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[soft music]
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[man] How did you
discover Tom Wolfe?
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00:00:17,041 --> 00:00:21,666
Um, I was, uh,
maybe 12 or 13 years old.
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00:00:21,666 --> 00:00:23,166
That age.
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00:00:23,166 --> 00:00:25,791
Um, living in
New Orleans, Louisiana.
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00:00:25,791 --> 00:00:27,958
Not a particularly
literary place.
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00:00:27,958 --> 00:00:29,958
Didn't really know anybody
who wrote books.
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00:00:29,958 --> 00:00:32,250
Didn't know anybody who knew
anybody who wrote books.
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00:00:32,250 --> 00:00:33,625
Barely knew people
who read books.
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00:00:33,625 --> 00:00:36,125
But my father
was a big exception.
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00:00:36,125 --> 00:00:40,291
And, uh, he had
a shelf of books,
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00:00:40,291 --> 00:00:42,250
and some of the books
were by Tom Wolfe.
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00:00:42,250 --> 00:00:44,125
And I just--I don't know why,
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00:00:44,125 --> 00:00:45,166
I'll tell you why,
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00:00:45,166 --> 00:00:46,750
I grabbed the books
off the shelf
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00:00:46,750 --> 00:00:48,375
'cause there might be
something dirty in them.
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00:00:48,375 --> 00:00:52,000
I pulled down Radical Chic,
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00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000
and I--you know, I really--
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00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:55,250
I was not a worldly kid.
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00:00:55,250 --> 00:00:57,208
I didn't know who
Leonard Bernstein was,
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00:00:57,208 --> 00:00:59,750
I did not know what
the Black Panthers were,
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00:00:59,750 --> 00:01:02,958
I really didn't have
much sense of anything.
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00:01:02,958 --> 00:01:04,875
And nevertheless, I was
rolling around on the floor
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00:01:04,875 --> 00:01:06,208
laughing with this thing.
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00:01:06,208 --> 00:01:08,958
And I do remember--
I had this--this sensation.
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00:01:08,958 --> 00:01:10,541
Someone wrote this book.
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00:01:10,541 --> 00:01:12,125
Up to that point,
all the books I read,
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00:01:12,125 --> 00:01:13,750
I paid no attention
to who had written them
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00:01:13,750 --> 00:01:15,708
or that they had been
written by anybody.
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00:01:15,708 --> 00:01:17,416
Uh, I didn't think--
the Hardy Boys series,
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00:01:17,416 --> 00:01:18,958
I went through all 38 volumes.
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00:01:18,958 --> 00:01:20,791
It didn't occur to me
that there was an author,
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00:01:20,791 --> 00:01:22,583
because the author
really wasn't in your face
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00:01:22,583 --> 00:01:24,625
as a--as a personality.
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00:01:24,625 --> 00:01:26,458
And even though Tom
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00:01:26,458 --> 00:01:28,833
wasn't really talking
about himself very much,
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00:01:28,833 --> 00:01:30,000
there was this, boom,
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00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,416
this personality
comin' off the page.
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00:01:31,416 --> 00:01:34,000
And I remember wondering,
"Who--who wrote this?"
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00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,791
You know, and I--you know,
"Who's Tom Wolfe?"
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00:01:36,791 --> 00:01:39,291
[energetic rock music]
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The book's cover indicates
that the author is, in fact,
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a bigger event than the book.
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00:01:48,125 --> 00:01:49,833
I don't find anything
objectionable about that.
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00:01:53,375 --> 00:01:55,458
Is anyone likely
to be bitterly upset
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00:01:55,458 --> 00:01:57,416
-at you over this...
-[man] ...controversial...
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00:01:57,416 --> 00:01:58,625
-[man] ...cynical...
-[man] ...devastating...
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00:01:58,625 --> 00:02:00,583
-[man] ...outlandish...
-[woman] ...mean...
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00:02:00,583 --> 00:02:01,666
I don't know about that.
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00:02:11,500 --> 00:02:14,000
[man] His book has been
called a masterpiece.
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00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:15,208
-Very revealing.
-Witty.
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00:02:15,208 --> 00:02:16,291
-Powerful.
-Complex.
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00:02:16,291 --> 00:02:17,291
-Shocking.
-Brilliant.
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00:02:17,291 --> 00:02:19,083
It was absolutely fascinating.
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00:02:19,083 --> 00:02:21,083
[typewriter clicking]
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00:02:24,916 --> 00:02:27,583
[Tom Wolfe] If you
wanna be a writer,
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00:02:27,583 --> 00:02:29,208
you've gotta stand
in the middle of the track
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00:02:29,208 --> 00:02:31,041
to see how fast the train goes.
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00:02:37,333 --> 00:02:39,250
[man] It's just amazing
the way life will open up
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00:02:39,250 --> 00:02:42,333
if you're just forced to go
into somebody else's world.
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00:02:44,458 --> 00:02:45,708
[music stops]
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[TV Host] Tom Wolfe is probably
the most skillful writer
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00:02:52,250 --> 00:02:53,875
in America.
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00:02:53,875 --> 00:02:56,166
I mean by that that he can do
more things with words
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than anyone else.
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00:02:58,083 --> 00:03:00,750
[soft music]
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00:03:00,750 --> 00:03:04,416
[Tom Junod] Nobody is
writing like Tom Wolfe today.
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00:03:04,416 --> 00:03:06,791
And nobody really has
written like Tom Wolfe.
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00:03:06,791 --> 00:03:09,250
Every 43-year-old
Cablevision linesman's out
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00:03:09,250 --> 00:03:11,291
on the disco floor
with his red eyes beaming
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00:03:11,291 --> 00:03:13,375
through his
walnut-shell eyelids,
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00:03:13,375 --> 00:03:15,416
dancing with his third wife
or his new cookie
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00:03:15,416 --> 00:03:18,000
till the onset of dawn,
a saline depletion.
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00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:19,166
And in this century,
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00:03:19,166 --> 00:03:22,125
the robust, full-blooded
American century,
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00:03:22,125 --> 00:03:24,166
what do we have in the way
of architecture?
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00:03:24,166 --> 00:03:28,041
There's like this reality
that everybody's missing
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that's a very persuasive
version of reality
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that's his reality.
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Up against a love like this,
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that first night
on the disco floor.
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00:03:36,125 --> 00:03:38,333
She wore a pair
of boxing trunks,
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00:03:38,333 --> 00:03:40,458
while leather punks
and sado-zulus,
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00:03:40,458 --> 00:03:42,541
African queens,
and painted lulus
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00:03:42,541 --> 00:03:43,875
paid her court.
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00:03:43,875 --> 00:03:47,125
I grow old the 1970s way.
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00:03:47,125 --> 00:03:51,125
[Niall] His books
captured the moment
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00:03:51,125 --> 00:03:53,083
better than anything else.
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00:03:53,083 --> 00:03:54,708
[soft music]
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00:03:54,708 --> 00:04:00,666
Wolfe's writing fundamentally
changed American literature.
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00:04:00,666 --> 00:04:02,833
[Tom Wolfe] It's really only
Eng lit intellectuals
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00:04:02,833 --> 00:04:04,250
and Krishna groovies
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00:04:04,250 --> 00:04:07,208
who try to despise
the machine in America.
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00:04:07,208 --> 00:04:09,041
The idea that
we're trapped by machines
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00:04:09,041 --> 00:04:11,375
is a piece
of 19th century romanticism
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00:04:11,375 --> 00:04:13,291
invented by
marvelous old frauds
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00:04:13,291 --> 00:04:15,375
like Thoreau
and William Morris.
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00:04:17,625 --> 00:04:19,958
He was
a contradictory character.
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00:04:19,958 --> 00:04:23,166
You would never know from
being with Tom Wolfe in person,
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00:04:23,166 --> 00:04:26,166
that same guy
could write that way.
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Such a polite person.
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00:04:27,625 --> 00:04:30,166
Such a well-mannered person.
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With a pen in his hand,
he could be a terrorist.
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00:04:32,666 --> 00:04:36,750
Tom Wolfe has written another
book and mocked another icon.
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00:04:36,750 --> 00:04:41,000
To go after Leonard Bernstein
and modern art in one lifetime
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00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,708
is to stretch the bounds
of the First Amendment
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00:04:43,708 --> 00:04:45,666
beyond the point intended.
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00:04:45,666 --> 00:04:50,750
Why was that writing allowed
to be so out there?
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00:04:52,625 --> 00:04:58,125
I wouldn't have the guts
to write about people that way.
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00:04:58,125 --> 00:05:01,000
[Tom Junod] You know, I look
at him as a role model,
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00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,125
but as an imperfect role model.
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00:05:05,125 --> 00:05:07,500
But I don't think
that anybody else
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00:05:07,500 --> 00:05:10,708
took the chances
that Tom Wolfe took,
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00:05:10,708 --> 00:05:13,708
not just stylistically
but also morally.
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00:05:13,708 --> 00:05:16,208
[William] Is it
correct to conclude
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00:05:16,208 --> 00:05:19,625
that you show
a lack of compassion?
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00:05:19,625 --> 00:05:21,125
I don't--I really
don't care whether--
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00:05:21,125 --> 00:05:24,791
I mean, it's not so much having
or not having compassion.
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00:05:24,791 --> 00:05:26,916
I really see my role
in anything of the sort,
122
00:05:26,916 --> 00:05:28,500
and, in fact, I always have,
123
00:05:28,500 --> 00:05:32,583
as--as to discover in some way.
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00:05:34,791 --> 00:05:36,916
The truth is
always revolutionary.
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00:05:41,250 --> 00:05:43,750
[projector whirring]
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00:05:43,750 --> 00:05:46,125
[bright piano music]
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00:05:46,125 --> 00:05:47,791
[Alex] Wolfe had
been a reporter,
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00:05:47,791 --> 00:05:50,458
first in Springfield and then
with the Washington Post.
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00:05:50,458 --> 00:05:52,375
And came to New York
to the Herald Tribune.
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00:05:54,500 --> 00:05:56,041
[Michael] Up to that point,
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00:05:56,041 --> 00:05:58,666
the newspaper does not
encourage a distinctive voice
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00:05:58,666 --> 00:06:01,291
to sound unlike anybody else.
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00:06:01,291 --> 00:06:03,458
Here's today's front page story.
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00:06:03,458 --> 00:06:05,791
The Northeast District
of Barbershop Quartets
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00:06:05,791 --> 00:06:07,583
is holding
its annual convention
136
00:06:07,583 --> 00:06:09,083
in Providence this weekend.
137
00:06:09,083 --> 00:06:11,208
Welcome aboard once again,
let's see what kind of weather,
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00:06:11,208 --> 00:06:12,708
and we're really having
the weather these days,
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00:06:12,708 --> 00:06:13,875
I'll tell you.
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00:06:13,875 --> 00:06:16,083
[Gail] There was
no sense of style.
141
00:06:16,083 --> 00:06:18,875
Uh, everything had to be
in the first paragraph.
142
00:06:18,875 --> 00:06:20,750
Who, what, when, where, why.
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00:06:20,750 --> 00:06:24,083
And that was a constant
in news stories.
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00:06:24,083 --> 00:06:26,458
Wolfe wanted
to break out of that.
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00:06:26,458 --> 00:06:30,333
[Tom Wolfe] There was a neutral
so-called objective voice
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00:06:30,333 --> 00:06:34,916
that journalists were expected
to assume at that time.
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00:06:34,916 --> 00:06:37,458
And I had, frankly,
found it absolutely boring.
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00:06:37,458 --> 00:06:38,625
[explosion]
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00:06:38,625 --> 00:06:40,625
[cash register chimes]
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00:06:40,625 --> 00:06:44,291
I did have a kind of
a involuntary epiphanal moment
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00:06:44,291 --> 00:06:46,625
Late in '62,
a newspaper strike began.
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00:06:46,625 --> 00:06:49,083
I was by now working for
the New York Herald Tribune.
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00:06:49,083 --> 00:06:51,333
And I suddenly found myself
out of a job.
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00:06:53,458 --> 00:06:54,666
I needed to make some money,
155
00:06:54,666 --> 00:06:56,208
so I went over
to Esquire Magazine
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00:06:56,208 --> 00:06:59,791
and sold them on the idea
of a story on customized cars,
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00:06:59,791 --> 00:07:01,625
which at that time
were being made
158
00:07:01,625 --> 00:07:06,041
in very fanciful forms
by teenagers in Los Angeles.
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00:07:06,041 --> 00:07:08,375
[engine revving]
160
00:07:08,375 --> 00:07:10,625
So they said, "Okay,
go on out to California
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00:07:10,625 --> 00:07:11,875
and do this story."
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00:07:14,625 --> 00:07:16,750
I remember checking into
the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel,
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00:07:16,750 --> 00:07:18,291
and over the course
of four weeks
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00:07:18,291 --> 00:07:20,750
running up this enormous bill.
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00:07:20,750 --> 00:07:23,333
And suddenly I found myself
in this incredible world
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00:07:23,333 --> 00:07:26,583
of automobile expression
that I didn't know existed,
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00:07:26,583 --> 00:07:29,083
and I really didn't feel
capable to deal with.
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00:07:29,083 --> 00:07:31,708
I--I couldn't get
the concepts straight
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00:07:31,708 --> 00:07:32,916
that I could use for it.
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00:07:32,916 --> 00:07:34,416
It was just something
completely new.
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00:07:34,416 --> 00:07:35,416
[lights clicking]
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00:07:35,416 --> 00:07:37,041
[tires screeching]
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00:07:37,041 --> 00:07:39,083
I came back and I was
gonna write this thing,
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00:07:39,083 --> 00:07:41,208
and Esquire had
this big double-page
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00:07:41,208 --> 00:07:44,208
of color photography locked
into the presses by this time,
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00:07:44,208 --> 00:07:45,625
and I simply couldn't write it.
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00:07:45,625 --> 00:07:48,250
And in those days, you had
to print color in advance.
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00:07:48,250 --> 00:07:51,041
So we literally
printed those pages.
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00:07:53,083 --> 00:07:54,666
[Tom Wolfe] I came
back to New York
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00:07:54,666 --> 00:07:56,458
and found myself
utterly blocked.
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00:07:56,458 --> 00:07:58,500
I could not write this story.
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00:07:58,500 --> 00:07:59,916
And I said, "Byron, I'm sorry,
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00:07:59,916 --> 00:08:01,875
I just have to drop
the assignment."
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00:08:01,875 --> 00:08:03,375
And he says,
"You can't do that."
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00:08:03,375 --> 00:08:05,500
We have to justify
the color picture.
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00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:08,708
We need something
to go up against that page.
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00:08:08,708 --> 00:08:10,333
[Tom Wolfe] He said
it cost his father $10,000
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00:08:10,333 --> 00:08:12,375
to pull this thing
off the presses,
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00:08:12,375 --> 00:08:14,416
we've gotta have a story,
and if you can't write it,
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00:08:14,416 --> 00:08:16,250
you give us your notes
191
00:08:16,250 --> 00:08:18,458
and we'll get
some competent writer
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00:08:18,458 --> 00:08:21,041
to put them together.
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00:08:21,041 --> 00:08:22,875
So I sat down
one night about 8:00,
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00:08:22,875 --> 00:08:23,958
and I started typing up--
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00:08:23,958 --> 00:08:25,166
I started typing up
these notes.
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00:08:25,166 --> 00:08:26,416
The notes
in the form of a memorandum...
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00:08:26,416 --> 00:08:28,125
"Dear Byron,
the first place I saw..."
198
00:08:28,125 --> 00:08:29,708
The first thing I saw...
199
00:08:29,708 --> 00:08:32,125
[overlapping speaking]
200
00:08:32,125 --> 00:08:33,208
Very flat, straight out...
201
00:08:33,208 --> 00:08:34,250
As fast as I could do it...
202
00:08:34,250 --> 00:08:35,250
Presentation of what I...
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00:08:35,250 --> 00:08:36,250
Humiliating...
204
00:08:36,250 --> 00:08:37,666
And the first thing I knew,
205
00:08:37,666 --> 00:08:40,666
is I started just
recounting in sequence,
206
00:08:40,666 --> 00:08:43,333
the thing began taking on
a pattern in my mind.
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00:08:43,333 --> 00:08:44,333
It began falling into place,
208
00:08:44,333 --> 00:08:45,625
and I began to see
209
00:08:45,625 --> 00:08:49,666
exactly what I had
been studying out there.
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00:08:49,666 --> 00:08:51,458
[Jon Hamm] We were in
the buried netherworld
211
00:08:51,458 --> 00:08:53,083
of teenage California.
212
00:08:53,083 --> 00:08:54,583
It was a hell of a show.
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00:08:54,583 --> 00:08:57,458
Sex, power, motion.
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00:08:57,458 --> 00:08:59,500
The main thing
you notice is the color.
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00:08:59,500 --> 00:09:01,125
Tangerine-Flake.
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00:09:01,125 --> 00:09:02,875
Loud varoom, varoom motors.
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00:09:02,875 --> 00:09:05,750
Ossified
semi-precious tangerine.
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00:09:05,750 --> 00:09:07,541
[soft music]
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00:09:07,541 --> 00:09:09,791
[Tom Wolfe] I ended up
typing at top speed
220
00:09:09,791 --> 00:09:11,916
for about eight or nine hours.
221
00:09:11,916 --> 00:09:12,916
I wrote all night,
222
00:09:12,916 --> 00:09:14,208
and by 6:30 in the morning,
223
00:09:14,208 --> 00:09:16,291
I had a 49-page memorandum...
224
00:09:16,291 --> 00:09:17,416
50 typewritten pages...
225
00:09:17,416 --> 00:09:18,791
And I was about dead
by that time.
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00:09:18,791 --> 00:09:20,208
I took this over to Esquire.
227
00:09:20,208 --> 00:09:21,833
I just picked it all up
and went to the Esquire office.
228
00:09:21,833 --> 00:09:23,500
Turned it in about 9:00
in the morning,
229
00:09:23,500 --> 00:09:25,375
went home to sleep.
