Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

by Philip Gefter

"Very smart and entertaining . . . dishy-yet-earnest . . . Gefter shows why Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? hit the '60s like a torpedo."-NPR, Fresh Air

“Raucous, unpredictable, wild, and affecting.”- Entertainment Weekly

An award-winning writer reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconic stars changed the image of marriage forever.

From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn't be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s.

Then, Hollywood took a colossal gamble on Albee's sophisticated play-and won. Costarring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the sensational 1966 film minted first-time director Mike Nichols as industry royalty and won five Oscars. How this scorching play became a movie classic-surviving censorship attempts, its director's inexperience, and its stars' own tumultuous marriage-is one of the most riveting stories in all of cinema.

Now, acclaimed author Philip Gefter tells that story in full for the first time, tracing Woolf from its hushed origins in Greenwich Village's bohemian enclave, through its tormented production process, to its explosion onto screens across America and a permanent place in the canon of cinematic marriages. This deliciously entertaining book explores how two couples-one fictional, one all too real-forced a nation to confront its most deeply held myths about relationships, sex, family, and, against all odds, love.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, History, Media Tie In, Biography, Drama, Pop Culture

359 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2024

Reviews

[Karyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This film has loomed large since I first viewed it many years ago, and with each successive viewing, I discovered more.

Philip Gefter has provided a thorough and incisive analysis that will preface my next viewing with more insight.

[Diane OLeary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read a very extensive biography of Mike Nichols by Mark Harris in the past few years so I knew many of these stories but I loved reading them again plus obtaining much added information so this was a fabulous treat to read. I am always amazed when a film such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf turns out to be a spectacular success despite the behind the scenes turmoil. All the stars were aligned when Mike Nichols came on the film as the director and cast Burton and Taylor, at the height of their scandalous affair, in the lead roles. There were so many reasons this film should not have worked but it did and this book is rich in details on how it came to be created so magnificently. Movie lovers will adore this story although I did note one glaring show biz error - Liz had a daughter with Mike Todd, not a son! This is a splendid behind the scenes story of an amazing film adaptation and the many creative minds behind this cinematic treasure.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first saw Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf on the big screen at the 2011 TCM Festival (with cinematographer Haskell Wexler introducing), the greatness of this previously viewed movie was finally revealed to me. The performances, writing, cinematography and direction came through in a way they never had on a small screen. So, by all means see this movie if you haven't. Once you have, you won't go wrong picking up this book, which although imperfect (more later), provides tons of insight into the background behind, the making of, and the influential power of this landmark film. All great movies seem inevitable, but this story shows just how contingent the process was on both wise and lucky decisions on the part of director Mike Nichols and producer/writer Ernest Lehman, who clashed continuously.

My favorite part of the book is the first several chapters which describe the New York intellectual milieu in which the original Edward Albee play was created and received. The bulk of the book then deals with the production history of the film. The dominant figure is definitely the flamboyant Mike Nichols (I now need to read the Mark Harris biography) who even outshines Liz and Dick (at the height of their popularity/notoriety). But the dominant viewpoint is that of Ernest Lehman, largely because he kept comprehensive notes and dictaphone recordings throughout the process. There's a nice balance between discussing the dishy interpersonal relations between giant egos, and the difficult artistic decisions (e.g. filming in black and white, using Smith College as a location). One area that needed a little more amplification was exactly how the 3.5 hour play was transformed into a 130 minute movie. We're told about the cutting, but nothing about what was cut. Another odd choice was extended visual descriptions of several scenes in the movie, with no real explanation of why that scene was chosen, and no use of these descriptions to make a point (without those, why not just watch the movie).

The final pre-epilogue chapter is a short discussion of the movie's reception and its skillful navigation of the censorship regime. I was particularly amused by the way Jacqueline Kennedy was used to soften the Catholic Legion of Decency. But the way that Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf helped demolish the production code and give rise to the MPAA rating system was given short shrift. Finally, there's an adequate but perhaps unnecessary epilogue discussing the movie's place in the history (both pre- and post- Virginia Woolf) movies about marriage.

