Sin, 200, 297; Chapman, New Dictionary of American Slang, 68.
37 For “honey,” see CB 15, 22, 188, 194, 199; for “baby,” see 90, 119. These and other terms of affection are used repeatedly throughout the book.
38 Bart, “‘In Cold Blood’—Firing Line.”
39 Brooks, “Breakdown of Novel and Breakdown by Character,” 7.
40 Brooks, “Breakdown of Novel,” 38 (corresponding to Capote’s depiction of the scene, CB 133), 42 (corresponding to CB 147), 58 (corresponding to CB 202).
41 The following material is quoted from Dr. Mitchell Jones’s psychiatric evaluations of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, respectively dated 21 Mar. 1960 and 28 Mar. 1960. The report was attached to Jones’s letter to Capote, dated 25 July 1960. Brooks had access to this report. It is included among his papers concerning the production of In Cold Blood, and it is available at the Margaret Herrick Library Archives, “In Cold Blood—Folder Research 57.”
42 Murray, “In Cold Blood,” 134.
43 Adams, “Twice Convicted, Once Executed,” 249.
44 Bart, “‘In Cold Blood’—Firing Line”; Daniel, Tough as Nails, 174.
45 Steinem, “Go Right Ahead and Ask Me Anything,” 149.
46 Hoge, “Truman Capote Swings in the Sun.”
47 Dewey, letter to Tom Shaw, 14 Oct. 1967.
48 Norden, “Playboy Interview: Truman Capote,” 169.
49 Newsweek, “In Capote Country,” 96.
50 Crowther, “Graphic Quadruple Murder,” 59.
51 Crowther, “The Ten Best Films of 1967.”
52 Knight, “Cold Blood, Calm Reflection.”
53 Sheed, review of In Cold Blood.
54 Time, “Anatomy of a Murder.”
55 Jennings, “Truman Capote Talks,” 53.
56 Robertson, “Capote Says Curbs on Police Hurt ‘The Innocent.’” In a followup article in the New York Times addressing Capote’s testimony, Professor Yale Kamisar of the University of Michigan Law School lambastes Capote’s comments as “arrant nonsense” (Zion, “Capote’s View on Confessions Scored,” 36).
57 Newsweek, “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” 27.
58 Gould, “Truman Capote Defines His Concept of Justice.”
59 Buckley, The Governor Listeth, 91.
60 Good Company, Nov. 1967.
61 Firing Line, 3 Sept. 1968.
62 Gould, “Capote Is at Odds with A.B.C.”
63 Time, “Truman and TV,” 73.
64 O’Connor, “A Diverse Trio.”
65 O’Connor, “Capote Studies the Police.”
66 Alda, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, 137–38.
67 O’Connor, “C.B.S. Adapts Capote’s ‘The Glass House.’”
68 Parish, Gays and Lesbians in Mainstream Cinema, 159.
69 Newsweek, Newsmakers, 38.
70 Washington Post, “No Capote Bylines.”
71 Ruas, Conversations with American Writers, 55.
72 Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 160.
73 Daniel, Tough as Nails, 174.
74 Appelo, “Partners in Crime.”
1 Preminger, Preminger, 78.
2 See, for example, Capote, “Blind Items,” for his thematic use of the Diaghilev legend in telling contemporary gossip.
3 In Laura, Princess Lee Bouvier Radziwill is credited as Lee Bouvier, and so I refer to her by that name in this chapter; however, when quoting commentary referring to her as Radziwill, I do not alter the quotation. Bouvier married Prince Stanisław Albrecht “Stash” Radziwiłł in 1959; they divorced in 1974.
4 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 448. Although Capote never portrayed Diaghilev on-screen, in Answered Prayers he paints him as a “killer fruit . . . a certain kind of queer who has Freon refrigerating his bloodstream” (AP 8).
5 Shivas, “‘Laura’—In Blue Blood.”
6 On the early casting of Bouvier in Voice of the Turtle, see Gent, “Lee Bouvier Gets Role in a TV Play.”
7 The David Susskind Show: Truman Capote Tells All.
8 Clarke, “Bye Society,” 124.
9 Specifically, the Oxford English Dictionary defines this usage of “tread” as the “action of the male bird in coition” and dates it to the thirteenth century. This coded reference to male sexuality in Treadwell’s name further establishes her as more sexually powerful than Lydecker.
