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The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman
A remarkable life and voice emerge from the journals, letters, and memoirs of Leo Lerman: writer, critic, editor at Conde Nast, and man about town at the center of New York's artistic and social circles from the 1940s until his death in 1994.
Lerman's contributions to the world of the arts were large and varied: he wrote on theater, dance, music, art, books, and movies for publications as diverse as Mademoiselle and The New York Times. He was features editor at Vogue and, briefly, editor in chief of Vanity Fair. He launched careers and trends, exposing the American public to new talents, fashions, and ideas.
He was a legendary party host as well, counting Marlene Dietrich, Maria Callas and Truman Capote among his intimates. Cary Grant, Jackie Onassis, Isak Dinesen and Margot Fonteyn were part of his larger circle. But his personal accounts and correspondence reveal him also as having a full private life, mourning the emigre world of 1930s and 1940s New York City, reflecting on being Jewish and an openly homosexual man. He offers a social and emotional history.
Lerman's contributions to the world of the arts were large and varied: he wrote on theater, dance, music, art, books, and movies for publications as diverse as Mademoiselle and The New York Times. He was features editor at Vogue and, briefly, editor in chief of Vanity Fair. He launched careers and trends, exposing the American public to new talents, fashions, and ideas.
He was a legendary party host as well, counting Marlene Dietrich, Maria Callas and Truman Capote among his intimates. Cary Grant, Jackie Onassis, Isak Dinesen and Margot Fonteyn were part of his larger circle. But his personal accounts and correspondence reveal him also as having a full private life, mourning the emigre world of 1930s and 1940s New York City, reflecting on being Jewish and an openly homosexual man. He offers a social and emotional history.
688 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 30, 2015
A creepy and oogly little toad, Leo the Lerman made cert he knew everyone and would invite 50 or more celebs to each of his parties, in his walk-up -- on no budget and scant magazine salary. He always dined at the most "visible" eateries. Reading this gushy tome I realized he had to be a US (cultch) "plant" in the post W2 NYC arts world, reporting on what the artsies were thinking in those chaotic-creative years when Communism scented the atmosphere. He now drops his 2 cents.
November 2, 2007
This is an upscale beach book for a gay man of a certain age with an opera subscription. Since I am a gay man of a certain age with an opera subscription, I loved it! Great portraits of Maria Callas and Marlene Dietrich.
March 9, 2020
Another huge book only 650 pages but this one is different, in that, it is not about a favourite person and names names of people I never heard of before with few mentions of the familiar ones, but the writing is colourful and expressive and a joy to behold. The use of language is unique, I wish I had read other things he had written but it was all before my time and in magazines. So, even if it takes me as long to read as the last one (two whole months which for me is absolute insanity or approaching loss of something) I will enjoy it more I think. What is really delightful is his comprehensive and insightful descriptions of the people he meets. He gets Gore Vidal and Truman Capote spot on and so I feel I can trust his descriptions of the others I know less well.
Right to the end I could not stop, not a single boring paragraph and each biographical sketch encapsulates the individual so that they live for you. Leo's world was not one I have ever been interested in but I came across his name in the biography of someone I was interested in and realized his life intersected many of the people whose biographies I had read and whose worlds I studied. This book was filled with names of famous and infamous people from all over the world, all classes and circles. I have filled my copy with under linings. His writing is very accessible to the reader.
Right to the end I could not stop, not a single boring paragraph and each biographical sketch encapsulates the individual so that they live for you. Leo's world was not one I have ever been interested in but I came across his name in the biography of someone I was interested in and realized his life intersected many of the people whose biographies I had read and whose worlds I studied. This book was filled with names of famous and infamous people from all over the world, all classes and circles. I have filled my copy with under linings. His writing is very accessible to the reader.
January 4, 2013
Very dishy diaries of literary elite. Found stories about Garbo unsubstantiated, more third person gossip. Dietrich, who was Lermans friend, is a tragic figure who at her lifes end makes money by talking to pen pals who jerk off and send her $$$...!!!!! Loved the stories of his lifelong friend, Little T, Truman Capote.
January 19, 2013
I didn't read this cover to cover, but rather dipped in and out of it, scanning for names I recognized, parties I was interested in. There are Bloomsbury connections, and Leo went to Churchill's funeral--but of course! There's a good bit of Yiddishkeit, which is always interesting to me. And a big helping of a New York that seems to have vanished. Bittersweet.
June 28, 2013
A brilliant book, best read in snatches rather than straight through. I ached for Lerman -- I wanted him to write his brilliant novel, to find peace in his personal life, to quiet his demons.
It's a book with a lot of gossip, and I'm sure that's why many pick it up, but it's much more than that. It's a book about Lerman's longing for connection -- with his parents, his friends, and his lovers -- and about his search for meaning.
It's a book with a lot of gossip, and I'm sure that's why many pick it up, but it's much more than that. It's a book about Lerman's longing for connection -- with his parents, his friends, and his lovers -- and about his search for meaning.
April 5, 2011
One of my favorite books of the last couple years. Somewhat like the Warhol Diaries of an earlier era. Leo knew everybody and anybody in NY fashion, art, publishing, opera etc. in his day. I think I ended up reading half a dozen other books about people and incidents mentioned here.
Read
April 9, 2007Read my review here: http://tinyurl.com/2w66tf
Want to Read
January 11, 2008Revieved in New Yorker, looks extra interesting!
March 18, 2008
stays close at hand - you can open this book to any page and dive into the gossipy, dishy world of Leo Lerman - it's a window into that glamorous NY life everyone moved here to live
January 22, 2010
Really much more amusing and less obnoxious than I would ever have thought possible.
September 10, 2012
If the entire book were just the photo of the author kissing Martha Graham in 1974, I would still give it a well-deserved 5 stars.
April 19, 2017
Lerman appears to have known everyone in the post-WWII NYC arts world. Truman Capote: They were at the Yaddo Colony together. Maria Callas: Lerman was in the room when she received the telegram firing her from the Metropolitan Opera (there's even a picture). Marlene Dietrich: She's calling him at all hours of the day to complain about Yule Brenner's treatment of her during their affair. Irving Penn: He took Lerman's portrait. Leonard Bernstein: He's bragging about his hookups at Lerman's parties.
Something impressive happens as the journals continue over their fifty-year span. Portraits deepen. The Marlene Dietrich of the 1950s is imperious; the Marlene Dietrich of the 1980s is reclusive. As Lerman's friends die off, and as his health declines, he becomes an ever-more charming and insightful writer.
The journals also tell the story of Lerman's almost fifty year relationship with Gray Foy. As Lerman's health declines, Foy's devotion to Lerman is repeatedly demonstrated.
Something impressive happens as the journals continue over their fifty-year span. Portraits deepen. The Marlene Dietrich of the 1950s is imperious; the Marlene Dietrich of the 1980s is reclusive. As Lerman's friends die off, and as his health declines, he becomes an ever-more charming and insightful writer.
The journals also tell the story of Lerman's almost fifty year relationship with Gray Foy. As Lerman's health declines, Foy's devotion to Lerman is repeatedly demonstrated.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews