Lisa Birnbach and Mark Harris
My guest this week is Mark Harris, the very smart and stylish journalist who became Mike Nichols’ biographer. His new book, Mike Nichols, A Life has just been published by Penguin, and what a read it is. It is unputdownable if, like me, you love reading about the creative process of one of the great directors, whose collaborations started with Elaine May and then Buck Henry and went up to Natalie Portman and Andrew Garfield. Harris’ book takes you to Broadway and Hollywood from the 60s till 2014. And what a life that was. Mark is a writer for New York Magazine, who has written other books about film, Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, and Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. He is married to Tony Kushner.
I have two things to say: the first is that at no time over the past weekend did I worry about what was brewing at the White House, and that felt fantastic. There is a grown-up in charge; in fact there are many grown-ups in positions of power and authority in Washington, and what a relief that is. But there is such a mantle of hypocrisy draped over the Congress – it’s truly demoralizing. Neera Tanden is “unapprovable” because of a few tweets she wrote during the terrible years of Trump, even though nothing she said was close to the poison said by Trump or Pompeo or McConnell or Jim Jordan, etc. etc. Lindsay Graham, probably the most pious hypocrite of them all, read her tweets aloud while he was questioning her. I know he never read Trump’s tweets aloud in the chamber. Come on. As Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post, “… after four years of excusing lies, racism, vulgarity, lawbreaking and self-dealing by the Trump administration, your idea of healing is to defeat Biden nominees for speaking the truth.”
To those addled and possibly disturbed people who have somehow fallen under the sway of the QAnon, I can only shrug and hope they regain their senses.
Also, this is the week in which we finally need to take our little puppy outdoors to go to the bathroom. That first pee, before 7 am is difficult. But I kind of like a routine, as I otherwise have none. Sheila is so excited by all the noise and other dogs and smells and people, and especially little bits of things she shouldn’t eat that the walk is a bit of a challenge, but the dog-walking world is mostly friendly and inviting. So here we are again.
But life with a dog is in no way as exciting as life with my #Exhibits ™, and I have to say I am missing mine. I’ve had a few great days with Exhibit C lately, which make my heart feel swollen with happiness. The ones in California I haven’t hugged or seen in person since September, and that is just too long. Luckily, I received my first shot of Moderna, and perhaps I will be able to see them before the summer.
NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE where you’ll see the full unedited interview - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO! It helps get my podcast noticed.
Before we get to Mark Harris, here is my list of five things that make life better:
1. Our dog breeders, April and Sue. They kept us informed right after the litter was born, and we visited our dog to be several times before we took her home. If any of you want to get a cavapoo from a good family, let me know and I’ll hook you up.
Crate training
2. Our dog trainer, Sam Schmidt. There is no way that two people who have never raised a puppy before (or even babies together in the 20th century) could manage this adventure without some expert guidance. (I have only adopted older dogs before now.) Sam is experienced, smart, calm, and fun. I look forward to her visits and feel immensely grateful to have her in our lives.
3. Bulgarian feta. Yes, feta cheese. I had always thought that Feta was Greek (it is, mostly) and that at its very best it came from Greece. Then I learned from ExhibitA and his then fiancée (now his wife and my daughter-in-law) that Bulgarian feta was where it’s at. It is slightly less sharp than Greek feta and it is less salty. I crumble it on top of salads and avocado toast, and am always happy when I have some in the fridge. I get mine from Zabar’s.
4. Dolly Parton, who in her giggly easy way got her Moderna vaccine on camera, chiding nay-sayers as cowards. She didn’t say that she helped finance their research. What a hero she is. (She replaced the lyric “Jolene” with “Vaccine”.)
5. “The Graduate”. With Mike Nichols on my mind, I revisited the first movie he ever directed. Written by Calder Winningham and Buck Henry, and starring newcomer Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, “The Graduate” gets at the feelings of isolation, directionlessness, and decadence in a sunlit Southern California world of plenty – plenty of drinks, plenty of free time, plenty of money, plenty of frustration. The love story that takes hold still takes ones breath away. The film holds up, but feels new each time I see it.
Sheet pan cooking
More About Mark Harris
By Mark Haris
Published by Penguin Press
Twitter: @MarkHarrisNYC
Facebook: @markharrisnyc.
The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC. My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.The Field in NYC.