All in all, this is recommended for movie buffs and fans of either the play or the movie. It's not as much of a knockout as Glenn Frankel's Shooting Midnight Cowboy, a book that I would even recommend to readers that may think they are uninterested in the topic. But it's certainly a worthy addition to this particular genre of book (which I'm partial to), the biography of a movie.

Thanks to netgalley for providing an early copy of this title for review.

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag, alternating between compulsively readable, and extraordinarily tiresome. There was a long tiresome beginning, (I stopped reading for two months so as to get over the tiresome beginning), compelling middle (especially when written from Lehman's point of view, he must have left behind remarkable journals), save for incredibly tedious description of entire scenes from the movie, gesture by gesture, line by line, as if we hadn't seen it (or wouldn't rather see it than have it described). If your best friend tried to do this to you, you'd stop them.

And at last the tiresome finish, where the play/movie is placed in the context of every notable work of fiction about marriage which by then I refused to read. The book ended about 2/3 into itself, followed by photos or appendices or indices and whatnot.

I sound unconvinced, and I am, but the good bits are very, very good: if it were just tedious it would get 2 stars or worse. However, the good bits do seem to be owing to Lehman. He is essentially our viewpoint character, and you never get into the heads of any of the other participants to the same extent, not remotely. Lehman, we understand. Nichols, a little bit. Everyone else is othered, and an enigma.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I thought this would be interesting, but the material is familiar, nothing new to report for those of us who have clear memories of the events as they unfolded and were reported in the press and in other biographies.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever wanted to read a lot of interesting details about one of the greatest American plays of the twentieth century, this book is for you. The book starts with the life of Edward Albee, the writer of the play, and the Broadway production of the play. The bulk of the book is about the famous film though starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, perhaps the most famous couple of mid 20th century America and directed by Mike Nichols. Although there is some good gossipy stuff here, I find the author's incisive analysis of the play's themes the best part of this book. Gefter writes clearly about the play's examination of the play's main characters' marriage, arguing that their marriage stands for the institution of marriage itself.

A few mistakes mar the book for which I don't blame the author as much as his editor. He writes that Ernest Lehman, the movie's producer and writer, went on to produce Sabrina when that movie came out at least 10 years before Woolf. Also, Mike Todd wasn't the father of Taylor's third son, but of her first daughter.

I also wish in his examination of other marriage stories that he had written about Two for the Road, perhaps the best movie about marriage in cinema.

Still, I recommend this book. Fun read!

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting account of a film I admire. I haven't seen the stage play, unfortunately, and now I really want to; it's about twice as long as the film, so I'm interested to see the difference made by that extra material to the rhythms of the narrative and our experience of the marriage of George and Martha. I did at times want the author to dive a bit more deeply into analysis of the film and its place in film and cultural history; he skims the surface too much (describing Burton as a consummate professional, for example, when his and Taylor's excesses and expectations seem anything but professional to me) and repeats too many stories (he talks about the "what a dump" story about five different times). But if you're interested in the movie and its place in film history, then this is well worth reading.

[Michael McClain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great BTS look at the creation of a seminal play, the dramatic journey of getting that play to the screen and the after effects of the film's impact on pop culture.
Burton/Nichols/Taylor gossip abound! It felt like reading about a time in Hollywood that was fading out. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" marked a sea change in how marriage and its psychological components were depicted onscreen and how the film industry was beginning to buck against the studio system oversight.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books about Hollywood about books about movies. I love the theater, particularly dramatic theater. I love 1960s NYC and America and the changing of cultural mores. I love this particular play and I especially love this movie. From the moment that I read that this book was being published, I knew that I would read it, and I am so glad that it did not disappoint.

[Bert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of With Love, Mommie Dearest should take notes, this is how you write about complicated, deeply flawed people without simply tearing them down.