230
00:09:25,375 --> 00:09:27,458
And I got a call
about 4:00 that afternoon
231
00:09:27,458 --> 00:09:28,541
from Byron Dobell.
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00:09:28,541 --> 00:09:31,125
[telephone ringing]
233
00:09:34,708 --> 00:09:36,833
-[receiver picks up]
-It's a masterpiece.
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00:09:36,833 --> 00:09:38,041
This is unbelievable.
235
00:09:38,041 --> 00:09:40,125
We'd never seen
anything like this.
236
00:09:40,125 --> 00:09:41,750
And I struck out
the "Dear Byron"
237
00:09:41,750 --> 00:09:44,250
and I struck out
the parting words.
238
00:09:44,250 --> 00:09:45,250
And we ran it.
239
00:09:45,250 --> 00:09:46,666
[engine revving]
240
00:09:46,666 --> 00:09:47,958
[energetic music]
241
00:09:47,958 --> 00:09:49,500
[Jon Hamm] There Goes
That Kandy-Kolored
242
00:09:49,500 --> 00:09:52,000
Tangerine-Flake
Streamline Baby.
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00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,500
[engines revving]
244
00:09:58,333 --> 00:09:59,583
And that made him famous.
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00:09:59,583 --> 00:10:00,875
[bright music]
246
00:10:00,875 --> 00:10:02,000
[Michael] 18 months.
247
00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,166
It takes 18 months
between the time
248
00:10:04,166 --> 00:10:06,750
Tom Wolfe is actually
worried about having money
249
00:10:06,750 --> 00:10:10,083
to being a cult figure
in New York City.
250
00:10:10,083 --> 00:10:11,750
All of a sudden,
he's famous.
251
00:10:11,750 --> 00:10:14,541
And it was the result
of a single magazine article.
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00:10:14,541 --> 00:10:16,083
[mellow jazz music]
253
00:10:16,083 --> 00:10:17,625
There are letters
in the archives
254
00:10:17,625 --> 00:10:19,916
from people writing in
to the editors of Esquire
255
00:10:19,916 --> 00:10:21,375
saying, "Who is this fellow?
256
00:10:21,375 --> 00:10:23,833
Everybody's talking about him."
257
00:10:26,458 --> 00:10:28,708
I think if you started
to get a little famous
258
00:10:28,708 --> 00:10:33,083
as a writer in the late '60s,
early '70s in the United States,
259
00:10:33,083 --> 00:10:35,541
you had some obligation
to be a character.
260
00:10:35,541 --> 00:10:38,000
You could be outrageous
like Hunter Thompson.
261
00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:39,000
[gunshot]
262
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,708
You could be pseudo Englishman
263
00:10:40,708 --> 00:10:43,125
-like William F. Buckley.
-[William] I don't deny it.
264
00:10:43,125 --> 00:10:44,625
[Michael]
You could stab your wife
265
00:10:44,625 --> 00:10:46,583
-like Norman Mailer.
-[Norman] That's true.
266
00:10:46,583 --> 00:10:48,958
[Michael] And the white suit
enabled people
267
00:10:48,958 --> 00:10:53,208
to think of him as this
great, unusual character.
268
00:10:53,208 --> 00:10:56,791
What is the basic
religious reason
269
00:10:56,791 --> 00:11:00,458
for your always wearing
that light-colored white suit?
270
00:11:00,458 --> 00:11:02,333
[narrator] Tom Wolfe
may be considered by some
271
00:11:02,333 --> 00:11:04,500
to be every inch a dandy.
272
00:11:04,500 --> 00:11:06,791
He stalks his East Side
New York neighborhood
273
00:11:06,791 --> 00:11:09,583
like an immaculate
white Persian cat.
274
00:11:09,583 --> 00:11:12,083
But he's neither Persian
nor a New Yorker.
275
00:11:12,083 --> 00:11:14,125
He's a transplanted Virginian.
276
00:11:16,375 --> 00:11:18,291
What you wear
in Richmond, Virginia,
277
00:11:18,291 --> 00:11:19,958
in the summer is a white suit.
278
00:11:19,958 --> 00:11:23,458
And he realized it made him
interesting to people.
279
00:11:23,458 --> 00:11:26,375
About seven years ago
when I first came to New York,
280
00:11:26,375 --> 00:11:28,541
I went into a tailor shop
281
00:11:28,541 --> 00:11:31,166
and I saw some
white silk tweed material
282
00:11:31,166 --> 00:11:32,375
I thought was terrific,
283
00:11:32,375 --> 00:11:34,625
so I figured I had
to have a suit made.
284
00:11:34,625 --> 00:11:37,875
So I had it made, and I was
gonna wear it in the summer.
285
00:11:37,875 --> 00:11:40,125
When I put it on,
white silk tweed,
286
00:11:40,125 --> 00:11:42,208
even if it's white,
silk tweed is very hot,
287
00:11:42,208 --> 00:11:43,458
so I--and I couldn't stand it.
288
00:11:43,458 --> 00:11:46,000
So I started wearing it
the next January.
289
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,375
Then I discovered
an incredible thing,
290
00:11:48,375 --> 00:11:50,625
which was that clothes
291
00:11:50,625 --> 00:11:53,291
are an intensely powerful
form of communication.
292
00:11:53,291 --> 00:11:54,708
[pencil scribbling]
293
00:11:54,708 --> 00:11:57,750
You can create a kind of
other life in a uniform.
294
00:11:57,750 --> 00:12:00,250
[quirky music]
295
00:12:07,458 --> 00:12:09,125
[Alexandra] Growing up,
I started to realize
296
00:12:09,125 --> 00:12:10,750
that he wasn't like
the other dads,
297
00:12:10,750 --> 00:12:13,000
like he wore
a big cape to school,
298
00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,666
he wore a top hat,
he had a pocket watch.
299
00:12:15,666 --> 00:12:21,083
Everything was sort of that
Southern sort of polite charm,
300
00:12:21,083 --> 00:12:22,250
in a way.
301
00:12:22,250 --> 00:12:25,541
[mellow music]
302
00:12:25,541 --> 00:12:27,458
[Michael] He was raised
in Richmond, Virginia,
303
00:12:27,458 --> 00:12:29,541
in the 1930s and '40s and '50s.
304
00:12:31,375 --> 00:12:33,250
He was probably the pride
and joy of his parents
305
00:12:33,250 --> 00:12:34,833
right from the beginning.
306
00:12:34,833 --> 00:12:36,875
He would have been
raised a stoic.
307
00:12:36,875 --> 00:12:38,083
He would have been raised
308
00:12:38,083 --> 00:12:40,291
someone who admired
athletes and war heroes.
309
00:12:40,291 --> 00:12:41,333
[baseball cracks]
310
00:12:41,333 --> 00:12:43,000
[Tom Wolfe]
When I was very young,
311
00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:47,833
I decided that I wanted to be
either a writer or an artist.
312
00:12:47,833 --> 00:12:51,958
My mother encouraged me
a lot in art.
313
00:12:51,958 --> 00:12:54,041
And my father was a scientist,
314
00:12:54,041 --> 00:12:56,250
He was editing a magazine
called The Southern Planter.
315
00:12:56,250 --> 00:12:59,000
And every week he would write
an editorial or something
316
00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:00,166
for the magazine.
317
00:13:00,166 --> 00:13:02,458
And I thought
that was quite magical.
318
00:13:02,458 --> 00:13:05,833
He had a kind
of quiet confidence.
319
00:13:07,208 --> 00:13:09,750
And I think it's
because he was rooted
320
00:13:09,750 --> 00:13:13,041
in a way that
very few writers are.
321
00:13:13,041 --> 00:13:15,625
[projector whirring]
322
00:13:15,625 --> 00:13:18,625
[Michael] His desire to protect
the reputation of that world
323
00:13:18,625 --> 00:13:20,208
is a powerful thing.
324
00:13:20,208 --> 00:13:22,708
[energetic music]
325
00:13:25,708 --> 00:13:29,541
[engine revving]
326
00:13:29,541 --> 00:13:32,250
[Jon Hamm] The legend
of Junior Johnson.
327
00:13:32,250 --> 00:13:35,375
In this legend, here is
a country boy, Junior Johnson,
328
00:13:35,375 --> 00:13:38,375
who learns to drive by
running whiskey for his father,
329
00:13:38,375 --> 00:13:41,625
up in Ingle Hollow,
near North Wilkesboro,
330
00:13:41,625 --> 00:13:44,458
in northwestern North Carolina,
331
00:13:44,458 --> 00:13:47,416
and grows up to be a famous
stock-car racing driver.
332
00:13:47,416 --> 00:13:49,000
[energetic music]
333
00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,208
As the motor thunder begins to
lift up through him like a sigh
334
00:13:52,208 --> 00:13:53,916
and his eyeballs glaze over
335
00:13:53,916 --> 00:13:56,125
and his hands
reach up and there,
336
00:13:56,125 --> 00:13:57,250
riding the rim of the bowl,
337
00:13:57,250 --> 00:14:00,416
forever rousing
the good old boys,
338
00:14:00,416 --> 00:14:01,708
hard-charging!
339
00:14:01,708 --> 00:14:04,541
Up with the automobile
into their America,
340
00:14:04,541 --> 00:14:06,833
and to hell with
arteriosclerotic old boys
341
00:14:06,833 --> 00:14:08,500
trying to hold
onto the whole pot
342
00:14:08,500 --> 00:14:10,583
with arms of cotton seersucker.
343
00:14:11,625 --> 00:14:12,750
Junior!
344
00:14:13,375 --> 00:14:14,375
Junior!
345
00:14:14,375 --> 00:14:16,833
[dramatic music]
346
00:14:19,083 --> 00:14:21,666
One of the mysteries
of Tom Wolfe, to me,
347
00:14:21,666 --> 00:14:23,541
is how he persuades
all these people
348
00:14:23,541 --> 00:14:25,291
who aren't
particularly interested
349
00:14:25,291 --> 00:14:27,083
in letting anyone
into their lives,
350
00:14:27,083 --> 00:14:28,750
much less some journalist,
351
00:14:28,750 --> 00:14:31,166
into letting him
into their lives.
352
00:14:31,166 --> 00:14:33,666
[Junior] I thought
he was a crank,
353
00:14:33,666 --> 00:14:35,250
to tell you the honest truth.
354
00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:37,041
Wool suit on,
355
00:14:37,041 --> 00:14:40,541
and it was
101 temperature here.
356
00:14:40,541 --> 00:14:42,375
It was just funny.
357
00:14:42,375 --> 00:14:44,875
[engines revving]
358
00:14:46,875 --> 00:14:48,375
[Alex] Not only did he capture
359
00:14:48,375 --> 00:14:50,791
this little subculture
of NASCAR
360
00:14:50,791 --> 00:14:54,208
that had not been exposed
to a national audience,
361
00:14:54,208 --> 00:14:57,541
he was also describing this
sort of great folklore hero.
362
00:14:59,625 --> 00:15:03,333
Junior Johnson was
the son of a bootlegger.
363
00:15:03,333 --> 00:15:05,250
That's how he learned to drive.
364
00:15:05,250 --> 00:15:08,666
He was driving moonshine around
and getting chased by cops.
365
00:15:08,666 --> 00:15:10,208
[Michael] What Wolfe does
is he gets you feeling that
366
00:15:10,208 --> 00:15:12,833
when you're watching Junior
Johnson in a NASCAR race,
367
00:15:12,833 --> 00:15:14,166
the cops are right behind you.
368
00:15:14,166 --> 00:15:16,791
[tires screeching,
vehicles clattering]
369
00:15:16,791 --> 00:15:17,791
[camera bulb flashes]
370
00:15:17,791 --> 00:15:19,000
[pensive music]
371
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:20,541
Wolfe does this over and again.
372
00:15:20,541 --> 00:15:22,500
He takes something
that's just a--
373
00:15:22,500 --> 00:15:23,958
just a person, a character,
374
00:15:23,958 --> 00:15:25,041
and he makes that character
375
00:15:25,041 --> 00:15:26,791
stand for something
much bigger.
376
00:15:26,791 --> 00:15:28,958
He traces the origins
of this sport
377
00:15:28,958 --> 00:15:31,041
that is gripping
America's imagination.
378
00:15:31,041 --> 00:15:33,708
He tracks it to this man.
379
00:15:33,708 --> 00:15:34,833
He's expressing
between the lines
380
00:15:34,833 --> 00:15:37,166
his deepest admiration
for a character
381
00:15:37,166 --> 00:15:40,208
that journalists
don't normally admire.
382
00:15:44,708 --> 00:15:46,541
[Alex] Junior Johnson
said that that story
383
00:15:46,541 --> 00:15:49,375
that Wolfe wrote about him
helped change his life.
384
00:15:49,375 --> 00:15:51,541
[engines revving]
385
00:15:51,541 --> 00:15:54,875
[Tom Junod] You can't look
at stock cars to this day
386
00:15:54,875 --> 00:15:57,666
without thinking
of Junior Johnson
387
00:15:57,666 --> 00:16:01,041
and Tom Wolfe's take
on that world.
388
00:16:01,041 --> 00:16:04,375
He's drawing the attention
of Blue America to Red America.
389
00:16:04,375 --> 00:16:06,625
He's saying,
"This is who we are."
390
00:16:06,625 --> 00:16:07,750
It isn't just this thing
391
00:16:07,750 --> 00:16:09,166
that's going on
down in the South.
392
00:16:09,166 --> 00:16:10,833
This is part of my culture.
393
00:16:10,833 --> 00:16:12,208
It's American.
394
00:16:12,208 --> 00:16:14,708
And I'm gonna show you
what's great about it.
395
00:16:14,708 --> 00:16:16,166
[solemn music]
396
00:16:20,166 --> 00:16:22,291
[Michael] He has that sort
of wonderful combination
397
00:16:22,291 --> 00:16:25,375
of being a terrific,
intrepid reporter
398
00:16:25,375 --> 00:16:28,083
and then just this
outrageous stylist.
399
00:16:28,083 --> 00:16:30,583
[soft music]
400
00:16:31,750 --> 00:16:33,166
He had a voice
401
00:16:33,166 --> 00:16:35,250
and was able to express it.
402
00:16:37,500 --> 00:16:41,291
And I think he found
his voice as a writer,
403
00:16:41,291 --> 00:16:44,458
telling his parents
about himself in letters.
404
00:16:47,916 --> 00:16:49,000
[Tom Wolfe] I ended up
doing, really,
405
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,458
what a lot of us do
in letters,
406
00:16:51,458 --> 00:16:52,708
particularly when
you're writing a letter
407
00:16:52,708 --> 00:16:55,666
to somebody you feel
very comfortable with,
408
00:16:55,666 --> 00:16:57,250
someone you can
unburden your soul to,
409
00:16:57,250 --> 00:16:59,416
and you don't censor out
all of the random remarks
410
00:16:59,416 --> 00:17:00,500
that are running
through your head.
411
00:17:00,500 --> 00:17:01,916
You don't censor out the slang,
412
00:17:01,916 --> 00:17:04,041
you don't censor out
the exclamations.
413
00:17:04,041 --> 00:17:06,958
Like you don't censor out
the abrupt changes of thought.
414
00:17:09,416 --> 00:17:11,583
[Gregory] He's enjoying
himself as he writes,
415
00:17:11,583 --> 00:17:15,000
and I think he wants his reader
to enjoy themselves too.
416
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,500
[mellow music]
417
00:17:19,041 --> 00:17:21,333
The reader's
expecting some excitement
418
00:17:21,333 --> 00:17:23,458
from a page of Tom Wolfe,
419
00:17:23,458 --> 00:17:25,541
expecting some experimentation.
420
00:17:28,458 --> 00:17:29,958
[Terry] He created a style
421
00:17:29,958 --> 00:17:32,833
that was completely
his own and unique.
422
00:17:32,833 --> 00:17:35,041
You read a story in Esquire,
423
00:17:35,041 --> 00:17:38,958
and it opens with
the word hernia 57 times.
424
00:17:38,958 --> 00:17:41,791
Hernia, hernia, hernia, hernia,
hernia, hernia, hernia, hernia,
425
00:17:41,791 --> 00:17:44,750
hernia, hernia,
hernia, hernia, hernia.
426
00:17:44,750 --> 00:17:47,416
[Ron] He tried to represent the
sounds of what he was hearing.
427
00:17:47,416 --> 00:17:48,708
[sputtering]
428
00:17:48,708 --> 00:17:50,500
And all kinds of weird things
that he's doing.
429
00:17:50,500 --> 00:17:52,125
And the ellipses
and the double colons.
430
00:17:52,125 --> 00:17:53,583
I never figured out
what that meant.
431
00:17:53,583 --> 00:17:58,000
He called his use of punctuation
a process of violating
432
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,750
the Geneva Conventions
of the mind.
433
00:18:00,750 --> 00:18:02,583
He wanted to approximate
434
00:18:02,583 --> 00:18:04,666
what it felt like
to be thinking.
435
00:18:04,666 --> 00:18:07,166
[mellow music]
436
00:18:08,583 --> 00:18:11,875
Just the way
Tom put words together,
437
00:18:11,875 --> 00:18:14,000
they seemed to glow.
438
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,916
It was as if
it was another language.
439
00:18:19,083 --> 00:18:22,500
The titles of things that
were always being picked up,
440
00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:23,750
like Radical Chic.
441
00:18:23,750 --> 00:18:24,791
Good Ole' Boy.
442
00:18:24,791 --> 00:18:25,791
The "Me" Decade.
443
00:18:25,791 --> 00:18:26,958
Masters of the Universe.
444
00:18:26,958 --> 00:18:28,541
The Right Stuff.
445
00:18:28,541 --> 00:18:30,750
I mean, he could come up
with these terms
446
00:18:30,750 --> 00:18:32,958
which then just became common--
447
00:18:32,958 --> 00:18:35,375
a common part of our language.
448
00:18:35,375 --> 00:18:38,625
[Michael] It showed
nonfiction writers
449
00:18:38,625 --> 00:18:41,250
how much was possible
in the form.
