Tag: Plaza Hotel

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Amusements and Thrills Podcasts Writers and Artists

Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball: The Absurd Story of a Marvelous Party

Mia/Frank Photo courtesy ©Lawrence Fried

PODCAST Your ticket to Truman Capote’s celebrity-filled party at the Plaza.

This month FX is debuting a new series created by Ryan Murphy — called Feud: Capote and the Swans — regarding writer Truman Capote‘s relationship with several famed New York society women.

And it’s such a New York story that listeners have asked if we’re going to record a tie-in show to that series. Well, here it is! Tom and Greg recorded this show back in November of 2016 but, likely, most of you haven’t heard this one.

Capote in 1959 / Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection.

Capote is a true New York character, a Southern boy who wielded his immense writing talents to secure a place within Manhattan high society. Elegant, witty, compact, gay — Capote was a fixture of swanky nightclubs and arm candy to wealthy, well-connected women.

One project would entirely change his life — the completion of the classic In Cold Blood, a ‘non-fiction novel’ about a horrible murder in Kansas. Retreating from his many years of research, Truman decided to throw a party.

But this wasn’t ANY party. This soiree — a masquerade ball at the Plaza Hotel — would have the greatest assemblage of famous folks ever gathered for something so entirely frivolous. An invite to the ball was the true golden ticket, coveted by every celebrity and social climber in America.

Come with us as we give you a tour of the planning of the Black and White Ball and a few glamorous details from that strange, glorious evening.

FEATURING: Harper Lee, Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, Robert Frost, Lillian Hellman, Halston, Katharine Graham and a cast of thousands (well, or just 540)

Truman Capote in 1945

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From the unusual book jacket of Other Voices, Other Rooms, 1948

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Babe Paley with Truman Capote in Capri, early 1960s

Courtesy the Red List
Courtesy the Red List

Capote in Kansas, at the grave of the Clutter family, their murder being the inspiration for his book In Cold Blood.

1967, Holcomb, Kansas, USA --- Author Truman Capote poses at the grave of the murdered Clutter family, made famous in his novel and in the film . --- Image by © Bob Adelman/Corbis
1967, Holcomb, Kansas, USA — Author Truman Capote poses at the grave of the murdered Clutter family, made famous in his novel and in the film.  — Image by © Bob Adelman/Corbis

Just a few days before the party, this is what New York City looked like — draped in a toxic smog.

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Truman Capote with his guest of honor — Katharine Graham

BETTMANN/CORBIS
BETTMANN/CORBIS

Graham is on the left and Capote is front and center, but the real action is Lauren Bacall and Jerome Robbins at right.

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Mrs. Jason Robards Jr. dancing with Jerome Robbins at Truman Capote's party *** Local Caption *** Lauren Bacall;Jerome Robbins;

©Lawrence Fried or photo by Lawrence Fried. 

Supermodel Penelope Tree looks a little bit like Batgirl here.

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Andy Warhol came to the party without a mask.

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Norman Mailer and an unidentified guest.

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One of the most talked about couples of the evening — Frank Sinatra and his new bride (with a new haircut) Mia Farrow.

Conde Nast Archive / Corbis / East News.
Photo courtesy ©Lawrence Fried

FURTHER LISTENING

Two other New York cultural icon — who happened to be invited to Capote’s dance:

Some context on the New York ball/society scene, courtesy The Gilded Gentleman

FURTHER READING

Truman Capote / Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Truman Capote / In Cold Blood
Truman Capote / Other Voices, Other Rooms
Truman Capote / “La Côte Basque 1965” and Answered Prayers
Deborah Davis / Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball
George Plimpton / “Was Truman Capote’s Black-and-White Ball the Greatest Party Ever?” Esquire 1991
Guy Trebay / “50 Years Ago, Truman Capote Hosted the Best Party Ever,” New York Times, 2016
Ralph Voss / Truman Capote and the Legacy of “In Cold Blood”

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Landmarks

In ‘The Post’, Katharine Graham returns to the scene of the party — the Plaza Hotel

Paul Hosefros/The New York Times

Journalism history is on full, optimistic display in the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Post, starring Meryl Streep as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. In this fast-paced drama, Graham heads a newsroom (headed by Ben Bradlee, played by Tom Hanks) in possession of the Pentagon Papers, damning reports exposing the U.S. government’s clandestine decision-making during the Vietnam War.

While the film is naturally set in the Washington D.C. surrounding area, The Post occasionally takes visits to 1971 New York City, at one point even visiting the New York Times 43rd Street office off Times Square. We like to imagine The Post shares the same universe as this fall’s HBO drama The Deuce, also set in 1971 and taking place on 42nd Street, one block away from the Times building.

We always love when we get to see Streep on the streets of New York City and thankfully we get a scene with Graham meeting up with an editor of the New York Times in a very familiar location – the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel. 

Paul Hosefros/The New York Times.

Above: The Oak Room in 1974

Now why would Graham meet her Times contact at the Oak Room?

Interestingly, the wedding of Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower — held at the Plaza a few days before Christmas in 1968 — is referenced early in the film.

But the scene is also a nod to a somewhat wackier moment in Graham’s personal biography — Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball.

In 1966, Capote had released In Cold Blood and was at the height of his popularity and social prominence. And he wanted to celebrate this by throwing an impossibly lavish ball at the Plaza. Invitations were sent to the most famous people in the world, a most curious assortment of notables.

 

But he insisted he throw the party in honor …. of somebody. And the somebody he chose was Katharine Graham.

In her words: “Truman called me up that summer and said, ‘I think you need cheering up. And I’m going to give you a ball.’…I was…sort of baffled….I felt a little bit like Truman was going to give the ball anyway and that I was part of the props.”

How was the party? For more information please listen to our podcast on Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball.

And to take a look at what the actress playing Graham was up to in the 1970s, check out the Bowery Boys article on Meryl Streep’s early adventures in New York City.