A leading man, always offstage Nov 16, 2008
George Plimpton remains shadowy amid recollections. George Plimpton (center, seated), the writer, raconteur, editor, and friend of the famous, at a fashion shoot at Elaine's restaurant, New York City, 1999 ... GEORGE, BEING GEORGE: George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals-- and a Few Unappreciative ObserversEdited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. Random House, 423 pp. (Boston Globe)
Pranksters dupe Americans with fake New York Times Nov 13, 2008
According to the paper's "City Room" blog, the best-known spoof was during the 1978 newspaper strike and the prank included journalist Carl Bernstein, author Christopher Cerf, humorist Tony Hendra and Paris Review editor George Plimpton. Reuters. (The Age, Australia -- World)
Wellesleys Dan Chiasson named poetry editor of Paris Review Oct 29, 2008
The Review is a legendary magazine started by George Plimpton, Chiasson said. Current editor Philip Gourevitch, the celebrated writer, has revitalized the magazine, making it more visually exciting with more reporting and more nonfiction. (Wellesley Townsman, MA)
Book Reviews: 'George, Being George' and 'A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity' Oct 28, 2008
George, Being George George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals - and a Few Unappreciative Observers' Edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. 423 pages ... "George, Being George," an oral biography of George Plimpton, treats "George" as much more than a first name. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Power pumpkins Aug 22, 2008
"A good concave base helps to tell the overall strength of the pumpkin," Megchelsen says in the same tone one imagines George Plimpton describing the hindquarters of Secretariat. "If the shape there is weak, the walls may not have enough strength to mature without collapsing.". (Anchorage Daily News)
The Deciders Aug 21, 2008
This happened a few years ago when George Plimpton and Edward Said died within a few days of each other. I wrote something about Plimpton and got a note from a friend remarking that Plimpton was not nearly as important a figure as Said. (Slate)
It's 16 going on 17 - or 18 Aug 17, 2008
" Childress was considered too tough in his first year as coach in 2006, scheduling full-padded practices on 12 consecutive days. This year, he had the Vikings in full pads four times out of the first 26 sessions, but he feels it's been anything but soft. Childress was perturbed enough to challenge any media member to take part in one of his practices, making reference to author George Plimpton spending time in Lions training camp in the 1960s and writing about it in his book "Paper Lion. " No... (Boston Globe)
SI's baseball experts select the best stories on the national pastime Jul 3, 2008
by George Plimpton, April 1, 1985 ... by George Plimpton, April 1, 1985. (SportsIllustrated.CNN -- MLB)
Plagiarism at Paly grad events sparks discussion Jun 26, 2008
Should I encourage my son, were he so fortunate to be given the honor to speak before his Paly class, to repeat word for word any of the great commencement speeches given by George Plimpton or Oprah Winfrey or [insert your favorite commencement speaker here. The reason students are chosen for this honor is it is felt they can summarize uniquely the experiences of the class. (Palo Alto Online, CA)
'The torchbearer of Camelot' Jun 15, 2008
Her cousin, Maria Shriver, was maid of honour, singer Carly Simon performed and writer George Plimpton narrated a fireworks display. But her life was not all about the magic of family connections. (Globe and Mail)
TODAY: Former swimmer aims for Olympics 24 years later Jun 10, 2008
George Plimpton wrote popular accounts of his brief forays into professional sports, including, "Paper Lion: Confessions of a Second-string Quarterback," the 1965 tale of his experience working out with the Detroit Lions. Among athletes, Mohammad Ali made two valiant but ill-fated attempts to regain his crown after retiring. (MSNBC -- Sports)
Newsweek: Did Nixon start politics of hate? May 10, 2008
"It simply couldn't be Nixon," writes , whose sprawling, vivid "Nixonland" is the best book written about the 1960s since George Plimpton and Jean Stein published "Edie," their oral-history collection about Andy Warhol's "it" girl, in 1982. The Walter Lippmanns and Joe Alsops and all the Harvards of the Georgetown set were stuck in their own "echo chamber," writes Perlstein. (MSNBC -- Politics)
