June 3, 2023
The Best
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from
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No. 203
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Edition
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In This Week’s Issue
HELL’S COOK

From Russia, Andrew Ryvkin reveals that Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s chef turned mercenary, aspires to be Donald Trump, Kremlin-style …

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD WHITE MEN

From Hollywood, Sam Wasson reflects on the Oscars’ new diversity quotas and what they mean for the future of the motion-picture industry …

Armie Hammer: Coda

From Los Angeles, James Kirchick revisits his exclusive interview with the actor as sexual-assault charges against him are officially dropped …

QUEEN OF THE AMAZON

From the support yacht, Marina Hyde reveals how Lauren Sánchez, the future Mrs. Bezos, “missile-titted” her way into the world’s consciousness with her somewhat unique taste and “fauxlanthropy” …

THERE WON’T BE BLOOD

From the archives, Louise Stratten recounts how her former husband Peter Bogdanovich’s bloody first film—about a then rare mass shooting—led him to rebel against violence in movies …

TRIUMPH OF THE WILL

From New York, George Pendle delves into how a dusty literary theory about William Shakespeare has been picked up by the downtown crowd and is being used as a “fascist dogwhistle” …

HIS VIRTUAL ASSISTANT FRIDAY

From the tech world, Flora Gill investigates the gender biases at play in our female A.I. assistants, from Alexa to Siri …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Dispatch from the Hollywood picket lines … Athens is the new Berlin … Joni Mitchell’s first full concert in 23 years … Anne Frank’s final days, revisited … Dafydd Jones, a life of the party … Adele’s go-to rosé … Alan Richman’s letter from Long Island … the spending habits of the super-rich … Who the hell is donating to Ron DeSantis’s campaign? … Cast your Attention-Whore Index vote now! …

But First …
Issue No. 203

The View from Here For 95 years, the Oscar for best picture signified excellence. What will it mean when the Academy starts enforcing its new eligibility rules?

By Sam Wasson
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Russia’s Wild Card

Trump on the Volga Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin’s chef turned mercenary, is a gaudy egomaniac with a message: Make Russia (and me) Great Again

By Andrew Ryvkin
Read On
Special Report

Armie Hammer Breaks His Silence: Coda Two years ago, allegations of rape destroyed the actor’s career. This week, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its case against him

By James Kirchick
Read On
Air Supply

Father Figures

With Father’s Day fast approaching, consider this your friendly reminder to recognize the paternal figures in your life. From handsome accessories and thoughtful reading recommendations to the best gadgets, gear, and tools, these are gifts he is bound to appreciate
Shop
Photo: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock (John Wayne and Aissa Wayne)
guest edit

My Favorite Things The Uruguayan-born chef behind Estela, Altro Paradiso, and Corner Bar shares his must-haves, from the best coffee-maker to the finest chocolate bar and beyond

By Ignacio Mattos
Shop
Photo: courtesy of Estela (Mattos)
T.G.I.S.

The Attention-Whore Index An unstable tech billionaire, a disgraced Republican politician, and a needy hereditary monarch walk into a bar: Who gets the most attention? You decide!

Read On
Small Talk
“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! …”
“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! …”
Creative Differences

The Show Won’t Go On A screenwriter’s dispatch from the Writers Guild of America picket line

By Dan Brier
Read On
In Sickness and in Wealth

Proceed to Checkout Newly engaged fauxlanthropists Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez have mastered the art of “strategic giving” from their half-a-billion-dollar yacht

By Marina Hyde
Read On
Listen

Lunch with Douglas Brinkley On this week’s episode of Table for Two, the historian talks about his plan with Sean Penn to save the world, Silent Spring Revolution, and why starting small isn’t such a bad thing when it comes to environmental work

Read On
Modern Times

The Future Is Female—and Not in a Good Way From Amazon’s Alexa to Apple’s Siri, A.I.’s female defaults are teaching our youngest generations to associate women’s voices with obedience

By Flora Gill
Read On
Film Classics

On Targets In 1968, Peter Bogdanovich directed his first film, about what was then an uncommon event: a mass shooting. It haunted him to the end

By Louise Stratten
As told to Sam Kashner
Read On
Small Talk

DeSantis Campaign Contributors He reportedly raised more than $8 million within 24 hours of announcing his candidacy for president. Just who the hell is giving Ron DeSantis all this money?

By John Ficarra
Photo Illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Tempest in a Martini Glass

Owning the Lits Fringe scholars have long argued that Shakespeare wasn’t really Shakespeare. So why has it suddenly become an article of faith among young conservatives?

By George Pendle
Read On
The Restaurant Life

Hamptons or Bust After finding success in the West Village, restaurateurs Daniel and Evan Bennett are betting big on the East End

By Alan Richman
Read On
Letter from Provence

A Splash of Color Wine experts sneered when Sacha Lichine launched his expensive French rosé. Now he sells more than a million cases a year and is beloved by the likes of Victoria Beckham, Malia Obama, and Adele

