The Party's over Now: Reminiscences of the Fifties-New York's Artists, Writers, Musicians, and Their Friends

by John Gruen

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

281 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Sketchbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I had developed into an over-opinionated...aggressive young man whose need to be noticed, loved, and admired was all-consuming." Author Gruen describes himself as a youth and guess wot? When you read this book, you realize, he hasn't changed at all. You just wanna smack his bisexual ass and run ! He takes himself and his wobbly status far too seriously.

Settling w talented artist wife Jane Wilson in New York's 1949 Upper Bohemia, Gruen wanted to pusssh, noodge into every scene, and be seen & saluted. As a smarmy thisa-thata and a comme on dit , he met all the art-music people of the 50s and some theatre inmates too. From de Kooning, Larry Rivers, Jackson Pollock to Virgil Thomson, John Ashbery and Jack Gelber, here they are, highly sanitized, but drowning in booze and exchanging sexual favors. Not in depth, but no one wants depth today. A superficial once-over is better than a never-been-over. Who has time when social media awaits?

A few examples: the fiercely ambitious artist Helen Frankenthaler has a romance w key critic Clement Greenberg and then marries (briefly) the esteemed Robert Motherwell. Yes, she becomes a "name." (It's all very Hollywoody). Dreary composer Ned Rorem has a smoke w Leonard Bernstein and Virgil Thomson, among others, and is still alive today, age 94. Everyone, includ artist Larry Rivers, seemed to fall in love w gay poet Frank O'Hara, but no one will explain his death on Fire Island, 1966, when he was struck down one night by a dune buggy. Age 40. Artzine editor Tom Hess gives Elaine de Kooning a leg up (and a lot more, which isnt told here) as an art critic. As Edward Albee becomes a Star, his mentor-exlover, composer William Flanagan, descends into alcoholism and killed himself in 1969, age 46. When artist Joan Mitchell and Grove publisher Barney Rosset were married they stayed drunk and had hilarious rows most of the time. The famous groupie Ruth Kligman, who went fr de Kooning to Jackson Pollock, spent her life living off the fact that she survived the Hamptons car crash that killed him in 1956.

Author Gruen's writing is concise and comfy. His nose is pressed against the cracked windows. So, for a brief hustle through the vigorous, fuken 50s decade which slopped into Pop, Op and Oops, I say: light up. It's an easy, mild smoke. The T-Zone test will tell you.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read, this book is great for anecdotal information about a really interesting era, but I didn’t love it. The author was a right time right place kinda dude, but there are so many other people I wish had written the book, like his wife Jane Wilson. It’s one of those books you are “supposed to read” and is interesting as such. But I’d hoped to like it more. I would really recommend Ninth Street Women if you want an excellent book about the era; but if you are reaching out to find more after reading Ninth Street Women, this is a decent one.

[Natalie]

Ninth Street Women rec

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a lot of long quotes from other artists and gallerists that Obtjoight could have been edited more.