450
00:18:41,250 --> 00:18:43,750
[mellow music]
451
00:18:49,291 --> 00:18:51,208
-[gunfire]
-[indistinct shouting]
452
00:18:51,208 --> 00:18:52,416
[explosions]
453
00:18:52,416 --> 00:18:53,875
[indistinct shouting]
454
00:18:53,875 --> 00:18:56,166
-[aircraft zooming]
-[explosion]
455
00:18:59,291 --> 00:19:01,166
[Alex] You know, in the '60s,
456
00:19:01,166 --> 00:19:03,666
culture's being sort of
shaken on its head.
457
00:19:05,333 --> 00:19:07,458
Journalists are
rebelling against
458
00:19:07,458 --> 00:19:09,583
what everyone else
was rebelling against.
459
00:19:09,583 --> 00:19:10,833
[camera whirring]
460
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,875
Wolfe, and that generation,
461
00:19:13,875 --> 00:19:15,375
they're trying
to capture a world
462
00:19:15,375 --> 00:19:17,333
that seems to be going
faster and faster.
463
00:19:26,125 --> 00:19:28,416
[Gay] You felt that
nothing was in your way
464
00:19:28,416 --> 00:19:31,750
if you really wanted to do
something big, courageous,
465
00:19:31,750 --> 00:19:34,208
risk-taking, you could do it.
466
00:19:34,208 --> 00:19:35,916
[Jon Hamm] Frank Sinatra,
holding a glass of bourbon
467
00:19:35,916 --> 00:19:38,583
in one hand,
a cigarette in another,
468
00:19:38,583 --> 00:19:40,416
stood in a dark corner
of the bar
469
00:19:40,416 --> 00:19:43,416
between two attractive
but fading blondes
470
00:19:43,416 --> 00:19:45,791
who sat waiting for him
to say something.
471
00:19:45,791 --> 00:19:48,291
[typewriter clicking]
472
00:19:51,083 --> 00:19:52,708
[Michael] They were
all trying to create
473
00:19:52,708 --> 00:19:54,541
an excitement on the page,
474
00:19:54,541 --> 00:19:58,250
and all the things
that are changing in America,
475
00:19:58,250 --> 00:19:59,416
it's reflected
in kind of the way
476
00:19:59,416 --> 00:20:02,291
the prose looks and sounds.
477
00:20:02,291 --> 00:20:04,625
[Emily] You had
Hunter S. Thompson
478
00:20:04,625 --> 00:20:06,750
going to the Kentucky Derby.
479
00:20:06,750 --> 00:20:10,750
Joan Didion going
to San Francisco in 1968.
480
00:20:10,750 --> 00:20:11,833
[Joan Didion] In this life,
481
00:20:11,833 --> 00:20:14,166
all narrative was sentimental.
482
00:20:14,166 --> 00:20:15,333
In this life,
483
00:20:15,333 --> 00:20:17,791
all connections
were equally meaningful
484
00:20:17,791 --> 00:20:19,708
and equally senseless.
485
00:20:23,041 --> 00:20:24,333
[Alex] The events of the world
486
00:20:24,333 --> 00:20:26,833
were inspiring
these young journalists.
487
00:20:26,833 --> 00:20:28,125
It's like, you know what,
488
00:20:28,125 --> 00:20:29,708
there's probably
a different way to cover this.
489
00:20:29,708 --> 00:20:32,416
[music intensifies]
490
00:20:32,416 --> 00:20:34,916
[Michael] Wolfe creates this
sort of pseudo movement.
491
00:20:34,916 --> 00:20:36,458
New Journalism.
492
00:20:36,458 --> 00:20:41,833
What is it and to what degree
are you responsible for it?
493
00:20:41,833 --> 00:20:43,375
In my mind, the New Journalism
494
00:20:43,375 --> 00:20:47,875
is the use
of every effective technique
495
00:20:47,875 --> 00:20:52,041
known to prose in nonfiction.
496
00:20:52,041 --> 00:20:53,958
I was gonna write
a five or six page introduction
497
00:20:53,958 --> 00:20:56,250
to a textbook on the subject
of the New Journalism,
498
00:20:56,250 --> 00:20:58,083
that's all it was gonna be.
499
00:20:58,083 --> 00:21:00,541
And I found out
when I wrote that thing
500
00:21:00,541 --> 00:21:03,458
that plenty of my confreres
in the field of nonfiction
501
00:21:03,458 --> 00:21:06,583
were really upset.
502
00:21:06,583 --> 00:21:07,916
I mean, Hunter Thompson
writes him a note to say,
503
00:21:07,916 --> 00:21:09,375
"Don't include me.
504
00:21:09,375 --> 00:21:11,791
You've created this category
for your own purposes,
505
00:21:11,791 --> 00:21:14,166
but I'm not one of them,"
kind of thing.
506
00:21:14,166 --> 00:21:15,416
[pencil scribbles]
507
00:21:16,875 --> 00:21:17,875
[snorts]
508
00:21:22,500 --> 00:21:24,250
[Alex] Sometimes it's
interesting to go back
509
00:21:24,250 --> 00:21:26,833
and see which one
of these writers are friends,
510
00:21:26,833 --> 00:21:27,916
who are enemies,
511
00:21:27,916 --> 00:21:29,833
who are competitive
with each other.
512
00:21:29,833 --> 00:21:32,625
And one of
the strangest pairings
513
00:21:32,625 --> 00:21:35,750
is Wolfe and Hunter Thompson.
514
00:21:35,750 --> 00:21:38,000
They seem on the surface
to be so different,
515
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,708
and yet at the same time they
were both dogged reporters,
516
00:21:40,708 --> 00:21:42,333
they had the Southern thing
in common...
517
00:21:42,333 --> 00:21:43,583
They admired
each other's writing.
518
00:21:43,583 --> 00:21:45,125
They both could see
that the other one
519
00:21:45,125 --> 00:21:46,500
was really good at what he did.
520
00:21:46,500 --> 00:21:48,250
-[indistinct speaking]
-[tires squeal]
521
00:21:48,250 --> 00:21:50,125
[Tom Wolfe] What is
the speed limit here? 70.
522
00:21:50,125 --> 00:21:52,458
-No, oh my God, it's 75.
-[tires squeal]
523
00:21:52,458 --> 00:21:58,125
Every time
I saw him was unforgettable.
524
00:21:58,125 --> 00:22:01,333
There's a passage in--
in his archives
525
00:22:01,333 --> 00:22:04,416
where Wolfe is describing
taking Hunter Thompson
526
00:22:04,416 --> 00:22:07,208
to some trendy
Manhattan restaurant.
527
00:22:07,208 --> 00:22:08,250
Hunter Thompson gets there
528
00:22:08,250 --> 00:22:09,958
with like a paper sack
and says,
529
00:22:09,958 --> 00:22:12,250
"I can clear this restaurant
out in 20 seconds."
530
00:22:12,250 --> 00:22:15,791
And it turns out to be
like a marine alarm horn
531
00:22:15,791 --> 00:22:19,625
that you send--that you push
if your ship is going down.
532
00:22:19,625 --> 00:22:22,250
It can be heard
20 nautical miles away.
533
00:22:22,250 --> 00:22:23,875
And Hunter Thompson
takes it out and hits it,
534
00:22:23,875 --> 00:22:25,291
and the whole restaurant
clears out.
535
00:22:25,291 --> 00:22:27,708
[ship alarm blaring]
536
00:22:31,166 --> 00:22:35,791
[Tom Wolfe] To this day, louder
than any sound I have heard.
537
00:22:35,791 --> 00:22:38,916
And then I realized
that whenever I saw Hunter...
538
00:22:38,916 --> 00:22:40,250
[gunshot]
539
00:22:40,250 --> 00:22:42,250
...it was going to be
not so much a meeting
540
00:22:42,250 --> 00:22:44,333
or conversation as an event.
541
00:22:44,333 --> 00:22:46,791
[indistinct speaking]
542
00:22:46,791 --> 00:22:48,333
What are you doing, man?
543
00:22:48,333 --> 00:22:51,083
[Alex] When Wolfe set out
to write about Ken Kesey,
544
00:22:51,083 --> 00:22:53,625
at some point he got in
touch with Hunter Thompson
545
00:22:53,625 --> 00:22:55,958
because he had admired
Hunter Thompson's book
546
00:22:55,958 --> 00:22:57,458
about the Hells Angels.
547
00:22:57,458 --> 00:22:58,750
Hunter Thompson didn't feel like
548
00:22:58,750 --> 00:23:00,291
he could really write
about something
549
00:23:00,291 --> 00:23:02,208
until he reported
the shit out of it,
550
00:23:02,208 --> 00:23:06,083
and that's exactly what he had
in common with Tom Wolfe.
551
00:23:06,083 --> 00:23:08,500
[rock music]
552
00:23:19,166 --> 00:23:23,250
The commencement
exercises for LSDU
553
00:23:23,250 --> 00:23:26,875
will be held at Winterland
on Monday night.
554
00:23:26,875 --> 00:23:29,333
That's Halloween.
555
00:23:29,333 --> 00:23:31,833
And, of course, the man who
is going to be passing out
556
00:23:31,833 --> 00:23:34,083
the diplomas is Ken Kesey.
557
00:23:34,083 --> 00:23:35,416
Ken, what, um,
558
00:23:35,416 --> 00:23:38,250
what's the theme of this
commencement exercise?
559
00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:39,250
Trip or treat.
560
00:23:39,250 --> 00:23:41,750
[mellow music]
561
00:23:51,791 --> 00:23:54,125
[Tom Wolfe] When I wrote The
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,
562
00:23:54,125 --> 00:23:55,500
one thing I worried about
563
00:23:55,500 --> 00:23:57,166
was what my role was gonna be.
564
00:23:57,166 --> 00:23:59,750
And if you're gonna
continue to be a writer,
565
00:23:59,750 --> 00:24:00,875
you can't become
totally involved
566
00:24:00,875 --> 00:24:02,250
'cause you rob yourself
567
00:24:02,250 --> 00:24:04,333
of all perspective
at that point.
568
00:24:07,208 --> 00:24:09,750
[woman] That means in the case
of the Merry Prankster Bus,
569
00:24:09,750 --> 00:24:11,916
you were not dropping acid
all the time.
570
00:24:11,916 --> 00:24:14,333
[Tom Wolfe] No, I never did
while I was with them.
571
00:24:14,333 --> 00:24:17,708
Later on I did take LSD to--
572
00:24:17,708 --> 00:24:19,000
just to write the book,
573
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,708
just to see what would happen,
574
00:24:20,708 --> 00:24:23,125
which is really not
the way to do it.
575
00:24:23,125 --> 00:24:25,625
[mellow music]
576
00:24:31,750 --> 00:24:33,041
But I found out
through doing it
577
00:24:33,041 --> 00:24:35,666
that the LSD experience
is not a light show.
578
00:24:36,708 --> 00:24:39,375
That's, by far, the least of it.
579
00:24:39,375 --> 00:24:43,625
But occasionally I'll even sit
in front of the typewriter
580
00:24:43,625 --> 00:24:45,625
and close my eyes
581
00:24:45,625 --> 00:24:49,250
and go into what I thought of
as a kind of controlled trance
582
00:24:49,250 --> 00:24:52,916
and try to actually feel
in my nervous system
583
00:24:52,916 --> 00:24:54,416
what they have gone through,
584
00:24:54,416 --> 00:24:55,750
what I had seen them do,
585
00:24:55,750 --> 00:24:58,833
or what I had been told about,
586
00:24:58,833 --> 00:25:00,250
and then write it.
587
00:25:00,250 --> 00:25:02,125
And I've never been an actor,
588
00:25:02,125 --> 00:25:04,541
but I'm convinced
this must be the process
589
00:25:04,541 --> 00:25:07,125
that a method actor or
almost any actor goes through.
590
00:25:07,125 --> 00:25:08,625
[shimmering sound]
591
00:25:08,625 --> 00:25:11,083
[Jon Hamm] The world was
simply and sheerly divided
592
00:25:11,083 --> 00:25:13,166
into "the aware,"
593
00:25:13,166 --> 00:25:14,500
those who had the experience
594
00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:16,875
of being vessels of the divine,
595
00:25:16,875 --> 00:25:19,958
and a great mass
of "the unaware,"
596
00:25:19,958 --> 00:25:23,458
"the unmusical,"
"the unattuned."
597
00:25:23,458 --> 00:25:26,375
The aware were never
snobbish toward the unaware,
598
00:25:26,375 --> 00:25:28,625
but, in fact, most of that
great jellyfish blob
599
00:25:28,625 --> 00:25:31,541
of straight souls
looked like hopeless cases.
600
00:25:31,541 --> 00:25:34,041
[energetic music]
601
00:25:39,750 --> 00:25:42,500
[Gail] Tom migrated
into writing books
602
00:25:42,500 --> 00:25:44,458
from feature writing,
603
00:25:44,458 --> 00:25:47,958
and he found out that
that's a whole other way
604
00:25:47,958 --> 00:25:50,750
to unmask a phenomenon.
605
00:25:50,750 --> 00:25:55,583
He found himself
involved with Ken Kesey,
606
00:25:55,583 --> 00:25:58,375
Neal Cassady, and the Beats,
607
00:25:58,375 --> 00:26:01,125
the beginning
of the hippie culture.
608
00:26:01,125 --> 00:26:03,083
[Gregory] In some ways
he's very much progressive
609
00:26:03,083 --> 00:26:07,291
in that he's very focused on
those overlooked in society.
610
00:26:07,291 --> 00:26:09,083
[Tom Wolfe] We're talking now
about the rise
611
00:26:09,083 --> 00:26:11,583
of the California hip life,
612
00:26:11,583 --> 00:26:13,583
which is a life
really based on what I call
613
00:26:13,583 --> 00:26:15,041
the politics of pleasure.
614
00:26:15,041 --> 00:26:17,833
As a result, you see some
curious things happening.
615
00:26:17,833 --> 00:26:18,958
They do what they feel like,
616
00:26:18,958 --> 00:26:20,625
and a lot of people
feel like taking--
617
00:26:20,625 --> 00:26:22,583
taking these drugs.
618
00:26:22,583 --> 00:26:25,333
[Emily] He's creating
a mythology of the country
619
00:26:25,333 --> 00:26:26,666
as he's writing,
620
00:26:26,666 --> 00:26:28,583
and one that really endures.
621
00:26:28,583 --> 00:26:30,000
[funk music]
622
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,166
It's this really
all-encompassing vision
623
00:26:33,166 --> 00:26:36,375
of the 1960s
that was so perfect,
624
00:26:36,375 --> 00:26:39,541
and LSD culture was still new
625
00:26:39,541 --> 00:26:41,958
and people didn't know
what to make of it.
626
00:26:41,958 --> 00:26:47,125
And yet, he set the standard
for how we think about it.
627
00:26:47,125 --> 00:26:50,541
[mellow music]
628
00:26:50,541 --> 00:26:52,750
[Ron] What struck me
was the delight he takes
629
00:26:52,750 --> 00:26:54,458
in these characters.
630
00:26:54,458 --> 00:26:55,500
Not the approval,
631
00:26:55,500 --> 00:26:56,916
that's something very different,
632
00:26:56,916 --> 00:27:01,708
but the fact that he just
enjoys how crazy they are
633
00:27:01,708 --> 00:27:04,875
without falling in
and becoming one of them.
634
00:27:04,875 --> 00:27:06,416
People just
wouldn't have done that.
635
00:27:06,416 --> 00:27:08,125
There would have been a sense
636
00:27:08,125 --> 00:27:09,625
that you had
to be behind a wall
637
00:27:09,625 --> 00:27:12,208
and you had to describe
these things through glass,
638
00:27:12,208 --> 00:27:14,291
whereas Tom was just
out there with them,
639
00:27:14,291 --> 00:27:15,916
listening to them,
experiencing them,
640
00:27:15,916 --> 00:27:19,791
and letting us see
what he was feeling
641
00:27:19,791 --> 00:27:21,708
as he experienced it.
642
00:27:25,958 --> 00:27:29,500
He had a best-seller
from his first book,
643
00:27:29,500 --> 00:27:31,208
so he was launched.
644
00:27:31,208 --> 00:27:33,708
[mellow music]
645
00:27:42,708 --> 00:27:44,708
[Peter] The book itself reads
like you're on some--
646
00:27:44,708 --> 00:27:47,458
some crazy LSD trip
that ends very badly.
647
00:27:47,458 --> 00:27:50,625
To me, that's his--
his greatest book.
648
00:27:50,625 --> 00:27:54,750
He helped bring
the new world into being.
649
00:27:55,875 --> 00:27:57,125
[cash register chimes]
650
00:27:58,458 --> 00:28:01,000
[soft music]
651
00:28:05,791 --> 00:28:09,000
[Niall] The key
to understanding Tom Wolfe
652
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:14,250
is to imagine this
Southern, studious young man
653
00:28:14,250 --> 00:28:16,416
leaving the South for Yale.
654
00:28:18,375 --> 00:28:20,041
[Michael] He'd never
really gotten out
655
00:28:20,041 --> 00:28:22,458
of his little Southern bubble.
656
00:28:22,458 --> 00:28:24,791
And he gets to Yale
and all of a sudden
657
00:28:24,791 --> 00:28:26,250
he realizes
there are all these people
658
00:28:26,250 --> 00:28:31,208
who kind of look down
on the world he came from.
659
00:28:31,208 --> 00:28:34,625
But he had such a deep love
of where he was from
660
00:28:34,625 --> 00:28:37,666
that he started
to develop a mild contempt
661
00:28:37,666 --> 00:28:39,416
for the people
around him at Yale
662
00:28:39,416 --> 00:28:42,708
who had a mild contempt
of the world he came from.
663
00:28:42,708 --> 00:28:47,083
He wrote a PhD thesis,
in very Tom Wolfe-ian style,
664
00:28:47,083 --> 00:28:50,916
in which he, from a vaguely
right-wing perspective,
665
00:28:50,916 --> 00:28:55,333
attacks a lot
of famous left-wing writers.
