Vanity Fair articles from August 2009

Vanity Fair archives from August 2009

Twenty Questions.
August 1, 2009... Byline: GRAYDON CARTER Twenty Questions Administration officials tell us the wheels of the economy are unlocking. And why would they lie? Research indicates that there's been an uptick in the sale of guns, sandwich bread, and romance...

Behind The Miracle.
August 1, 2009... BEHIND THE MIRACLE Delighted with William Langewiesche; sizing up Madoff's privates; New York City unbound; and cover complaints I would like to commend William Langewiesche on his excellent piece "Anatomy of a Miracle" [June]. I enjoyed...

Fanfair.
August 1, 2009... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY NOAH WEBB FANFAIR AUGUST 2009 31 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF THE CULTURE LAPPING IT UP The Annenberg Community Beach House, formerly Marion Davies's private seaside retreat, in Santa Monica, is now open to the...

Seaside Escape.(Annenberg Community beach house)(Brief article)
August 1, 2009... Byline: KRISTA SMITH Seaside Escape SANTA MONICA'S NOSTALGIC BEACH CLUB Marion Davies, the 20s screen siren and famed paramour of William Randolph Hearst, would be very pleased to know that her opulent estateon five acres of beachfront...

Our Favorite Sandwiches Across The Country.
August 1, 2009... OUR FAVORITE SANDWICHES Across the COUNTRY DeFonte's of Brooklyn answered popular demand with a Manhattan location, where they serve their classic roast beef and mozzarella with fried eggplant (defontesofbrooklyn.com).... The best sandwich at...

Picture Perfect.(Francois Pinault's second museum in Venice)(Brief article)
August 1, 2009... Picture Perfect French tycoon and consummate collector FranAs.ois Pinault whose holdings include, among others, Christie's auction house, the Gucci Group, and Venice's Palazzo Grassi, not to mention a modern-art collection to rival MoMA'shas...

Best Of.
August 1, 2009... Byline: VICTORIA MATHER BEST OF THE BEST Martini Find it at the clubby little bar in Dukes Hotel, London, where Ian Fleming first gave Bond's definitive "shaken, not stirred" instruction. Alessandro Palazzi makes his martinis quite a...

Hot Type.
August 1, 2009... Byline: ELISSA SCHAPPELL HOT TYPE Ah, sweet mystery of life. An ex-addict in league with an ancient society of paranormal operatives seeks "the voice" in Victor LaValle's beautiful Big Machine (Spiegel & Grau). Nonfiction comic artist...

Continental Shift.(Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2009... Byline: ANDERSON TEPPER CONTINENTAL SHIFT Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing, edited by Rob Spillman, offers a multiplicity of voices from every corner of the continent, including both giants ( Chinua...

Hot Tracks.
August 1, 2009... Byline: LISA ROBINSON HOT TRACKS A potpourri for your MP3. Lil Wayne, who sold more albums in 2008 than anyone, is set to unleash his rock persona on Rebirth, followed by the eventual release, and sure-to-be-a-smash rap CD, Tha Carter...

My Stuff.
August 1, 2009... Byline: Michael Smith MY STUFF Interior designer Michael Smith, who counts among his clients Steven Spielberg and Rupert Murdoch, has published two best-selling interiors books for Rizzoli. His sunny aesthetic brightens the rooms of the...

Mood Medley.(Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's five-fragrance wardrobe inspired by French tarot cards)(Brief article)
August 1, 2009... Byline: LINDSEY KEENAN Mood Medley Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have answered the eternal questions "Who am I?" and "What do I want to be?" with a five-fragrance wardrobe inspired by French tarot cards. "We chose five...

Hot Looks.
August 1, 2009... Hot Looks Soften, soothe, and plump your pout with Fresh's Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment S.P.F. 15. Undo environmental damage, dehydration, and aging with Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex. Transform...

Fairground.(on the White House Correspondents' Association's dinner)(Brief article)
August 1, 2009... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY HANNAH THOMSON FAIRGROUND AROUND THE WORLD, ONE PARTY AT A TIME AUGUST 2009 HIGH ON THE HILL Bloomberg and VANITY FAIR celebrated the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner with a gathering of...

What's A Culture Snob To Do?
August 1, 2009... WHAT'S A CULTURE SNOB TO DO? Pity the culture snob, as Kindles, iPods, and flash drives swallow up the visible markers of superior taste and intelligence. With the digitization of books, music, and movies, how will the highbrow distinguish...

No, Prime Minister.
August 1, 2009... Byline: ILLUSTRATION BY ANDRA CARRILHO NO, PRIME MINISTER Britain's Labour Party, the author's first political home, when he was a young idealist, now stands for nothing in his eyes. Unless one counts the Nixonian power lustdirty tricks...

Politico's Washington Coup.
August 1, 2009... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY GASPER TRINGALE POLITICO'S WASHINGTON COUP Four old-media veterans may have solved the future of news with the Politico Web site, whose audience of six million obsessives and insiders consumesand feedsa real-time...

ABE And Mr. Jones.
August 1, 2009... Byline: LAURA JACOBS PHOTOGRAPH BY BRUCE WEBER ABE AND MR. JONES In black and white, Bill T. Jones is a figure from the 60sMalcolm and Martin in one musculature. In sepia light, he's a Civil War daguerreotype, an old, old soul. In...

All Is Vanities ... Nothing Is Fair: Vanities.(on Joseph Gordon-Levitt)(Brief article)
August 1, 2009... Byline: KRISTA SMITH PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG INGLISH All Is VANITIES... Nothing Is Fair VANITIES AUGUST 2009 Joseph Gordon-Levitt AGE: 28. PROVENANCE: Los Angeles. NO MORE TOYING AROUND... Gordon-Levitt stars in the latest...

The Oeuvre-Appendage-O-Meter.
August 1, 2009... Byline: Lawrence Levi The Oeuvre-Appendage-O-Meter CHARTING THE PERILOUS PRACTICE OF NOT LEAVING WELL ENOUGH ALONE LEGACY-SULLYING "Free as a Bird" (1995; 25 years later) and "Real Love" (1996), the Beatles.1 acents Hannibal (2001;...

In Character.(on Jeff Daniels)(Brief article)
August 1, 2009... Byline: WRITTEN, DIRECTED, AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY HOWARD SCHATZ IN CHARACTER ... STARRING JEFF DANIELS You're an N.B.A. power forward who's been lightly grazed by an opponent, flailing and wincing with Oscar-worthy panache to elicit a foul...

Society By The Bay.
August 1, 2009... Byline: BY JOHN HEILPERN SOCIETY BY THE BAY Over champagne cocktails and gossip in San Francisco, Denise Hale explains the Catch-22 of belonging Denise Hale, the renownedand delightfully atypicalmember of the gilded village known as San...

The Last Of Heath.
August 1, 2009... Byline: PORTRAIT BY BRUCE WEBER PORTRAIT BY ANNIE LEIBOVITZ The Last of Heath When Heath Ledger died a year and a half ago from an accidental mix of prescription drugs, he was deep into filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus with his...

That Old Sinatra Magic.
August 1, 2009... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK SELIGER THAT OLD SINATRA MAGIC TONY BENNETT salutes Frank Sinatra, for showing the way Frank Sinatra was my best friend. Seventy years ago this summer, he released his first recordings with the Harry James...

It Came From Wasilla.
August 1, 2009... Byline: ILLUSTRATION BY RISKO It Came from Wasilla Despite her disastrous performance in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin is still the sexiest brand in Republican politics, with a lucrative book contract for her story. But what Alaska's...

The Man Who Crashed The World.
August 1, 2009... The Man Who Crashed the World Almost a year after A.I.G.'s collapse, despite a tidal wave of outrage, there still has been no clear explanation of what toppled the insurance giant. MICHAEL LEWIS decides to ask the people involvedthe silent,...

Mad About The Hatter.(Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland)(Brief article)
August 1, 2009... Byline: PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARY ELLEN MARK EVGENIA PERETZ MAD ABOUT THE HATTER After the huge success of Batman (1989), Tim Burton might have gone the route of Hollywood action director, churning through every iconic American superhero....

Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard.(Company overview)
August 1, 2009... Rich Harvard, Poor Harvard Only a year ago, Harvard had a $36.9 billion endowment, the largest in academia. Now that endowment has imploded, and the university faces the worst financial crisis in its 373-year history. Could the same lethal...

Dangerous Lessons.
August 1, 2009... Byline: KRISTA SMITH PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIGITTE LACOMBE DANGEROUS LESSONS Hollywood's exclusive club of dynastic familiesthe Barrymores, the Coppolas, the Redgraveswill soon be welcoming a new member. Jordan Scott, the 33-year-old daughter of...

Our Lady Of The Kitchen.
August 1, 2009... Our Lady of the Kitchen The making of the cultural phenomenon that was Julia Child had three key ingredients: a man, a meal, and a TV camera. Five years after Child's death, as Meryl Streep plays the woman who revolutionized America's...

Ain't We Got Style?
August 1, 2009... Ain't We Got Style? The 1930s had style as well as breadlines. So let's see My Man Godfrey wearing Armani, deck the Joads out in Burberry and Bottega Veneta, and pretend that It Happened One Night in Ralph Lauren. With an homage to Hollywood,...

Hell Drivers Of The Riviera, Part 4.
August 1, 2009... Byline: BY BRUCE McCALL HELL DRIVERS OF THE RIVIERA, PART 4 Cole Porter would bring Lucky roses after a Hell Drivers show. That's Willie Maugham behind them, sulking. Cole would later write a witty little song about Lucky, who apparently...

Credits.
August 1, 2009... CREDITS ON THE COVER FASHION PAGE 77: Bill T. Jones's MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA pants from Maison Martin Margiela, N.Y.C., or call 212-989-7612; Deborah Watson for Walter Schupfer Management. PAGE 79: For Joseph Gordon-Levitt's PRADA...

Tony Curtis.
August 1, 2009... Byline: ILLUSTRATION BY RISKO TONY CURTIS He punched out Burt Lancaster in Trapeze, he killed Kirk Douglas in The Vikings, and he wooed Marilyn in Some Like It Hot. The author of the forthcoming Nobody's Perfect reflects on his six-decade...