I'm reading Tama Janowitz's recent autobiographical book called 'Scream'.

& this is the book >

She says when she was on the cover of New York Magazine in about 1986 - she was so thrilled she just stood in front of some newsstand in New York, staring at it, until some homeless guy came along and knocked her to the ground.

Her standing with Gaga is a complete turnoff plus she looks deranged.

Well, I had no idea this existed, so thank you. I loved "Slaves of New York" and her whole persona and I'm gonna check this out!

Xoxox

Oh my god, I just downloaded the ebook from the NY Public Library (shoutout to those hot sluts, I'm leaving my estate to them if I ever get one). Beyond excited to read this. Thank you, OP!!!

Wow, haven't thought about her in years. Thanks for the info, OP, I'll check It out.

[quote]Her standing with Gaga is a complete turnoff plus she looks deranged.

Yes, I said she looks really crazy now - not just eccentric.

There was some "Why's New York no longer cool and interesting?" panel thing a few years ago and she was there, looking totally bizarre and out of it - & as I said - this would have put me off reading another of her books - but the book is WONDERFUL.

I'm glad R4 thru R6 are going to read it. Post back your reviews right here, PLEASE.

Just because she has crazy eyes doesn't mean she's crazy.

Here she is doing a promotional reading for the book at Strand Books in NYC - she does come across as pretty strange.

But I don't want this to put anyone off.

I loved Slaves. Will totally read this.

I've always wondered how people like this survive in NY. Can you really live off the royalties from a well-known book (and film) for 25-30 years? As for her weird looks, it looks like a combination of bad facelift, aggressive botox and an inadvisable Sia-type wig. The botox looks fresh - maybe paid for with the advance from her new autobiography?

She was always kooky, but now she looks one step up from Shelley Duvall. She does sound fairly coherent though in the link from R9.

[quote]I've always wondered how people like this survive in NY. Can you really live off the royalties from a well-known book (and film) for 25-30 years?

From this book - very badly, it seems.

She sold the film rights to Andy Warhol for just $5000. He said she could have the money or a painting and she wanted to get an apartment and was saving, so she took the money. She ended up buying a very gloomy brownstone basement.

I won't give any more away.

[quote]I've always wondered how people like this survive in NY. Can you really live off the royalties from a well-known book (and film) for 25-30 years?

She's written numerous books over the years.

She was married to a British gallery owner called Tim Hunt, for a long time. That must have helped.

The book of Slaves of New York was good because it captured a specific period in time in New York City. The movie suffered with Bernadette Peters in the lead. I think it would have been a better movie if they had a better actress.

I think of the movie like I think of the movie of 84 Charing Cross Road. The book was wonderful, but it didn't translate as a movie. But as we see with Sex & The City, with better talent, a book can be reimagined into a more successful screen adaptation.

And while Slaves of New York is a fun book, Janowitz doesn't have the intellect that Fran Lebowtiz or Helene Hanff have (had). It's like reading a girl's diary, fun but there's nothing that really sticks with you.

Apparently, she moved to the outskirts of Ithaca.

[quote]I think of the movie like I think of the movie of 84 Charing Cross Road. The book was wonderful, but it didn't translate as a movie.

84 was so dull as a movie. They could have done a lot more to liven it up. I saw the British TV play of it, which was made in the 70s. It's was PAINFUL how boring and dreary it was.

She says in the book that Slaves has become a gay cult movie and sells out to gay audiences wherever it's shown. This is news to me. It's not a DL cult movie - like Goodbar. Maybe gay cult and DL cult are two very different kettles of fish.

[quote]She says in the book that Slaves has become a gay cult movie and sells out to gay audiences wherever it's shown.

I doubt that. In order to be a gay cult movie, it has to have some camp value. And that movie has no camp value.

....

R16. Her mother Phyllis taught in the MFA program at Cornell--a friend of mine studied fiction writing with Phyllis and loved her.

She was always a very funny writer, but she didn't have that much to say.

Her bleached blonde dye job looks horrendous.

Isn't she related to someone famous?

Her brother in law is the late James Hunt.

I think she dropped everything to take care of her ailing mother which is very admirable. I enjoyed Slaves of NY when it came out. It captured how that time and scen was but i wonder how it would stand up today.

Yeah, I'm not aware that the film of Slaves of New York ever became a cult movie. It wasn't outrageously bad or anything - it just didn't quite work. Bernadette Peters and James Ivory were both wrong choices.