666
00:28:55,333 --> 00:28:58,625
And the professors, who are
much more left-leaning,
667
00:28:58,625 --> 00:29:00,166
are shocked.
668
00:29:00,166 --> 00:29:02,875
They basically say
this thesis is not suitable.
669
00:29:02,875 --> 00:29:06,000
It's opinionated,
the facts can't be checked.
670
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,916
You put yourself
back in the mind frame
671
00:29:07,916 --> 00:29:11,208
of somebody who spent
five years at Yale
672
00:29:11,208 --> 00:29:13,875
working on this paper.
673
00:29:13,875 --> 00:29:16,500
I think he hated
every moment of it.
674
00:29:16,500 --> 00:29:18,458
[Alex] And he says
I'm gonna tidy up this stuff
675
00:29:18,458 --> 00:29:19,750
for these stupid fucks
676
00:29:19,750 --> 00:29:22,708
and get my PhD
and get out of here.
677
00:29:24,083 --> 00:29:28,791
That is a kind
of searing experience.
678
00:29:28,791 --> 00:29:32,416
And I think it helps
explain the vendetta
679
00:29:32,416 --> 00:29:37,208
that Wolfe pursued against
the intellectual left.
680
00:29:39,666 --> 00:29:42,375
[soft music]
681
00:29:42,375 --> 00:29:45,750
[Michael] And so Tom
flees Yale as fast he can,
682
00:29:45,750 --> 00:29:48,541
and he lands this job
as a daily journalist
683
00:29:48,541 --> 00:29:52,708
for the Springfield,
Massachusetts, newspaper.
684
00:29:52,708 --> 00:29:55,333
[Alex] Before the New Journalism
era in New York,
685
00:29:55,333 --> 00:29:58,500
Wolfe's a straight reporter.
686
00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:00,833
He ended up getting
into newspaper work
687
00:30:00,833 --> 00:30:03,041
the old-fashioned way,
he started from the bottom.
688
00:30:03,041 --> 00:30:05,833
Covering fires
and City Hall meetings,
689
00:30:05,833 --> 00:30:08,500
and doing all
of the routine things
690
00:30:08,500 --> 00:30:11,708
that young reporters do
as they work their way up.
691
00:30:13,625 --> 00:30:15,250
[Tom Wolfe]
I never knew from day to day
692
00:30:15,250 --> 00:30:16,875
what kind of story
I was gonna be put on.
693
00:30:16,875 --> 00:30:20,375
It made you realize that you
can go up to total strangers
694
00:30:20,375 --> 00:30:22,166
and ask them questions
that they--
695
00:30:22,166 --> 00:30:24,833
you have no right
to expect them to answer.
696
00:30:24,833 --> 00:30:26,750
[man] There's a
wonderful picture, 1958,
697
00:30:26,750 --> 00:30:29,166
you and John F. Kennedy,
a politician on the make,
698
00:30:29,166 --> 00:30:31,666
and a newspaper reporter
from The Springfield Union
699
00:30:31,666 --> 00:30:33,083
on the make.
700
00:30:33,083 --> 00:30:34,958
[Tom Wolfe] Kennedy,
when I interviewed him,
701
00:30:34,958 --> 00:30:36,708
was Senator Kennedy.
702
00:30:36,708 --> 00:30:38,416
He had been asked
to come to Springfield
703
00:30:38,416 --> 00:30:40,666
to see if he could do something
to keep the government
704
00:30:40,666 --> 00:30:42,083
from getting rid of the armory.
705
00:30:42,083 --> 00:30:44,625
The armory had become
kind of redundant by now.
706
00:30:44,625 --> 00:30:47,083
So he met with a group
of Springfield business men
707
00:30:47,083 --> 00:30:48,333
and the Springfield mayor.
708
00:30:48,333 --> 00:30:50,250
And he was saying to them,
709
00:30:50,250 --> 00:30:52,916
"Look, we've gotta be just like
these Southern politicians,
710
00:30:52,916 --> 00:30:54,833
these Southern senators
and congressmen.
711
00:30:54,833 --> 00:30:57,083
They just grab
whatever they feel like,
712
00:30:57,083 --> 00:30:59,166
and they'll make a gym
for a university
713
00:30:59,166 --> 00:31:00,750
and name it after themselves,
714
00:31:00,750 --> 00:31:02,333
but that's the way
you have to play the game
715
00:31:02,333 --> 00:31:04,500
and that's what we have to do
to save the armory."
716
00:31:04,500 --> 00:31:06,250
At which point
one of his aides said,
717
00:31:06,250 --> 00:31:07,708
"Senator, uh, did you realize
718
00:31:07,708 --> 00:31:09,583
that there's a reporter
in the room?"
719
00:31:09,583 --> 00:31:11,083
And that was me.
720
00:31:11,083 --> 00:31:12,416
And he turned to me
and he said,
721
00:31:12,416 --> 00:31:14,125
"This is all off the record."
722
00:31:14,125 --> 00:31:15,916
"Well, there's 25 Springfield
business leaders here
723
00:31:15,916 --> 00:31:17,291
and the mayor,
724
00:31:17,291 --> 00:31:19,041
I don't see how I can
keep it off the record."
725
00:31:19,041 --> 00:31:20,708
And he says,
"It's off the record."
726
00:31:20,708 --> 00:31:22,375
Afterwards he came up
to me and took me outside.
727
00:31:22,375 --> 00:31:24,333
He said, "Look,
I know your publisher,
728
00:31:24,333 --> 00:31:25,583
I know your editor very well,
729
00:31:25,583 --> 00:31:26,916
and I know
they would never want
730
00:31:26,916 --> 00:31:29,333
anything like this
to appear in their paper
731
00:31:29,333 --> 00:31:31,083
and jeopardize
the future of the armory."
732
00:31:31,083 --> 00:31:33,458
So I said--I said,
"My hands are tied, I'm sorry.
733
00:31:33,458 --> 00:31:36,625
It's--this is something
that just happened
734
00:31:36,625 --> 00:31:38,250
in front of a lot
735
00:31:38,250 --> 00:31:40,041
of influential people
in Springfield."
736
00:31:40,041 --> 00:31:41,875
So I went ahead
and wrote the story.
737
00:31:41,875 --> 00:31:45,083
And about a week later,
he complained to the editor
738
00:31:45,083 --> 00:31:47,750
that I had violated
an off-the-record embargo
739
00:31:47,750 --> 00:31:50,333
and, in effect,
kind of tried to get me fired.
740
00:31:50,333 --> 00:31:52,791
But, fortunately,
my editor was a Republican,
741
00:31:52,791 --> 00:31:54,125
and he seemed
to rather like me,
742
00:31:54,125 --> 00:31:55,333
and so it didn't cost me.
743
00:31:55,333 --> 00:31:57,125
But that's what
we were talking about
744
00:31:57,125 --> 00:32:00,083
in that picture.
745
00:32:00,083 --> 00:32:02,000
[Alex] One thing
that's important to remember
746
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,458
about Wolfe as he's trying
to make a name for himself
747
00:32:04,458 --> 00:32:07,750
is that he must have felt
very much the outsider.
748
00:32:07,750 --> 00:32:09,916
People on
the outside looking in
749
00:32:09,916 --> 00:32:11,833
have some sort of
chip on their shoulder
750
00:32:11,833 --> 00:32:14,041
that drives them.
751
00:32:14,041 --> 00:32:17,791
So, Wolfe was not afraid
to piss people off.
752
00:32:17,791 --> 00:32:19,333
[Emily]
I write for The New Yorker,
753
00:32:19,333 --> 00:32:22,708
but I read Tiny Mummies!
with some satisfaction,
754
00:32:22,708 --> 00:32:24,833
which I'm a little
embarrassed to admit.
755
00:32:24,833 --> 00:32:26,666
[soft classical music]
756
00:32:26,666 --> 00:32:30,708
He presents
the magazine as this place
757
00:32:30,708 --> 00:32:33,833
where it's so driven
by its own legacy
758
00:32:33,833 --> 00:32:36,541
and its nepotism
and its elitism
759
00:32:36,541 --> 00:32:38,625
that, how do I put it,
760
00:32:38,625 --> 00:32:39,625
yeah, it's a mummy.
761
00:32:39,625 --> 00:32:41,458
[laughs]
762
00:32:41,458 --> 00:32:43,375
[Tom Junod] He was
basically saying, you know,
763
00:32:43,375 --> 00:32:45,583
it was a not a--
a place of the living
764
00:32:45,583 --> 00:32:47,625
but rather a place of the dead.
765
00:32:47,625 --> 00:32:51,458
The after-effect of what
he's written is anger.
766
00:32:51,458 --> 00:32:53,166
[Tom Junod] He was
roundly attacked,
767
00:32:53,166 --> 00:32:54,750
and he was attacked
by The New Yorker
768
00:32:54,750 --> 00:32:57,666
for the rest of his career.
769
00:32:57,666 --> 00:33:00,041
I mean, they got
fuckin' J. D. Salinger
770
00:33:00,041 --> 00:33:01,583
to write a complaint piece.
771
00:33:01,583 --> 00:33:04,125
[somber music]
772
00:33:08,291 --> 00:33:10,458
[Christopher] You know,
The New York establishment
773
00:33:10,458 --> 00:33:12,291
never forgave him,
really, for that.
774
00:33:14,666 --> 00:33:16,750
[Tom Wolfe] I always think
of Balzac's statement
775
00:33:16,750 --> 00:33:18,541
when people were
trying to find out
776
00:33:18,541 --> 00:33:21,333
his political stance
in his novels.
777
00:33:21,333 --> 00:33:23,291
He would always say,
778
00:33:23,291 --> 00:33:27,041
"I belong to the party
of the opposition."
779
00:33:27,041 --> 00:33:28,958
And so I can put that
in his mouth,
780
00:33:28,958 --> 00:33:30,333
it would sound pompous
to say it today,
781
00:33:30,333 --> 00:33:33,250
but it's really the way I feel.
782
00:33:33,250 --> 00:33:35,125
He went after sacred cows.
783
00:33:37,291 --> 00:33:41,458
He thought these were things
and people and theories
784
00:33:41,458 --> 00:33:46,250
that really needed to be
taken down a peg or two.
785
00:33:46,250 --> 00:33:48,791
This book called
The Painted Word
786
00:33:48,791 --> 00:33:51,500
is a mustache painted
in broad daylight
787
00:33:51,500 --> 00:33:53,250
on the Mona Lisa.
788
00:33:53,250 --> 00:33:56,541
And some people are not
going to forgive him ever.
789
00:33:56,541 --> 00:33:58,708
Now he's written another book
about architecture
790
00:33:58,708 --> 00:34:01,625
that could be subtitled
The Wrong Stuff.
791
00:34:01,625 --> 00:34:02,666
And a lot of people,
792
00:34:02,666 --> 00:34:04,166
especially
architectural critics,
793
00:34:04,166 --> 00:34:06,833
hate it.
794
00:34:06,833 --> 00:34:09,125
[Alexandra] When he got
bad reviews, I would say,
795
00:34:09,125 --> 00:34:11,791
you know, "Dad, did you read
that review? Are you upset?"
796
00:34:11,791 --> 00:34:13,958
He was like,
"No, of course I'm not upset."
797
00:34:13,958 --> 00:34:15,416
And I'd say, "Why? That was--"
798
00:34:15,416 --> 00:34:16,958
You know, "They were so nasty."
799
00:34:16,958 --> 00:34:19,250
He said, "Well, you're nobody
until somebody hates you."
800
00:34:19,250 --> 00:34:20,625
You know, he sort of--
801
00:34:20,625 --> 00:34:22,708
he just sort of brushed
everything off like that.
802
00:34:22,708 --> 00:34:25,833
He really made a lot of enemies,
803
00:34:25,833 --> 00:34:28,291
but it didn't bother him.
804
00:34:28,291 --> 00:34:32,625
He wasn't looking for approval.
805
00:34:32,625 --> 00:34:35,041
[announcer]
Here is Mr. Bernstein.
806
00:34:35,041 --> 00:34:37,541
[applause]
807
00:34:44,208 --> 00:34:46,833
[soft orchestral music]
808
00:34:46,833 --> 00:34:48,583
[Tom Wolfe] One day I was
at Harper's Magazine
809
00:34:48,583 --> 00:34:50,583
waiting for my wife-to-be,
810
00:34:50,583 --> 00:34:53,416
who was the art director
at Harper's,
811
00:34:53,416 --> 00:34:54,791
to take her to lunch.
812
00:34:54,791 --> 00:34:56,208
And to kill the time,
813
00:34:56,208 --> 00:34:57,916
I kept wandering around.
814
00:34:57,916 --> 00:35:00,791
I went into the office
of David Halberstam.
815
00:35:00,791 --> 00:35:02,083
He wasn't there.
816
00:35:02,083 --> 00:35:03,958
So I was looking at
everything on his desk.
817
00:35:03,958 --> 00:35:06,375
And, uh&
-[laughter]
818
00:35:06,375 --> 00:35:10,791
And here was an invitation by
Leonard and Felicia Bernstein
819
00:35:10,791 --> 00:35:14,541
to a party at 895 Park Avenue
for the Black Panthers.
820
00:35:14,541 --> 00:35:16,041
So, I couldn't resist it.
821
00:35:16,041 --> 00:35:18,125
I had to get
into that party somehow.
822
00:35:18,125 --> 00:35:20,041
So...
-[laughter]
823
00:35:20,041 --> 00:35:22,833
There was a number
to call if you accepted.
824
00:35:22,833 --> 00:35:24,750
So I called up and I said,
825
00:35:24,750 --> 00:35:27,166
"I'm Tom Wolfe and I accept."
826
00:35:27,166 --> 00:35:28,958
[majestic orchestral music]
827
00:35:28,958 --> 00:35:30,208
[Michael]
By the time Tom Wolfe
828
00:35:30,208 --> 00:35:31,875
is in Leonard Bernstein's
apartment,
829
00:35:31,875 --> 00:35:33,916
he is America's
leading satirist,
830
00:35:33,916 --> 00:35:37,208
so he is the most dangerous
writer in America.
831
00:35:37,208 --> 00:35:40,791
He's exactly who you don't
invite to your dinner party.
832
00:35:40,791 --> 00:35:42,666
A few years ago,
Wolfe attended a party,
833
00:35:42,666 --> 00:35:45,125
as you recall, at the apartment
of Leonard Bernstein,
834
00:35:45,125 --> 00:35:46,875
where the result
was a 20,000-word piece
835
00:35:46,875 --> 00:35:48,625
called Radical Chic.
836
00:35:48,625 --> 00:35:50,750
[William] Which is about
the famous party
837
00:35:50,750 --> 00:35:53,125
that Leonard Bernstein
gave to raise money
838
00:35:53,125 --> 00:35:55,625
for the Black Panthers
who had been indicted
839
00:35:55,625 --> 00:36:00,000
for conspiring to bomb
a few racist department stores
840
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:01,333
at Easter time.
841
00:36:01,333 --> 00:36:02,958
Ten or twelve members
of the Black Panther Party
842
00:36:02,958 --> 00:36:05,750
in New York have
already been arrested,
843
00:36:05,750 --> 00:36:08,583
and others are being arrested,
all by surprise.
844
00:36:08,583 --> 00:36:10,708
The Black Panther Party
is informing and calling on
845
00:36:10,708 --> 00:36:13,041
all the peoples of the
communities across the country
846
00:36:13,041 --> 00:36:14,625
to scorn and denounce the action
847
00:36:14,625 --> 00:36:17,000
of this capitalistic
government's attempts
848
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:18,750
to try to destroy
the Black Panther Party,
849
00:36:18,750 --> 00:36:21,708
which has chapters
and branches across the nation.
850
00:36:21,708 --> 00:36:23,875
[William] I should like
to begin by asking Mr. Wolfe
851
00:36:23,875 --> 00:36:26,041
whether he thinks,
on second thought,
852
00:36:26,041 --> 00:36:28,958
that he behaved insouciantly
853
00:36:28,958 --> 00:36:32,041
toward the plight
of the Panthers.
854
00:36:32,041 --> 00:36:33,083
-Insouciantly?
-Yes.
855
00:36:33,083 --> 00:36:34,125
[chuckles]
856
00:36:34,125 --> 00:36:36,166
[Jon Hamm]
Mm, these are nice.
857
00:36:36,166 --> 00:36:39,750
Little Roquefort cheese morsels
rolled in crushed nuts.
858
00:36:39,750 --> 00:36:41,875
Very tasty, very subtle.
859
00:36:41,875 --> 00:36:44,333
It's the way the dry sackiness
of the nuts
860
00:36:44,333 --> 00:36:46,875
tiptoes up against
the dour savor of the cheese
861
00:36:46,875 --> 00:36:49,458
that is so nice, so subtle.
862
00:36:49,458 --> 00:36:51,083
Wonder what
the Black Panthers eat here
863
00:36:51,083 --> 00:36:52,750
on the hors d'oeuvres trail?
864
00:36:52,750 --> 00:36:54,916
Do the Panthers like little
Roquefort cheese morsels
865
00:36:54,916 --> 00:36:56,958
wrapped in crushed nuts
this way,
866
00:36:56,958 --> 00:36:59,041
and asparagus tips
in mayonnaise dabs,
867
00:36:59,041 --> 00:37:02,000
and meatballs petites
au Coq Hardi?
868
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,750
For example,
does that huge Black Panther
869
00:37:03,750 --> 00:37:05,250
there in the hallway,
870
00:37:05,250 --> 00:37:07,833
the one shaking hands with
Felicia Bernstein herself,
871
00:37:07,833 --> 00:37:10,833
the one with the black leather
coat and the dark glasses
872
00:37:10,833 --> 00:37:13,416
and the absolutely
unbelievable Afro,
873
00:37:13,416 --> 00:37:15,125
Fuzzy Wuzzy-scale, in fact,
874
00:37:15,125 --> 00:37:16,958
is he, a Black Panther,
875
00:37:16,958 --> 00:37:19,000
going on to pick up
a Roquefort cheese morsel
876
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:20,750
rolled in crushed nuts
from off the tray,
877
00:37:20,750 --> 00:37:21,958
and just pop it down the gullet
878
00:37:21,958 --> 00:37:23,541
without so much
as missing a beat
879
00:37:23,541 --> 00:37:26,416
of Felicia's
perfect Mary Astor voice.