Paris Hilton's "Wild" Cover Shoot Apr 2, 2008
The Lampoon has an impressive list accomplished alumni, including Conan O'Brien, John Updike, George Plimpton, and William Randolph Hearst. The past 30 years have been fruitful for Harvard Lampoon graduates. (CBS News)
Lamb on the Run: Some of the best April Fools’ jokes Mar 28, 2008
Surprisingly, Finch had never even played the game before, but had mastered the art of the pitch in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa Mets fans celebrated their teams amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and the magazine was flooded with requests for more information But in reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of humorist writer George Plimpton. On March 31, 1940, Philadelphia s Franklin Institute issued a press... (Green Valley News & Sun, AZ)
Lit life survives politics Mar 16, 2008
Contributors include the late George Plimpton, Christopher Buckley and Frank Deford. His kind of town. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Just Who Was CIA? Feb 29, 2008
The book review piece was inspired by a documentary, of which I had never heard, that had been screened in Manhattan and "is expected to be broadcast on PBS later this year." It was the names in the story that plucked at my sleeve--that wonderful writer Peter Matthiessen, George Plimpton and his Paris Review, William Styron, Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Terry Southern. The documentary, about one of the founders of The Paris Review, a writer named Harold ("Doc") Humes, "a rising literary star... (Forbes)
Steelers' one-of-a-kind voice Feb 28, 2008
" In 1987, on the occasion of the Hearst Corporation's 100th anniversary, Mr. Cope was named as a noted literary achiever, among them Mark Twain, Jack London, Frederick Remington, Walter Winchell, and Sidney Sheldon. His style, simultaneously elegant, robust, and humored, landed him on the original full-time staff of Sports Illustrated, which, with the Saturday Evening Post, became the primary conduits of his work. At its 50th anniversary, Sports Illustrated cited Mr. Cope's profile of Howard... (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Ill wind and In Cold Blood Feb 11, 2008
" I don't have much use for Christian leaders who assign everything good that happens to them or their kind as attributable to God and everything bad to Satan (I'm thinking here of the dynamic duo, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, who attribute catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina, Global Warming and 9-11 to Satan personified in the ACLU, gays, civil libertarians, etc. and all that's positive and joyful to God embodied in them and their followers who live "good" Christian lives.) Still, I can't... (SunOnline)
Books: Jimmy Breslin: A chronicler of a city's more amiable rogues and losers Jan 22, 2008
George Plimpton was dead, old Arthur Schlesinger was dead even Jose Torres, the champ, was almost dead, living down in Puerto Rico now with half an addled brain. "Everybody's dead," Breslin said, and soon enough the phone rang yet again. (International Herald Tribune)
We need people with dirty jobs. They contribute to progress, too. Jan 21, 2008
Dirty Jobs, which first aired in November 2003, is an homage to George Plimpton, with a nod to Studs Terkel--an introduction, Rowe says, to the "men and women who do the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us." Watching Rowe struggle with a forklift or wade through raw sewage is good, nasty fun. But for all the bathroom humor, his real curiosity about and respect for his subjects telegraphs a powerful message: There's dignity in hard work, expertise in unexpected... (FastCompany)
Beth Lisick will try anything for a laugh Jan 13, 2008
Q: You've been compared to George Plimpton, who also would plunge into a world not of his own and write about what he found there. A: The Plimpton thing is kind of the spirit with which I do it. (San Francisco Chronicle)
The best new journals Dec 31, 2007
Founded Paris, 1953, by George Plimpton (who remained its editor until his death in 2003), William Pene du Bois, Peter Matthiessen, Harold L Humes and John PC Train. Editor Philip Gourevitch, former New Yorker writer and author. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