I loved every page of this. One of my favorite movies, dissected in glorious detail, I wish it were 400 pages longer. I want a book exactly like this for every film Elizabeth Taylor made.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep dive research into Edward Albee, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Nichols. Like reading four bios in one book, plus fascinating look at marriage in film and in all of the aforementioned.

[Diane Wilkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a generous four star rating--my true one is 3 and a half.

When I was in my youth, I was torn between becoming an actress or a teacher when I grew up. But I told people I wanted to be an actress--I guess that seemed more exciting, at least to others. But unlike what I now realize most aspiring actors (both genders) desire is the performance and accolades part, that wasn't what I craved--I loved reading plays and interpreting the characters. I felt like I could get inside the roles and bring the wonderful words to life. (Even today I read many more plays than I actually see.)

My reading and acting life were somewhat advanced, and I remember loving and acting the role of Martha in my aunt's second bedroom (she had the book; I didn't) many, many times, usually when I should have been doing my 8th or 9th grade homework. I would go through the entire play by myself, speaking Martha's words out loud.

I found myself back there as I read this book, which was highly rated by the New York Times. Gefter lovingly goes into many of the scenes, and as he does, I was kind of amazed at how viscerally I remembered them. I have seen the movie once (maybe twice) over the years, but not in at least a decade, and of course, that's not the same as reading the whole thing repeatedly. I can barely remember the film, except noting its slight differences in the movie, particularly when they leave the house (they never leave it in the play; it's its own kind of prison, like the marriage, like society held for women in those days, but also for the capitalist hierarchy of values that would not recognize George's scholastic insights as much as Nick's qualities of being good looking and a more macho type).

There's a good deal about the making of the money, the relationships between Mike Nichols, the first time movie director and Ernest Lehman, who was the producer and the "beta male" to Nichols, studio owner Jack Warner, and Richard Burton, no shrinking violet himself.

Speaking of violet, lots of attention is paid to Elizabeth Taylor, and her role as an older harridan, quite the opposite of her more glamorous self and the majority of her acting parts. One thing is how openly Elizabeth asked for/demanded jewelry gifts from all of her directors and producers, and how she got others to buttress those requests. I had recently watched a documentary on Elizabeth Taylor and found much to admire, but I have to say, I found that childish grasping aspect of asking for jewelry of her repellent and gross. I was also appalled by Taylor and Burton's lack of professional behavior--they arrived days after the initial beginning of filming, would show up at 10 a.m. and, if not in the mood, took afternoons off without notice. I understand that filming can be grueling, but if you want a nine to five job, don't go into acting.

These mean-spirited revelations about all the individuals involved in the making of the movie were unsavory and, for me, too much a part of the book. I prefer the historical and sociological context and. of course, the literary examination. I did find myself disagreeing with one particular interpretation--Gefter asserts that when Martha alternately insults and seeks physical affection from George in the earliest scenes, she is hurt when he rebuffs her and therefore sets the scene for her future outrageous behavior. In my opinion, she seeks affection from the same inner place from which she sneers at him--she is interested in showing and feeling her power, and looking for an excuse to behave badly later that night. It's insane to expect someone to embrace you when you're being vile to them, but she's operating from such a place of powerlessness and frustrated energy that she has lost the ability to be reasonable. Gefter ultimately thinks that at their core, George and Martha love each other, but to me, it's such an unhealthy, twisted version of love that it might as well not be called love at all.

As you can see, I'd love to engage all about the play and the characters' motivations and mentalities. I really don't care what kind of car Nichols buys himself for his birthday or what kind of car Elizabeth buys Richard for his. I do like learning that both Nichols and Burton are Scorpios and would love to look at their charts, as the triangulation between Taylor, Nichols, and Burton vs. Lehman, Warner and Nichols is all much more interesting to me.

