My two favorite Nora Ephron stories are:

How she and her husband, Carl Bernstein -- they were happily married at the time -- went behind everybody's back and re-wrote certain scenes for All the President's Men.  They were worried that heartthrob, Redford, playing Woodward was getting all the good stuff, leaving Hoffman, playing Bernstein, with nothing.  So, they totally made Hoffman catnip to the ladies and introduced a whole new element to the story which worked brilliantly.  And, of course, Ephron was such a great writer, all that stuff got left in, to great effect.

But, of course, after the film, Bernstein became a massive star and, natch, cheated on Ephron, which she wrote about in her brill novel, Heartburn.

That leads me to my second fave story, to wit:  When Ephron had finally had enough of Bernstein's philandering she pegged him right in the kisser with a key lime pie.  And, of course, as she re-tells the story in Heartburn, she gives you the recipe, to boot!

So sad.  RIP, Sister; a great novelist, essayist, culture critic, screenwriter, and director, I miss you, already.

Think Renee and I will watch Dame Meryl and the lovely Amy Adams in Julie and Julia tonight.

"I'll have what she's having."













P.S.  The peach pie recipe in Heartburn is to die for.  Renee makes it all the time and we lived on it, my folks and I, when we first moved to Austim in 1983.

This is how Renee & I

Lipstick Traces and the Ingrid Bergman bio there!

Totally skipped, ignored the Super Bowl today (I still do not even know the score!):  We saw The Iron Lady (Dame Meryl and Jim Broadbent were fab, the whole thing was okay but not great.)

One of the greatest teevee shows evah!

The absolutely fabulous dinner.

Our popcorn at The Iron Lady.

Then we watched the Ab Fab marathon (which Renee dvr'd) on BBC America.  And Renee made a superb meal:  pork chops; kale w/ pancetta; polenta; and squash w/ shallots, golden raisins, and pine nuts.

We drank 2009 Radio Coteau Nebblina w/ all that.  (And a little bit of Champers to start.)

All my love,
Ardent

One of my fave new entries

Cazale and Dame Meryl in the Seventies

In Thomson's latest edition is one for John Cazale, finally.

Perhaps, Thomson felt obliged because HBO produced a v good, short doc on Cazale.

Fun fact about Cazale:  Cazale was primarily a stage actor and he acted in only five films, every single one of those films were nominated for Best Picture, and three of them won.

Cazale died of bone cancer in 1978, his sweetie, Meryl Streep, there at his side.  He was my age, forty-three.

My fave performance of his would have to be Dog Day Afternoon but I am sure most of my friends probably prefer his Fredo from the Godfather pictures.