I once was applying for a job at this toooo toooo trendy store. They asked me what my favorite book was. For some reason Slaves of New York popped into my head. They thought this was such a cool answer and asked me if I'd read Jay McnInerny's stuff. I got the job. (although it turned out to be an awful place and an awful summer amongst people who thought they were too cool.

R26 Which frozen yogurt shop was that dear?

It was a boutique called "Shot Down in Ecuador Jr."

[quote]I once was applying for a job at this toooo toooo trendy store. They asked me what my favorite book was. For some reason Slaves of New York popped into my head. They thought this was such a cool answer and asked me if I'd read Jay McnInerny's stuff. I got the job. (although it turned out to be an awful place and an awful summer amongst people who thought they were too cool.

They ask you what books you read at an interview to work in a store? Interesting.

OMG her face. The horror of it all. She looks like an extra in a film where Peter Cushing tried to kill Christopher Lee. Tama is The True Bride Of Frankenstein.

I will need to take a look as I graduated high school in 1984.

I remember looking at her picture on the back of my copy of Slaves of New York and thinking she looked so cool. Long, curly red hair down to her waist, slim build, chunky bracelets.

I...did not expect her to age in the way that she has.

Bernadette Peters was terrible in the movie. I thought 'Desperately Seaking Susan' captured the scene a little better.

When did this arty downtown NY scene end?

[quote]When did this arty downtown NY scene end?

Mid-1990s. Guiliani had secured the safety of the city and as a result rents started rising. Soho, which had all those beautiful loft spaces, saw gentrification and all the artists were pushed out of Manhattan. Great stores like Canal Jeans, Unique Clothing Warehouse and many other trendy stores were pushed out of business because they couldn't afford the rising rents. Today, in the Canal Jeans space is a Bloomingdales and Soho has become high end shopping.

In addition, Sex & The City and Friends were huge hits on tv causing thousands of people to move into the city to live the lifestyle they saw portrayed on tv. Coupled with that was a new generation of NYU students, who had both parents working and could afford to live in apartments, thereby raising the rents. This infux of new people who never had to struggle, never had to hustle for a living, recreated Manhattan into a playground that pushed out the artistic middle class.

thank you r35. That was a very interesting post!!

A friend of mine always calls Tama Janowitz "Cana Tunafish"

"She says everyone hated 'The Slaves Of New York' film when it came out - but that it's become a gay cult classic."

Poor woman is completely delusional.

So sad.

Also, r36, somewhere along the way people have lost their originality. I can't quite determine what happened, but New York City used to be such an interesting place. Now it's so generic. Along with all the Starbucks that moved in came a group of the most boring, uninteresting people I've ever seen. You never see an Andy Warhol or a Quentin Crisp anymore. It doesn't have the unique liberal fire of The Village Voice anymore. The city has lost its quirky appeal. In its place are loud whiny women tottering around on shoes they can't walk in and doing Sunday brunch while complaining in their nasal voices that there aren't any good men to date and their jobs in Human Resources suck because their boss is too rigid. They've become their mothers, but where their mothers inflicted their pain on the suburbs, these women have landed in the city. There's no fire left.

It's just sad because for a period of time it really was wonderfully special.

She looks really good in R14's pic.

SPY Magazine always had so much fun mocking her.

I remember they practically creamed themselves when she appeared in an ad for carpets and was called in it "Queen of NYC's Downtown Scene."

I loved Spy Magazine. And all those other subversive, independent magazines you could buy at Greenwich Village newsstands.

[quote]I remember they practically creamed themselves when she appeared in an ad for carpets and was called in it "Queen of NYC's Downtown Scene."

It's carpets! It's madness!!

Who the fuck is she?

Nobody? Oh.

[quote]When did this arty downtown NY scene end?

[quote]Mid-1990s. Guiliani had secured the safety of the city and as a result rents started rising.

AIDS is what really killed it. Literally.

I don't know why Slaves Of New York is so unpopular. I loved it then and now. I can't remember the book though. Books are harder to remember after many years.

[quote]Who the fuck is she? Nobody? Oh.

Oh, girlfriend, you is SO funny.

She talks quite a lot in the new book about Paige Powell who was also a big friend of Andy Warhol's.

Tama remained Andy's friend right until the end.

But what did Paige Powell do?

Interesting article about the writers of that era >

Did any of the people who said they were going to read it, read it yet?

What did you think?

