Killer Interview Tips.com

Caraculiambro says:

I sought out this issue because it contains a famous interview of Gloria Steinem by Fred Exley. Since I worship Exley’s writing, I had to acquire it, which I managed to do for just a few dollars, thanks to Amazon.

One thing I didn’t understand before getting my hands on this was that this article was not really an independent piece: it was just an excerpt from Exley’s “Pages from a Cold Island,” which went on to be published the following year, by Random House.

So no wonder this “article” was hard to find. I’ve never seen it reprinted anywhere: who would bother? If you have “Pages from a Cold Island,” you essentially already have it. (If you have the Vintage Contemporaries paperback, it’s pp. 83-130 — chapters 6 and 7)

I tried searching for it online, but (at least as of my writing) it ain’t there yet. To help out those who might come after, I’ll retype its second paragraph for you, which will also give you a flavor of what you’re in store for:

“Struck with the parallels of our both having been Depression babies, having come from impoverished homes, having managed to get the semblance of an education, I was intrigued and baffled by what it was in her character that, having been shaped by the same events that had shaped me, had yet allowed her to come out of the putrid years so splendidly, refusing to lead a disappointed life. I wanted to know how she could rise mornings, erect, trim, courageous, unquestionably beautiful, not lacking a kind of nobility, and with an unswervable commitment go forth to do her duty as she saw it, while I’d come out of the years badly whipped, cravenly, running to a quitter’s obesity, and had come finally to lie on that bed at the Seaview Hotel on Singer Island at the hot bottom of the world, drinking myself to death, my b—- ballooned with life’s hurt.” (p. 144)

The excerpt itself, about 8-9 pages, is, while overwritten in parts, not a disappointment (though “Pages from a Cold Island” generally is), although I was surprised to find it buried in the back of the magazine. It appears at the bottom of the table of contents and is not mentioned anywhere on the cover. In fact, it’s not one of Playboy’s classic “interviews” at all, just Exley’s sardonic narration of an meeting between these two very unlike personalities. (The excerpt extends from the paragraph beginning “My second book, `Pages from a Cold Island,’ didn’t work. . .” to the paragraph beginning, “The next time I saw her she was on Walter Cronkite.”)

So the piece is not really an “interview” at all: just Exley’s recounting of the circumstances that led up to the interview, the debacle that was the interview, and the aftermath. Exley begins by explaining he was in a funk because the book he was working on, “Pages from a Cold Island,” would probably strike readers as unrelievedly depressing. Suddenly he gets the idea that by shoehorning an interview with the determined and purpose-driven Steinem, he could ameliorate the gloom. But Exley drops the ball early in the interview, half-jokingly telling Steinem she has a flat chest. She’s not amused. Later, Steinem insults Tom Guinzburg, dismissively declaring that he “should have been a sports reporter for the Daily News.” (p. 198) Since being “a sports reporter for the Daily News” represented, to the aghast Exley, the summum bonum vitae, he emotionally checks out of the interview at that point. As he writes, “From that moment on . . . the interview was over.” (p. 198)

From the reputation Exley’s article (and Exley) later earned, I had assumed that this piece was Playboy’s big literary piece for that month. After all, it earned Exley the magazine’s Editorial Award for the year’s best nonfiction piece. But no. Instead their literary centerpiece was a short story by Roald Dahl (”B—-”).

Note that Exley did the interview in early December 1970; it wasn’t published until Playboy’s July 1974 issue — presumably Exley was reworking the text in the meantime. The delay certainly wasn’t because Playboy was unimpressed by Exley. Read what they say about him in the front of this issue, in their “Playbill” section:

“So many competent novels fall into undeserved obscurity a few days after they are published that it’s hard to get really exercised about any one of them. But Frederick Exley’s “A Fan’s Notes” is something else — probably the most overlooked piece of fiction in the past 20 years. Trust us and a few dozen literary critics when we say that it is a masterpiece, an unforgettable journey through madness and alcoholism. Now there is a new Exley work, “Pages from a Cold Island.” Random House will publish it in October and, at the same time, rerelease “A Fan’s Notes” in both hardcover and paperback. We’ve taken a short excerpt from “Pages,” the story of a comic encounter between Exley and Gloria Steinem, which we’ve called “Saint Gloria and the Troll.” Read it; it’s good.” (p. 3)

I should note that on page 3 there also appears a picture of a clean-shaven, smiling Exley I’ve never seen before. Pictures of him are rare, at least on the Internet. Also: I’ve read here and there (on the Internet) that Playboy flew Exley to Rome for this interview. That’s entirely false: it’s made entirely clear throughout the article that the interview took place at the Sonesta Beach Hotel, in Key Biscayne, Florida, where Steinem was staying. Not sure how that error got started.

Incidentally, the magazine’s interview qua interview for that month — you know, the one with the three black-and-white pictures — was with environmentalist muckraker Barry Commoner. The Playmate of the Month for this issue was Carol Vitale, who died just recently (in 2008) of complications from osteoporosis. Yowch.
Rating: 3 / 5