The book has me yearning to see the movie one more time--and I wish I still owned the play, which I bought as an adult and acted out a few more times :)

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been mildly obsessed with this play/movie since high school, when my speech & drama coach assigned me one of Martha’s monologues for competition. This book is fascinating - Edward Albee’s early life, the arts scene in 1960s New York/the Village, bringing the play to life and then all the drama of making the movie. I learned so much about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, plus Mike Nichols and Ernie Lehman. Not to mention Warner Brothers, the early rating systems for movies, the Academy Awards, etc. Every time you think the book is done dropping names, then it’s like “Gloria Steinham convinced the producer to shoot the opening scenes on the campus of Smith College” or “former First Lady Jackie Kennedy was brought in to attend the Catholic decency screening.” It’s a great story but also a great who’s who of New York, Hollywood and so many people in between in the early 1960s. Great read and can’t wait to rewatch the movie.

[Glenn Hopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing account of the writing of the groundbreaking 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, its casting and Broadway run, and the production history of the more controversial film version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, directed by Mike Nichols. Behind-the-scenes information shows everyone behaving badly at times with Ernest Lehman (producer/screenwriter) coming off the best. A number of the anecdotes/comments are also on the commentary track of the DVD. The gossip factor may crowd out a greater analysis of the play/movie.

[Natalie Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent look at the background of the play. Uta Hagen, the first Martha sounds brilliant. Most of the book is about the film and its director, Mike Nichols. The four main characters in the film are well described in their unstable lives.

[Tina Panik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and insightful analysis of this cinematic creation.

[Carrie Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these actors and this movie, and I love behind the scenes stuff. Informative read.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, but I think it has a very specific audience— fans of the film adaptation of Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

[Brian Kosciesza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, but this blew me away. Incredible tension drawn from reality and anecdotes that defy credulity. I felt the pressure bearing down on these creative geniuses

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only first saw the movie adaptation of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” a couple years ago, and I was fascinated by it. Real-life spouses Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton play intellectuals who spend a drunken night berating each other and the younger couple (played by George Segal and Sandy Dennis) they’ve invited over for a nightcap. Taylor and Burton, whose own troubled, on-again-off-again relationship was tabloid fodder for years, play their vicious parts so convincingly. Almost too convincingly. When I read in an article late last year that a new book was being released about the production of the film, I knew I’d be interested in hearing how these two Hollywood icons were able to pull from their own lives to craft Oscar-worthy (and in Taylor’s case, Oscar-winning) performances. Little did I know Taylor and Burton would have so much to pull from! I began reading the book shortly after it released, right after rewatching the film. The book is a mostly by-the-numbers history of how the movie came to be. How playwright Edward Albee wrote the play and how its unlikely success drove interest in a movie. How director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Ernie Lehman fought like cats and dogs through pre-production. How the drama only increased when the actors arrived on set. It rehashes some old gossip about Taylor and Burton’s infamous affair on the set of “Cleopatra”—and that tea is still hot. It’s so easy to picture the two actors in the “Virginia Woolf” roles after reading about some of their actual drunken incidents, like the party where Burton demanded Taylor declare who she loved more, him or her then-husband…in front of her husband, plus his entire family. The book covers more ground than I expected, honestly. Taylor and Burton are always top of mind, but there’s a lot to moviemaking that doesn’t involve the actors, and this book covers much of it. In that way, it’s probably also indicative of a lot of movie productions—especially adaptations, especially in the 1960s. But it also made me have an even higher appreciation for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and what it was able to pull off. The book describes that in the ‘50s and early ‘60s, Taylor had gotten roles mostly because of her beauty and magnetism. She wasn’t known as an especially talented actor, but she nevertheless had a movie star aura. But you wouldn’t have known that by watching this movie. It strips Taylor of much of her beauty by making her older and less attractive, but her acting talent shines brighter than ever. And no wonder, when you learn that she had never before been asked to formally rehearse. “Virginia Woolf” marked her first table read after filming 30+ films without one. I guess practice does make perfect when you’re already halfway there. But it also took a lot of work. The role of a director has long been somewhat of an enigma to me, but you really see what an auteur like Mike Nichols does on set—coaching Taylor through the performance of a lifetime is just part of it. The book’s writing gets the job done, but it’s pretty straightforward. It’s not dull by any means, but there’s not a lot of personality or poetry. As a vehicle for this fascinating behind-the-scenes story, it does the trick.

6/10

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a movie fan so I was predisposed to at least like this and I think it was okay, but the material feels stretched thin particularly in the final chapter. The author isn't an especially creative writer so this is more a recitation of facts with some ham-handed, somewhat pretentious attempts at analysis of the deeper meanings of the play thrown in.

There are also a few glaring errors which anyone who is the least familiar with the stars of the film, which honestly will be a majority of this book's readership, may find irritating as I did.

Most prominent of these is the author's continual reference to the "Dick and Liz" phenomenon that swirled around the couple once they fell for each other on the set of "Cleopatra". As someone who is old enough to remember at least some of the crazy furor surrounding the couple it was always, always "Liz and Dick" never the other way round. Then when briefly detailing Elizabeth Taylor's life before becoming involved with Burton he states that during her marriage to Mike Todd she gave birth to her third son. Thing is Elizabeth Taylor had two sons from her second marriage to Michael Wilding and a daughter-Liza with Todd (as well as a daughter-Maria-that she adopted with fourth husband Eddie Fisher and later adopted by Burton after their marriage). Admittedly small errors but if something so well-known to fans, and easily accessible by a simple Google search by anyone else, is wrong how reliable are the rest of the facts presented?

[Jody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just think it comes off long a really long Wikipedia article. I did learn a good amount of new info (i.e. names attached to star, Sandy Dennis's story, more than I knew about the Burtons).

[Greg Talbot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine this movie: a young promising director, a script from a Broadway play with over 600 sold out performances, and a pair of acting stars, whose torrid love affair outshined their shared celluloid memories. Fortunate for us, that movie exists. Whether it’s a great play or had greatness thrust upon it, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, opened the pearly gates of marriage from“happy ever after” to anguished psychosexual mind games. Future plays from Albee , “Three Tall Women”, “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia”, and “The Marriage Play”, would dive deeper into these themes of class, marriage, and meaning. But lighting never struck so hard for Albee as it did with “Virigna Woolf” A play "about a marriage, and equally a play about marriage ( intro, xiii)”.

Geftner gives the origin story to “Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf”. In a bar, Edward Albee spots the dry soap on a bottom of a mirror with the titlar words. The discovery stays in his unconscious and as he builds his writing skills, he continues to shape these ideas for the plot dynamics From the origin in a Greenwich Village bar, we expand outward across the playwright’s life. His emotionally barren emotional life. His deep immersion in the New York artistic community. And of course there is the trenchant writing. His barbarous one-act play “Zoo Story” and loosely autobiographical “American Dream”challenged the mid-brow expectations of prescribed theater of the time. Profanity, mind games, sexual innuendo , and hostile truths find themselves in “Virginia Wolf” - and among the many who were moved by it, future director Mike Nichols was found.

After Broadway success with “Nichols and May” comedy , and success directing on broadway, Nichols found his way to the directing chair. Battling producer Ernest Lehman for artistic independence, this book details the artistic tug of war of every decision. Filming in black and white, acquiescing to his star's temperments, navigating the gossips and press, and building confidence and skills with every shooting day. Nichols is portrayed here as both the genius and revolting narcissist; a man obsessed with craft and image. The film making experience seemed to largely be a drag, and the stories of Taylor and Burton scream of annoying indulgence. The stories on set aren’t all that fun or revelatory, but they do show Nichols grit in seeing the project through to completion. He gives great insights into filmmaking - particularly with the perspective taking of Mike Nichols to inhabit the different characters.

“Cocktails with George and Martha” adroitly tells us the narrative of the play, the cultural contexts of pre-turbulent late 1960s, and analyzes marriage through a harsh lens of the gamesmanship in the story. In a memorable passage he writes, “the initial intoxication of love and the electricity of sexual attraction that brings a couple together does not foretell the complexities of the marriage to follow (p.155). The marrow of marriage is dissected here, through the clever wordplay, and emotional build-up between the four actors.

