I used to sneak out of bed to watch it. To celebrate, we're republishing Glenn O'Brien's interview with the living legend from the August, 1978 print edition of High Times. CLEMENTE: Is there any aspect of New Jersey that you miss? See, then, if you had no money, you had a horrible apartment. I cant imagine what I could have done with it. Fran rose to her now-legend status starting at Interview magazine where she wrote a column called "I Cover the Waterfront," She is also the author of two books, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies, and the world awaits further writings. She has been a resident of Manhattan, New York since 1970. I started being a poet when I lived in Poughkeepsie, and I wrote a book of poetry called Poughkeepsie Blood. I couldnt imagine knowing someone who was that funny. There is no such thing as inner peace. My whole movie consciousness was based on movies no one else had ever seen. Your email address will not be published. The day my grounding was up and I was going to be allowed to go out on Saturday I got the flu and was sick for two weeks. I have a double policy, which would also solve immigration: I would stand at the border of New York City and I would say, You can come here to live, but you cant come here to visit. If youre coming here, you better be immigrating. I still cant type. At first Fran had to sneak in her own brand of humor. The title song was sung by a truck. Fran readily agreed, as she was banned from most movie screenings because of her old column, Best of the Worst. Now, even if you have money, you can have a horrible apartment. Why dont you just put some of your books in storage? And I always say the same thing: What if I told you I had four children? No one else remembers things from this whole period, but I wasnt high. January 30, 2011. She began a similar column (although PG rated) in Mademoiselle. Thats what Id like to do. I saw a lot of movies that were never released because people knew of my interest in that sort of movie, so I often went to distributors screenings and sat with 12 men with cigars. Then I moved to New York and switched to exotic foreign brands. All-around cultural oracle Fran Lebowitz really began her ascent to that pulpit here at Interview, in 1972, writing a wonderful column about terrible movies, and then covering the waterfront, as she called it: opining on sundry topics, giving advice, ranting, reflecting, and hooking the reading world (such as it is) on that voicethat saucy, Were you expected to criticize what was going on? But because I was young, I had this long hair, and people used to try to tip me with joints. No, no, no. The way the admissions director of Harvard decides who goes to Harvard, Id like to decide who comes here. But . Metropolitan Life is a 1978 bestselling collection of comedic essays and the debut book by writer Fran Lebowitz. I just talked it while a speed freak typed it. In conversation with Interview pal Francesco Clemente, Lebowitz here lays out her tongue-in-cheek platform for a mayoral run, declares the Donalds run done, and explains why New York is the greatest place in the world. I played cello in the school orchestra, but I was so horrible that I soon got over the notion of being a cellist. To me, it would be even a slower way to write. And as soon as we finished, Marty goes, "Let's make another one." Fran Lebowitz: "A dumb woman is the preferred woman in the USA" The essayist and speaker on her Manhattan lockdown, 9/11 and disappointing Americans - from Andy Warhol to Joe Biden. One of my all-time favorite funny people was Jack Douglas. When Im at my desk I feel like most people would feel if they went on TV., Some years ago, Lebowitz sold a proposal of a novel entitled Exterior Signs of Wealth, a reference to a French conspicuous-consumption tax figured on the basis of display of wealth. She has two children from her marriage to the composer Allen Shawn, the son of the former New Yorker editor William Shawn, and in the living room she displays on a tableproudly, apologeticallyproductions from the arts-and-crafts camps and classes that her son and daughter attended over the years. Lebowitz: To be glamorous. Like there is an American family where someones supposed to be president. What youre supposed to have is, say, all Henry Jamess novels and the letters, which is more elegant. CLEMENTE: You didnt have a kitchen, but I doubt that you cook. Fran Lebowitz is a writer born on 27th October 1950 in Morristown, New Jersey, United States. So all the judgment left at the same time that all this creativity left. Im very vilified for this, I have to say. Get notified of our the latest cannabis news, exclusive brand deals, events updates and more! Why did your family send you to America? High Times: Why did you smoke an ounce of marijuana in one day? Fran describes Ralph Lauren's copying, and eventual embodiment, of Brooks Brothers WASP style. I still have the clothes I bought at Bonwit Teller. I dont want them to come. In person, that voice pours out in great glittering riffs (on politics and personal space, on AIDS, the 80s, New York, and everything in between) that set Lebowitz atop our list of dream dinner-party guests and probably put her in the running for greatest talkers ever. Because if people dont hold grudges, it means they just dont care what people do.FRAN LEBOWITZ, LEBOWITZ: It was for The New York Times. Fran Lebowitz has realised George Costanza is, in fact, an idiot. The building is still there. Lebowitz maintains that she wrote the columns with the intention of building a distinct collection of essays. Lebowitz: I smoked Tareyton the longest, then I switched to Lark. by Anonymous: reply 136: January 15, 2021 3:23 AM: I adore her. I think my most enormous smoking punishment was being grounded for a month. They dont have to be particularly interesting children; just the fact that they are children is sufficient. Me and, like, five of what I then thought of as old menthey were probably 40smoking cigars, watching these movies. What are they going to possibly say thats of interest? This is another thing most people don't know about Toni: though she was incredibly hardworking, she was physically incredibly lazy. Lebowitz: Yes, but not with much zeal. It could be clean and less dangerous, and not horrible, not under a tidal wave of tourists. Which, in my opinion, was: What is culture without gay people? I was caught all the time. Fran Lebowitz contains multitudes: author (with a decades-old writer's block), journalist (Vanity Fair and Interview, et al. Fran Lebowitz, the writer, cultural critic, and professional raconteur, spoke with me over the phone via landline, as she famously doesn't own a cell phone or computer. He writes for the New Yorker. Fran Lebowitz has tough love for tough COVID-19 times. So in New York we have zillions of different kinds of people, many of them hate each other, but violence based on that hatred is really uncommon here. But I thought it was a job. Bankers. I mean, there are fewer good things than bad things. I dressed in old clothes, thrift-shop clothes. had one incredible movie after another. At that time colleges had these hotlines, and you could call up and say, My friend just ate 14 pounds of acid, and some graduate student would drive over in his little Chevy and rescue you. Then I try to bargain with them to wait until I get to the absolute edge of the deadline. So I have a state diploma. Lebowitz: Ive gotten some marriage proposals, but I dont think they were serious. High Times: Have you gotten any marriage proposals? The way the admissions director of Harvard decides who goes to Harvard, Id like to decide who comes here. CLEMENTE: One of my favorite quotes of yours is when you said that youve never been in a relationship for longer than six months, because you didnt want to switch from boredom to contempt. Glenn OBriens interview with the iconic Fran Lebowitz from the August, 1978 issue of High Times magazine. And I would always give it back. I remember she wore her hair in a French roll, and she wore what they called a hobble skirt. I wanted to be a beatnik. You have an idea for an app? LEBOWITZ: It really depended. And I was really distraught. was he fascinating? Too insubstantial. They thought I made them up. Monday June 7 2021. And its not just New York; its the whole world. It was really a passion with me. I would say maybe 74, 75. I dont like to go out during the dayits too crowded. I remember I got $500 for it. Karl Lagerfeld did this, I dont know what youd call it, this project, where he and his publishing company made this crate. LEBOWITZ: But what about the caffeine? During that period I had stripes cut on my hands. Lebowitz: Because I was 19 years old. The years have gone by, but she is still tall. There were two funny ones that were real crowd pleasers when I used to read them. press handouts. The writer and raconteur embodied the hip, downtown Manhattan of the 70s. I thought they owned the roads; I always used to tell my parents I wanted to be a toll taker, and they couldnt imagine why. People seem to think there is some connection between talking and writing, but I love to talk and if there were some connection between the two of them I would be the most prolific writer in the history of the world. Then to Merits. In between writing books Lebowitz is a guest editor and occasional columnist for Vanity Fair. Here's what started happening: A few years ago, kidsand by which I mean, my friends' kidsstarted coming up to me and saying, 'Fran, where'd you get those vintage glasses?' And I said, 'They . Just because its February doesnt mean were talking Roses! Volume 1: Best of First Decade 1969-1979. High Times: Do you ever think you cant do it? There are certain relationships I think Im great at: Im the worlds greatest daughter. In Andy Warhol's Interview: Volume 1: Best of the First Decade 1969-1979, edited by Sara J . But for I Cover the Waterfront, ordinarily I would go out to dinner with Marc the night beforeand when I say dinner, I mean some hamburger place or somethingand I would think of ideas, and then I would go home. More than it works in any other place. And sometimes I went on at ten oclock in the morning and read to the guy sweeping up from the night before. But so far I have not. Bloomberg was always bragging how many hotels were being builtI remember seeing him on the news, saying, And this is the nine millionth hotel in Queens. Queens! So every time I move, they have to be moved around, and I always fight with this guy when we do this, because he is a private librarian, which means, generally, he works for very rich people who never read their books. She rented a theater and sat on stage and called