880
00:37:26,416 --> 00:37:28,333
[majestic classical music]
881
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,000
[Tom Wolfe] You cannot
say that the Bernsteins
882
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,333
or the other people who
have given parties like this
883
00:37:34,333 --> 00:37:36,041
are insincere.
884
00:37:36,041 --> 00:37:37,458
They do care
about the great work,
885
00:37:37,458 --> 00:37:40,125
they do care
about the Black Panthers,
886
00:37:40,125 --> 00:37:43,083
and they even care
about the ocelots, uh,
887
00:37:43,083 --> 00:37:45,041
and the Somali leopards,
888
00:37:45,041 --> 00:37:47,916
although they tend
to lump them all together.
889
00:37:47,916 --> 00:37:49,250
In January 1970,
890
00:37:49,250 --> 00:37:53,333
when the party at
Leonard Bernstein happened,
891
00:37:53,333 --> 00:37:54,666
I was in prison.
892
00:37:54,666 --> 00:37:57,625
I was part
of the Panther 21 case.
893
00:37:57,625 --> 00:38:00,041
Our bail was set at $100,000.
894
00:38:00,041 --> 00:38:01,750
We always maintained
that that wasn't a bail,
895
00:38:01,750 --> 00:38:03,750
it was a ransom.
896
00:38:03,750 --> 00:38:05,708
And in February of 1970,
897
00:38:05,708 --> 00:38:08,500
I was released as
a result of that fundraiser.
898
00:38:09,958 --> 00:38:11,291
And then I saw
this article came out
899
00:38:11,291 --> 00:38:14,000
kind of labeling
what was going on
900
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,041
as "radical chic,"
901
00:38:17,041 --> 00:38:19,958
as kind of, like,
this pretentious fad.
902
00:38:19,958 --> 00:38:23,208
The broad reaction
in the Panther Party was that,
903
00:38:23,208 --> 00:38:25,375
you know,
"This dude is trippin'."
904
00:38:25,375 --> 00:38:27,250
[protesters singing]
905
00:38:27,250 --> 00:38:31,125
It kinda put a derisive label
906
00:38:31,125 --> 00:38:33,208
on good work
that was happening,
907
00:38:33,208 --> 00:38:35,291
and it wasn't
good work just because
908
00:38:35,291 --> 00:38:36,958
people were contributing money.
909
00:38:36,958 --> 00:38:38,083
It was good work because
910
00:38:38,083 --> 00:38:40,458
consciousness was
being raised
911
00:38:40,458 --> 00:38:44,541
around injustices that were
happening in our society.
912
00:38:44,541 --> 00:38:48,000
And I think that that article
913
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,250
was trivializing
what we were doing,
914
00:38:52,250 --> 00:38:55,333
and the Bernstein family
felt this betrayal.
915
00:38:57,500 --> 00:38:59,416
[Gay]
He could write about people.
916
00:38:59,416 --> 00:39:02,958
That was so searing
and so unsettling, I'm sure,
917
00:39:02,958 --> 00:39:05,250
for those
who were written about.
918
00:39:05,250 --> 00:39:07,833
Old Tom Wolfe would pick them
like you'd pick a balloon
919
00:39:07,833 --> 00:39:09,666
with his little
sharp pointed pen.
920
00:39:09,666 --> 00:39:10,916
And the question is
921
00:39:10,916 --> 00:39:13,833
is whether he crossed
the line in that story
922
00:39:13,833 --> 00:39:16,416
into, you know, into cruelty.
923
00:39:16,416 --> 00:39:18,000
[majestic classical music]
924
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,041
[Jon Hamm] As more than one
person in this room knows,
925
00:39:20,041 --> 00:39:23,333
Lenny treasures
the art of conversation.
926
00:39:23,333 --> 00:39:24,333
He treasures it,
927
00:39:24,333 --> 00:39:25,416
monopolizes it,
928
00:39:25,416 --> 00:39:26,541
conglomerates it
929
00:39:26,541 --> 00:39:27,625
like a Jay Gould,
930
00:39:27,625 --> 00:39:28,958
an Onassis.
931
00:39:28,958 --> 00:39:31,250
A cornfield of conversation.
932
00:39:31,250 --> 00:39:32,291
The Great Interrupter,
933
00:39:32,291 --> 00:39:33,500
the Village Explainer,
934
00:39:33,500 --> 00:39:35,958
the champion of Mental Jotto,
935
00:39:35,958 --> 00:39:36,958
the Free Analyst,
936
00:39:36,958 --> 00:39:39,500
Mr. Let's Find Out.
937
00:39:39,500 --> 00:39:42,791
No breathers allowed
until every human brain
938
00:39:42,791 --> 00:39:45,000
is reduced finely
to a clump of dried seaweed
939
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,375
inside a burnt-out husk
940
00:39:47,375 --> 00:39:49,333
and collapses,
941
00:39:49,333 --> 00:39:52,625
implodes in one last crunch
942
00:39:52,625 --> 00:39:54,125
of terminal boredom.
943
00:39:54,125 --> 00:39:57,083
[majestic classical music]
944
00:39:57,083 --> 00:39:59,250
He didn't give us a thought
945
00:39:59,250 --> 00:40:02,916
to how his words
might be hurtful
946
00:40:02,916 --> 00:40:05,333
to the people
he was making fun of.
947
00:40:05,333 --> 00:40:10,666
And I just feel
like you have to remember,
948
00:40:10,666 --> 00:40:12,291
if you're a journalist,
949
00:40:12,291 --> 00:40:15,333
how your words
can affect people.
950
00:40:15,333 --> 00:40:18,083
[Tom Junod] Tom Wolfe makes
the Bernsteins look ridiculous
951
00:40:18,083 --> 00:40:19,791
in that particular piece,
952
00:40:19,791 --> 00:40:21,791
and I think that probably
stuck with him forever.
953
00:40:22,916 --> 00:40:24,791
I'm a consumer of that story.
954
00:40:24,791 --> 00:40:26,333
I love that story.
955
00:40:26,333 --> 00:40:30,958
I can see where
it would have been painful
956
00:40:30,958 --> 00:40:35,125
to be in a different
position with that story.
957
00:40:35,125 --> 00:40:37,333
[Tom Wolfe] I think
you can't afford to be
958
00:40:37,333 --> 00:40:39,375
constantly
wringing your hands
959
00:40:39,375 --> 00:40:41,041
over the impact
of what you're doing,
960
00:40:41,041 --> 00:40:42,791
whether you're
talking about the impact
961
00:40:42,791 --> 00:40:44,583
on the individuals
that you're writing about
962
00:40:44,583 --> 00:40:47,333
or the impact on the issues
that are involved--
963
00:40:47,333 --> 00:40:49,500
in this case,
support for radical groups
964
00:40:49,500 --> 00:40:51,000
in the late 1960s.
965
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:52,791
I was heavily
criticized after that
966
00:40:52,791 --> 00:40:56,375
for drying up fundraising
for these radical groups
967
00:40:56,375 --> 00:40:59,125
among wealthy
socialites in New York.
968
00:40:59,125 --> 00:41:00,458
Well, whether
I did or I didn't,
969
00:41:00,458 --> 00:41:02,208
I don't think
you can worry about that.
970
00:41:02,208 --> 00:41:03,500
I think if you start
worrying about that,
971
00:41:03,500 --> 00:41:04,916
you're no longer writing;
972
00:41:04,916 --> 00:41:06,875
you're involved
in public relations.
973
00:41:06,875 --> 00:41:08,208
[Gay] If you read Tom Wolfe,
974
00:41:08,208 --> 00:41:10,083
and you--in my case,
not only read Tom Wolfe
975
00:41:10,083 --> 00:41:11,666
but know Tom Wolfe,
976
00:41:11,666 --> 00:41:12,875
they're different people,
977
00:41:12,875 --> 00:41:14,916
totally different people.
978
00:41:14,916 --> 00:41:16,625
[audience applauding]
979
00:41:16,625 --> 00:41:19,583
[man] As much as
Tom Wolfe is a public figure,
980
00:41:19,583 --> 00:41:21,625
the private man is an enigma.
981
00:41:21,625 --> 00:41:22,916
Home is New York,
982
00:41:22,916 --> 00:41:25,750
where he is married
with two kids.
983
00:41:25,750 --> 00:41:28,000
[Gail] A lot of readers
wouldn't think of Tom Wolfe
984
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,791
necessarily as
a soft-hearted man.
985
00:41:30,791 --> 00:41:34,291
He was also a man
who could cut a man in pieces
986
00:41:34,291 --> 00:41:36,708
with a single sentence.
987
00:41:36,708 --> 00:41:38,291
But with those he cared about,
988
00:41:38,291 --> 00:41:41,916
he was one of the most
thoughtful people I know.
989
00:41:41,916 --> 00:41:44,125
Tom was a very quiet,
990
00:41:44,125 --> 00:41:48,041
very courteous
Southern gentleman
991
00:41:48,041 --> 00:41:49,916
in private.
992
00:41:49,916 --> 00:41:53,625
He was a real family man.
993
00:41:53,625 --> 00:41:56,250
[Tom Wolfe] I delivered
some piece at Esquire.
994
00:41:56,250 --> 00:41:59,208
We're talking about it
when the doors cracked open,
995
00:41:59,208 --> 00:42:00,916
and I look out the door
996
00:42:00,916 --> 00:42:04,333
and I said, "Who's that
girl in a snakeskin dress?"
997
00:42:06,458 --> 00:42:08,375
And they said,
"Oh, that's Sheila Berger
998
00:42:08,375 --> 00:42:10,125
who works in
our Art Department."
999
00:42:10,125 --> 00:42:12,375
[mellow music]
1000
00:42:12,375 --> 00:42:15,083
And, well, we've been
married to this day.
1001
00:42:15,083 --> 00:42:17,166
Isn't that a romantic story?
1002
00:42:17,166 --> 00:42:18,458
Thank you, thank you.
1003
00:42:18,458 --> 00:42:19,583
[chuckles]
1004
00:42:19,583 --> 00:42:20,708
He never looked
at another woman
1005
00:42:20,708 --> 00:42:23,041
besides his wife.
1006
00:42:23,041 --> 00:42:24,750
She was basically
a nice Jewish girl
1007
00:42:24,750 --> 00:42:26,250
from Long Island.
1008
00:42:26,250 --> 00:42:29,333
A very serious woman,
a very bright woman.
1009
00:42:29,333 --> 00:42:32,291
She was sort of
his in-house editor.
1010
00:42:32,291 --> 00:42:34,875
Sheila's the perfect wife.
1011
00:42:34,875 --> 00:42:37,375
[mellow music]
1012
00:42:41,250 --> 00:42:43,833
[Tom Wolfe] I have
a son named Tommy,
1013
00:42:43,833 --> 00:42:48,291
and, uh, my daughter,
Alexandra.
1014
00:42:48,291 --> 00:42:50,583
He was--his--he was always
so close to his parents.
1015
00:42:50,583 --> 00:42:52,916
I mean, he really
believed in family.
1016
00:42:54,791 --> 00:42:56,375
[Michael]
My sense was
1017
00:42:56,375 --> 00:42:58,333
he never dragged his family
into his professional life.
1018
00:42:58,333 --> 00:42:59,666
And I get a sense
he didn't drag
1019
00:42:59,666 --> 00:43:02,416
his professional life
into his family.
1020
00:43:02,416 --> 00:43:03,791
He was private.
1021
00:43:03,791 --> 00:43:05,583
You know, I think
that white suit,
1022
00:43:05,583 --> 00:43:08,500
that white suit
was this suit of armor.
1023
00:43:08,500 --> 00:43:11,791
He didn't really want
the world to know him.
1024
00:43:11,791 --> 00:43:13,458
He wanted to know the world.
1025
00:43:13,458 --> 00:43:15,333
It was a one-way relationship.
1026
00:43:16,458 --> 00:43:18,958
[ethereal music]
1027
00:43:27,250 --> 00:43:30,458
[Tom Wolfe] I was sent
by Rolling Stone magazine
1028
00:43:30,458 --> 00:43:31,708
down to Cape Canaveral
1029
00:43:31,708 --> 00:43:34,041
to do a story on
the launch of Apollo 17,
1030
00:43:34,041 --> 00:43:35,750
it was the last
mission to the Moon.
1031
00:43:35,750 --> 00:43:37,291
Just do a story
on the scene there
1032
00:43:37,291 --> 00:43:39,791
and all the crazy things
that were going on.
1033
00:43:39,791 --> 00:43:42,666
And suddenly,
I just began asking myself,
1034
00:43:42,666 --> 00:43:45,125
"What is the makeup
of these people who are
1035
00:43:45,125 --> 00:43:46,333
willing to sit
on top of a rocket
1036
00:43:46,333 --> 00:43:47,875
and let somebody
light the candle?
1037
00:43:47,875 --> 00:43:49,708
-[man] The fuse, yeah.
-The fuse, yeah.
1038
00:43:49,708 --> 00:43:51,291
[Mission Control countdown]
Thirty seconds and counting.
1039
00:43:51,291 --> 00:43:53,083
Astronauts report
it feels good.
1040
00:43:53,083 --> 00:43:55,750
Two minutes,
twenty-five seconds.
1041
00:43:57,958 --> 00:43:59,916
Twenty seconds and counting.
1042
00:44:01,708 --> 00:44:05,583
[unintelligible transmission]
1043
00:44:05,583 --> 00:44:08,666
All engines running.
1044
00:44:08,666 --> 00:44:10,208
[explosive roaring]
1045
00:44:10,208 --> 00:44:11,291
Liftoff!
1046
00:44:11,291 --> 00:44:12,708
We have a liftoff.
1047
00:44:12,708 --> 00:44:16,000
Thirty-two minutes
past the hour.
1048
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:17,791
[Tom Wolfe] One of
the most exciting parts
1049
00:44:17,791 --> 00:44:19,875
of the little voyage
of discovery that I was on
1050
00:44:19,875 --> 00:44:21,916
was to find out the truth.
1051
00:44:21,916 --> 00:44:24,916
[ethereal music]
1052
00:44:24,916 --> 00:44:27,083
I was gonna spend
two months writing it
1053
00:44:27,083 --> 00:44:30,458
and bring a book out
in the fall of 1973.
1054
00:44:30,458 --> 00:44:31,791
I then began to find out
1055
00:44:31,791 --> 00:44:36,291
how little I knew
about any of it.
1056
00:44:36,291 --> 00:44:38,791
[pensive music]
1057
00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:50,041
[Alex] For most of the '70s,
1058
00:44:50,041 --> 00:44:52,541
that's the book
that he worked on.
1059
00:44:52,541 --> 00:44:54,166
And he really struggled
1060
00:44:54,166 --> 00:44:56,041
and labored with
getting the story together.
1061
00:44:56,041 --> 00:44:58,041
As a matter of fact,
he was at a loss.
1062
00:44:58,041 --> 00:45:00,666
Wolfe, when he wrote,
was a bundle of anxiety.
1063
00:45:00,666 --> 00:45:02,708
He was capable of thinking,
1064
00:45:02,708 --> 00:45:04,625
"I'll never write
another good word again,"
1065
00:45:04,625 --> 00:45:07,208
and just suffering
all by himself.
1066
00:45:07,208 --> 00:45:08,541
The process of writing,
1067
00:45:08,541 --> 00:45:10,083
which some people
describe as a joy...
1068
00:45:10,083 --> 00:45:12,625
-Mm-hm.
-...has never been a joy to me.
1069
00:45:12,625 --> 00:45:13,958
It's agony,
1070
00:45:13,958 --> 00:45:15,416
and it is like having arthritis.
1071
00:45:15,416 --> 00:45:16,541
It hurts a little every day,
1072
00:45:16,541 --> 00:45:18,250
and every day,
when you wake up,
1073
00:45:18,250 --> 00:45:19,583
it's in the back of your mind
1074
00:45:19,583 --> 00:45:21,666
that you've gotta put
your feet in the stocks...
1075
00:45:21,666 --> 00:45:23,250
-Mm-hm.
-...and make yourself sit there
1076
00:45:23,250 --> 00:45:25,125
and turn out something.
1077
00:45:25,125 --> 00:45:28,958
[Gail] I mean,
Tom was in distress.
1078
00:45:28,958 --> 00:45:31,875
How do you write a story
for three years and then,
1079
00:45:31,875 --> 00:45:33,583
you haven't gotten
the right stuff,
1080
00:45:33,583 --> 00:45:35,541
and go on for
another four years,
1081
00:45:35,541 --> 00:45:37,625
and also feed your family,
1082
00:45:37,625 --> 00:45:40,125
and, you know, have a life?
1083
00:45:41,541 --> 00:45:43,208
The way he carried himself.
1084
00:45:43,208 --> 00:45:45,458
It goes back
to his Southern roots.
1085
00:45:47,458 --> 00:45:50,791
[Tom Wolfe] I am protective
of my Southern upbringing,
1086
00:45:50,791 --> 00:45:53,750
and this leads to a kind
of irrational attachment
1087
00:45:53,750 --> 00:45:56,125
to certain figures.
1088
00:45:56,125 --> 00:45:58,416
Somehow, that person,
in your mind,
1089
00:45:58,416 --> 00:46:01,250
is a champion
of what you believe in.
1090
00:46:03,833 --> 00:46:04,958
[Michael] The Right Stuff
was straight up,
1091
00:46:04,958 --> 00:46:06,333
"I love these people.
1092
00:46:06,333 --> 00:46:08,083
I know these people,
these people are me.
1093
00:46:08,083 --> 00:46:11,041
They're small-town boys
from the South."
1094
00:46:11,041 --> 00:46:12,583
That's the way
he kind of thought of them
1095
00:46:12,583 --> 00:46:13,625
in the first place, I think.