A songwriter gets intimate with solitude Dec 13, 2007
Next, she discovered Cornell's correspondent, Marianne Moore, who, though reputedly celibate, and renowned for her brainy nature poems, had a flamboyant presence in New York - clad in a black cape, squiring Paris Review editor George Plimpton to baseball games, known to have a pet alligator in her bathtub. "I fell in love instantly," Fellows said. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Bobby Van: Rest In Peace Nov 29, 2007
The watering hole became a hot spot as soon as it opened in 1969, drawing such other regulars as author and former Page Six editor James Brady, George Plimpton and John Knowles, and helped establish the Hamptons as an A-list resort. Van's ex-wife, Marina, had him cremated with no service and no announcement, a source said. (New York Post -- Gossip)
TAC's 2002 interview with Norman Mailer Nov 13, 2007
NORMAN MAILER: My wife, Norris, and I went with George Plimpton and his wife Sarah. We did George s play, Zelda, Scott & Earnest (Terry Quinn, co-author) in six capitals over two visits. (The American Conservative)
In the Arena: Book poses the sports questions that arise after a few cocktails Oct 20, 2007
George Plimpton need not be restless in his grave. His successor as the man who could transform participatory sports journalism into literature is definitely not Todd Gallagher. (International Herald Tribune)
Football film stars to the Falcons' rescue Oct 11, 2007
He played writer George Plimpton playing at quarterback for the Detroit Lions. Hey just like Joey Harrington did. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
An audience with Philip Roth Oct 7, 2007
HL: What is George Plimpton doing in this novel, whose other characters, apart from politicians, dead writers and Norman Mailer, are presumably all fictional. PR: Unlike Kliman or Jamie or Zuckerman, George Plimpton isn't an active, living character in my novel - he is another dead writer and is spoken of at length by Zuckerman, a literary friend of his, as a dead writer. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Exit Ghost by Philip Roth Sep 30, 2007
An eight-page tribute to the dead sportswriter George Plimpton reads like an unused obituary clumsily pushed in. Zuckerman has often served Roth well in the past, featuring in many of his finest novels The Counterlife (1987), American Pastoral (1997), The Human Stain (2000). (Times Online)
'Dirty Jobs' labors to make clean point Aug 30, 2007
Rowe, who once sold products on cable's QVC channel, says Jobs is a cable reincarnation of what author George Plimpton did by taking on various jobs, including professional football and baseball, then writing about them. "It's Jackass with a conscience, Fear Factor with a soul, a touch of redemption in a swirling undercurrent of poo," he says over lunch. (USA Today -- Life)
Hills & Bill At The Beach Aug 10, 2007
George Plimpton was pitching, Ben Bradlee played, so did Bill Sheed, Paul Simon the musician, Mike Lupica of the Daily News, Jackie Leo, Peter Maas, Ken Auletta, author John Irving, lots of pretty girls and a few movie stars. It was a lousy game (usually is), and it lasted hours. (Forbes -- Business)
What's it like to get into the ring with a champion? SI.com's Chris Mannix learned the hard way from Juan Manuel Marquez. Aug 4, 2007
Four months ago, the prospect of following in the illustrious footsteps of the late George Plimpton, who famously stepped in the ring with light heavyweight champion Archie Moore in 1959, seemed like an irresistible notion. The chance to go three rounds with Marquez, a two-division champion who boasts a career record of 47-3 (with 35 knockouts), would be the opportunity of a lifetime. (SportsIllustrated.CNN -- More)
Next summer, pack up your viola and play, play, play Jul 29, 2007
"I feel like a cross between George Plimpton and Lucy Ricardo," moaned Kate Fisher, 47, a special education teacher from Portland, Maine. She had taken up cello less than a year before. (Boston Globe)
Announcer, umpire recall Aaron's 715th blast Jul 21, 2007
" For Hamilton, the hectic atmosphere was exactly what he needed in making the call of the home run. "I had thought about what I would say all winter," Hamilton said. "George Plimpton, a great writer of 'One For The Record,' called and asked what I was going to say. The great thing about announcing is being spontaneous. (SportsIllustrated.CNN -- MLB)