people up and didnt tell them. And, first of . And you would have cash at the end of the day. I did once smoke an ounce of marijuana in one day and ended up in the emergency ward at Mass. This conversation began at a public event at the 92nd Street Y in 2013, and was picked up again in her Vermont kitchen eight years later, in the summer of 2021, when the social restrictions of the pandemic had, for a time, eased. Theres a huge gap in what people know, and theres no context for it anymore. Aside from the collected Talk Stories (2001), her nonfiction works include A Small Place (1988), a reckoning with the colonial legacy on Antigua; My Brother (1997), a memoir of the tragedy of AIDS in her family; and two books on gardening, My Garden (Book) (1999) and Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya (2005). Now I hate the smell of pot. I would wake up and be so excited because I could smoke. I mean, it is pretty shocking. And people are constantly telling me, whether they are friends who feel sorry for me, because I cant find a place to live, or real estate agents, You cant afford an apartment the size you need with this many books. Then 50 questions, then 20 questions, then, finally, you said, Can you see Im trying to read?. . They were these huge hardcover books that were different aspects of Interview. You can blame certain things on me, but not Donald Trump. Fran Lebowitz: I cover the waterfront. Their antidote to this was giving me about 22 Thorazines. I got up every morning, brushed my teeth and went to the Village Vanguard and read poetry. Directed by Martin Scorsese, it follows Lebowitz and Scorsese as they prowl New York City streets, museums and members clubs for conversations about the city. Thanks for offering this from your Archive. You sit or stand in the subway, and you look aroundI do, because I dont have a phone so Im not playing a gameand you see people. CLEMENTE: I think in your life youve said no more than yes. For two reasons: First of all, I stopped taking drugs when I was 19, and who wants to drive a cab around New York with drugs in their car? It was like the myth where if a girl gets pregnant and takes the boy to court, if three other boys come into court and say that they had slept with her, they would all get off scot-free. High Times: Do you watch anything else on TV besides Family Feud? And its not just the Bush family, all families designate each child as having some particular trait. The novel is reputedly about rich people who want to be artists, and artists who want to be rich people. Not only dont they not understand people different from them, they hardly understand themselves. I wait until the editor says, Unless its in tomorrow morning at ten oclock we cant run it. Then I stay up all night and do it. High Times: What was it like being a cab driver? Lebowitz: I see no reason to get up before one oclock except to watch Family Feud. Things that New Yorkers need. CLEMENTE: No, I can sleep. The good thing about being in someone elses apartment is its so much easier to leave than it is to get someone out. This guy came in and showed all these fake advertising campaigns and fake brands of vodka. In the past ten years, Lebowitz has been a regular guest on the television showLate Nightwith David Letterman. Customers paid 99 an hour to listen to this garbage. It was originally built as a sailors rooming house, because its very close to the river. The one I wrote myself was called House of Leather. Lebowitz: I have to say I have only written back to important people, people in the publishing business. I would have gotten a scholarship. As boring as reading it. But I never liked pot much. Fran Lebowitz photographed in Chelsea, New York, January 2021. Gauloises, English Ovals, any cigarette that looked like it would annoy people. I know this sounds insane, but I just hate it. Lebowitz: I dont think I was a poet for even an entire year. Which is why I remember things. Go to California. The housing problem would be solved completely. Fran is a renowned humorist and essayist. Lebowitz: I was a behavior problem as far as talking. I love Richard Pryor. Fran Lebowitz is an American author and a public speaker. But Ive never missed a deadline. My fathermy stepfatherhad gotten ill, and my parents had three boy children. Thats true of her music, but its also applicable to her podcast, Norah Jones is Playing Along.. At that point one of the boys I was with realized I was feeling better and got really mad at me for insisting on going to the hospital, and he screamed at me, which made me perfectly crazy by the time I got to see the psychiatrist. It reminds me of when a choreographer I know was creating a ballet. I said to my friends, 'He's going to make you long for de Blasio, [and] he was terrible,'" the author . I get rid of the ones that I can bear to give up or never wanted to begin with. What you couldnt have at the time was male homosexuality, because the only books with male homosexuality were for male homosexuals. When I was young, I liked romance. I used to steal hers. Enormous smoking punishment was being grounded for a month get to the river building a distinct collection essays... 27Th October 1950 in Morristown, New York, January 2021 I her! By writer fran Lebowitz from the August, 1978 issue of high:... 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