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The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992
The sizzling diaries of Tina Brown's eight spectacular years as editor in chief of Vanity Fair paint a riveting portrait of the flash, dash and follies of the eighties in New York and Hollywood.
'A fabulous odyssey ... I read it in a mad frenzy' Stephen Fry
'Hang on - it's a wild ride' Meryl Streep
'Read the diaries and feel better about everything. The word lives!' Simon Schama
The Vanity Fair Diaries is the story of an Englishwoman barely out of her twenties who arrives in Manhattan on a mission. Summoned from London in hopes that she can save Condé Nast's troubled new flagship Vanity Fair, Tina Brown is immediately plunged into the maelstrom of the competitive New York media world and the backstabbing rivalries at the court of the planet's slickest, most glamour-focused magazine company. She survives the politics, the intrigue and the attempts to derail her by a simple stratagem: succeeding. In the face of rampant scepticism, she triumphantly reinvents a failing magazine.
Here are the inside stories of Vanity Fair scoops and covers that sold millions: the Reagan kiss, the meltdown of Princess Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, the sensational Annie Leibovitz cover of a gloriously pregnant, naked Demi Moore. In the diary's cinematic pages, the drama, comedy and struggle of running an 'it' magazine come to life. Brown's Vanity Fair Diaries is also a woman's journey, of making a home in a new country and of the deep bonds with her husband, their prematurely born son and their daughter.
Astute, open-hearted, often riotously funny, Tina Brown's The Vanity Fair Diaries is a compulsively fascinating and intimate chronicle of a woman's life in a glittering era.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published November 14, 2017
1516 people are currently reading
7413 people want to read
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Tina Brown
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October 12, 2024
I first became aware of Tina Brown when I saw an interview with her on British television. It was back in the 80’s and I think she was editor-in-chief at the UK society magazine Tatler at the time. I do remember being amazed at how this young woman (she'd have been in her mid twenties then) was in such a senior job. She seemed to have it all going for her: good-looking and articulate – the world at her feet. I lost track of her then, until I saw this book.
My knowledge of Vanity Fair was limited to a couple of covers I’d seen featuring Demi Moore, wearing nothing in one photo and just a coat of paint in the other. I recall this kicking up a bit of a storm at the time. I quickly discovered that Tina had taken over as editor-in-chief in 1984 – still in her twenties! If that wasn't enough, it entailed relocating from her London base to NYC, converting her husband Harold Evans (the renowned ex-editor of The Sunday Times) into a long distance commuter. An ambitious lady, to be sure.
Tina kept a diary updated throughout her time at the magazine, and I found that use of this format created a sense of immediacy and natural tension. As a reader, you were never quite sure how situations would play out because as the extract you were reading was being written, the author had no idea how it would play out either. As you'd expect, there's a lot of office politics here, involving people with big wallets and even bigger egos. The overall boss of the parent company, Condé Nast, was a particularly intriguing character. Si Newhouse is from the hire ‘em and fire ‘em school, and he certainly kept Brown guessing. Each time she was summoned to his office, she was wondering whether it was to receive a pay rise or to tell her to collect her belongings and exit stage left. And then there were constant lunches and dinners with fellow journalists, actors, writers, fashionistas, and other movers and shakers. This element did, though, become a little tedious as although these snippets were sometimes amusing, I was often left bemused by yet another set of names that meant nothing to me.
My favourite bits were where Tina was voicing her angst regarding her constant fears that Si would sack her, the money worries that plagued her in the early years and her struggles to find a way of making her long distant marriage work. I also enjoyed the fact that I was sometimes prompted to dig deeper into stories and events, undertaking additional research or searching out a story that had been published in VF (for example the murder of writer Dominick Dunne’s daughter and the subsequent trial). And then there were some brilliant reflections on the difference between Britain and America. Fascinating stuff.
There were some frustrations, too. The format dictated that I’d sometimes get engrossed in an event or attracted by a new interesting character – for instance the ‘mafia landlord’ overseeing an early flat rental – only for events to jump forward and rob me of more. I also felt that Donald Trump attracted more space here than he would have had his career not taken such a dramatic turn of late. That said, it’s fun to see the none too flattering portrayal.
TB does come across as a little too conscious of her own good looks and cleverness. But she’s obviously tough, determined, and focused, and I admired the way she set about changing things at VF despite some significant resistance. It’s also clear that she couldn't possibly have achieved this degree of success at such an early age without being a driven, confident woman. Good on her. There's a lot to like here, and I enjoyed the fact that she pulls no punches in stating her views on people. It may be a trifle too long (it could lose a few lunches), but it's a compelling read nonetheless.
My thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for proving a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My knowledge of Vanity Fair was limited to a couple of covers I’d seen featuring Demi Moore, wearing nothing in one photo and just a coat of paint in the other. I recall this kicking up a bit of a storm at the time. I quickly discovered that Tina had taken over as editor-in-chief in 1984 – still in her twenties! If that wasn't enough, it entailed relocating from her London base to NYC, converting her husband Harold Evans (the renowned ex-editor of The Sunday Times) into a long distance commuter. An ambitious lady, to be sure.
Tina kept a diary updated throughout her time at the magazine, and I found that use of this format created a sense of immediacy and natural tension. As a reader, you were never quite sure how situations would play out because as the extract you were reading was being written, the author had no idea how it would play out either. As you'd expect, there's a lot of office politics here, involving people with big wallets and even bigger egos. The overall boss of the parent company, Condé Nast, was a particularly intriguing character. Si Newhouse is from the hire ‘em and fire ‘em school, and he certainly kept Brown guessing. Each time she was summoned to his office, she was wondering whether it was to receive a pay rise or to tell her to collect her belongings and exit stage left. And then there were constant lunches and dinners with fellow journalists, actors, writers, fashionistas, and other movers and shakers. This element did, though, become a little tedious as although these snippets were sometimes amusing, I was often left bemused by yet another set of names that meant nothing to me.
My favourite bits were where Tina was voicing her angst regarding her constant fears that Si would sack her, the money worries that plagued her in the early years and her struggles to find a way of making her long distant marriage work. I also enjoyed the fact that I was sometimes prompted to dig deeper into stories and events, undertaking additional research or searching out a story that had been published in VF (for example the murder of writer Dominick Dunne’s daughter and the subsequent trial). And then there were some brilliant reflections on the difference between Britain and America. Fascinating stuff.
There were some frustrations, too. The format dictated that I’d sometimes get engrossed in an event or attracted by a new interesting character – for instance the ‘mafia landlord’ overseeing an early flat rental – only for events to jump forward and rob me of more. I also felt that Donald Trump attracted more space here than he would have had his career not taken such a dramatic turn of late. That said, it’s fun to see the none too flattering portrayal.
TB does come across as a little too conscious of her own good looks and cleverness. But she’s obviously tough, determined, and focused, and I admired the way she set about changing things at VF despite some significant resistance. It’s also clear that she couldn't possibly have achieved this degree of success at such an early age without being a driven, confident woman. Good on her. There's a lot to like here, and I enjoyed the fact that she pulls no punches in stating her views on people. It may be a trifle too long (it could lose a few lunches), but it's a compelling read nonetheless.
My thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for proving a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Read
December 17, 2020Err, this is a bit daft but I actually picked up this because I thought … well … I thought Ardy would be into.
Do you often buy books on the basis that a fictional character you made up in your head might like them, Hall? I dunno? Maybe?
Anyway, I was right. Ardy would have eaten this with a spoon. And I did too.
So, The Vanity Fair diaries—stop me if this is getting obscure—are the diaries Tina Brown kept while she edited Vanity Fair during the eighties and early nineties. It’s some of the hardest core competence porn I think I’ve put in my swooning eyeballs: reading her in-the-moment thoughts of taking a magazine from a laughing stock to a cultural and financial success story. Before she goes on (not in this book) to do the same with the New Yorker. Which is not to say she never suffers setbacks or makes mistakes or, indeed, that she comes across as arrogant. Just immensely driven, incisive and talented.
