D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A Created 55 years ago in Paris by George Plimpton, Peter Matthiessen, and Harold Humes as a quarterly English language literary magazine, it has published works by many major writers and poets, including Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, Jack Kerouac, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Nadine Gordimer, Philip Larkin, Terry Southern, Adrienne Rich, Italo Calvino and many, many others of that ilk. Plimpton was an enterprising, entrepreneurial writer, loaded with the American can-do energy. He was editor of the Review, along with Mattheisson and Hume. Decades later in an interview, Peter Mattheisson claimed that he
“founded” the magazine as a cover for the CIA, for whom he was working at the time. If so, it’s an example of CIA activity that would be to the benefit of all (who can read). In 1973, Plimpton moved the offices to New York, where they were in the basement under his apartment on 72nd Street and the East River. If there were such a thing as a “salon,” which there is not anymore, in New York at the time, it could be said George Plimpton and his wives were hosts to the literary set of authors, actors, writers and such, that were present. Today, the Review is doing better than ever. It is read all over the world. They sell
out every edition, circulation numbers are higher than ever before, and their website gets more than a million page views every month. On this particular night, success was reflected by the generosity of its supporters and fans: they raised almost $1 million. It was a revel but a reverent one. Publisher Susannah Hunnewell opened the evening, greeting the guests and marking the passing of Drue Heinz at 103, on March 30th in Scotland. Mrs. Heinz, who was the widow of HJ (Jack) Heinz, Jr., was a major supporter of the Paris Review, and had become head of the board in 1993 (when she was 78) until 2007 (when she was 93).
Ms. Hunnewell introduced John Waters, the film director. Mr. Waters is also a screen writer, author, actor, and stand-up comedian. Irreverent is one way of putting it that covers a lot of territory. He can say the un-sayable and have you laughing. That energy charged the room for the night. What followed was the Terry Southern Prize for humor, presented to David Sedaris (by Patricia Marx). If you’ve ever read the work of Sedaris, you are a fan of Sedaris, so there was laughter. Mr. Waters also presented the George Plimpton Award, presented annually “to a distinguished member of the writ-
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Michelle and Joseph Jacobs 38 QUEST
Ellen and Irwin Levy with Gail Nessel
Tom Quick and Jean Sharf
Roberta, Melissa, Rachel and Stephen Weiner
Harvey and Chrysanthi Berger with daughter NIcole
Jack and Eileen Connors
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Laurie Glimcher and Robert Kraft