1096
00:46:13,625 --> 00:46:17,000
And, uh, he drops all that.
1097
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,666
[ominous music]
1098
00:46:20,666 --> 00:46:23,583
[Alex] Wolfe goes back
and really starts to focus
1099
00:46:23,583 --> 00:46:25,958
on the idea of status
1100
00:46:25,958 --> 00:46:27,791
really being at the heart of
1101
00:46:27,791 --> 00:46:30,666
what The Right Stuff is about.
1102
00:46:30,666 --> 00:46:32,416
[Michael] What ends up
being special about the story
1103
00:46:32,416 --> 00:46:35,000
is this disconnect between
1104
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:38,750
what the public perceived
the astronauts' job as
1105
00:46:38,750 --> 00:46:40,458
and what was
actually going on there.
1106
00:46:42,208 --> 00:46:43,708
It's about the upheaval
1107
00:46:43,708 --> 00:46:46,000
in the status structure
of fighter pilots
1108
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:48,583
when all of a sudden
they're in this capsule
1109
00:46:48,583 --> 00:46:49,958
that's controlled
by technocrats
1110
00:46:49,958 --> 00:46:51,708
and they don't
actually fly anything.
1111
00:46:53,208 --> 00:46:56,458
Uh, where you plannin'
on puttin' a window?
1112
00:46:56,458 --> 00:46:58,250
Window?
There's no window!
1113
00:46:58,250 --> 00:47:00,750
[dynamic rock music]
1114
00:47:03,416 --> 00:47:05,500
[breathing heavily]
1115
00:47:05,500 --> 00:47:07,208
[indistinct shout]
1116
00:47:07,208 --> 00:47:08,458
[soft roaring]
1117
00:47:08,458 --> 00:47:09,791
[Jon Hamm] The Right Stuff
was not bravery
1118
00:47:09,791 --> 00:47:11,416
in the simple sense
of being willing
1119
00:47:11,416 --> 00:47:13,458
to risk your life.
1120
00:47:13,458 --> 00:47:16,166
You were a lab animal
sealed in a pod.
1121
00:47:17,916 --> 00:47:21,041
Is anyone, um, likely
to be bitterly upset at you
1122
00:47:21,041 --> 00:47:22,500
over this book?
1123
00:47:22,500 --> 00:47:26,541
You've had a way of making
a few enemies along the way.
1124
00:47:26,541 --> 00:47:28,000
[Tom Brokaw] You let the
air out of these heroes.
1125
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:29,500
You brought 'em back
down to earth, so to speak,
1126
00:47:29,500 --> 00:47:30,708
the astronauts.
1127
00:47:30,708 --> 00:47:32,583
Was there any
resentment about that?
1128
00:47:32,583 --> 00:47:33,791
[Tom Wolfe] I have
two stereotypes:
1129
00:47:33,791 --> 00:47:35,125
They're either flying saints
1130
00:47:35,125 --> 00:47:37,041
or else they were robots.
1131
00:47:37,041 --> 00:47:40,416
And in fact, nothing could
be further from the truth.
1132
00:47:40,416 --> 00:47:42,916
[Jon Hamm] The girls had
been turning up at Pancho's
1133
00:47:42,916 --> 00:47:45,416
in amazing numbers.
1134
00:47:45,416 --> 00:47:48,500
They were moist labial
piping little birds
1135
00:47:48,500 --> 00:47:49,958
who had somehow learned
1136
00:47:49,958 --> 00:47:52,041
that at this strange place
in the Mojave Desert
1137
00:47:52,041 --> 00:47:55,625
lived the hottest
young pilots in the world.
1138
00:47:55,625 --> 00:47:58,958
It completed the picture
of pilot Heaven:
1139
00:47:58,958 --> 00:48:00,000
flying and drinking,
1140
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:01,125
drinking and driving,
1141
00:48:01,125 --> 00:48:02,916
driving and balling.
1142
00:48:02,916 --> 00:48:05,458
The pilots began calling
the old Fly-Inn Dude Ranch
1143
00:48:05,458 --> 00:48:08,958
Pancho's Happy Bottom
Riding Club.
1144
00:48:08,958 --> 00:48:10,625
And there you have it.
1145
00:48:10,625 --> 00:48:12,083
It completely changed
1146
00:48:12,083 --> 00:48:15,000
the way people
saw the astronauts.
1147
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:16,041
You find, no; actually,
1148
00:48:16,041 --> 00:48:18,083
this other
thing is going on
1149
00:48:18,083 --> 00:48:19,833
that is the story.
1150
00:48:19,833 --> 00:48:21,833
And the movie
delivers that message
1151
00:48:21,833 --> 00:48:23,583
in a different way.
1152
00:48:23,583 --> 00:48:26,083
[majestic music]
1153
00:48:28,625 --> 00:48:30,666
The world premiere of
the movie The Right Stuff
1154
00:48:30,666 --> 00:48:32,083
in Washington today
1155
00:48:32,083 --> 00:48:33,500
had just about everything except
1156
00:48:33,500 --> 00:48:35,666
Charles Lindbergh
and Betsy Ross.
1157
00:48:35,666 --> 00:48:38,541
Famed test pilot Chuck Yeager
and 11 other pilots
1158
00:48:38,541 --> 00:48:43,500
staged a fly-by of old,
military, and antique planes.
1159
00:48:43,500 --> 00:48:45,458
What did Yeager
think of the movie?
1160
00:48:45,458 --> 00:48:47,208
Story's real good
and it pretty well tells
1161
00:48:47,208 --> 00:48:48,875
what happened,
and the comradeship
1162
00:48:48,875 --> 00:48:50,875
of the guys, and so on.
1163
00:48:50,875 --> 00:48:53,375
[suspenseful music]
1164
00:48:55,625 --> 00:48:57,666
[applause, cheering]
1165
00:48:57,666 --> 00:48:59,833
[majestic music]
1166
00:48:59,833 --> 00:49:01,125
The winner is&
1167
00:49:02,791 --> 00:49:05,125
Bill Conti,
for The Right Stuff.
1168
00:49:05,125 --> 00:49:07,166
Jay Boekelheide
for The Right Stuff.
1169
00:49:07,166 --> 00:49:08,500
The Right Stuff.
1170
00:49:08,500 --> 00:49:09,750
Glenn Farr, Lisa Fruchtman,
1171
00:49:09,750 --> 00:49:11,583
Stephen A. Rotter,
Douglas Stewart, Tom Roff
1172
00:49:11,583 --> 00:49:13,250
for The Right Stuff.
1173
00:49:13,250 --> 00:49:15,750
[majestic music]
1174
00:49:20,416 --> 00:49:21,541
[Tom Brokaw] Very briefly,
1175
00:49:21,541 --> 00:49:23,583
what's the next
subject for Tom Wolfe?
1176
00:49:23,583 --> 00:49:24,875
I'm thinking of a kind of
1177
00:49:24,875 --> 00:49:26,541
a Vanity Fair book
about New York.
1178
00:49:26,541 --> 00:49:29,041
[Phil Collins, "Sussudio"]
1179
00:49:45,875 --> 00:49:51,208
♪ There's a girl
that's been on my mind ♪
1180
00:49:51,208 --> 00:49:53,500
♪ All the time, Sussudio ♪
1181
00:49:53,500 --> 00:49:55,625
[Tom Wolfe] These trading
rooms are wild,
1182
00:49:55,625 --> 00:49:57,708
and you hear this ungodly roar.
1183
00:49:57,708 --> 00:49:59,833
And so, I follow the sound
1184
00:49:59,833 --> 00:50:01,666
and I reach this enormous room,
1185
00:50:01,666 --> 00:50:04,916
and here are
200 to 300 young men,
1186
00:50:04,916 --> 00:50:07,291
sweating profusely
at 8:30 in the morning
1187
00:50:07,291 --> 00:50:09,750
with half-moons
under their armpits,
1188
00:50:09,750 --> 00:50:11,958
gesturing like maniacs,
1189
00:50:11,958 --> 00:50:13,541
swearing in a language,
1190
00:50:13,541 --> 00:50:15,250
I think it was Army Creole.
1191
00:50:15,250 --> 00:50:17,833
This was the sound
of young white men
1192
00:50:17,833 --> 00:50:19,791
baying for money
on the bond market.
1193
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,708
[indistinct chatter]
1194
00:50:23,708 --> 00:50:25,875
Before he published fiction,
1195
00:50:25,875 --> 00:50:30,083
he wrote essays
critical of fiction.
1196
00:50:30,083 --> 00:50:31,375
In writing this novel,
1197
00:50:31,375 --> 00:50:33,083
I am a novelist
but also a journalist.
1198
00:50:33,083 --> 00:50:34,291
That was one
of the important points
1199
00:50:34,291 --> 00:50:35,875
I wanted to prove,
which was that
1200
00:50:35,875 --> 00:50:37,916
the approach to the novel today
1201
00:50:37,916 --> 00:50:39,958
should be journalistic.
1202
00:50:40,916 --> 00:50:42,458
[dramatic music]
1203
00:50:42,458 --> 00:50:43,791
[Tom Wolfe]
I had been spouting off
1204
00:50:43,791 --> 00:50:46,291
about how great
we non-fiction writers were
1205
00:50:46,291 --> 00:50:48,083
and how mediocre
the novelists were,
1206
00:50:48,083 --> 00:50:49,875
so I did a rather rash thing
1207
00:50:49,875 --> 00:50:52,250
and I decided to try
a whole new genre.
1208
00:50:52,250 --> 00:50:53,916
[Ron] No one else
made that transition
1209
00:50:53,916 --> 00:50:57,708
from journalism to fiction
as dramatically as he did.
1210
00:50:57,708 --> 00:50:59,416
Wolfe is being
accused of everything
1211
00:50:59,416 --> 00:51:01,000
from ignorance to arrogance.
1212
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:02,125
He wants to make himself look
1213
00:51:02,125 --> 00:51:03,833
like the smartest guy
in the room.
1214
00:51:03,833 --> 00:51:05,833
It looks as if Tom Wolfe said
1215
00:51:05,833 --> 00:51:10,583
to the other male
American novelists,
1216
00:51:10,583 --> 00:51:12,458
"Mine is bigger than yours."
1217
00:51:14,333 --> 00:51:16,291
I thought, "Boy,
they're gonna kill him.
1218
00:51:16,291 --> 00:51:17,750
They're gonna say his novel--
1219
00:51:17,750 --> 00:51:19,833
I don't care if it's better
than War and Peace--
1220
00:51:19,833 --> 00:51:21,708
they're gonna say
it's terrible."
1221
00:51:21,708 --> 00:51:24,000
I wanted to show
that we are in a period
1222
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:28,000
in which a great many people
are driven by, really,
1223
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:30,000
this carnival of prosperity.
1224
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:31,333
Let's go, let's go!
1225
00:51:31,333 --> 00:51:33,208
Calm down, Rawlie.
1226
00:51:33,208 --> 00:51:34,875
Let's not get overexcited.
1227
00:51:34,875 --> 00:51:38,083
-Yes, Sherman, I'm sorry.
-Calm, cool, collated.
1228
00:51:38,083 --> 00:51:39,250
Let's not lose our composure
1229
00:51:39,250 --> 00:51:41,375
over a few hundred
million dollars.
1230
00:51:41,375 --> 00:51:43,958
Jesus Christ, Sherman,
you must be made of ice.
1231
00:51:43,958 --> 00:51:45,958
[mellow music]
1232
00:51:47,750 --> 00:51:49,500
[Bruce Willis] "Suddenly,
through the crowd, he saw her."
1233
00:51:49,500 --> 00:51:50,958
Excuse me.
1234
00:51:50,958 --> 00:51:52,625
[Bruce Willis] "He followed her
through the room,
1235
00:51:52,625 --> 00:51:55,500
past the grinning faces
full of boiling teeth,
1236
00:51:55,500 --> 00:51:57,125
past the conversational
bouquets,
1237
00:51:57,125 --> 00:52:00,958
past the impeccably emaciated
ladies of society,
1238
00:52:00,958 --> 00:52:03,875
the social x-ray women."
1239
00:52:03,875 --> 00:52:06,375
[dramatic music]
1240
00:52:07,375 --> 00:52:09,875
[suspenseful music]
1241
00:52:11,875 --> 00:52:13,833
[Michael] He seemed to be
describing exactly
1242
00:52:13,833 --> 00:52:14,916
New York as it was,
1243
00:52:14,916 --> 00:52:16,583
and it wasn't
any fiction at all.
1244
00:52:16,583 --> 00:52:17,875
When I was writing that book,
1245
00:52:17,875 --> 00:52:19,208
it was with
a spirit of wonderment.
1246
00:52:19,208 --> 00:52:20,208
I was saying,
"Look at these people!
1247
00:52:20,208 --> 00:52:21,291
Look at what they're doing!
1248
00:52:21,291 --> 00:52:22,708
Look at that one!
Look at that one!"
1249
00:52:22,708 --> 00:52:25,125
And it was only after
I'd finished and read it over
1250
00:52:25,125 --> 00:52:27,250
that I see that there is
a cumulative effect
1251
00:52:27,250 --> 00:52:29,708
that leads to
a novel without a hero.
1252
00:52:29,708 --> 00:52:32,375
[pensive music]
1253
00:52:32,375 --> 00:52:34,333
Large cities in the U.S.,
1254
00:52:34,333 --> 00:52:36,458
and I daresay
anywhere in the world,
1255
00:52:36,458 --> 00:52:37,750
you look around
and you don't see
1256
00:52:37,750 --> 00:52:39,541
lots of heroes,
1257
00:52:39,541 --> 00:52:43,125
lots of giants of principle.
1258
00:52:43,125 --> 00:52:47,041
That is the nature
of the metropolis.
1259
00:52:47,041 --> 00:52:50,250
Vanity operating
on all sides.
1260
00:52:50,250 --> 00:52:52,208
And I've seen it in the '80s
1261
00:52:52,208 --> 00:52:54,500
go right from Wall Street
to the South Bronx,
1262
00:52:54,500 --> 00:52:56,250
where I did
a lot of my research.
1263
00:52:56,250 --> 00:52:59,291
[tense music]
1264
00:52:59,291 --> 00:53:00,708
[Ron]
What he wants us to see is that
1265
00:53:00,708 --> 00:53:03,125
cities are big, complex things.
1266
00:53:03,125 --> 00:53:04,541
They're not just
what you experience
1267
00:53:04,541 --> 00:53:05,708
on your level.
1268
00:53:05,708 --> 00:53:08,125
You get a sense
of this great ladder
1269
00:53:08,125 --> 00:53:10,000
of American culture
that we're all on,
1270
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:12,208
moving up and down
all the time.
1271
00:53:12,208 --> 00:53:16,333
[Terry] He'd already taken
the fiction writer's tools
1272
00:53:16,333 --> 00:53:19,291
and, you know,
twisted them out.
1273
00:53:19,291 --> 00:53:21,125
He was now taking journalism
1274
00:53:21,125 --> 00:53:23,250
and torqueing it
back into fiction.
1275
00:53:25,208 --> 00:53:28,791
[Peter] It's an exaggerated
version of New York City
1276
00:53:28,791 --> 00:53:32,666
but that somehow captures
the essence more accurately
1277
00:53:32,666 --> 00:53:34,875
than a--than
an accurate version would.
1278
00:53:34,875 --> 00:53:36,375
Not only did he go
into writing novels,
1279
00:53:36,375 --> 00:53:38,041
he wrote
a very controversial novel.
1280
00:53:38,041 --> 00:53:40,125
You have no idea
how controversial it was
1281
00:53:40,125 --> 00:53:43,416
because of the way
it portrayed African Americans.
1282
00:53:43,416 --> 00:53:48,500
[Niall] Unlike most writers
from the United States,
1283
00:53:48,500 --> 00:53:53,708
Wolfe was unafraid to confront
the great taboo of race.
1284
00:53:53,708 --> 00:53:55,750
[soft, grim music]
1285
00:53:57,833 --> 00:53:59,958
[Jon Hamm] "All at once,
Sherman was aware of the figure
1286
00:53:59,958 --> 00:54:02,166
approaching him
on the sidewalk.
1287
00:54:02,166 --> 00:54:03,583
In the wet, black shadows
1288
00:54:03,583 --> 00:54:05,916
of the townhouses
and the trees,
1289
00:54:05,916 --> 00:54:08,708
even from 50 feet away
in the darkness,
1290
00:54:08,708 --> 00:54:10,916
he could tell.
1291
00:54:10,916 --> 00:54:13,208
It was that deep worry that
lives in the base of the skull
1292
00:54:13,208 --> 00:54:16,208
of every resident
south of 96th Street:
1293
00:54:16,208 --> 00:54:17,750
the Black youth,
1294
00:54:17,750 --> 00:54:21,625
tall, rangy,
wearing white sneakers."
1295
00:54:24,041 --> 00:54:25,583
[Jamal] I have problems
with the portrayals,
1296
00:54:25,583 --> 00:54:27,833
especially of stuff
that was going on
1297
00:54:27,833 --> 00:54:31,333
in the Black community
and the interaction between,
1298
00:54:31,333 --> 00:54:34,375
you know, Black and white
communities in that time.
1299
00:54:34,375 --> 00:54:36,125
Some narrative
and character problems
1300
00:54:36,125 --> 00:54:37,458
for me in that writing.
1301
00:54:37,458 --> 00:54:39,583
[funky music]
1302
00:54:39,583 --> 00:54:41,291
[reporter] "Despite his
devastating portrait
1303
00:54:41,291 --> 00:54:43,083
of the city and its people,
1304
00:54:43,083 --> 00:54:45,833
many New Yorkers say his novel
has defined their city
1305
00:54:45,833 --> 00:54:48,000
as no other has."
1306
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:49,166
When it came out,
1307
00:54:49,166 --> 00:54:51,333
it was kind of like
front-page news.
1308
00:54:51,333 --> 00:54:53,000
It felt like
everybody was reading it.
1309
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:54,375
I can remember it myself.
1310
00:54:54,375 --> 00:54:55,500
Special segment tonight:
1311
00:54:55,500 --> 00:54:58,000
Tom Wolfe,
the dandy with the sharp eye
1312
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:00,291
and the unerring feel
for the phrase.
1313
00:55:00,291 --> 00:55:02,166
America's pre-eminent
writer of nonfiction
1314
00:55:02,166 --> 00:55:04,583
has just taken his first plunge
into the world of the novel.
1315
00:55:04,583 --> 00:55:06,333
His first novel,
right here, entitled...
1316
00:55:06,333 --> 00:55:08,166
"The Bonfire of the Vanities."
1317
00:55:08,166 --> 00:55:10,333
[Reporter] "The novel's
highly favorable reviews
1318
00:55:10,333 --> 00:55:12,708
match its staggering
sales figures.
1319
00:55:12,708 --> 00:55:14,541
His publisher says
Wolfe will make
1320
00:55:14,541 --> 00:55:17,750
$3 million,
maybe $4 million."
1321
00:55:17,750 --> 00:55:19,500
Now, you sold the rights
of this thing off
1322
00:55:19,500 --> 00:55:22,208
for huge sums of money,
I'm guessing, big dough.
1323
00:55:22,208 --> 00:55:24,166
Was this your biggest
film sale to date?
1324
00:55:24,166 --> 00:55:25,583
-Yes.
-Yeah, I would think so.
1325
00:55:25,583 --> 00:55:26,875
-By a long ways.
-Good for you.
1326
00:55:26,875 --> 00:55:28,083
People are always saying,
"Aren't you afraid
1327
00:55:28,083 --> 00:55:31,083
they're going to ruin
your book?"
1328
00:55:31,083 --> 00:55:32,791
A worse thing can happen,
1329
00:55:32,791 --> 00:55:35,083
and that is
if the movie is better.
1330
00:55:35,083 --> 00:55:36,750
Yeah, well, I don't know.
1331
00:55:36,750 --> 00:55:38,416
I have a feeling
about this one.
1332
00:55:38,416 --> 00:55:39,625
I don't know,
I think it would take
1333
00:55:39,625 --> 00:55:41,208
a great deal of effort
on their part
1334
00:55:41,208 --> 00:55:43,250
to make it better
than this book, you know?
1335
00:55:43,250 --> 00:55:44,333
I don't think
that's gonna happen.
1336
00:55:44,333 --> 00:55:45,541
Thank you.
1337
00:55:47,083 --> 00:55:48,083
Just drive! Just drive!
1338
00:55:48,083 --> 00:55:49,708
Damn! Open the door!
1339
00:55:49,708 --> 00:55:50,875
-Hey!
-Arggh!
1340
00:55:50,875 --> 00:55:52,833
Get away, get away,
get away, get away!
1341
00:55:52,833 --> 00:55:55,333
[music ends abruptly]
1342
00:55:56,791 --> 00:55:58,500
What the hell happened
1343
00:55:58,500 --> 00:56:00,625
with Bonfire of the Vanities?
1344
00:56:00,625 --> 00:56:02,666
Well, it's almost
the classic Hollywood story
1345
00:56:02,666 --> 00:56:04,666
in that I had a movie
1346
00:56:04,666 --> 00:56:07,208
that had a kind of
a large budget.
1347
00:56:07,208 --> 00:56:08,916
So I thought, "Well,
how am I gonna make this
1348
00:56:08,916 --> 00:56:12,541
big, kind of expansive
Bonfire of the Vanities?"
1349
00:56:12,541 --> 00:56:13,958
Consequently,
1350
00:56:13,958 --> 00:56:16,666
I completely violated
the text of the book.
1351
00:56:16,666 --> 00:56:18,250
[Tom Wolfe]
It was so bad, that, uh...
1352
00:56:18,250 --> 00:56:20,458
[audience laughter]
1353
00:56:20,458 --> 00:56:23,958
...I think it's lost about
$97 million, $98 million.
1354
00:56:23,958 --> 00:56:26,083
[applause]
1355
00:56:26,083 --> 00:56:27,416
[TV correspondent]
Tom Wolfe,
1356
00:56:27,416 --> 00:56:29,583
probably the best-known
writer in the country,
1357
00:56:29,583 --> 00:56:33,708
is drawing standing room
only audiences these days.
1358
00:56:33,708 --> 00:56:36,000
With his super-eclectic
writing style
1359
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:39,416
and that wardrobe of
custom-tailored white suits,
1360
00:56:39,416 --> 00:56:41,791
who is this--this dandy?
1361
00:56:41,791 --> 00:56:44,291
[melodramatic music]
1362
00:56:48,375 --> 00:56:50,958
By that point in time,
everybody knew who he was.
1363
00:56:50,958 --> 00:56:55,000
[Alex Trebek] Found in
a 1970 Tom Wolfe book title,
1364
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:56,333
"What is a radical?"
1365
00:56:56,333 --> 00:56:58,583
And that is
the correct response.
1366
00:56:58,583 --> 00:56:59,833
It's Tom Wolfe!
1367
00:56:59,833 --> 00:57:01,750
He uses more exclamation points
1368
00:57:01,750 --> 00:57:04,041
than any other
major American writer.
1369
00:57:04,041 --> 00:57:05,041
It's true!
1370
00:57:05,041 --> 00:57:07,416
[shutter-like snapping sound]
1371
00:57:14,083 --> 00:57:17,250
[Tom] Given the amazing
success that he had,
1372
00:57:17,250 --> 00:57:20,625
I think that it
impacted him negatively.
1373
00:57:20,625 --> 00:57:23,750
[woman] You've, uh,
spent much of your career
1374
00:57:23,750 --> 00:57:27,250
looking at the personal lives
of other people.
1375
00:57:27,250 --> 00:57:28,750
I was wondering
if you've had a chance
1376
00:57:28,750 --> 00:57:30,166
to have any personal life,
1377
00:57:30,166 --> 00:57:33,333
or if it's--your life
has been your work.
1378
00:57:33,333 --> 00:57:36,541
When I look at my personal life,
1379
00:57:36,541 --> 00:57:38,291
sometimes, I feel
very, very sad.
1380
00:57:38,291 --> 00:57:40,708
Working, or making believe
that I'm working,
1381
00:57:40,708 --> 00:57:42,958
or finding ways
to avoid working,
1382
00:57:42,958 --> 00:57:45,833
and that's really
about the only thing
1383
00:57:45,833 --> 00:57:47,750
that I tend to do.
1384
00:57:47,750 --> 00:57:50,250
[typewriter keys clacking]
1385
00:57:53,083 --> 00:57:56,708
Tom was such
a unique individual.
1386
00:57:56,708 --> 00:58:00,166
I wondered how fame shaped him.
1387
00:58:00,166 --> 00:58:01,291
[Michael]
Wolfe gets trapped
1388
00:58:01,291 --> 00:58:04,125
by this persona
that he created.
1389
00:58:04,125 --> 00:58:06,500
The obligation
to be a character
1390
00:58:06,500 --> 00:58:09,208
as well as just a writer
1391
00:58:09,208 --> 00:58:10,541
is a bad business.
1392
00:58:12,083 --> 00:58:13,916
He was such a performer.
1393
00:58:13,916 --> 00:58:15,291
He was not just Tom Wolfe.
1394
00:58:15,291 --> 00:58:16,750
He was playing Tom Wolfe.
1395
00:58:16,750 --> 00:58:17,750
[Gay]
He said this:
1396
00:58:17,750 --> 00:58:19,458
"When I walk in a room,
1397
00:58:19,458 --> 00:58:21,625
I want to be noticed."
1398
00:58:21,625 --> 00:58:25,708
All of that was
the facade of being Tom Wolfe.
1399
00:58:27,166 --> 00:58:29,416
He must have felt it
as an obligation
1400
00:58:29,416 --> 00:58:31,333
to be a personality.
1401
00:58:31,333 --> 00:58:33,416
When he wasn't
really a personality.
1402
00:58:33,416 --> 00:58:36,250
It created certain pressures
in his existence
1403
00:58:36,250 --> 00:58:38,083
he never fully resolved.
1404
00:58:38,083 --> 00:58:39,458
Now let's welcome...
1405
00:58:39,458 --> 00:58:41,083
...one of the most talked-about
and one of the most brilliant...
1406
00:58:41,083 --> 00:58:42,500
-Fascinating...
-Influential...
1407
00:58:42,500 --> 00:58:44,541
...American writers
of his generation.
1408
00:58:44,541 --> 00:58:45,791
Here now is Tom Wolfe.
1409
00:58:45,791 --> 00:58:48,791
[pastiche of male voices
saying "Tom Wolfe"]
1410
00:58:48,791 --> 00:58:50,500
[male host] Tom Wolfe,
ladies and gentlemen.
1411
00:58:50,500 --> 00:58:52,583
[audience cheering, applauding]
1412
00:58:54,500 --> 00:58:57,000
[eerie music stops abruptly]
1413
00:58:58,416 --> 00:59:01,000
[indistinct remarks]
1414
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:04,208
[soft breathing,
medical equipment beeping]
1415
00:59:04,208 --> 00:59:05,208
[dark music]
1416
00:59:05,208 --> 00:59:06,916
[faint sound of heartbeat]
1417
00:59:06,916 --> 00:59:09,875
[man] Well, I remember
being stunned to hear
1418
00:59:09,875 --> 00:59:12,541
that he had had a heart attack.
1419
00:59:12,541 --> 00:59:15,750
[medical equipment beeping]
1420
00:59:15,750 --> 00:59:17,166
[woman] His father
had a heart attack
1421
00:59:17,166 --> 00:59:19,000
and died at the same age.
1422
00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:22,208
[medical equipment beeping,
muffled voice speaking]
1423
00:59:24,625 --> 00:59:31,000
[man] A quintuple bypass event
is a reminder of mortality.
1424
00:59:32,916 --> 00:59:34,416
[Tom Wolfe]
I had a, shall I say,
1425
00:59:34,416 --> 00:59:37,958
soul-jolting experience
having a heart attack
1426
00:59:37,958 --> 00:59:42,416
and having a quintuple bypass
1427
00:59:42,416 --> 00:59:46,500
and all of the emotional
trauma that can follow
1428
00:59:46,500 --> 00:59:48,333
that sort of operation.
1429
00:59:50,041 --> 00:59:53,750
He did, as many people
who have open-heart surgery do,
1430
00:59:53,750 --> 00:59:56,875
he did go into
a depression for a while.
1431
00:59:56,875 --> 00:59:59,916
You sank into a depression.
1432
00:59:59,916 --> 01:00:01,250
-[Tom Wolfe] I did.
-A depression!
1433
01:00:01,250 --> 01:00:03,166
[somber music]
1434
01:00:04,666 --> 01:00:06,750
[Tom Wolfe]
After the bypass operation,
1435
01:00:06,750 --> 01:00:08,875
you're thinking sort of,
"My God,
1436
01:00:08,875 --> 01:00:11,125
I'm so mortal,
it's not funny any longer."
1437
01:00:18,208 --> 01:00:19,333
I felt so bad.
1438
01:00:19,333 --> 01:00:20,791
I'd never had
a depression before.
1439
01:00:20,791 --> 01:00:24,250
Uh, I called up
a friend of mine,
1440
01:00:24,250 --> 01:00:27,291
Paul McHugh, who's the head
of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins.
1441
01:00:27,291 --> 01:00:30,791
Tom was very concerned
about how the depression
1442
01:00:30,791 --> 01:00:33,583
and the coronary disease
1443
01:00:33,583 --> 01:00:35,666
might deprive him
of the very things
1444
01:00:35,666 --> 01:00:38,458
that made him
the writer he was.
1445
01:00:38,458 --> 01:00:40,458
[solemn music]
1446
01:00:42,500 --> 01:00:45,041
[Tom Wolfe] He would call me
at least once a day,
1447
01:00:45,041 --> 01:00:46,875
and many times,
five and six times a day,
1448
01:00:46,875 --> 01:00:49,000
according to how
I seemed to be doing.
1449
01:00:51,083 --> 01:00:53,208
[Paul] I wanted
to help him become
1450
01:00:53,208 --> 01:00:55,625
the kind of person he was.
1451
01:00:55,625 --> 01:00:58,583
He himself wondered
whether he could make it back.
1452
01:00:58,583 --> 01:01:01,083
[solemn music]
1453
01:01:05,208 --> 01:01:08,958
[Tom Wolfe] Count how many days
you think you have left.
1454
01:01:08,958 --> 01:01:13,375
It's grimly small
that--that number.
1455
01:01:13,375 --> 01:01:17,500
It's quite humbling, um,
1456
01:01:17,500 --> 01:01:21,666
to know that despite
all of your aspirations,
1457
01:01:21,666 --> 01:01:22,875
and all of your dreams,
1458
01:01:22,875 --> 01:01:25,000
and all of the talents
you think you have,
1459
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:27,708
uh, you're made of clay.
1460
01:01:27,708 --> 01:01:30,000
[upbeat, jazzy music]
1461
01:01:33,041 --> 01:01:35,000
[cameras' shutters snapping]
1462
01:01:38,958 --> 01:01:40,166
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
1463
01:01:40,166 --> 01:01:42,083
No matter what
you're confronted with,
1464
01:01:42,083 --> 01:01:44,083
including death,
1465
01:01:44,083 --> 01:01:46,125
you are going to be affected.
1466
01:01:48,750 --> 01:01:52,458
I've experienced
some rather nice changes.
1467
01:01:55,416 --> 01:01:58,916
[reporter] A Man in Full became
the bestselling book in America
1468
01:01:58,916 --> 01:02:02,083
only two days
after it went on sale.
1469
01:02:02,083 --> 01:02:04,125
Wolfe's new book places Atlanta
1470
01:02:04,125 --> 01:02:06,250
and the new
Southern aristocracy
1471
01:02:06,250 --> 01:02:08,125
under his microscope.
1472
01:02:09,833 --> 01:02:11,625
It took 11 years
to write this book.
1473
01:02:11,625 --> 01:02:15,541
-I'm afraid so.
-And now, 742 pages later...
1474
01:02:15,541 --> 01:02:17,000
I figured
I'd better make it long.
1475
01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:18,583
There were lines
around the block
1476
01:02:18,583 --> 01:02:19,875
at bookstores in Atlanta.
1477
01:02:19,875 --> 01:02:21,208
There were stories
in The New York Times
1478
01:02:21,208 --> 01:02:22,541
about the lines
around the block
1479
01:02:22,541 --> 01:02:23,791
in the bookstores in Atlanta,
1480
01:02:23,791 --> 01:02:26,750
'cause no one had
ever seen one before.
1481
01:02:26,750 --> 01:02:29,416
A Man in Full was
the biggest novel
1482
01:02:29,416 --> 01:02:31,583
of my life at that time.
1483
01:02:31,583 --> 01:02:33,708
Remember, it's a finalist
for the National Book Award
1484
01:02:33,708 --> 01:02:35,083
even before it's published.
1485
01:02:35,083 --> 01:02:37,333
It was on the bestseller
list for weeks.
1486
01:02:37,333 --> 01:02:41,291
Tom was the most famous writer
in the United States,
1487
01:02:41,291 --> 01:02:43,375
'cause he got
all this publicity.
1488
01:02:43,375 --> 01:02:44,541
[Morley Safer]
A new Wolfe book
1489
01:02:44,541 --> 01:02:48,250
is both a cultural
and social event.
1490
01:02:48,250 --> 01:02:49,625
[Tom Wolfe]
"It was Friday evening,
1491
01:02:49,625 --> 01:02:52,125
and the Master of Turpentine,
Charlie Croker,
1492
01:02:52,125 --> 01:02:53,250
was presiding over dinner
1493
01:02:53,250 --> 01:02:55,125
at the burled
Tupelo maple table
1494
01:02:55,125 --> 01:02:56,916
that Ronald Vine,
the decorator,
1495
01:02:56,916 --> 01:02:58,416
had devised for the gun room.
1496
01:02:58,416 --> 01:03:01,208
He was only 44
but already running to fat.
1497
01:03:01,208 --> 01:03:02,833
His head popped up
out of his blazer
1498
01:03:02,833 --> 01:03:04,875
and his polo shirt
like a bubble.
1499
01:03:04,875 --> 01:03:07,125
His skin was pallid and pasty.
1500
01:03:07,125 --> 01:03:09,750
A few strands of hair
the color of orange juice stains
1501
01:03:09,750 --> 01:03:13,041
skimmed back across
his otherwise-bald pate."
1502
01:03:13,041 --> 01:03:16,083
We're heading towards
a total eclipse of all values.
1503
01:03:16,083 --> 01:03:17,250
Now, don't get me wrong.
1504
01:03:17,250 --> 01:03:18,708
As a writer,
1505
01:03:18,708 --> 01:03:20,166
I'm perfectly delighted
1506
01:03:20,166 --> 01:03:22,625
for things to remain
the way they are.
1507
01:03:22,625 --> 01:03:26,000
I mean, the human comedy
has never been richer.
1508
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:28,083
I thought A Man in Full
was magnificent.
1509
01:03:28,083 --> 01:03:29,208
I mean, there are
scenes in that
1510
01:03:29,208 --> 01:03:30,708
where they're just spectacular.
1511
01:03:30,708 --> 01:03:34,041
Very complex,
very funny, very moving.
1512
01:03:34,041 --> 01:03:37,458
Huge characters, huge scenes.
1513
01:03:37,458 --> 01:03:41,333
[Tom Wolfe] There is no way
to understand individuals
1514
01:03:41,333 --> 01:03:44,375
without understanding
the society around them.
1515
01:03:44,375 --> 01:03:46,166
So it sold a gazillion copies,
1516
01:03:46,166 --> 01:03:49,083
but it got trashed
by all kinds of famous writers.
1517
01:03:49,083 --> 01:03:51,000
Talk about creating a furor.
1518
01:03:51,000 --> 01:03:53,166
You--you've been in
a bit of a catfight
1519
01:03:53,166 --> 01:03:56,458
with John Irving,
Norman Mailer, and John Updike.
1520
01:03:56,458 --> 01:03:58,833
It has gotten nasty
with you guys.