Which is not to say there’s not personal touches here. TB discusses, but does not dwell, on her uncertainties in a way that feels very human. As do her struggles to be a mother, a wife and someone with thriving career. Also, as someone who is half-in-love with New York, and very much in love with England, I was fascinated by her thoughts about both.
But mostly the book is a dizzying who’s-who of the eighties and nineties. Both Boris Johnson and Donald Trump pop up and, presciently, both behave like absolute shits. The AIDs crisis too brings deep and keenly felt losses. While never overtly political, the Diaries nevertheless provide an intriguing window into a turbulent time.
I think maybe the book runs a little long? Not exactly TB's fault because time passes the way time passes, but by 1992 I was feeling--much as TB was--a bit done with the endless whirl of Vanity Fair.
But mainly it's just kind of amazing to think of TB writing these—and writing them in the way she does. There’s so many deft, razor-tongued portraits of the people she encounters. Was she just helping herself remember? Or did she always intend to publish the diaries someday? I don’t think it really matters. But what way to write for yourself.
Do you often buy books on the basis that a fictional character you made up in your head might like them, Hall? I dunno? Maybe?
Anyway, I was right. Ardy would have eaten this with a spoon. And I did too.
So, The Vanity Fair diaries—stop me if this is getting obscure—are the diaries Tina Brown kept while she edited Vanity Fair during the eighties and early nineties. It’s some of the hardest core competence porn I think I’ve put in my swooning eyeballs: reading her in-the-moment thoughts of taking a magazine from a laughing stock to a cultural and financial success story. Before she goes on (not in this book) to do the same with the New Yorker. Which is not to say she never suffers setbacks or makes mistakes or, indeed, that she comes across as arrogant. Just immensely driven, incisive and talented.
Which is not to say there’s not personal touches here. TB discusses, but does not dwell, on her uncertainties in a way that feels very human. As do her struggles to be a mother, a wife and someone with thriving career. Also, as someone who is half-in-love with New York, and very much in love with England, I was fascinated by her thoughts about both.
But mostly the book is a dizzying who’s-who of the eighties and nineties. Both Boris Johnson and Donald Trump pop up and, presciently, both behave like absolute shits. The AIDs crisis too brings deep and keenly felt losses. While never overtly political, the Diaries nevertheless provide an intriguing window into a turbulent time.
I think maybe the book runs a little long? Not exactly TB's fault because time passes the way time passes, but by 1992 I was feeling--much as TB was--a bit done with the endless whirl of Vanity Fair.
But mainly it's just kind of amazing to think of TB writing these—and writing them in the way she does. There’s so many deft, razor-tongued portraits of the people she encounters. Was she just helping herself remember? Or did she always intend to publish the diaries someday? I don’t think it really matters. But what way to write for yourself.
December 12, 2017
The 'he' in question was Donald Trump! She saw his familiar Elvis coif making off across the Crystal Room. The sneaky, petulant infant was clearly still stewing about her takedown in VF over a year ago and had taken a glass of wine from the tray and emptied it down her back! What a coward! He couldn't even confront her to her face!
Brown has a strong and lively voice but some of the in-house negotiations, the constant stream of job offers and the number of hires and fires of people who are pretty much unknown made this a slog at times.
I preferred the sections on turning Vanity Fair around with snappy ideas and visual flair. Many of the celebrities during the 80s were unknown to me, though there are interesting photo shoots with the Reagans in the White House. Meetings with Michael Jackson, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Demi Moore in the 90s are fun and more accessible.
There's less gossip than I expected, and more on the impact of issues than their planning. Anyone involved in 1980s glossy media would no doubt get more insider enjoyment than I did. A fun read but I felt like an outsider most of the time.
Brown has a strong and lively voice but some of the in-house negotiations, the constant stream of job offers and the number of hires and fires of people who are pretty much unknown made this a slog at times.
I preferred the sections on turning Vanity Fair around with snappy ideas and visual flair. Many of the celebrities during the 80s were unknown to me, though there are interesting photo shoots with the Reagans in the White House. Meetings with Michael Jackson, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Demi Moore in the 90s are fun and more accessible.
There's less gossip than I expected, and more on the impact of issues than their planning. Anyone involved in 1980s glossy media would no doubt get more insider enjoyment than I did. A fun read but I felt like an outsider most of the time.
January 8, 2018
When I saw this come up on NetGalley I was looking for a lighthearted read between my usual thriller and YA novels and this seemed ideal. I found it intriguing and felt compelled to read on. This is a book full to the brim with gossip and news heard through the grapevine. I thought I would enjoy it more than I actually did but that isn't to say I didn't find it interesting. There were parts I devoured - the remarks on Trump to name one such part.
I felt a slight fraud for reading it knowing it would be based substantially on gossip as I have never been one of those girls interested in talking about others behind their back, especially in a derogatory manner.
Anyway, it's read now and that is that. I think I will stick to my usual genres for the foreseeable! That said, I do like to discover other books/genres that fall outside of my comfort zone. You can often find real gems that way. This just wasn't for me i'm afraid.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in celebrity and the rich and famous, their behaviour and their lifestyle. It's 3.5 stars from me.
I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
I felt a slight fraud for reading it knowing it would be based substantially on gossip as I have never been one of those girls interested in talking about others behind their back, especially in a derogatory manner.
Anyway, it's read now and that is that. I think I will stick to my usual genres for the foreseeable! That said, I do like to discover other books/genres that fall outside of my comfort zone. You can often find real gems that way. This just wasn't for me i'm afraid.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in celebrity and the rich and famous, their behaviour and their lifestyle. It's 3.5 stars from me.
I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
July 30, 2022
tremendous fun. a sort of continuation of warhol's diaries from someone in an equally as privileged position in new york society. though it is quite depressing seeing many of the names who appeared at the heights of their successes in warhol's diaries, appearing in brown's diaries as they're dying of aids. such a bummer. but this really is an invaluable document to those fascinated by new york's social scene in the 80s.
November 8, 2022
There are many reasons to love Tina Brown's diaries (covering her tenure as the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair from 1983 to 1992). She became the editor when she was in her early twenties - much like Anna Wintour, Tina Brown is the child of celebrities and got her start when someone literally just approached her and offered her an editor position - and one of the biggest joys of the book is how Brown's passion and enthusiasm for her work shines out from the pages. As soon as she's handed the reins of Vanity Fair, she's outlining her plans for changing and improving it, and she single-handedly makes the magazine cool again after it spent decades lagging behind the trends. Tina Brown is also a ruthless boss, quickly and efficiently cleaning house at Vanity Fair by firing anyone who isn't fully on board with her vision for the magazine, and working tirelessly to achieve her goals.
And yes, there is also the gossip. We get an early look at figures like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump (verdict: Tina Brown is not impressed), and tons of celebrity gossip thanks to a section called "One Thousand Nights in a Cocktail Dress", where Brown recounts the endless dinners, benefits, and galas she attended during her tenure. (One of the reasons Brown's memoir is so compelling is the fact that she doesn't drink, which means she can recall all of these endless parties with sober clarity, and therefore give up all the deets.
But for me, the biggest draw of this memoir is that, although we're just reading diary entries over a period of several years, Brown's writing is so evocative and her voice is so clear, that the book reads like a novel.
I mean, try saying no to this passage:
"I was supposed to have dinner with the producer Larry Gordon at Morton’s but I was too stretched to go. Instead I asked if he would come to meet me at the Bel-Air. I got a call from his PR person shortly afterward, asking, ‘Mr. Gordon would like to know, is this a power play?’ Imagine retaining someone to make a call like that? No, it’s not a fucking power play. I just have a migraine and don’t want to slog over to Morton’s. Anyway, he showed up: another wild-man producer in the Joel Silver genre, produces big action movies like Predator and Die Hard. ‘Wanna know who has the balls in this town? was his opening riff. Here we go…what is it about this crew? Ovitz asked me that other day, ‘Wanna know how big are the balls of Akiko Morita at Sony?’ NO, ACTUALLY. ‘They are YAY big.’"
And yes, there is also the gossip. We get an early look at figures like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump (verdict: Tina Brown is not impressed), and tons of celebrity gossip thanks to a section called "One Thousand Nights in a Cocktail Dress", where Brown recounts the endless dinners, benefits, and galas she attended during her tenure. (One of the reasons Brown's memoir is so compelling is the fact that she doesn't drink, which means she can recall all of these endless parties with sober clarity, and therefore give up all the deets.
But for me, the biggest draw of this memoir is that, although we're just reading diary entries over a period of several years, Brown's writing is so evocative and her voice is so clear, that the book reads like a novel.
I mean, try saying no to this passage:
"I was supposed to have dinner with the producer Larry Gordon at Morton’s but I was too stretched to go. Instead I asked if he would come to meet me at the Bel-Air. I got a call from his PR person shortly afterward, asking, ‘Mr. Gordon would like to know, is this a power play?’ Imagine retaining someone to make a call like that? No, it’s not a fucking power play. I just have a migraine and don’t want to slog over to Morton’s. Anyway, he showed up: another wild-man producer in the Joel Silver genre, produces big action movies like Predator and Die Hard. ‘Wanna know who has the balls in this town? was his opening riff. Here we go…what is it about this crew? Ovitz asked me that other day, ‘Wanna know how big are the balls of Akiko Morita at Sony?’ NO, ACTUALLY. ‘They are YAY big.’"
maybe
January 18, 2019Weeks behind in reading The New Yorker, I read this wonderful article by Nathan Heller about Tina Brown's book.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Normally I wouldn't be very much interested in a book about Vanity Fair, though I admit I don't know the magazine, and could be surprised by what's in it.
Nevertheless, Heller's article really caught me up. It's a wonderful narrative about both the magazine, it's resurrection from the dead under Tina Brown's years as head editor, and Brown herself, who is revealed as an incredibly interesting woman by her diaries, and by Heller's article.
He ends the article,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: The Rings of Saturn
Next review: Voyage in the Dark Jean Rhys
Older review: The Second World War John Keegan
Previous library review: 2018 on Goodreads
Next library review: Arguably Hitchens
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Normally I wouldn't be very much interested in a book about Vanity Fair, though I admit I don't know the magazine, and could be surprised by what's in it.
Nevertheless, Heller's article really caught me up. It's a wonderful narrative about both the magazine, it's resurrection from the dead under Tina Brown's years as head editor, and Brown herself, who is revealed as an incredibly interesting woman by her diaries, and by Heller's article.
He ends the article,
Her "stubborn dream", she confides to the diary, is to be an Oxford college master. When [her husband Harold] Evans is appointed head of Random House, her happiness comes with a sting of dread. "That locks us into NYC for another five years," she writes. "I will have to stop imagining an alternate reality in London."
She never stops looking behind her, at what was or, at least, could have been. But, for all her doubleness of vision, her escape path is now overgrown. The only option is to stay and continue mixing issues [of VF], showing up at dinner parties, getting three hundred [hair?] blowouts a year. The only option, really, is to keep becoming Tina Brown.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: The Rings of Saturn
Next review: Voyage in the Dark Jean Rhys
Older review: The Second World War John Keegan
Previous library review: 2018 on Goodreads
Next library review: Arguably Hitchens
December 5, 2017
Being a long-time subscriber of Vanity Fair, I found it great fun to read Tina Brown's diaries of her time as editor of the magazine in the 1980's. A in her late twenties who had transformed the British society magazine, Tatler, as well as marrying the much-older editor of the London Times, Harry Brown, Tina Brown was imported to the US by Si. Newhouse to work her magic on the struggling recently re-launched Vanity Fair
The book is full of gossipy insights into the movers and shakers of the 1980's. Many of these people are mostly forgotten today, except for the one that is no the President of the country. Her zingers are choice:
• Jerry Zipkin's face is like a huge inflated rubber dinghy, balanced on top of a short Humpty Dumpty body
• What of the poor Princess of Wales? What Charles can't stand is Diana's total absence of intellectual curiosity and her obsession with clothes.
• To get to this size she must have lived on nothing but communion wafers for a month. (Arianna Huffington)
• Aileen Mehle was in her Belle Watling getup of two thousand bows on her head and a giant skirt.
• Michael Huffington, he insisted, is gay and also a born again Christian - twice. "It's bad enough to be born again Christian once, but twice is too much. I dread to think what happened in-between.
• Boris Johnson is an epic shit and I hope he ends badly.
• Murdoch's face has degenerated to the melting rubber mask of a cartoon character like Nixon's.
• Saul Steinberg: Certain men love having "impossible" wives. It makes them feel powerful
• Peter GUber: What you have to understand is that Hollywood is ruled by their dicks. the business, movies, is all about two things. - power and sex.
• Richard Nixon will be like RIchard III. Nixon will have his demonology but also his admirers.
• War broke out with Iraq just as we were on our way to a dinner with Henry and Nancy Kissinger at River House..Arguments at table over who is best - but CNN wins hands down. We commented on the commentators, on who was ahead and who behind, as though they were players on a sports team.
• In person Jackie has an enormous head and a fragile presence. She has perfected the fascinated stare. Sitting finishing school straight. "Crazed is what I decided about Jackie by the end of the evening. I felt is you cleared the room and left her alone, she'd be in front of a mirror, screaming.
• The crown is in crisis. The prince looked desperately unhappy. Having felt so sympathetic to Diana until now, I suddenly had an intuition that perhaps he is being set up. She is playing the press like a fiddly, and since Charles cannot answer or explain, he's coming off as a villain.
And wonderful things about Donald Trump:
• The sulky, Elivisy Donald Trump "because he's a brass act." And he owns his own football team and he thinks he should negotiate arms control agreements with the Soviet Union.
• The Art of the Deal has a crassness I like. In the end, the only thing about seld-serving books like this is, di they capture the true voice?
• Trump was all over me trying to charm me into a favorable presentation in the mag. "Tina, What do you think of the Newsweek cover story on me?" "I haven't read it," I said. "You know I could have had time. They wanted me and I saw them too. But Newsweek scooped them. Who do you think is better, Tina?" "Time, "I said mischieveously.
• Donald Turmp's book party for the Art of the Deal. It looked as if Trump had emptied out every croupier from his casinos and every gold digger who ever got into spaghetti straps
• Ivana has been upgraded to superstar victim of a brutish, philandering husband, which she is playing to the hilt.
• Oh my God, Marie! Look what he just did! The "he ' in question was Donald Trump! She saw his familiar Elvis coif making off across the Crystal Room. The sneaky, petulant infant was clearly still stewing about her takedown in VF over a year ago and had taken a glass of wine from the tray and emptied it down her back! What a coward! He couldn't confront her to her face!
There is nothing especially socially redeeming here, just a lot of gossipy fun. Look at it as a Christmas Present to yourself.
The book is full of gossipy insights into the movers and shakers of the 1980's. Many of these people are mostly forgotten today, except for the one that is no the President of the country. Her zingers are choice:
• Jerry Zipkin's face is like a huge inflated rubber dinghy, balanced on top of a short Humpty Dumpty body
• What of the poor Princess of Wales? What Charles can't stand is Diana's total absence of intellectual curiosity and her obsession with clothes.
• To get to this size she must have lived on nothing but communion wafers for a month. (Arianna Huffington)
• Aileen Mehle was in her Belle Watling getup of two thousand bows on her head and a giant skirt.
• Michael Huffington, he insisted, is gay and also a born again Christian - twice. "It's bad enough to be born again Christian once, but twice is too much. I dread to think what happened in-between.
• Boris Johnson is an epic shit and I hope he ends badly.
• Murdoch's face has degenerated to the melting rubber mask of a cartoon character like Nixon's.
• Saul Steinberg: Certain men love having "impossible" wives. It makes them feel powerful
• Peter GUber: What you have to understand is that Hollywood is ruled by their dicks. the business, movies, is all about two things. - power and sex.
• Richard Nixon will be like RIchard III. Nixon will have his demonology but also his admirers.
• War broke out with Iraq just as we were on our way to a dinner with Henry and Nancy Kissinger at River House..Arguments at table over who is best - but CNN wins hands down. We commented on the commentators, on who was ahead and who behind, as though they were players on a sports team.
• In person Jackie has an enormous head and a fragile presence. She has perfected the fascinated stare. Sitting finishing school straight. "Crazed is what I decided about Jackie by the end of the evening. I felt is you cleared the room and left her alone, she'd be in front of a mirror, screaming.
• The crown is in crisis. The prince looked desperately unhappy. Having felt so sympathetic to Diana until now, I suddenly had an intuition that perhaps he is being set up. She is playing the press like a fiddly, and since Charles cannot answer or explain, he's coming off as a villain.
And wonderful things about Donald Trump:
• The sulky, Elivisy Donald Trump "because he's a brass act." And he owns his own football team and he thinks he should negotiate arms control agreements with the Soviet Union.
• The Art of the Deal has a crassness I like. In the end, the only thing about seld-serving books like this is, di they capture the true voice?
• Trump was all over me trying to charm me into a favorable presentation in the mag. "Tina, What do you think of the Newsweek cover story on me?" "I haven't read it," I said. "You know I could have had time. They wanted me and I saw them too. But Newsweek scooped them. Who do you think is better, Tina?" "Time, "I said mischieveously.
• Donald Turmp's book party for the Art of the Deal. It looked as if Trump had emptied out every croupier from his casinos and every gold digger who ever got into spaghetti straps
• Ivana has been upgraded to superstar victim of a brutish, philandering husband, which she is playing to the hilt.
• Oh my God, Marie! Look what he just did! The "he ' in question was Donald Trump! She saw his familiar Elvis coif making off across the Crystal Room. The sneaky, petulant infant was clearly still stewing about her takedown in VF over a year ago and had taken a glass of wine from the tray and emptied it down her back! What a coward! He couldn't confront her to her face!
There is nothing especially socially redeeming here, just a lot of gossipy fun. Look at it as a Christmas Present to yourself.
January 15, 2018
When I saw this come up on NetGalley I was looking for a lighthearted read between my usual thriller and YA novels and this seemed ideal. I found it intriguing and felt compelled to read on. This is a book full to the brim with gossip and news heard through the grapevine. I thought I would enjoy it more than I actually did but that isn't to say I didn't find it interesting. There were parts I devoured - the remarks on Trump to name one such part.
I felt a slight fraud for reading it knowing it would be based substantially on gossip as I have never been one of those girls interested in talking about others behind their back, especially in a derogatory manner.
Anyway, it's read now and that is that. I think I will stick to my usual genres for the foreseeable! That said, I do like to discover other books/genres that fall outside of my comfort zone. You can often find real gems that way. This just wasn't for me i'm afraid.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in celebrity and the rich and famous, their behaviour and their lifestyle. It's 3.5 stars from me.
I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
I felt a slight fraud for reading it knowing it would be based substantially on gossip as I have never been one of those girls interested in talking about others behind their back, especially in a derogatory manner.
Anyway, it's read now and that is that. I think I will stick to my usual genres for the foreseeable! That said, I do like to discover other books/genres that fall outside of my comfort zone. You can often find real gems that way. This just wasn't for me i'm afraid.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in celebrity and the rich and famous, their behaviour and their lifestyle. It's 3.5 stars from me.
I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2017
Tina Brown's Vanity Fair Diaries. A glimpse into her life. A rich girl who finds a love for journalism and luckily it loved her back. This is her life story the glitz, glam and ambition.
Tina Brown was the editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She is an award-winning writer and has met some interesting characters. This isn't a tell-all book, but she shares some interesting stories. Some good, some bad and some have a touch of humour. This is an interesting read with some great pictures. Tina Brown has had a wonderful life that others could only dream of. She moved from England to New York and into the fast lane. Her husband was an editor too and their relationship started with a scandal. This book reads like a memoir and has diary entries. In places, I would have liked a little more emotion to understand Tina's motives but I still enjoyed this book.
4 stars out of 5.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tina Brown was the editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She is an award-winning writer and has met some interesting characters. This isn't a tell-all book, but she shares some interesting stories. Some good, some bad and some have a touch of humour. This is an interesting read with some great pictures. Tina Brown has had a wonderful life that others could only dream of. She moved from England to New York and into the fast lane. Her husband was an editor too and their relationship started with a scandal. This book reads like a memoir and has diary entries. In places, I would have liked a little more emotion to understand Tina's motives but I still enjoyed this book.
4 stars out of 5.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 26, 2017
Devilishly good read. So much scattered, yet very prescient, comments on Trump. But the book isn’t about Trump. I just found it funny how her comments about him indicate he just never grew up (and was always insecure about his tiny hands).
January 4, 2018
There is a bit much glitzy-name-dropping going on in the book, but still, the memoir captures the Reagan-1980ies and the world of magazine-making (including some behind the curtain corporate murk). And yes, I love Vanity Fair, which probably added to the enjoyment.
December 12, 2017
Tina Brown's Vanity Fair Diaries. A glimpse into her life. A rich girl who finds a love for journalism and luckily it loved her back. This is her life story the glitz, glam and ambition.
Tina Brown was the editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She is an award-winning writer and has met some interesting characters. This isn't a tell-all book, but she shares some interesting stories. Some good, some bad and some have a touch of humour. This is an interesting read with some great pictures. Tina Brown has had a wonderful life that others could only dream of. She moved from England to New York and into the fast lane. Her husband was an editor too and their relationship started with a scandal. This book reads like a memoir and has diary entries. In places, I would have liked a little more emotion to understand Tina's motives but I still enjoyed this book.
4 stars out of 5.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tina Brown was the editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She is an award-winning writer and has met some interesting characters. This isn't a tell-all book, but she shares some interesting stories. Some good, some bad and some have a touch of humour. This is an interesting read with some great pictures. Tina Brown has had a wonderful life that others could only dream of. She moved from England to New York and into the fast lane. Her husband was an editor too and their relationship started with a scandal. This book reads like a memoir and has diary entries. In places, I would have liked a little more emotion to understand Tina's motives but I still enjoyed this book.
4 stars out of 5.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 2, 2018
Tina Brown really displayed the magazine world in it's real perspective. It's just as worse as any other job that we all work on; back biting, political fighting, messy people...you name it and it's here in this book. She's open and honest about everything and everyone.
A lot of the stories she speaks of was during the time that I was a adolescent or teenager and wasn't really paying attention to what was going on in the world but she provided an insight and information that allowed me to go back and review the people she spoke of and the things that happened during her tenure at Vanity Fair.
A lot of the stories she speaks of was during the time that I was a adolescent or teenager and wasn't really paying attention to what was going on in the world but she provided an insight and information that allowed me to go back and review the people she spoke of and the things that happened during her tenure at Vanity Fair.
February 4, 2019
Re-read.
Lively and entertaining book about the glitz and glamour of the magazine world in the 1980ies in New York.
Lively and entertaining book about the glitz and glamour of the magazine world in the 1980ies in New York.
January 16, 2018
Came for the Reagan-era dishing; stayed for the editorial masterclass.
We’ve been VF readers since the days Hitch was a columnist. But I didn’t appreciate how much the VF we know and love is the creation of Tina Brown. Her voice here is bold and charming. She’s a vulnerable badass who was also a business mastermind and an editorial genius. I started this as a longtime VF reader but quickly started taking notes as a magazine editor.
We’ve been VF readers since the days Hitch was a columnist. But I didn’t appreciate how much the VF we know and love is the creation of Tina Brown. Her voice here is bold and charming. She’s a vulnerable badass who was also a business mastermind and an editorial genius. I started this as a longtime VF reader but quickly started taking notes as a magazine editor.
February 5, 2018
Library Audiobook
January 22, 2018
An interesting and intriguing look at the movers and shakers side of things. Her notes and diary give us an insider’s view to Vanity Fair and a world that’s sometimes shocking, awesome, and awful.
A great gossip read.
A great gossip read.
April 27, 2018
When I picked up The Vanity Fair Diaries 1983-1992 by Tina Brown I was prepared for a fabulous stroll down memory lane. Tina did not disappoint for the most part, but one shocking (to me, anyway) revelation literally made me drop my Kindle.
