Vanity Fair articles from June 2003

Vanity Fair archives from June 2003

Rage of angels.(photoessay of the making of 'Angels in America')(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... Director Mike Nichols has turned Angels in America, Tony Kushner's 1993 Broadway sensation, into a six-hour, two-part film scheduled to air on HBO this winter. Cinematographer stephen goldblatt photographs a stellar cast-including Emma Thompson,...

The mentor and the movie star.(director Lee Strasberg and Marilyn Monroe)
June 1, 2003... When she died, Marilyn Monroe left her belongings to her father figure Lee Strasberg, director of the Actors Studio, whose actress daughter, Susan, was a trusted friend and confidante to the star. Drawing on Susan's unpublished memoir, PATRICIA...

Round up the cattle!(George W. Bush administration and control of the president's image)
June 1, 2003... While the mainstream media regurgitate an official fantasy of George W. Bush as Gary Cooper, the president's loyal press guard has turned its guns on any threat to that cowboy image, including Helen Thomas, Walter Cronkite, and the BBC. The...

Guilty pleasures.(Oscar parties and political climate)(Dominick Dunne's Diary)(Column)
June 1, 2003... Against a wartime backdrop, Hollywood's Oscarfest had a surreal edge. The author couldn't help enjoying it, though, whether he was getting Barbra Streisand's political views, cheering the winners at the V.F. party with pregnant Wendi Deng (Mrs....

France's scarlet letter.(anti-Semitism)
June 1, 2003... Paris demonstrators yelling "Kill the Jews!," torched synagogues, attacks against schoolkids... Ten percent Muslim, with the world's third-largest Jewish population, France is in crisis. And few are willing to name the poison behind more than a...

It had to be Kenneth.(hairstylist Kenneth Battelle)(Interview)
June 1, 2003... Kenneth Battelle gave Jacqueline Kennedy her tousled bouffant, readied Marilyn Monroe for that famous J.F.K. birthday serenade, and created the chic-est heads at Truman Capote's Black and White Ball. After a half-century, New York's master...

Shell game.(Iraq War)(Editor's Letter)(Editorial)
June 1, 2003... If it could be fairly said that the magician's art lies in the ability to direct the audience's attention to one hand while palming a coin in the other, then the Bush administration is without peer in the realm of legerdemain. With one hand it...

The nine lives of Drew Barrymore.(Interview)(Cover Story)
June 1, 2003... Who'd have guessed that Drew Barrymore would grow up functional, let alone become one of Hollywood's most successful actress-producers (Donnie Darko, Charlie's Angels)? Chosen at age 6 by Steven Spielberg to play Gertie in E.T., Barrymore skipped...

Saddam's long good-bye.(dictatorship of Saddam Hussein)
June 1, 2003... Occupied by Saddam Hussein in 1990 and run for four months by his notorious cousin "Chemical Ali," Kuwait City still bears the 13-year-old scars of this war's brutal beginnings. The pain, anger, and fear in Safwan, one of the first Iraqi towns to...

Blair's big gamble.(Tony Blair's decision to aid the Americans in the Iraq War)
June 1, 2003... With his party rebelling, voters protesting, and the press calling him "Bush's poodle," Tony Blair's decision to invade Iraq at the U.S.'s side looked suicidal. But today, poised to complete an unprecedented (for a Labour leader) second term,...

Legend with a bullet.(Phil Spector's arrest for Lana Clarkson's murder)
June 1, 2003... When Phil Spector was arrested on suspicion of having murdered former B-movie queen Lana Clarkson at his California estate, music-industry people seemed unsurprised. After all, in his reign as the mad genius of rock 'n' roll, Spector had pulled...

United by design.(photoessay on the United Nations)(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... Everything from the United Nations' roots (American, anti-Fascist) to its aspirations (egalitarian, utilitarian, inclusive) is revealed by its architecture, art, and location. TODD EBERLE photographs a dream made concrete, while CHRISTOPHER...

VANITY FAIR NOMINATES HELEN BAMBER.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Henry Porter Because in 1945, at the age of 20, she struggled across the wreckage of Europe by train and, hitching rides the rest of the way to the Belsen concentration camp, dedicated herself to the toughest form of relief...

Top of the Evening; Ben and J.Lo cuddled, Hockney watercolored, and the Irishmen (O'Toole, Bono, Farrell) closed the place down.
June 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Handy The line in the men's room: Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch, Elvis Costello, and Donald Sutherland. It could have been the setup for some elaborate topical joke (minus George Bush and the Pope), but, in fact, it was Vanity...