At the bookends, the writing is most powerful. Whether establishing the impact of the
"Virigina Woolf", or meditating on other marriage related movies (45 Years, a Marriage Story, Scenes of a Marriage), Geftner brings sharp analysis and wit to the page. He captures the bubbling social change within just before the defining 1960s cultural changes. We see the charged energy the pre-feminist Martha character, the psychoanalytic unseen forces of “daddy’ and “baby”, and the exposed raw nerves of unmet desires in George and Martha's incessant fighting. Betty Freidman famously wrote of “the problem with no name”. That problem, the widespread disenchantment with marriage, is laid bare in this still breathing work. It's a a demanding play, with few answers, and one impossible question about the ideas we fear and the traditions we hold to.

[Tim Koh · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a longtime lover of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on stage and on film, and as somebody who will be directing a professional production of the play in a few months, this was QUITE a disappointing read. What ostensibly seems to be a ‘making of’ Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, this book contains barely any analysis of the work as an art object and also eschews any narrative sensibility to depict the series of events in a worthy, fun, or insightful manner.

Most of the book would go, ‘Glamorous Elizabeth Taylor, the most famous woman in the world, was two hours late for her call time. Mike Nichols was furious. He stormed into Ernest Lehman’s office and berated him. The next day, Lehman bought Taylor a string of pearls. She laughed in her giant dressing room, outfitted with a grand piano. They drank champagne and rolled up to set late the next day. Jack Warner called insouciant Mike Nichols into his office’. Philip Gefter whacks you over the head with these anecdotes ad nauseam. Everyone is screaming at everyone, being annoyed with everyone, Jack Warner throws down an ultimatum, and then somehow the movie was great. Huh?

The book speeds through Albee's growing up and his formative time writing the play - over half the 292 pages is dedicated to the film - only for most of the film's focus to be sloppy and muddled. A ‘behind the scenes’ look at filmmaking should be fun, interesting, gripping. A stronger storyteller would have been able to weave these scenes together to form something of narrative coherence. But alas. It was not to be. Unless you really, really like to hear about how Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are ‘the most famous couple in the world’ over and over, this is not a book to be read.

The book’s final chapter, however, is perhaps its most heinous. Titled ‘Marriage in Relief’, it does not talk about Woolf very much at all. Instead, it looks at the film’s ‘lineage amid the corpus of marriage movies before and since’. Gefter then spends almost twenty pages just talking about random movies that deal with marriage and draws weak links back to Woolf, saying things such as ‘Like Martha, so-and-so was discontent’, or ‘Before Virginia Woolf, movies about marriage hewed to the conventions at the time’. There is no analysis! No sense to put these films in conversation with each other! Just describing their plots in horrifically boring detail before moving on to the next film. Oh my god!! I thought I was hallucinating!

However, the book isnt truly substanceless. Cocktails shines the most in its moments wherein it directly quotes Nichols, Albee, Taylor, Burton, or anyone else in their analysis of the text. Gefter has done a tremendous amount of research here (especially in the earlier parts of the book) and I found those quotes and opinions quite insightful and stirring. So I will admit that it was helpful in assembling some disparate quotations and thoughts regarding the piece from some of its most influential players. For that, I am thankful. And that is what my single star for this book's rating is attributed to. I just wish he’d provide some perspective, some thought, some rigor to the words instead of just regurgitating and assembling what other people said, did, or achieved.

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing and highly enjoyable look at the making of the film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." We learn about the life of Edward Albee, the playwright, and the hurdles he faced both in his childhood and in getting the play staged. The criticism at the time was about how a gay man cannot write about a heterosexual marriage so it must be coded in some way to reflect a gay relationship and laden with homophobic references in the review. Gefter does a brilliant job of discussing the concept and reality of marriage and relationships and how in all relationships, as much as we want to bring out our better self, we can still play games and test, prod and push limits. One of my favorite parts of the book is the letter Albee writes in response to this nasty review -worth a read!.