Brush With Paralysis Refocuses the Work of a Salisbury Artist Jul 13, 2007
Within a year of the accident her work was featured at the Wingspread Gallery in Maine and in 1999 she showed at what was then the O. Kelley Anderson Fine Arts gallery in New York City in a show entitled, "Portraits: New Yorkers and Others." She painted a watercolor of Patty Hearst and a portrait of New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, which she added to her already impressive list of clients that included writer George Plimpton. Her career was doing as well as ever, but the fifth anniversary of... (Litchfield County Times, CT)
Shortcut to Happiness Jul 13, 2007
Pic's age is evident in the presence of two performers -- George Plimpton (one of several Gotham lit-world icons who cameo as themselves) and "Late Show with David Letterman" regular Calvert DeForest (as a bailiff in the courtroom scenes) -- who have since died. Meanwhile, some Internet resources credit actors John Savage and Jason Patric among pic's cast, though neither thesp is credited or appears in the final print. (Variety)
NO SMART ALEC Jul 13, 2007
Originally shot in 2001 under that title (the late George Plimpton and Larry "Bud" Melman make their final screen appearances), the action has been moved to pre-9/11 Manhattan - with the World Trade Center digitally removed from the skyline. Jabez Stone, originally a farmer, is now a struggling novelist from Long Island who tosses his IBM Selectric out his apartment window in frustration and kills a woman on the street. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Borders(R) Releases 'The Hammer' on July 11 Jul 12, 2007
Notable "Sports Illustrated" columnists featured in "The Hammer" include George Plimpton, Ron Fimrite and Mike Capuzzo. The book's introduction is written by columnist Tom Verducci. (Yahoo! Wire -- Entertainment News)
Book Review: Right Livelihoods Jul 3, 2007
"The Omega Force," also requested, is an elusively insiderish tribute to George Plimpton, founder of The Paris Review. As for "K & K," Moody calls it "Amy Hempel's fault" her influence, not her request perhaps but like the others, it resembles an exercise more than the real thing. (International Herald Tribune)
A NEW BOOK OF WASPS' ZING May 13, 2007
" This is in the Assouline book "A Privileged Life: Celebrating WASP Style," put together by super WASP Susanna Salk. Amusingly, it has a foreword by a nice Jewish boy from West Hartford, one Steven Stolman, now a fashion mainstay of Southampton's Main Street. Inside are photos of all those WASPs we've come to love - Babe Paley, Brooke Astor, Kate Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Scott Fitzgerald, Lily Pulitzer, Lee and Jacqueline Bouvier, Edie Bouvier Beale, Ben Bradlee, George Plimpton, Gloria Vanderbilt... (New York Post -- Gossip)
The Paris Review Interviews, Vol. 1 Apr 24, 2007
Bravo to the late George Plimpton, who edited The Paris Review for 50 years, for letting us see him at the losing end of Ernest Hemingway's boredom. Four years before Hemingway's suicide in 1961, this is a portrait of the artist as an irritable old man. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Hans Koning, a prolific writer with a broad sweep, dies at 85 Apr 19, 2007
Praised by writers as varied as Georges Simenon and George Plimpton, Koning ranged from subjects as diverse as Christopher Columbus and modern Dutch painting to a series of novels, four of which were filmed, including "A Walk With Love and Death" (Simon and Schuster, 1961, reprinted by New South Books, 2005), which became the first movie to feature Anjelica Huston and was directed by her father, John. Koning was born Hans Koningsberger in Amsterdam on July 12, 1921, the grandson of the Dutch... (International Herald Tribune)
Great April Fools hoaxes Mar 29, 2007
Alas, it was all made up by George Plimpton. Those poor Mets fans. (Sun-Sentinel.com)
Robert McCrum meets James Salter Mar 26, 2007
This erotic masterpiece was of such transgressive intensity that it was only published through the benign intervention of The Paris Review's George Plimpton. Once Salter had identified his theme - the sexual life or, as he puts it, 'the real game of the grown-up world' - his work began to soar again. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
No Company Man Mar 21, 2007