Fred Weller.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Krista Smith age and occupation: 31, actor. provenance: New Orleans. dream team: Currently, you can catch Weller in the film adaptation of Neil LaBute's play The Shape of Things, with Gretchen Mol, Paul Rudd, Rachel...

After the bell with Kudlow and Cramer.(Interview)
June 1, 2003... Byline: George Wayne The most flamboyant pairing on television's crowded news/talk-show landscape is that of Lawrence Kudlow and James Cramer, the former an ex-Reagan official in the guise of a British art dealer, the latter a brainy Wall...

Operation Enduring Fashion.(Column)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Henry Alford 0700 In Iraq, fashion meets its greatest challenge: this is a country bereft of alcohol and colorful homosexuals. Women's Wear Daily has sent me here to try to answer the questions "Is there style in war?" and...

a perp's worst nightmare.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Steven Daly The franchise-friendly juggernaut Law & Order was almost consigned to the TV junkyard before the ignition key was turned. A one-hour drama sharply bifurcated into two half-hours-the "cop half" and the "lawyer half"?...

Ali MacGraw; With 1970's Love Story, Ali MacGraw found herself the most famous actress in the world and an imminent Oscar nominee for best actress.(Brief Article)(Interview)
June 1, 2003... What is your greatest fear? That human beings will completely destroy our once perfect planet. Which living person do you most admire? His Holiness the Dalai Lama. What is your greatest extravagance? Fresh flowers....

the box-office boys; In praise of a few good men; Michael Jackson, friend or foe.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... Your 2003 Hollywood Issue was a movie-lover's dream [April]. What a great cover, and it was quite a treat to see the cast of The Big Chill reunited in the pages of the impressive portfolio. With the events currently going on in the world, it...

Family Plot.(Capturing the Friedmans)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Bruce Handy The greatest documentaries spring from equal parts hard work and serendipity-and to think that this one, Capturing the Friedmans, started out as a film about birthday clowns. Andrew Jarecki, a novice feature-film maker...

Bodega Days.(Washington Heights)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Anderson Tepper New York has always been a tale of two cities, if not more. Nevertheless, it's a tale that is constantly re-invented from generation to generation. And now, with director Alfredo de Villa's tribute to one neglected...

COMING ATTRACTIONS.(Prozac Nation)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Walter Kirn Trailer of the month: Prozac Nation. Directed by: Erik Skjoldbjrg. Starring: Christina Ricci, Jason Biggs, Jessica Lange, Anne Heche. Coming to a theater near you: June 6. The case file: Aspiring journalist and...

Hot Type.
June 1, 2003... Byline: Elissa Schappell Tell me, do you know the difference between Khomeini and Qaddafi? A Hutu and a Tutsi? M. L. Rossi rides to your rescue, spelling out What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World (Plume), and not a...

A Very Fine Line.(Martin Beck Theatre renamed top honor caricaturist Al Hirschfeld)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Patricia Bosworth The legendary caricaturist Al Hirschfeld died this past January at the age of 99. His remarkable career spanned the 20th century-some 10,000 portraits. His swooping pen-and-ink drawings-"prancing, skipping,...

Belle of the Beeb.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Namehere When Mishal Husain completed "hostile-environment training" as a BBC correspondent, she may not have expected a Washington, D.C., television studio to be one of her war zones, but she holds her ground there each evening,...

Rocking the Boat.(National Maritime Union building)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Matt Tyrnauer The National Maritime Union building on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan has long attracted sidelong stares. It was built in 1966 as a merchant-marine school, and designed by New Orleans architect Albert Ledner with thematic...

Collective Groove.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Jeremy Eichler Long before they had a cutting-edge record label, and a sleek band-in-residence, and a yearly mega-concert to tie it all together, composers Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and David Lang had a question: Why did their...

It's Shocking!(Electric Six, Musical groups)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: Michael Hogan Even if the worst predictions for the Detroit-based Electric Six come true, the group will at least be able to take pride in having been the first genuine one-hit wonder of the current rock revival. Granted, legions...

Sunny Sides Up.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Byline: David Colman If your idea of fun is driving across town to a place called Fantasy Tan, where technicians spray you down with self-tanning cream like a Pontiac Firebird in a new coat of cobalt glitter, then go with God. I'm not...