By Hilary Rose
Read On
Best
Shop Biggie’s Bodega Nestled under a candy-striped awning on Division Street is the latest arrival to New York’s Dimes Square neighborhood: Biggie’s Bodega… Shop Finch You are in the minority if you haven’t heard the siren song of Hudson, New York. A two-hour Amtrak ride north from Manhattan, the quaint town is… Watch Prima Facie In the one-woman show Prima Facie, Jodie Comer plays Tessa, a young British barrister who has carved out a successful practice defending men… Read Per Amore There are few men who encapsulate and define Italian style quite like designer Giorgio Armani. Now, in Per Amore, we have a newly reimagined … Stay Alain Llorca During peak season, mere mortals will struggle to book a table at La Colombe d’Or, the movie-star watering hole (with excellent food) in the… Read Third Girl from the Left The benefit of hindsight has inspired scores of works about AIDS—autobiographies, social histories… Shop Biggie’s Bodega Nestled under a candy-striped awning on Division Street is the latest arrival to New York’s Dimes Square neighborhood: Biggie’s Bodega… Shop Finch You are in the minority if you haven’t heard the siren song of Hudson, New York. A two-hour Amtrak ride north from Manhattan, the quaint town is… Watch Prima Facie In the one-woman show Prima Facie, Jodie Comer plays Tessa, a young British barrister who has carved out a successful practice defending men… Read Per Amore There are few men who encapsulate and define Italian style quite like designer Giorgio Armani. Now, in Per Amore, we have a newly reimagined … Stay Alain Llorca During peak season, mere mortals will struggle to book a table at La Colombe d’Or, the movie-star watering hole (with excellent food) in the… Read Third Girl from the Left The benefit of hindsight has inspired scores of works about AIDS—autobiographies, social histories…
Small Talk
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, my A.A. sponsor walks into mine.”
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, my A.A. sponsor walks into mine.”
Listen

Should You Move to Athens? (All the Cool Kids Are) On this week’s podcast: Greece’s new hot spot, an Oscars mess, and the man who may take down Putin

Read On
Books

The Diary of Hannah Goslar In an excerpt from her memoir, Anne Frank’s closest childhood friend recalls the years leading up to their deportations, and their against-all-odds reunion

By Hannah Pick-Goslar
Read On

Click here to visit

Don’t Miss
Aylesbury, U.K.

The wedding planner: Joana Vasconcelos’s 40-foot ceramic wedding cake goes on show at Waddesdon Manor …

New York

A moda moment: the Museum at F.I.T. celebrates Latin American fashion and its greats, from Carolina Herrera to Oscar de la Renta to Haider Ackermann …

Montreal

Lost and found: at the Museum of Fine Arts, 400 relics from Colombia’s Indigenous civilization piece together millennia-old meanings and stories …

Washington, D.C.

High notes: the Phillips Collection studies the career of Frank Stewart, the longtime senior staff photographer for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra …

Online

Dust to dust: Nicholas Hytner’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust streams online via the National Theatre …

Highlight
On June 10, Joni Mitchell will give her first full concert since 2000. The musician is pictured here in 1968, the year she released her first studio album, Song to a Seagull.

Joni Mitchell’s Second Act

In 1969, Joni Mitchell missed the Woodstock festival to go on The Dick Cavett Show, only to be joined by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and the entire Jefferson Airplane, who regaled the world with their tales of peace, love, and music. It didn’t take long for Joni to write “Woodstock” and have the last word. READ ON

On June 10, Joni Mitchell will give her first full concert since 2000. The musician is pictured here in 1968, the year she released her first studio album, Song to a Seagull. Read On
Small Talk
Photography

The Last Hurrah A new book collects the 1980s party photographs of Dafydd Jones, chronicler of British high society at its most riotous, just as that world was coming to an end

9
Crispin Balfour, photographed by Dafydd Jones at a tea party for the Dangerous Sports Club at the Gloucestershire home of the Dutch ambassador to Britain, in 1981.
Francesca Hobart at the Palladian Revels, at Chiswick House, in London, in 1988.
The Countess of Lichfield, with her shoe on a stick, at a party given by Mrs. Yousof Mazandi in Chester Square, London, in 1982.
Elizabeth Pulford snacks on cotton candy at the Cambridge University Charity Ball, in 1985.
At a party in Totteridge, London, in 1984.
Guests admire an inflatable Perrier bottle at the Henley Regatta, held on the River Thames, in 1984.
Top, a wedding in Frampton Mansell, Gloucestershire, in 1986; above, six A.M. at the Trinity May Ball, in Cambridge, in 1984.
Olivier de Fallentons and Lucinda West at James McMullen’s 30th-birthday party, at Cliveden House, in Berkshire, in 1986.
Henrietta Thompson’s hand reaches for a bottle at the Falklands Ball, at Grosvenor House, in 1982.
Read On
Book Reviews
Ned Martel On

Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style

by Paul Rudnick
Read On
Sarah Weinman On

Genealogy of a Murder: Four Generations, Three Families, One Fateful Night

by Lisa Belkin
Read On
Small Talk
Close-up

Kathryn Bromwich How a bout of long COVID during the height of the pandemic gave way to a London editor’s debut novel

By Lily Meyer
Read On
The Veteran Traveler

Athens, Unbound An influx of expats, artists, and designers are making the capital of Greece feel suspiciously like Berlin

By Catherine Fairweather
Read On
The Perfect Ending

Albert Kriemler

The creative director of Akris answers 40 of life’s most pressing questions
Read On
David Downton’s Sketchbook
Helmut Berger, the Austrian actor once dubbed “the most beautiful man in the world,” has died at the age of 78. In the mid-1960s, he caught the eye of the aristocratic Italian director Luchino Visconti, who became his companion and mentor, showcasing him in three films, most prominently The Damned, in 1969. “Except for Helmut Berger, there are no interesting women today,” said Billy Wilder after viewing the actor’s impression of Marlene Dietrich in the movie. A sine qua non of the jet set, he attracted the beauties of the age, male and female, irresistibly into his orbit. After Visconti’s death, in 1976, his fall was precipitous. Prodigious drinking and drug use robbed him of his looks, if not his fire, resulting in hair-raising “under the influence” appearances on European talk shows and culminating in a harrowing lion-in-winter documentary, Helmut Berger, Actor, in 2015. Mercurial to the end, Berger had no time for nostalgia—or heartache. “I have lived three lives,” he said. “And in four languages! Je ne regrette rien.”
Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

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In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley

Issue No. 203
June 3, 2023
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Issue No. 203
June 3, 2023
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