The other things I learned in this book - the theory is Albee based the characters on two faculty members where he taught and who Andy Warhol made a film about and Kenneth Anger roomed with this couple so witnessed first-hand their cruelty to each other. But also there are themes from his own childhood of being "invisible" to his parents. I also learned that they filmed at Smith College (based on the suggestion of Gloria Steinem (an alumna) and girlfriend of Mike Nichols (the director) at the time). When Albee sold the filming rights to Jack Warner, Albee insisted on having Bette Davis and James Mason as the stars. That would have been a really interesting and different film! I would have loved to see Bette Davis deliver her own line "What a dump!" in this film.

We learn a lot about the trials and tribulations of making a film - from pressure from the studios, to the newer director Mike Nichols who was still battling insecurities yet wanted complete control, to the long suffering producer Ernest Lehman (who represented old Hollywood) who kept copious journals of the making of the film, and of course the up and down new romance of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.

This is just an incredible read and the author does a fantastic job weaving all of the themes together in a compelling and entertaining way.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA, for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

[David Curry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose Philip Gefter’s COCKTAILS WITH GEORGE AND MARTHA: MOVIES, MARRIAGE, AND THE MAKING OF WHO’S AFRAIF OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? could be categorized as a moderately satisfying beach read. It’s perhaps a couple of steps higher than Hedda Hooper, but not much better than that.


I should confess to having begun the book with some misgivings. After seeing the indelible original Broadway production of Edward Albee’s play, with Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill as Martha and George, I was considerably disappointed in the movie, particularly with Taylor’s performance. I’ve always seen her more as a movie star than as an actress, and from the start of her career she seemed in urgent need of a vocal coach. As Martha, she brought to mind a little girl dressed up in her mother’s clothes to go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

As portrayed by Gefter in this book, the principals — Taylor, Burton, and director Mike Nichols — come off as petty, tiresome brats, spoiled by the public, by an industry, and mostly by themselves. After a while, continuing to read about them is like going to dinner with folks you no longer find bearable.

Gefter does include some enjoyable cultural and social tidbits, including the fact that Taylor and Burton’s 1950s extramarital affair (while filming the laughably bad CLEOPATRA) provoked U. S. Representative Iris Faircloth Blitch to call for Congress to make the couple ineligible to return to the U.S. on the grounds of “undesirability.” Several other members of Congress agreed, citing the nation’s “moral slide.” The seeds of the current madness in the U.S. go way, way back.

I also enjoyed reading (1) that during the filming of CLEOPATRA in Rome, Mike Nichols suggested that Taylor wear a babushka so that she could go sight-seeing without being hounded by the press and (2) that Nichols and Gloria Steinem had a romantic relationship and considered marrying.

Gefter frequently pads the book and carries on as if he’s being paid by the word. This is particularly hard to take when he’s recounting the action of the movie and in a chapter in which he discusses other Hollywood treatments of the subject of marriage.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a brilliant overview of the making of one of my all-time favorite movies and plays. Gefter was thorough and extremely detailed - if a little repetitive - in his approach to the material; he provides a huge amount of context and analysis that is balanced provocatively with gossip-y details (Burton and Taylor stopped work every day at 5pm when they were brought Bloody Marys by an assistant; Liz refused to work before 10am; cases of booze and gifts were delivered to the cast members when they arrived on set to shoot the film; everyone had a Rolls Royce). He gave clear explanations about Albee's motivations for writing the play, to the development of the Broadway production, to the struggles and inspiration to bringing it to the screen. The side drama of "Dick and Liz's" star power on the set was juicy. The director/producer squabbles between Nichols and Lehman were also juicy. Knowing how all of the various elements came together to create - what I think to be - a cinematic masterpiece makes me love the movie and appreciate the cast performances even more. Time for a rewatch!