10 Preminger, Preminger, 73.
11 Russo, The Celluloid Closet, 46.
12 The dialogue follows Preminger’s film, in which Lydecker asks, “Is this the home of a dame?”
13 Capote’s dialogue echoes Preminger’s film in this scene.
14 In Preminger’s Laura, McPherson states that Treadwell identified Redfern’s body, but the scene is not depicted on camera.
15 Gould, “Cashing In on Crashing Bores.”
16 Ibid.
17 Gould, “Theme Song Is Still the Best Asset of ‘Laura,’” 75.
18 For example, see Shivas, “‘Laura’—In Blue Blood.”
19 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 360.
20 The David Susskind Show: Truman Capote Tells All.
21 Zoerink, “Truman Capote Talks about His Crowd,” 54.
22 Vespa, “Sued by Gore Vidal,” 35.
23 Ibid., 35–36.
24 People, “Going Home: Truman Capote,” 58.
25 Vespa, “Sued by Gore Vidal,” 36. For a more detailed account of Capote’s feud with Vidal and Radziwill, see “Jackie-O., Gore Vidal, and Joseph-Who?” in Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 175–84.
1 D. L. Keith, “An Interview with Truman Capote,” 38.
2 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 282–83.
3 Capote, “A Christmas Memory,” Ladies’ Home Journal, 87.
4 Mailer, “The Capote Perplex.”
5 Gould, “Capote’s ‘A Christmas Memory.’”
6 Tallmer, “Truman Capote, Man about Town.”
7 Carmody, “Capote and Friends.”
8 Steinem, “Go Right Ahead,” 149.
9 In Capote’s story, Rose’s name is Sarah.
10 Gould, “The Paths to Eden.”
11 Time, “The Nights before Christmas,” 35. In television parlance, “black week” is the period surrounding Christmas, when audience numbers typically sag.
12 Brickell, O. Henry Memorial Award, xiv.
13 Mademoiselle, “Capote and the Perrys.”
14 Thompson, “Carnegie Cinema Has Trilogy by Capote.”
15 Ladies’ Home Journal, “Truman Capote’s Thanksgiving,” 123.
16 Time, “Truman and TV,” 73.
17 Gould, “Thanksgiving Story.”
18 Steinem, “Go Right Ahead,” 148.
19 Eleanor Perry, letter to the editor, New York Times Magazine.
20 Plimpton, Truman Capote, 55.
1 Beaton and Tynan, Persona Grata, 29.
2 Time, “Private Light,” 110.
3 Barry, “Short Stories of Truman Capote,” 2.
4 Fiedler, “Capote’s Tales,” 396, and “The Profanation of the Child,” 26.
5 Fiedler, No! in Thunder, 284.
6 Harrington, memo to Jerry Wald.
7 For the homoerotic elements of sailor culture, see Baker and Stanley, Hello Sailor!
8 In Capote’s theatrical script, Collin’s surname is Talbo, but in Capote’s novella and in Charles Matthau’s film of The Grass Harp, the character’s surname is Fenwick.
9 Drutman, “Capote: End of the Affair.”
10 Capote, The Grass Harp: A Play in Two Acts, 66.
11 Gould, “‘Grass Harp’: Capote’s Work on Free Human Spirit.”
12 The Grass Harp: Production Notes, 3.
13 Laurie, Learning to Live Out Loud, 314.
14 Capote, “Holly and Hemlock,” 3; Edelman and Kupferberg, Matthau, 88.
15 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 445.
16 The Grass Harp: Production Notes, 4.
17 Laurie, Learning to Live Out Loud, 317.
18 Martin, “Fanatic Tale Is as Overwrought as Its Subject.”
19 Meyer, “‘Grass Harp’ Feels Stepped On”; Bernard, “Capote Film Plays on the ‘Harp’ Strings.”
20 Stack, “‘Grass Harp’ Plays Its Story Sweetly”; Van Gelder, “Misfits and Mischief Makers.”
21 O’Shea, letter to Alan Schwartz.
22 O’Shea, letter to Truman Capote. For Capote’s disastrous relationship with O’Shea, see Clarke, Capote, 443–60, 499–508, 522–32.
