This week two titans of their respective crafts -- the legendary book editor Robert Gottlieb and the famous actress/British politician Glenda Jackson -- passed away at the ages of 92 and 87, respectively.
Just a few months ago I blogged about the wonderful documentary Turn Every Page about the career of Robert Gottlieb -- and the countless great authors he worked with and their books that he published, especially his special working relationship with Robert Caro. A New Yorker to the core, Gottlieb not only edited books but also fundraised and helped run the New York City Ballet and was a huge part of the cultural life of this city. RIP
Glenda Jackson was not a New Yorker -- she was English and acted in movies, theater, and TV for decades except for when she took a 23-year break from acting to serve in the British House of Commons as a Labour MP (she even served as a minister in Prime Minister Tony Blair's government). She won two Oscars and many other awards and, if you've ever seen it, the 1971 mini-series where she plays Queen Elizabeth I is one of the best things I've ever seen. Fortunately I got to see her on Broadway -- twice -- in Three Tall Women in 2018 and King Lear in 2019. You can read my reviews of them here. She was a giant of acting and politics. RIP.
For the first time in way too long, I was able to do something I had done many times before kids and COVID took over my life -- go to a movie at Film Forum. And nothing could have been a more quintessential NYC experience that seeing a documentary there about two titanic New Yorkers, Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb, called Turn Every Page.
For those who don't already know, Robert Caro is the author of the 1974 classic book The Power Broker about the NYC "master builder" Robert Moses who shaped this city in ways beyond comprehension. I've blogged a lot about Moses and this book over the years to the point of absurdity.
I haven't done so about Gottlieb but he is no less a legend -- he is not only a book editor but is probably the most successful book editor of the late 20th, early 21st centuries. Since the 1950s, he's edited books by the likes of Michael Crichton and John la Carre, he edited all of Toni Morrison's novels, he not only edited but also came up with the title for Catch-22 (which has become a cultural catchphrase), he edited President Bill Clinton's autobiography in 2004 -- the legacy of the authors he's worked with and the books he's worked on is immense. And he's edited each of Robert Caro's books, starting with The Power Broker and then, for the last 40+ years, his multi-volume biography of President Lyndon Johnson, the last book of which they're still working on together.
Turn Every Page is about the working relationship of these two men over the decades, and how it's evolved but also stayed largely the same. They love each other dearly but aren't afraid to fight or disagree about their work, their passion for it being so great. Directed by Gottlieb's daughter Lizzie, it's a very affectionate portrait of these two men but also a very detailed, sober look at the extremely hard work of writing and editing -- they even spend time talking about semi-colons and stuff like that.
And that's what I loved about this documentary -- it's about the work just as much as it is about the personalities. It's about how these men actually get these books written, about how hard it is, about how exacting and time-consuming it is to create great, memorable books. It's also wonderful to see the story of two NYC boys who dreamed big and achieved greatness. But most of all, it focuses on the work, the toughness and demands of the work, and how there are no shortcuts.
The documentary's title, Turn Every Page, is based on something that Robert Caro's boss told him when he was a young reporter at Newsday and was starting out doing investigating work: "Turn every page, turn every goddamn page!"