Of course, I anticipated some major name-dropping and gossip from the decadent, over-the-top 80s when both Tina and I were editors in New York City: she, the fabulously talented, visionary editor who turned around Vanity Fair, a dying up-market glossy; me, the managing editor of a supermarket tabloid, STAR magazine, shunned by the same celebrities who fell over themselves to be on Tina's Vanity Fair covers. I am sure Tina never read STAR magazine, other than glancing at the cover at the supermarket checkout. I, on the other hand, was an avid reader of her revamped Vanity Fair .
Tina writes about going to the White House for a photo shoot with the Reagans who pose for photos which today would have gone "viral." They're smooching and dancing with Nancy kicking up her heels. She writes about taking time out from being an "editor" to fly to London to report on Princess Di and the state of her marriage to Prince Charles.
She also faithfully chronicles the impact AIDS had on the creative community, and on the loss of many of her friends and colleagues. On the personal side, Tina writes about her efforts with husband Sir Harold Evans (a former editor of The Sunday Times in London) to buy a weekend/vacation house in Quogue, in the Hamptons -- and to have a baby.
Nanny Horrors
Then I came to her entry for March 11, 1986 -- two months after the premature birth of her son George, whom she refers to as "G", and for whom she hired a nanny, Juanita, " a very quiet, kind and efficient Filipina."
She writes: "Sunday, I had a row with Juanita. I can't stand the way she always, always tells me I am doing something wrong when I am with G [...] I told her to back off and she then went and cried for two hours in the bathroom. Then I heard her listening to tapes of the last baby she worked with screaming and babbling, probably as some kind of consolation, but it also felt weird and creepy."
OMG!
"Listening to tapes of the last baby she worked with screaming and babbling!" Really? I want to shout: "Run. Grab Georgie! Get out of the house! Don't look back!" But, it's another eight months before this entry on November 3, 1986 when she writes about coming home early to hear Juanita on the phone saying: "I hate her. Georgie hates her. He loves me." Tina tells the nanny to pack her bags, but adds: "I called the doorman [to wait while she packed.] I didn't want a nail file between my eyes.”
I am horrified that it took Tina so long to fire this woman.
Having It All ?
Tina Brown covers it all --editorial challenges, office politics and personal joys and heartbreaks-- in this delicious, nostalgic read. Her honesty, however, exposes the fact that her life which looked so sophisticated and glamorous was not the fairytale it appeared. In addition to doing her job to revive VF, and being wife and mother, part of Tina's job was to be seen around town at breakfasts, and at over-the-top parties and dinners of the rich and famous.
She writes about sharing a hair stylist with Anna Wintour, the renowned editor of Vogue. One afternoon they arrive at the salon at the same time: "Anna was having her bob minked. I was having my streaks bleached," she writes. On sitting next to Clint Eastwood at a dinner, she writes: "he's quiet, watchful, instinctive. Also hard work. Long taciturn silences. A kind of heavy chivalry, calling me Ma'am. Said nothing memorable. How could one be bored after one course with the world's biggest heartthrob? I was."
After going to dinner on the opening night of the New York Film Festival in 1990 with writer Joan Didion and her husband John Dunne, she writes: "I longed to be eating a baked potato in Quogue."
On Sept 15, 1986 she writes: "My eyes burn with the stress of the day that begins at six, doing crunches with the thunder-thighed trainer followed by an hour with G, an hour blowing out hair and getting dressed for the office, and then its race, race, race to get through the day and home by five to walk G in his stroller and play with him, then on to his bath time and dosh up (dress up) for one of the innumerable place-card dinners."
In November 1989 "I had to spend an hour getting [Georgie] back to sleep. I felt like throwing myself out the window. I just need three months of freedom."
Trump, A Sneaky, Petulant Infant
What diary or account of New York City in the 80s could be complete without reference to Donald Trump, who was a solid fixture on the social circuit back then with first wife Ivana ?
Tina Brown writes after reading a manuscript of The Art of the Deal in 1987 "It feels when you have finished it, as if you've been nose to nose with an entertaining conman, and I suspect the American public will like nothing better."
And, after VF writer, Marie Brenner turns in a feature on Donald and Ivana Trump, his first wife, Tina notes that "Ivana [is] upgraded to superstar victim of a brutish, philandering husband.
"Marie has been able to establish such a pattern of lying and loudmouthing in Trump that it's incredible he still prospers and gets banks to loan him money. The revelation that he has a collection of Hitler's speeches at the office is going to make a lot of news."
A year later, Marie Brenner gets doused with white wine thrown down her back by Trump at a black-tie gala at Tavern on the Green. Writes Tina Brown: "The sneaky petulant infant was clearly still stewing about [Marie's] takedown in VF [...] What a coward! He couldn't even confront her to her face!
The full review of this book originally appeared on my website www.joannaelm.com
Of course, I anticipated some major name-dropping and gossip from the decadent, over-the-top 80s when both Tina and I were editors in New York City: she, the fabulously talented, visionary editor who turned around Vanity Fair, a dying up-market glossy; me, the managing editor of a supermarket tabloid, STAR magazine, shunned by the same celebrities who fell over themselves to be on Tina's Vanity Fair covers. I am sure Tina never read STAR magazine, other than glancing at the cover at the supermarket checkout. I, on the other hand, was an avid reader of her revamped Vanity Fair .
Tina writes about going to the White House for a photo shoot with the Reagans who pose for photos which today would have gone "viral." They're smooching and dancing with Nancy kicking up her heels. She writes about taking time out from being an "editor" to fly to London to report on Princess Di and the state of her marriage to Prince Charles.
She also faithfully chronicles the impact AIDS had on the creative community, and on the loss of many of her friends and colleagues. On the personal side, Tina writes about her efforts with husband Sir Harold Evans (a former editor of The Sunday Times in London) to buy a weekend/vacation house in Quogue, in the Hamptons -- and to have a baby.
Nanny Horrors
Then I came to her entry for March 11, 1986 -- two months after the premature birth of her son George, whom she refers to as "G", and for whom she hired a nanny, Juanita, " a very quiet, kind and efficient Filipina."
She writes: "Sunday, I had a row with Juanita. I can't stand the way she always, always tells me I am doing something wrong when I am with G [...] I told her to back off and she then went and cried for two hours in the bathroom. Then I heard her listening to tapes of the last baby she worked with screaming and babbling, probably as some kind of consolation, but it also felt weird and creepy."
OMG!
"Listening to tapes of the last baby she worked with screaming and babbling!" Really? I want to shout: "Run. Grab Georgie! Get out of the house! Don't look back!" But, it's another eight months before this entry on November 3, 1986 when she writes about coming home early to hear Juanita on the phone saying: "I hate her. Georgie hates her. He loves me." Tina tells the nanny to pack her bags, but adds: "I called the doorman [to wait while she packed.] I didn't want a nail file between my eyes.”
I am horrified that it took Tina so long to fire this woman.
Having It All ?
Tina Brown covers it all --editorial challenges, office politics and personal joys and heartbreaks-- in this delicious, nostalgic read. Her honesty, however, exposes the fact that her life which looked so sophisticated and glamorous was not the fairytale it appeared. In addition to doing her job to revive VF, and being wife and mother, part of Tina's job was to be seen around town at breakfasts, and at over-the-top parties and dinners of the rich and famous.
She writes about sharing a hair stylist with Anna Wintour, the renowned editor of Vogue. One afternoon they arrive at the salon at the same time: "Anna was having her bob minked. I was having my streaks bleached," she writes. On sitting next to Clint Eastwood at a dinner, she writes: "he's quiet, watchful, instinctive. Also hard work. Long taciturn silences. A kind of heavy chivalry, calling me Ma'am. Said nothing memorable. How could one be bored after one course with the world's biggest heartthrob? I was."
After going to dinner on the opening night of the New York Film Festival in 1990 with writer Joan Didion and her husband John Dunne, she writes: "I longed to be eating a baked potato in Quogue."