23 Capote and McBride, “Children on Their Birthdays” teleplay.
24 “The Making of Children on Their Birthdays.”
1 Capote, “Answered Prayers,” unpublished and unfilmed screenplay.
2 Capote, “Straight Face: A Treatment.”
3 Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, 325.
4 Capote, “Tyranny.”
5 Norden, “Playboy Interview: Truman Capote,” 60.
6 Williams, Memoirs, 178.
7 Hatch, review of The Great Gatsby, 446.
8 Michener, “Cooling the Jazz Age.”
9 Bart, “The Beautiful and Damned,” 140.
10 Clarke, Capote, 437.
11 Clayton, “Comments.”
12 Bart, “The Beautiful and Damned,” 140.
13 Sinyard, Jack Clayton, 172n9.
14 Capote, “The Great Gatsby.”
15 Houston, “The Innocents,” 114.
16 Clayton, “Comments.”
17 Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 66.
18 Ibid., 92.
19 Ibid., 189.
20 Warhol, “Sunday with Mister C.,” 30.
21 Greenfeld, “Truman Capote, the Movie Star?” 17.
22 Clayton, “Comments.”
23 Gent, “N.B.C. Arranges Program Exchange with B.B.C.”
24 Capote, “Uncle Sam’s Hard Luck Hotel.”
25 Capote and Leaf, “Dead Loss.”
26 Ruas, Conversations with American Writers, 41.
27 Ibid., 54.
28 Ibid.
29 Actors considered from Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 155; Capote quote in Windham, Lost Friendships, 156–57. From the date of this correspondence, Capote’s phrase “that picture by that man” appears to refer to Forman’s adaptation of E. L. Doctorow’s Ragtime.
30 Clarke, Too Brief a Treat, 461; Grobel, Conversations with Capote, 156.
1 Collins, “Twenty Questions: Truman Capote,” 270.
2 Kovacs, Percy Dovetonsils skits: “Leslie the Mean Animal Trainer,” “Ode to a Germ’s Eye Viewpoint,” “Ode to Dieting,” “Ode to Mona Lisa,” and “Ode to Autumn.” For a study of Kovacs’s influence on early television comedy, see Horton, Ernie Kovacs and Early TV Comedy, esp. 18–32 and, for Percy Dovetonsils, 43–44.
3 Brinnin, Truman Capote, 142.
4 Nichols and May: Take Two.
5 Kraft Music Hall: The Kopykats.
6 Rich Little’s Christmas Carol.
7 Vespa, “Sued by Gore Vidal,” 36.
8 Quotations taken from Jay Presson Allen, Tru. Kirk Browning’s production of the play, starring Robert Morse, differs slightly. This witticism is discussed in chapter 1, p. 11.
9 This quotation is discussed in chapter 2, p. 41.
10 Capote mentions a story written during his childhood titled “Old Mr. Busybody” in his interview with Hill, “The Art of Fiction XVII: Truman Capote,” claiming, “I had been noticing the activities of some neighbors who were up to no good, so I wrote a kind of roman à clef called ‘Old Mr. Busybody’ and entered it in the contest. The first installment appeared one Sunday, under my real name of Truman Streckfus Persons. Only somebody suddenly realized that I was serving up a local scandal as fiction, and the second installment never appeared” (37). The story’s publication in the Mobile Press Register remains unconfirmed.
11 “The Making of Capote.”
12 Futterman, Capote: The Shooting Script, 113.
13 Ibid., 114.
14 Clarke recounts this anecdote in Capote, 204.
15 On Capote’s claims about inventing the nonfiction novel, see chapter 5, pp. 109–10
16 Hoffman and Miller, commentary track of Capote.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Futterman, Capote: The Shooting Script, 131; Hoffman and Miller, commentary track of Capote.
20 Plimpton, Truman Capote, ix.
21 McGrath, commentary track of Infamous.
22 For various hypotheses concerning whether Capote and Smith engaged in a sexual relationship, see Voss, Truman Capote and the Legacy of “In Cold Blood,” 120. No conclusive evidence corroborates this supposition.
23 McGrath, commentary track of Infamous.
24 The David Susskind Show: Truman Capote Tells All.