The anecdote about Jackie Kennedy going to a screening with the Catholic Morality Board - or whatever it was called - and strategically announcing in earshot to the Monsignor in charge that “Jack would have loved this film” was wild. She somehow managed to help influence the Catholics rating of the film, and then shortly after this movie was made the Hays Code was abolished. In its place was established the rating code of today (G, R, etc)


The part that was unnecessary was the final chapter, where Gefter compares Virginia Woolf? to other movies about marriage. On the other hand, it does serve a kind of analytical/academic purpose - attempting to elevate the book from merely a retelling of the movie making by positioning it within a timeline of movies handling similar material. Overall, I appreciate what Gefter did with his broader analysis of what marriage is. Side note: was surprised to learn that George and Martha were based on a real life couple, Marie Mencken and Willard Maas. Mencken was an avant garde filmmaker who influenced Andy Warhol.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging and well-researched post-mortem on an iconic and classic film, well supported with new sources and spirited anecdotes that capture both the time period and the lasting legacy of the film. While I think Gefter's book is probably more interesting to those who have seen the film (once, twice, or an unquantifiable number of times, like me), its comprehensive overview of backstage politics and off screen drama make the story of the film feel just as interesting as the film itself.

Gefter did a particularly good job detailing the tensions between director and producer, although I thought having access to Lehman’s diaries gave him the narrative upper hand at points in a way that seemed to cast Nichols as a sort of manipulative sycophant with blind deference to the Burtons in some instances. Although Gefter did allude to it, I felt he failed to properly capture Nichols’ true genius, not only as a director, but also when it came to Elizabeth and Richard, where he demonstrated not merely appeasement but something much more sophisticated. That is, it seems like Nichols realized the key to unlocking Elizabeth’s performance was not through directorial prodding but through Richard himself. Realizing she never trusted directors or produced, but she would defer almost entirely to Richard’s instructions or suggestions, his whispered criticism to him was what ultimately made its way into her performance. This Svengali dynamic is splattered all throughout Burton's diaries and other sources but it’s clear Nichols understood it early and exploited it effectively by having the rare gift of Richard Burton’s complete trust and respect. Richard, a man who repeatedly declared that he never found directors useful in his life made a rare exception for Nichols, even years after the movie was made. That says quite a lot about Nichols but I didn’t get that sense from Gefter. Otherwise fascinating book, incredibly well researched, and – rather predictably – made the movie even more enjoyable to (re)watch after reading

[Alan Kaplan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cocktails with George and Martha is about the making of the movie, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf starring the legendary movie icons Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie is considered a masterpiece about marriage. If you have not seen the movie, and I do recommend that you watch it on TCM when it is available, the book is still interesting. Reading about the battles between the director, Mike Nichols, and the producer, Ernest Lehman, and Jack Warner, the head of the Warner Brothers studio, along with the egos of the major movie stars, you wonder how they ever made the movie. The movie is very hard to watch as Burton as George and Taylor as Martha engage in an all night orgy of vicious arguments and recriminations. Supposedly they truly love other, but it is hard to believe that. The movie is from a play by the same name by Edward Albee and it is an antidote to the 1950's and 1960's rosy picture of marriage as portrayed in Leave it to Beaver, Ozzie and Harriett, and the Donna Reed show.
The book loses its steam when the author in the last chapter dissects other movies about marriage. All of the movies like Husbands and Wives, Shoot the Moon, and Marriage Story present an overwhelming negative view of marriage. I do not agree. Philip Gefter adds that people cry at weddings not because they are happy, but because of a "nostalgic lament about an increasing abstract, once imagined ideal of love, clarified in maturity as something of a beautiful childhood fantasy."
I do agree with this quote. "each marriage is its own reason for being, with its own chemistry and constellation of circumstances that make it specific to that couple while also representative, by the very nature of marriage, of all couples."
You will appreciate from this book how difficult it is to make a movie with all of its moving parts from the camera to the lighting to the sets and even the dialogue and the stars.