On Sept 15, 1986 she writes: "My eyes burn with the stress of the day that begins at six, doing crunches with the thunder-thighed trainer followed by an hour with G, an hour blowing out hair and getting dressed for the office, and then its race, race, race to get through the day and home by five to walk G in his stroller and play with him, then on to his bath time and dosh up (dress up) for one of the innumerable place-card dinners."
In November 1989 "I had to spend an hour getting [Georgie] back to sleep. I felt like throwing myself out the window. I just need three months of freedom."
Trump, A Sneaky, Petulant Infant
What diary or account of New York City in the 80s could be complete without reference to Donald Trump, who was a solid fixture on the social circuit back then with first wife Ivana ?
Tina Brown writes after reading a manuscript of The Art of the Deal in 1987 "It feels when you have finished it, as if you've been nose to nose with an entertaining conman, and I suspect the American public will like nothing better."
And, after VF writer, Marie Brenner turns in a feature on Donald and Ivana Trump, his first wife, Tina notes that "Ivana [is] upgraded to superstar victim of a brutish, philandering husband.
"Marie has been able to establish such a pattern of lying and loudmouthing in Trump that it's incredible he still prospers and gets banks to loan him money. The revelation that he has a collection of Hitler's speeches at the office is going to make a lot of news."
A year later, Marie Brenner gets doused with white wine thrown down her back by Trump at a black-tie gala at Tavern on the Green. Writes Tina Brown: "The sneaky petulant infant was clearly still stewing about [Marie's] takedown in VF [...] What a coward! He couldn't even confront her to her face!
The full review of this book originally appeared on my website www.joannaelm.com
August 30, 2023
The 80s are FASCINATING!!! I love Tina and how much she loves magazines and Annie Leibovitz and Nancy Reagan’s tight little bod.
November 28, 2018
I grabbed The Vanity Fair Diaries from NetGalley when it was on read now almost a year ago but somehow I haven’t got around to reading it until now. I picked it up for non-fiction November last week and it was an enjoyable read.
The book is Tina Brown’s personal diaries from 1983 when she got the job as editor of Vanity Fair magazine until she moved on in 1992.
There are parts of this book that I really enjoyed. I loved finding out more about what it’s like to edit a magazine and how difficult it can be getting the right cover image that represents the pieces inside the magazine.
Tina Brown movingly captures what it must have been like living in New York in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS crisis. She doesn’t write at length about it but the frequent mentions of people she knows who have been diagnosed, or who have died is really shocking. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have lost so many people to one disease and in such a short amount of time.
The references to Donald Trump made for rueful reading, to know how he was thought of at various points during the 80s and now he’s president of the United States makes for interesting reading. There are other political figures referenced within the book that also make for interesting asides.
I also really enjoyed finding out more about how Brown juggled her work and her home life after she had her first child. She genuinely struggled to find balance and you can see her being pulled in two directions during her son’s early years. There is real honesty in these moments and it gave some balance to a book that is heavy on the celebrities and the gossip.
I think where I struggled a little with my enjoyment of the book is that, particularly in the earlier parts of the diary, I didn’t know who half of the people mentioned were. I kept putting the book down to look them up online. Once the book got to the later 80s and early 90s it was more my era and I knew who most of the people were and it became a much more fascinating read. This is down to my age though and not a fault of the book.
Overall I found this a really interesting and enjoyable book to dip in and out of and I do recommend it.
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
The book is Tina Brown’s personal diaries from 1983 when she got the job as editor of Vanity Fair magazine until she moved on in 1992.
There are parts of this book that I really enjoyed. I loved finding out more about what it’s like to edit a magazine and how difficult it can be getting the right cover image that represents the pieces inside the magazine.
Tina Brown movingly captures what it must have been like living in New York in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS crisis. She doesn’t write at length about it but the frequent mentions of people she knows who have been diagnosed, or who have died is really shocking. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have lost so many people to one disease and in such a short amount of time.
The references to Donald Trump made for rueful reading, to know how he was thought of at various points during the 80s and now he’s president of the United States makes for interesting reading. There are other political figures referenced within the book that also make for interesting asides.
I also really enjoyed finding out more about how Brown juggled her work and her home life after she had her first child. She genuinely struggled to find balance and you can see her being pulled in two directions during her son’s early years. There is real honesty in these moments and it gave some balance to a book that is heavy on the celebrities and the gossip.
I think where I struggled a little with my enjoyment of the book is that, particularly in the earlier parts of the diary, I didn’t know who half of the people mentioned were. I kept putting the book down to look them up online. Once the book got to the later 80s and early 90s it was more my era and I knew who most of the people were and it became a much more fascinating read. This is down to my age though and not a fault of the book.
Overall I found this a really interesting and enjoyable book to dip in and out of and I do recommend it.
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
July 31, 2022
Tina Brown's is the perfect voice and perspective to chronicle the 1980s in the same way Tina Fey/Liz Lemon was perfectly suited to capture the late 2000s. The VF Diaries is about editing a monthly magazine, but really, if business schools are of any value, they'd make it required reading. Tina's calculated takeover of VF, managing her VF staff, and approach to her relationship with Conde Nast chairman S.I. Newhouse all contain hard-won insights -- plus it's more interesting than anything Jim Collins could ever write...
Among a constellation of vignettes inhabited by heads of state, literary giants, and Rosanne Barr, one stands out: the completely absurd evening Tina spent having dinner at Henry and Nancy Kissinger's home the night the Gulf War broke out. Kissinger sitting on the couch, muttering which network's coverage he prefers. "We commented on the commentators on who was ahead and who was behind as if they were players on a sports team. That was part of the unreality too. There we were watching this massive attack as if it was a movie or a game. Some strange new form of entertainment. I realized nothing like this had ever happened on T.V. before, not in real-time. Real people were dying 6,000 miles away from the riverhouse, and what we felt was mainly excitement at the spectical. I looked around at these titans of media, government, and society. None of them was at risk here. None of them had a son or daughter over there, or any real skin in the game. And game it was to them and even to me. Is this what war feels like now to all of us who don't serve? Remote and weirdly beautiful, with only the reassuringly familiar faces of our favorite news stars to connect us to this distant, enormous event?"
Among a constellation of vignettes inhabited by heads of state, literary giants, and Rosanne Barr, one stands out: the completely absurd evening Tina spent having dinner at Henry and Nancy Kissinger's home the night the Gulf War broke out. Kissinger sitting on the couch, muttering which network's coverage he prefers. "We commented on the commentators on who was ahead and who was behind as if they were players on a sports team. That was part of the unreality too. There we were watching this massive attack as if it was a movie or a game. Some strange new form of entertainment. I realized nothing like this had ever happened on T.V. before, not in real-time. Real people were dying 6,000 miles away from the riverhouse, and what we felt was mainly excitement at the spectical. I looked around at these titans of media, government, and society. None of them was at risk here. None of them had a son or daughter over there, or any real skin in the game. And game it was to them and even to me. Is this what war feels like now to all of us who don't serve? Remote and weirdly beautiful, with only the reassuringly familiar faces of our favorite news stars to connect us to this distant, enormous event?"
November 16, 2021
Tells the story of Tina Brown's apotheosis. She turned around a magazine and made it a hit. Then Conde Nast threw her out when they were done. There's plenty of her arrogance and naïveté, but also her charm, her chutzpah, and her ability.
There's a lot of gossip in it (she hated Jackie Onassis and crossed swords with her at a dinner table), but it really reads like an insider's guide to how the American high echelon media worked in the era before Facebook and Twitter.
There's a lot of gossip in it (she hated Jackie Onassis and crossed swords with her at a dinner table), but it really reads like an insider's guide to how the American high echelon media worked in the era before Facebook and Twitter.
January 22, 2018
I didn't finish it - I barely got a third of the way through. The book was all name-dropping of people a layman wouldn't even know about. It was written like a journal - as if she were going to write a book after all was said and done at VF. All she wrote about were her conversations with people in the industry, the dinners and galas she attended, etc. BORING.