1521
01:03:58,833 --> 01:04:00,583
This, actually,
from my point of view,
1522
01:04:00,583 --> 01:04:02,458
it's kind of been fun.
1523
01:04:02,458 --> 01:04:05,916
Wolfe's novel had
a kind of whipped-up,
1524
01:04:05,916 --> 01:04:07,875
overblown quality.
1525
01:04:07,875 --> 01:04:10,291
I guess if I resent anything,
1526
01:04:10,291 --> 01:04:14,375
I kind of resented
the time it took me to read
1527
01:04:14,375 --> 01:04:15,916
A Man in Full.
1528
01:04:15,916 --> 01:04:18,875
Tom Wolfe called John Irving,
John Updike, and myself
1529
01:04:18,875 --> 01:04:20,458
"the Three Stooges."
1530
01:04:20,458 --> 01:04:22,500
[man] If we had a copy
of any Tom Wolfe book here,
1531
01:04:22,500 --> 01:04:24,666
I could read you a sentence
that would make me gag.
1532
01:04:24,666 --> 01:04:26,000
I don't know
what it would do to you,
1533
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:27,250
but it would make me gag.
1534
01:04:27,250 --> 01:04:29,375
If I were teaching
fucking freshman English,
1535
01:04:29,375 --> 01:04:30,666
I couldn't read that sentence
1536
01:04:30,666 --> 01:04:32,416
and not just carve it all up.
1537
01:04:32,416 --> 01:04:34,208
They just didn't
like the fact
1538
01:04:34,208 --> 01:04:35,666
that this book, A Man in Full,
1539
01:04:35,666 --> 01:04:39,208
had sold 1.4 million
copies in hardcover.
1540
01:04:39,208 --> 01:04:41,208
You know,
that couldn't be literature
1541
01:04:41,208 --> 01:04:44,625
if it--if it sold that much.
1542
01:04:44,625 --> 01:04:48,708
But I tell you,
literary spats are fun.
1543
01:04:48,708 --> 01:04:51,791
It makes you realize
you're alive in the morning.
1544
01:04:51,791 --> 01:04:54,333
[bright music]
1545
01:04:54,333 --> 01:04:56,750
[keys clacking]
1546
01:04:58,416 --> 01:05:02,583
He just kept going.
1547
01:05:05,583 --> 01:05:09,291
[Christopher] No one turns out
masterpiece after masterpiece,
1548
01:05:09,291 --> 01:05:10,666
and I think that's probably
1549
01:05:10,666 --> 01:05:15,125
a sad realization
for great writers.
1550
01:05:15,125 --> 01:05:19,625
But what's noble about it
is that they go on,
1551
01:05:19,625 --> 01:05:22,208
they are writers to the end.
1552
01:05:24,500 --> 01:05:28,375
I think there was
bound to be a problem
1553
01:05:28,375 --> 01:05:32,375
with big, long books
after a certain point
1554
01:05:32,375 --> 01:05:35,666
in the age of
weapons of mass distraction.
1555
01:05:35,666 --> 01:05:39,083
And the books
became less impactful
1556
01:05:39,083 --> 01:05:42,250
with each novel.
1557
01:05:42,250 --> 01:05:44,625
Whatever's taking place
is taking place,
1558
01:05:44,625 --> 01:05:46,583
and America's
paying attention to it
1559
01:05:46,583 --> 01:05:48,041
how America pays
attention to it.
1560
01:05:48,041 --> 01:05:50,291
And nobody was
reading Tom Wolfe.
1561
01:05:52,333 --> 01:05:54,000
[Christopher]
His last two novels,
1562
01:05:54,000 --> 01:05:57,791
one was on sexual harassment
on a college campus.
1563
01:05:57,791 --> 01:06:00,750
I cannot believe I'm seeing
the sophisticated Tom Wolfe.
1564
01:06:00,750 --> 01:06:04,541
It's like, "There are
children living in sin!"
1565
01:06:04,541 --> 01:06:06,541
Well, I'm afraid--
I'm afraid I was.
1566
01:06:06,541 --> 01:06:09,125
[wistful music]
1567
01:06:09,125 --> 01:06:14,750
He thought he could
make up for the 50 years
1568
01:06:14,750 --> 01:06:16,833
between him and the people
he was writing about
1569
01:06:16,833 --> 01:06:19,250
with a lot of anthropology
1570
01:06:19,250 --> 01:06:22,125
and a lot of
research and journalism.
1571
01:06:22,125 --> 01:06:25,541
But it felt really phony.
1572
01:06:25,541 --> 01:06:28,250
You know, he clearly
was just so excited
1573
01:06:28,250 --> 01:06:32,708
to be able to use these words
like "dormcest" and "sexiled."
1574
01:06:34,666 --> 01:06:36,416
With every new novel,
1575
01:06:36,416 --> 01:06:38,333
it became a little bit
less successful,
1576
01:06:38,333 --> 01:06:40,833
a little bit less esteemed.
1577
01:06:40,833 --> 01:06:44,125
But, you know, he was
still a writer who said things
1578
01:06:44,125 --> 01:06:45,541
that people had not yet said.
1579
01:06:47,583 --> 01:06:51,041
[Niall] Very few other people
wrote about the academic world,
1580
01:06:51,041 --> 01:06:53,291
or indeed, more generally
about American society,
1581
01:06:53,291 --> 01:06:56,333
with that kind of
clarity of vision.
1582
01:06:56,333 --> 01:06:59,416
Charlotte Simmons
and Back to Blood,
1583
01:06:59,416 --> 01:07:02,958
I don't think
they're his best works.
1584
01:07:02,958 --> 01:07:05,916
But they say
that a genius hits a target
1585
01:07:05,916 --> 01:07:08,208
no one else can see.
1586
01:07:08,208 --> 01:07:09,833
And I think Back to Blood,
1587
01:07:09,833 --> 01:07:12,541
which is on
the subject of immigration,
1588
01:07:12,541 --> 01:07:16,083
it speaks to Tom's, you know,
fundamental prescience.
1589
01:07:16,083 --> 01:07:18,375
He had his finger
on the nation's pulse.
1590
01:07:21,750 --> 01:07:24,625
At 85, the white-suited
Tom Wolfe is still
1591
01:07:24,625 --> 01:07:26,250
stalking big game,
1592
01:07:26,250 --> 01:07:27,666
but this book
is a bit different,
1593
01:07:27,666 --> 01:07:29,666
a history lesson
mixed with a return
1594
01:07:29,666 --> 01:07:31,458
to his roots in journalism.
1595
01:07:31,458 --> 01:07:32,583
In his latest book,
1596
01:07:32,583 --> 01:07:35,250
Wolfe argues speech,
not evolution,
1597
01:07:35,250 --> 01:07:38,458
is responsible for humanity's
highest achievements.
1598
01:07:38,458 --> 01:07:40,708
He skewers the man
who introduced evolution
1599
01:07:40,708 --> 01:07:42,916
to the masses, Charles Darwin,
1600
01:07:42,916 --> 01:07:46,000
along with famed linguist
Noam Chomsky.
1601
01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:47,666
If you look at everything
he's written,
1602
01:07:47,666 --> 01:07:49,166
every book bothered somebody,
1603
01:07:49,166 --> 01:07:50,833
and that's what's good about it.
1604
01:07:50,833 --> 01:07:52,458
[soft music]
1605
01:07:52,458 --> 01:07:55,791
He wasn't afraid
of the controversy.
1606
01:07:55,791 --> 01:07:57,750
He said, "If that's
the way the facts are,
1607
01:07:57,750 --> 01:07:59,833
that's the way
I'm gonna tell the story."
1608
01:07:59,833 --> 01:08:02,375
It is bold and, I think,
some would say very dangerous
1609
01:08:02,375 --> 01:08:05,083
to say that Darwinism
and evolution is a myth.
1610
01:08:05,083 --> 01:08:08,250
Well, I think a lot of people
are gonna agree with me!
1611
01:08:08,250 --> 01:08:10,250
[pensive music]
1612
01:08:12,208 --> 01:08:15,875
[Michael] He sat in a very
uncomfortable intersection
1613
01:08:15,875 --> 01:08:20,333
between red America,
blue America, left and right.
1614
01:08:20,333 --> 01:08:23,625
He avoided being
too closely identified
1615
01:08:23,625 --> 01:08:28,250
with any kind of
political ideology.
1616
01:08:28,250 --> 01:08:29,791
[Tom Wolfe] I've never
backed the Democratic Party
1617
01:08:29,791 --> 01:08:31,958
or the Republican Party.
1618
01:08:31,958 --> 01:08:34,000
Sure, I'm...
1619
01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:36,500
There are certain things
I do care about politically.
1620
01:08:36,500 --> 01:08:41,708
I care tremendously
about freedom of expression.
1621
01:08:41,708 --> 01:08:45,791
I will always be willing
1622
01:08:45,791 --> 01:08:47,041
to do what I can
to preserve that,
1623
01:08:47,041 --> 01:08:49,375
which I think, fortunately,
1624
01:08:49,375 --> 01:08:51,125
there is still great
freedom of expression
1625
01:08:51,125 --> 01:08:52,333
in the United States.
1626
01:08:52,333 --> 01:08:54,416
[pensive music]
1627
01:08:54,416 --> 01:08:56,041
[Christopher] I think
it would be a lot harder
1628
01:08:56,041 --> 01:09:00,750
for Tom Wolfe to do
what he did now.
1629
01:09:00,750 --> 01:09:02,708
It's almost impossible
for someone to do
1630
01:09:02,708 --> 01:09:04,958
what Tom Wolfe did
in our society today.
1631
01:09:04,958 --> 01:09:05,958
It's been impossible,
I would say,
1632
01:09:05,958 --> 01:09:08,416
for probably close to 40 years.
1633
01:09:10,125 --> 01:09:11,416
[Michael]
Any of the places
1634
01:09:11,416 --> 01:09:13,666
that Tom Wolfe published for
in his heyday
1635
01:09:13,666 --> 01:09:16,083
would not be able to publish
pieces by him today,
1636
01:09:16,083 --> 01:09:18,375
because he would just
piss too many people off.
1637
01:09:20,750 --> 01:09:22,083
[Jeff]
Is this the last book?
1638
01:09:22,083 --> 01:09:25,166
To be honest,
I have only five more planned.
1639
01:09:25,166 --> 01:09:26,166
Uh&
1640
01:09:26,166 --> 01:09:27,166
[chuckling]
1641
01:09:27,166 --> 01:09:28,500
One is coming up,
1642
01:09:28,500 --> 01:09:30,833
it's on political correctness.
1643
01:09:30,833 --> 01:09:32,250
Which I think is
the funniest subject
1644
01:09:32,250 --> 01:09:33,666
in a long time.
1645
01:09:36,250 --> 01:09:37,791
[Michael] The strange thing
in is his life
1646
01:09:37,791 --> 01:09:41,000
is that while,
every now and then,
1647
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:43,666
someone would challenge him
in a review
1648
01:09:43,666 --> 01:09:45,583
on political grounds,
1649
01:09:45,583 --> 01:09:47,833
most of the New York
literary establishment
1650
01:09:47,833 --> 01:09:48,916
just loved him.
1651
01:09:48,916 --> 01:09:50,958
They loved him personally,
1652
01:09:50,958 --> 01:09:52,875
they loved what he wrote,
1653
01:09:52,875 --> 01:09:53,875
and they kind of thought
1654
01:09:53,875 --> 01:09:55,583
whatever his
political views were
1655
01:09:55,583 --> 01:09:56,791
as beside the point,
1656
01:09:56,791 --> 01:09:59,208
and I kinda think they were.
1657
01:09:59,208 --> 01:10:01,833
I'm 86,
1658
01:10:01,833 --> 01:10:04,500
and you lose your friends.
1659
01:10:04,500 --> 01:10:05,500
They die,
1660
01:10:05,500 --> 01:10:08,125
or they're unable to come out.
1661
01:10:08,125 --> 01:10:11,375
They're confined
because of their illness.
1662
01:10:11,375 --> 01:10:14,541
And I remember when Tom
was not moving very well.
1663
01:10:14,541 --> 01:10:16,500
This elegant man
would later on,
1664
01:10:16,500 --> 01:10:17,916
because of
the curvature of his spine,
1665
01:10:17,916 --> 01:10:19,291
the illness that he had
1666
01:10:19,291 --> 01:10:21,416
in the last few years
of his life,
1667
01:10:21,416 --> 01:10:23,708
it never seemed
to make an impression on him
1668
01:10:23,708 --> 01:10:25,250
in a negative way.
1669
01:10:25,250 --> 01:10:27,916
[pensive music]
1670
01:10:27,916 --> 01:10:29,583
Junior Johnson!
1671
01:10:29,583 --> 01:10:30,708
As I live and breathe.
1672
01:10:30,708 --> 01:10:31,750
Tom Wolfe!
1673
01:10:31,750 --> 01:10:32,958
How you been gettin' along?
1674
01:10:32,958 --> 01:10:35,000
Well, not badly, not badly.
1675
01:10:35,000 --> 01:10:37,083
-I'm still vertical.
-Right.
1676
01:10:37,083 --> 01:10:40,416
-That's half the battle.
-That's true, that's true.
1677
01:10:40,416 --> 01:10:41,791
He was one tough motherfucker.
1678
01:10:41,791 --> 01:10:44,333
Whatever he had to do,
he would do it.
1679
01:10:44,333 --> 01:10:46,625
Great sense of self.
1680
01:10:46,625 --> 01:10:48,750
He was Tom Wolfe.
1681
01:10:48,750 --> 01:10:50,916
[soft music]
1682
01:10:55,500 --> 01:10:57,208
Author and journalist Tom Wolfe
1683
01:10:57,208 --> 01:10:59,875
has died at a hospital
here in New York.
1684
01:10:59,875 --> 01:11:02,000
[newscaster speaking German]
1685
01:11:04,291 --> 01:11:06,625
[newscaster speaking French]
1686
01:11:08,375 --> 01:11:10,375
[newscaster speaking Spanish]
1687
01:11:11,875 --> 01:11:14,166
[newscaster speaking Spanish]
1688
01:11:15,625 --> 01:11:18,166
[contemplative music]
1689
01:11:25,708 --> 01:11:28,250
[Ron] We just don't have
figures like that anymore.
1690
01:11:28,250 --> 01:11:32,833
There are no journalists
that huge anymore.
1691
01:11:32,833 --> 01:11:35,416
What he did was just
fundamentally different
1692
01:11:35,416 --> 01:11:39,625
because of how grandiose he was.
1693
01:11:43,041 --> 01:11:44,583
[Alexandra] I think that
he should be remembered
1694
01:11:44,583 --> 01:11:48,333
not only for his work
and the books that he wrote
1695
01:11:48,333 --> 01:11:50,375
but for his courage.
1696
01:11:53,125 --> 01:11:57,666
I think Tom Wolfe's
novels will last
1697
01:11:57,666 --> 01:12:01,625
and will be rediscovered
at some point.
1698
01:12:01,625 --> 01:12:03,958
They'll go through
a phase of neglect.
1699
01:12:03,958 --> 01:12:05,208
But because they're so good
1700
01:12:05,208 --> 01:12:07,041
and because
they actually capture
1701
01:12:07,041 --> 01:12:09,500
American society so well,
1702
01:12:09,500 --> 01:12:11,166
future generations
will come back to them
1703
01:12:11,166 --> 01:12:13,916
and find them
much more illuminating.
1704
01:12:16,208 --> 01:12:17,875
Not only did he inspire me
1705
01:12:17,875 --> 01:12:20,208
before I even thought
I wanted to be a writer,
1706
01:12:20,208 --> 01:12:23,833
um, once I became a writer,
1707
01:12:23,833 --> 01:12:26,875
uh...he was a touchstone for me.
1708
01:12:26,875 --> 01:12:30,333
[soft music]
1709
01:12:30,333 --> 01:12:32,291
[Tom Wolfe] I think your soul
1710
01:12:32,291 --> 01:12:34,958
is your relationships
with other people.
1711
01:12:34,958 --> 01:12:36,791
And that's the part of you
1712
01:12:36,791 --> 01:12:39,625
that really doesn't--
doesn't die,
1713
01:12:39,625 --> 01:12:42,333
and you suddenly begin
to treasure those things
1714
01:12:42,333 --> 01:12:44,000
in a way you never did before.
1715
01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:46,458
-Come--come have a seat.
-Okay.
1716
01:12:48,250 --> 01:12:51,125
And this is, I think these--
1717
01:12:51,125 --> 01:12:52,375
How you doin' over there?
1718
01:12:52,375 --> 01:12:53,958
[Morley Safer] Well, no;
it's very interesting.
1719
01:12:53,958 --> 01:12:56,375
He was kinder to me
than he had to be,
1720
01:12:56,375 --> 01:13:00,125
and kinda sweet-natured.
1721
01:13:00,125 --> 01:13:01,666
Easy to be with.
1722
01:13:03,083 --> 01:13:06,291
In all the years
I represented him,
1723
01:13:06,291 --> 01:13:08,916
we never had an unkind word.
1724
01:13:08,916 --> 01:13:11,916
He was a real gentleman.
1725
01:13:11,916 --> 01:13:15,500
I watched him over,
oh, almost 60 years.
1726
01:13:15,500 --> 01:13:17,208
And I watched him as a fan,
1727
01:13:17,208 --> 01:13:19,375
I watched him as a friend,
1728
01:13:19,375 --> 01:13:20,541
and I always watched him
1729
01:13:20,541 --> 01:13:22,375
with a sense of wonder
and amazement
1730
01:13:22,375 --> 01:13:24,000
that he could be
all these things.
1731
01:13:24,958 --> 01:13:26,583
Thank you very much.
1732
01:13:26,583 --> 01:13:28,416
[applause]
1733
01:13:28,416 --> 01:13:30,916
[soft music]
1734
01:13:41,416 --> 01:13:43,791
[mellow, jazzy music]
1735
01:15:06,291 --> 01:15:08,791
[old-timey piano music]
122549
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