Feud: Capote vs The Swans

To my mind, it's guaranteed to be interesting, especially with that cast. I'm not sure I agree with Murphy's judgement that Capote's "swans" were the Real Housewives of their day; the Real Housewives wish. The "swans" had real sway in society and, though they liked to be credited, avoided the spotlight in a way which simply isn't in the DNA of those TV divas. But I ultimately trust Murphy to do the story justice. I'm assuming it will draw heavily on Laurence Leamer's 2021 book Capote's Women, which broke down the story swan by swan and was heavily researched enough to inspire confidence in his assessments. George Plimpton's 1998 book Truman Capote used his style of telling the story through a compilation of interviews and some of the story of the Answered Prayers  debacle came out that way, as well as in the movie Infamous (2006), which was based on it and featured actresses such as Hope Davis and Sigourney Weaver and Isabella Rossellini recreating the interview format. I'm a huge fan of Capote but I'm not blind to his shortcomings and I'm really looking forward to this. Thanks for the heads-up.

First episode airs tonight.

Inspired by I Love Melvin's mention of Laurence Leamer's 2021 book Capote's Women, I got my hands on a copy. Some of it was familiar but I was not aware that Lee Radziwell had tried her hand at acting. After failing at a dinner theater production of The Philadelphia Story she somehow starred in a 1968 tv movie version of Laura. Co-starring George Sanders, Farley Granger and Robert Stack. The credits list Capote as a screenwriter but apparently he did not actually write it. I cannot find a clip online but it sounds deliciously bad. Although Sanders as Lydecker is perfect casting.

I'm enjoying the show. I also read Learner's book. The movie fictionalizes some stuff, for one the Maysles did a 30 minute interview with Capote. They did not follow him around as he talked to the swans, But it was an interesting way to show that Capote would betray anyone.

Yes, Leamer's book goes more into background as to how the relationships developed. But, given the wandering timeline you mentioned, we could still see some of that in the episodes ahead. Re: kims' post, I didn't realize the extent to which Maysles presence was exaggerated. I just assumed that extensive footage existed but that, as depicted, Capote had been successful in squelching it. His rationale in the show in asking Maysles to deep six it was that he wanted to tell the story in words, not on film, but from the way the show depicted Capote as engineering and encouraging the filming of shockingly intimate scenes involving the women, it was obvious Ryan Murphy et al wanted to show intent in his skewering the women. In the show he absolutely colluded with Maysles cameras to not only record but to actually bring about embarrassing situations for the women. But when he was shown footage by Maysles, it seemed to me that he realized how bad some of it made him look and that was his real reason for wanting to end the project. I've always had conflicted feelings about Capote, though I'm an intense devotee of his writing, and this show isn't making it any easier to like Capote the person. But maybe that's as it should be? Not sure.

The talk of marriage starts around  7:30.   

I agree that Capote and Groucho on the same show is problematic. Groucho's persona is the insult and I'd hope those scheduling guests would be careful who appears on the same show and this pairing was in danger of Groucho making bad gay jokes-as Johnny Carson did so often in that era that such jokes were acceptable. But this segment of Groucho proposing did not appear derogatory on Groucho's part. He seemed to be genuinely and uncharacteristically sensitive. I watched him on many talk shows and this is the only time I remember him dropping his insulting persona.

Talk shows aren't the same as that era. Probably because the celebrities we follow are from niche groups and back then celebrities were adored supposedly by a wider audience.

I think the 1st episode this season Capote describes his swans as regal, stately, etc on the surface but under water they have to paddle twice as fast to stay afloat. Last night Babe has her hair and makeup perfectly done, the proper outfit and jewelry to have radiation treatment! Later she says she kept a book of things she could improve. The Black and White Ball episode, she educates Capote on the correct weight of paper to use for the invitations. All of this perfection is necessary to marry a wealthy man stated in the book-I don't know if it was stated in the series.

If there isn't one, there ought to be a Sociology course on the perfection necessary for women to reach the Real Housewives status. My generation, it started to emerge about 7th grade. Friendships changed as some girls spent hours on appearance. The ones who spent the most time faded from the group or clique I was in because the day came when all spontaneity disappeared so these girls could completely remove and reapply make-up and asking over and over again which outfit was better-good grief, let's just go!. Like the swans, males were attracted to them (like Rooney to Lana in an ANDY HARDY film) but some boys moved on because activity was limited to them and you had to give them 3 hour notice. Still happens, my husband and I and two other couples were going out together. Before we left one woman excused herself to go to the bathroom. We waited and waited and waited. She was reapplying her Makeup! We missed the first part of a play. Talk about an antagonistic evening! We went to a restaurant after for drinks-she went into the bathroom again for a long period.

More power to those women, they are disciplined, know all the social graces. My friends and I didn't want to be that perfect or marry a man scrutinizing our every flaw so that he had what in the 80's became the trophy wife.