April 9, 2020
I always love a good journal and it was a good read, just did not have the impact that the magazine made on a younger me. I could not wait for my monthly arrival of the magazine. Wish there had been no mention of Donald Trump during the 80/90's. No surprise that he is the same narcissistic, tasteless, vengeful person we know today.
June 18, 2019
For this reader, Tina Brown’s diaries are filled to a brimming five star rating…with plenty of enthusiasm still spilling over the edges!
Tina’s story felt very personal to me, and if you were to boil it all down to one thing, it would begin with one of my longstanding habits that reach all the way back to the mid 1980’s.
The force of this habit kicks in almost every time I pass a newsstand or drug store reading rack, my eye roving the titles until finally landing on “Vanity Fair” magazine. Even as I write this, there are a stream of unforgettable VF covers that immediately come to mind:
“The Mouse That Roared” October 1985
Nicole Kidman July 1995
Demi Moore August 1991
Mikhail Gorbachev February 1990
Bobby Kennedy June 2008
Tina Fey January 2009
Ron and Nancy Reagan June 1985
David Bowie January 1986
Michelle Pfeiffer February 1989
Madonna October 2002
Hugh Grant May 2003
Given a little more time, I’m sure that many more “VF memories” would come to mind. The articles were intriguing, and in step with the times. I also adored the array of stunningly alluring photos enclosed in each issue, many were so good they proved sufficiently powerful as to “burn into” my long term memory.
And from ‘84 to ‘92 “VF’s” Editor-In-Chief” was Tina Brown.
Despite my longtime affection for this magazine, I must admit I knew little about her. So when I picked up “The Vanity Fair Diaries” I did so with two initial motivations: one, to learn more about the 1980’s glittery success story of VF’s “Second Golden Era”, and two, to learn more about the woman who Meryl Streep described as “Curious and permeable”, the one woman tour-de-force who’s leadership turned a troubled publication around, and better yet, the eventual resurgence of the magazine’s heydays.
I didn’t have to go very far before deciding that I was going to love Brown’s storytelling style.
There was the description of her father, movie producer George H. Brown:
“He was the gentleman producer, priding himself on the high-low mix of his oeuvre: a broad comedy today, a costume drama tomorrow, and a refined detective story the day after…”
Of her mother Bettina:
“The exotic looking brunette… (as kids), our partner in crime, divine muse and clever mimic who dreamed up stories, saw through phonies, and headed off bores.”
Then there was Brown’s accounts of her checkered academic escapades. Her general description of the long list of schools she attended was as follows:
“A series of turreted academies with horsey debs and ‘Country Life” Camilla’s.”
Two of her tales had me laughing:
“I was bounced from Godstowe, a frowning single-sex day school for writing and end-of-term play in which Godstowe was blown up and replaced by a public lavatory.”
And…
The story where she was kicked out of a girl’s school named Hampden House due to her rather vocal protests concerning the school’s “Two Knicker” policy.
I already knew I was going to enjoy and be engaged in most everything Tina Brown had to say. That left the promise of unforgettable tales from the magazine’s storied rise under Tina’s leadership.
And on that account the book didn’t miss a beat…
By 1983, “Vanity Fair” was flagging. It’s “Roaring Twenties” glory days faded into the past. The period of the early 1980’s was meant to be a time of rejuvenation for the magazine, but instead it couldn’t seem to “get out of its own way”, it had never really reconnected with its reader constituency, and worse, its sagging sales were symbolic of its insecure, doughy septuagenarian chief Leo Lerman.
Throughout most of 1983 Tina Brown waited on the sidelines. The total of her hopes in that year were that the Conde Nast bosses would come to understand that she was ready to take the “VF Helm.” In late 1983 she got her wish and she was announced as VF’s new Editor-In-Chief on January 3, 1984. The first cover under her leadership would be April 1984, so that meant there was only seven weeks till press time.
She had to hit the ground running…
I’ve always been intrigued by reading the accounts of how newly appointed leaders establish themselves in their role. John F. Kennedy, for example, established the foundations of the “New Frontier” by gathering “The Best and the Brightest” to populate his core team. There were accusations of nepotism when he appointed his brother Robert as Attorney General, just as there was a palatable disbelief that he would be able to woo Robert McNamara to the post of Secretary of Defense, considering that McNamara would be making massive salary sacrifices and that he’s just climbed up into the apex of his career, becoming the president of the Ford Motor Company (The first “non-Ford” to reach that pinnacle) only one year before.
But JFK’s vision was sufficiently powerful and compelling as to lock RFK’s senate confirmation and secure the services of Ford’s newly appointed President.
Tina Brown’s early leadership decisions were a natural extension of her mantra that the magazine should be. “A sound…not an echo.”
One of her first decisions was to take the bold step of hiring five or six excellent magazine writers, her goal was to establish a definitive “VF Voice” and saw that the only way to do this was to hire The Best and Brightest” of magazine writers, rather than lean on the tired and overdone, (but safer) approach of renting bylines. The first writer she hired was Nick Dunne, a name I immediately recognized, being a longtime Vanity Fair reader myself.
But my favorite of Brown’s early moves was her description of her first editorial department meeting:
“I wanted to get everyone out of lurking in their cubicles, and had a feature meeting with four of the editors, which was very strange because no one argued. I am used to the rowdy ‘Tatler’ staff combating everything I say. Here they took assiduous notes, which I found disconcerting.
That’s going to have to change.”
And change it did.
This book tells of a leader who shared a vision of storytelling excellence while amassing one of the finest team of writers, photographers and editors in the history of any magazine. In 1984, VF’s circulation stood at a dismal 200,000 readers, the bottom line was very narrow with only 12 pages of advertising. By 1988 circulation shot up to 1.2 million readers while the magazine bulged with over 1000 pages of secured advertising. The rise was meteoric, the story behind it spellbinding!
I highly recommend Tina Brown’s “The Vanity Fair Diaries.”
Tina’s story felt very personal to me, and if you were to boil it all down to one thing, it would begin with one of my longstanding habits that reach all the way back to the mid 1980’s.
The force of this habit kicks in almost every time I pass a newsstand or drug store reading rack, my eye roving the titles until finally landing on “Vanity Fair” magazine. Even as I write this, there are a stream of unforgettable VF covers that immediately come to mind:
“The Mouse That Roared” October 1985
Nicole Kidman July 1995
Demi Moore August 1991
Mikhail Gorbachev February 1990
Bobby Kennedy June 2008
Tina Fey January 2009
Ron and Nancy Reagan June 1985
David Bowie January 1986
Michelle Pfeiffer February 1989
Madonna October 2002
Hugh Grant May 2003
Given a little more time, I’m sure that many more “VF memories” would come to mind. The articles were intriguing, and in step with the times. I also adored the array of stunningly alluring photos enclosed in each issue, many were so good they proved sufficiently powerful as to “burn into” my long term memory.
And from ‘84 to ‘92 “VF’s” Editor-In-Chief” was Tina Brown.
Despite my longtime affection for this magazine, I must admit I knew little about her. So when I picked up “The Vanity Fair Diaries” I did so with two initial motivations: one, to learn more about the 1980’s glittery success story of VF’s “Second Golden Era”, and two, to learn more about the woman who Meryl Streep described as “Curious and permeable”, the one woman tour-de-force who’s leadership turned a troubled publication around, and better yet, the eventual resurgence of the magazine’s heydays.
I didn’t have to go very far before deciding that I was going to love Brown’s storytelling style.
There was the description of her father, movie producer George H. Brown:
“He was the gentleman producer, priding himself on the high-low mix of his oeuvre: a broad comedy today, a costume drama tomorrow, and a refined detective story the day after…”
Of her mother Bettina:
“The exotic looking brunette… (as kids), our partner in crime, divine muse and clever mimic who dreamed up stories, saw through phonies, and headed off bores.”
Then there was Brown’s accounts of her checkered academic escapades. Her general description of the long list of schools she attended was as follows:
“A series of turreted academies with horsey debs and ‘Country Life” Camilla’s.”
Two of her tales had me laughing:
“I was bounced from Godstowe, a frowning single-sex day school for writing and end-of-term play in which Godstowe was blown up and replaced by a public lavatory.”