I read the book back then, but I was in high school and don't remember much about it, or the movie. I just remember thinking Bernadette was too old for the part, right?

R35 is too generous with dates. The East Village art scene was over BEFORE the 1980s. Also, no young bohemian arriving in New York could afford the East Village or Tribecca or Soho by the end of the 80s. Maybe a little bit the Bowery of Lower East Side. Little Italy and Chinatown.

I meant the East Village art scene was over BEFORE the END of the 1980s. Before 1990.

I read this on OP's recommendation and found it charming though Tama is nuts. I loved Slaves back in the 80's and did a business school marketing strategy project on turning the book into a movie a few years before it actually happened.

She had an amazing life which she captured in a very entertaining way. Her financial struggles were a real surprise to me. I watched a few of her Tonight Show appearances and found her to be a very awkward guest though Johnny Carson seemed to really like her. Too bad Slaves was really her only successful book.

[quote]I read this on OP's recommendation and found it charming though Tama is nuts.

Thanks for posting back.

Yes, charming and I thought EXTREMELY funny and yes, nuts.

[quote] Her financial struggles were a real surprise to me.

Why?

[quote] I watched a few of her Tonight Show appearances and found her to be a very awkward guest

Is that Letterman? Her Letterman appearances are very funny. You have to watch them all the way through. I think some of her naiveté is an act.

I think she's terrible on Letterman. Her charm on the page doesn't translate. She's too nervous and her voice is terrible.

Bonfire of the Vanities, Less Than Zero, Bright Lights, Big City, better novels about the 80s

I read the book and really enjoyed it. It's quirky but once you settle into that it's quite good and very funny.

I'm glad you liked it R58.

Weird thing is I can hardy remember it now. I remember they moved to Israel for a year and it was a total disaster. A lot about her mother. Female autobiographies tend to feature 'the mother' and the nutcase father was around a lot. I remember little else. I'll read it again soon.

Yeah, the nutcase father was the most disturbing thing about the book, although frankly her whole life seems quite unconventional. But her observations and dry wit are a lot of fun.

Thanks for recommending, I never would have read this on my own.

[quote]But her observations and dry wit are a lot of fun.

Yes, I agree.

She's very disaster prone and funny about it.

She's like an alien, trying to navigate real life.

The Slaves of New York book was good. It was fresh at the time, and became a part of the 80's pantheon of films, books and music that summed up the decade. Bernadette was too old for the part, and that didn't help the movie, although she was charming, in her way. I'll read the new book soon.

I'm re-reading the book, a year or so later. I hardly remember a thing from the first read, but clearly, I was very enthusiastic.

I've started in the middle this time. I wanted to re-read the 1968-9 move to Israel debacle, which sounded so desperate...but it very funny because of and in spite of.

[quote] She's like an alien, trying to navigate real life.

Good one. We all felt that way in the East Village back then.

[quote][R35] is too generous with dates. The East Village art scene was over BEFORE the 1980s. Also, no young bohemian arriving in New York could afford the East Village or Tribecca or Soho by the end of the 80s. Maybe a little bit the Bowery of Lower East Side. Little Italy and Chinatown.

[quote] I meant the East Village art scene was over BEFORE the END of the 1980s. Before 1990.

Very true. I just finished reading David Wojnarowicz' biography. It's very much a book about the East Village art scene in the 80s.

Her dark 80s hair was amazing - beautiful!

Thank you R35 R39. For me, oddly enough, it was 2008 when I truly felt New York had become hopeless. I couldn't even celebrate Obama.

And now the Voice is gone.

I didn't like the new book at all. Found it boring, tedious and overall underwhelming. Poo.

She's too witty and dry for the sort of person who would end his post with "poo".

I enjoyed Scream, it was in turns funny and depressing.

Making me laugh SO much 2nd time around.

[quote]I enjoyed Scream, it was in turns funny and depressing.

People treat her so badly.

A polite dissent. I really couldn’t get very far; maybe the part where she describes her country-style boyfriend. After reading about her pants-shitting mother and batshit mother, I had had enough.

It was exhausting. Exhausting, the way it is when you have to deal with a histrionic or bipolar. I’m sorry, I have enough crazy people in my life already. I don’t find their chaos funny anymore.

Also, it’s not very well-known, but the literary agent who handled all those cool downtown writers killed herself this summer in sag harbor. Just like Kate Spade and Bourdain.

^ batshit FATHER

God.

And wasn’t there a daughter? Poor thing. All that neurosis.

Yes. Willow.