While George Plimpton, his late friend and co-editor of the Paris Review, was creating participatory nonfiction describing comically brief stints in professional football, golf, baseball, hockey, and boxing, Matthiessen was writing environmental prose based on his own journeys to wild places throughout the world. He is a passionate defender of the earth s fragile systems. (San Antonio Current, TX)
Full Story... Mar 16, 2007
For an informed look at sports, I have always liked Paper Lion by George Plimpton. He wrote a number of books and articles about a complete amateur, himself, competing with professionals. (Albert Lea Tribune, MN)
BETTE'S BUILDING US A PARK Feb 18, 2007
FRIENDS ARE trying to honor another real New Yorker, the late writer George Plimpton. There is a plan for remembering the Sports Illustrated veteran who wrestled with Hemingway, wrote poems with Muhammad Ali, put out the Paris Review and played with the Detroit Lions. (New York Post -- Gossip)
Double Lives Feb 12, 2007
According to the oral testimony gathered by Jean Stein (and edited with George Plimpton) in Edie: American Girl, first published in 1982 and still the best book on the scene, she introduced him to wealthy and socially prominent people he wouldn t have approached on his own. The actual Edie, who knew how to draw on the prerogatives of the rich i.e., how to shop with overdrawn credit was a more sophisticated and dominating presence than the lost girl in the movie, who seems almost entirely a... (New Yorker)
Book Review: US Guys Feb 3, 2007
He has a taste for the legions of men who are known today, with a curl of the lip, as losers or, as he writes about a semi-pro football team in Amarillo, Texas, that he joins in homage to George Plimpton, "dudes grasping at the frayed end of the rope of hope.". Things are not going so well for the trapeze jockeys and race-track hangers-out, the outcasts and outraced rats, the "have somewhats" or "the self- defeated, the people who fell off the table and are never getting up to the supper... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Get your head in the game Feb 3, 2007
Football books Paper Lion, by George Plimpton. The renowned author joins the 1963 Detroit Lions' training camp and tries to become their third-string quarterback. (SunSpot.net)
Sienna Miller Is The Factory Girl Feb 1, 2007
There's this book, Edie, by George Plimpton that has really detailed descriptions of her soul and her spirit. I didn't want it to be an imitation, so in order to emotionally connect to the material, you have to have done your homework enough that you feel comfortable with all the physicality; so when you're on set, you can let go of it and try to relate to the character, as much as possible. (MovieWeb)
Q&A Philip Gourevitch Jan 22, 2007
Much was made when founding editor George Plimpton died in 2003 about the end of an era, and surely this after-work fete had nothing on the legendary madcap parties he used to throw at his (and the review's) old home on the Upper East Side. But amid the loud, vivacious throng of young writers and editors -- and the place was packed with them -- it was easy to conjure the review's early days in 1950s Paris, when it was barely more than an idea in the minds of its ambitious, if yet-unpublished... (Boston Globe)
Paris Review co-founder Harold L. Humes's novels resurface Jan 18, 2007
The Third Man of the postwar Paris expatriate crowd he was a co-founder of The Paris Review in 1953, with Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton Doc Humes, as he was known, went on to produce two novels in the late 1950s that placed him at the head of a new generation of writers to watch. But in the '60s he succumbed to a mental illness that left him paranoid and peripatetic. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Buyers of rare books rare in this area Jan 15, 2007
"An Ormond Beach man could have had an enviable collection of books signed by famous authors -- for free -- but he wasn't particularly interested, so he passed. The man is T.P. Plimpton, brother of George Plimpton, who's best known for writing "The Paper Lion. "When George Plimpton died three years ago, T.P. Plimpton was helping his sister-in-law sort belongings when they paused to look at the books that were gifts from big-name authors."As you get older I think you become less of a collector... (Daytona Beach News Journal)