And…
The story where she was kicked out of a girl’s school named Hampden House due to her rather vocal protests concerning the school’s “Two Knicker” policy.
I already knew I was going to enjoy and be engaged in most everything Tina Brown had to say. That left the promise of unforgettable tales from the magazine’s storied rise under Tina’s leadership.
And on that account the book didn’t miss a beat…
By 1983, “Vanity Fair” was flagging. It’s “Roaring Twenties” glory days faded into the past. The period of the early 1980’s was meant to be a time of rejuvenation for the magazine, but instead it couldn’t seem to “get out of its own way”, it had never really reconnected with its reader constituency, and worse, its sagging sales were symbolic of its insecure, doughy septuagenarian chief Leo Lerman.
Throughout most of 1983 Tina Brown waited on the sidelines. The total of her hopes in that year were that the Conde Nast bosses would come to understand that she was ready to take the “VF Helm.” In late 1983 she got her wish and she was announced as VF’s new Editor-In-Chief on January 3, 1984. The first cover under her leadership would be April 1984, so that meant there was only seven weeks till press time.
She had to hit the ground running…
I’ve always been intrigued by reading the accounts of how newly appointed leaders establish themselves in their role. John F. Kennedy, for example, established the foundations of the “New Frontier” by gathering “The Best and the Brightest” to populate his core team. There were accusations of nepotism when he appointed his brother Robert as Attorney General, just as there was a palatable disbelief that he would be able to woo Robert McNamara to the post of Secretary of Defense, considering that McNamara would be making massive salary sacrifices and that he’s just climbed up into the apex of his career, becoming the president of the Ford Motor Company (The first “non-Ford” to reach that pinnacle) only one year before.
But JFK’s vision was sufficiently powerful and compelling as to lock RFK’s senate confirmation and secure the services of Ford’s newly appointed President.
Tina Brown’s early leadership decisions were a natural extension of her mantra that the magazine should be. “A sound…not an echo.”
One of her first decisions was to take the bold step of hiring five or six excellent magazine writers, her goal was to establish a definitive “VF Voice” and saw that the only way to do this was to hire The Best and Brightest” of magazine writers, rather than lean on the tired and overdone, (but safer) approach of renting bylines. The first writer she hired was Nick Dunne, a name I immediately recognized, being a longtime Vanity Fair reader myself.
But my favorite of Brown’s early moves was her description of her first editorial department meeting:
“I wanted to get everyone out of lurking in their cubicles, and had a feature meeting with four of the editors, which was very strange because no one argued. I am used to the rowdy ‘Tatler’ staff combating everything I say. Here they took assiduous notes, which I found disconcerting.
That’s going to have to change.”
And change it did.
This book tells of a leader who shared a vision of storytelling excellence while amassing one of the finest team of writers, photographers and editors in the history of any magazine. In 1984, VF’s circulation stood at a dismal 200,000 readers, the bottom line was very narrow with only 12 pages of advertising. By 1988 circulation shot up to 1.2 million readers while the magazine bulged with over 1000 pages of secured advertising. The rise was meteoric, the story behind it spellbinding!
I highly recommend Tina Brown’s “The Vanity Fair Diaries.”
June 6, 2021
The Vanity Fair Diaries is a glamorous snapshot of Tina Brown's tenure as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair. Responsible for reinvigorating Tattler magazine in the U.K., Tina parachuted into 1980s New York with the intention of reviving Vanity Fair's lagging sales and reputation. Tina's bold leadership eventually turned the publication into a successful and cutting edge magazine that struck a chord in mixing high and low culture.
I was taken by how ambitious, unapologetic, and headstrong Tina was in her role as editor-in-chief. Tina's confidence and clear vision allowed her to redesign the magazine's layout, refocus the writing, and make necessary staff changes. I really enjoyed learning more about how Tina approached her role as an editor, and she is an engaging and entertaining narrator in guiding us through New York's media scene.
Throughout the book, Tina documents the day-to-day minutiae of the office, but her workplace musings ran a little long and often focused too much on staff bickering for me. There are some interesting tidbits from her interactions with celebrities (Donald Trump's cruel boorishness, Princess Diana's failing marriage, and Annie Leibovitz's ingenuity stood out). I think anyone intrigued by magazine publishing or New York in the 1980s/1990s would find this book a fascinating read. 3.5 stars
I was taken by how ambitious, unapologetic, and headstrong Tina was in her role as editor-in-chief. Tina's confidence and clear vision allowed her to redesign the magazine's layout, refocus the writing, and make necessary staff changes. I really enjoyed learning more about how Tina approached her role as an editor, and she is an engaging and entertaining narrator in guiding us through New York's media scene.
Throughout the book, Tina documents the day-to-day minutiae of the office, but her workplace musings ran a little long and often focused too much on staff bickering for me. There are some interesting tidbits from her interactions with celebrities (Donald Trump's cruel boorishness, Princess Diana's failing marriage, and Annie Leibovitz's ingenuity stood out). I think anyone intrigued by magazine publishing or New York in the 1980s/1990s would find this book a fascinating read. 3.5 stars
October 20, 2019
‘80s America, with all it’s Bonfire of the Vanities and Reagan-era excesses is really the hero of this book. The back story to those famous Annie Leibovitz and Helmut Newton covers is fascinating even if you aren’t the celebrity junkie that I can be (can anyone forget that naked, pregnant Demi Moore?)The glamour and glitz of the New York media world (in what in retrospect turns out to be its heyday) is heady and intoxicating in this chronicle of a magazine’s turnaround. It’s Mad Men for publishing. There is name dropping and gossip to the highest degree - Warren Beaty, Donald Trump, the Reagans, Jackie O, Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer, Clint Eastwood...name them and they are there (along with a whole load of people I needed Google to recognize). Yet it’s also a master class in editing a top notch magazine. The best part about the book for me though, was a woman proving she could truly have it all - true-blue professional success and marriage and kids. Tina Brown’s diaries prove to be a racy, thoroughly entertaining read.
December 20, 2024
Sheer rollicking delight. I picked it up to reacquaint with Tina’s writing after signing up for her new Substack (it is fab and you should subscribe) and then couldn’t stop reading. Admit the appeal is highest if you’re an editor in chief and/or Tina Brown is your personal hero, but think many will dig the dishy true scenes of 80s New York and the surprising humanity of this editrix diarist.
In this dinosaur media era she’s in the corner office on a glam assigning spree, sending this one to Cadaqués to profile Dalí in his final days, this one to Paris to sit with Baby Doc’s wife in exile, this one on the road to recreate Humbert Humbert’s drive with Lolita. One day she goes home and overhears her live-in nanny on the phone complaining about her and saying her son can’t stand his mother and only loves her, the nanny. So she opens the door and goes, “Juanita, hang up that phone and pack your bags” and writes her a check and fires her on the spot. She is just telling everyone where they can go.
Just one example of a diary that is raw and on-the-fly yet somehow manages literary symmetry and showpiece scenes. That’s just a gifted writer is all.
In this dinosaur media era she’s in the corner office on a glam assigning spree, sending this one to Cadaqués to profile Dalí in his final days, this one to Paris to sit with Baby Doc’s wife in exile, this one on the road to recreate Humbert Humbert’s drive with Lolita. One day she goes home and overhears her live-in nanny on the phone complaining about her and saying her son can’t stand his mother and only loves her, the nanny. So she opens the door and goes, “Juanita, hang up that phone and pack your bags” and writes her a check and fires her on the spot. She is just telling everyone where they can go.
Just one example of a diary that is raw and on-the-fly yet somehow manages literary symmetry and showpiece scenes. That’s just a gifted writer is all.
May 22, 2018
I love it when regular customers come into the bookshop and recommend books to me. @mindychops felt pretty strongly that I’d enjoy this book (even though I hadn’t heard of Tina Brown) and she was right. It’s gossipy and moves at a frenzied pace as it inhabits the decadence of the NYC fashion world in the 80s. It’s also a book about a senior woman at work and the challenges she faced. I devoured it.
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