Fran Leibowitz

Interestingly, Fran talked about "a girlfriend she had in her twenties" in a podcast from a couple of years ago. It's the one and only time I heard her mention dating women.

I’m the world’s greatest daughter. I’m a great relative. I believe I’m a great friend. I’m a horrible girlfriend. I always was. I’m great at the beginning, because I can be very romantic. But, I mean, years ago I had a girlfriend who summed me up perfectly. She said, “You know what it’s like being with you? At the beginning, every day, you asked me a hundred questions about myself. Then 50 questions, then 20 questions, then, finally, you said, ‘Can you see I’m trying to read?’ "

ALso, why is Fran not starving or homeless? From where does she get money?

Didn't Forbes leave her some money?

I find her facinating

She seems to have made a lot of lucrative-supportive friends. Maybe there's some family $

probably trustafarian, like many NYC 'artists'

I know she does not come from money. There is no family trust fund. She bought a ~$2M apartment in Chelsea withing the last couple of years.

Very deep pockets

What's very deep.pockets about $3.1 million?

I meant from my perspective, poor as a little churchmouse. The article refers to the steep monthly condo fees too on top of the $3.1 miliion, which alone are probably more than my rent.

Athens, Texas

And Paris, Tennessee

No we're not the jet set

We're the old Chevrolet set

There's no Riviera

In Festus, Missouri

And you won't find Onassis

In Mullinville, Kansas

No, we're not the jet set

We're the old Chevrolet set

But ain't we got love?

I think she makes a fair amount from speaking engagements, I love listening to her gripe, and so do a lot of others. And she still writes occasional articles, and has some well heeled friends, so all added together she ain't doin' so bad.

Well heeled friends don't pay your bills. You might gets dinners or a vacation.

Graydon Carter signed for her mortgage on the Chelsea place. She would tell you this herself. She has no compunction about that type of information. They go way back. I have known Fran since I answered phones as a teenager at the Factory when I was growing up. She is a great person. Funny and quick, obviously. But also a loyal and true friend.

Years ago Fran's agent wanted to set up my very tall model sister with Fran. They would have looked hilarious together, but this guy insisted Fran likes them tall.

I never thought she was good looking but I was behind her in line at Whole Foods in Chelsea a bit ago and she's actually kind of pretty. Her face is much more delicate in person than it looks in pictures.

She looks like a dog walking backwards. Hideous.

R16. Did she have on the cowboy boots?

r18 I'm not sure Fran owns any other type of footwear. I wouldn't count on it.

I remember years ago that when she bought a previous apartment, she was able to obtain an interest free loan from a banker/dinner companion who thought she was charming.

She’s funny, but the idea of being romantic with her or sitting across from her and having to look at or listen to her makes my stomach churn. She is good for short bursts but so irritating it’s unimaginable that anyone could tolerate her for more than a week.

R21, you just described dating Dustin Lance Black

Wrong R22, check the guy who has been "tolerating" DLB for more than 6 years.

I love her.

For those that know her, tell us more.I

PS I think an ex tried to heckle her at one of her speeches that I watched on youtube.

Is 'Metropolitan Life' worth reading?

Dang. Almost embarrassed myself for wanting to comment about ANNIE Leibowitz on a Fran Leibowitz thread. Too stupid to live, I know.

R26 you get points for confessing.

I don't think so. It's very dated light humor.

But it's also very short. Skim through it in twenty minutes.

She’s Barry Diller’s best friend from way way back. So that may give you a clue as to how she affords the life she has.

I also knew her through a former boss. Always liked her. Funny as fuck. And actually quite kind. Loved the documentary Scorsese did about her.

Nowadays, she's the only patron saint of cigarettes. Lee Radziwill passed and Whoopi gave them up.

No more Penny Marshall or Carrie Fisher either. Smokers dying, imagine that.

Why do all the interesting people smoke and the bland-os live forever?

Why do you want us to know you're living in 2.5 million?

On, not in

Her girlfriend was Toni Morrison. They remain friends.

R15 you give me hope. Where might a tall lesbian run into Fran?

R33, it's not true and not impressive

love fran.....she's a pip.

How is she Dillers best friend?

An interest free loan costs a bank money. No bank would do this.

Maybe a rich person or a publisher when she was on the best seller list?

I'd love to see her library

r133 Whenever the newspapers had an update on the Madoff crew, Bernie in prison for hundreds of years, one son dead from cancer, one son dead from suicide, they would always state that his wife Ruth Madoff was "Living on $2.5 M in Connecticut." Even when given in the context of the rest of her family it doesn't sound that fabulous.

I love her too. Where is our new generation of young Fran Leibowitzes and Quentin Crisps?

R42 that's kind of funny and clever.

You should sign Ruth Madoff, living on ...etc. because I don't think many are catching the reference.

R43 Fran told you herself why...

I wish Fran were mayor of NYC.

Well...Dolly Parton isn't tall...but hasn't Fran been THERE and done THAT? Of course, if Dolly lies down her fake breasts would as tall as Everest...

Please Lord not the Everest Bodies thread again...

She's a self-made billionaire just like Trump.

I can't find it right now but there's a Youtube video of Fran going on a rant about how NYC real estate has become a money-laundering scheme for filthy rich crooks, and it was brilliant.

R45 It was a rhetorical question.

She was on Law and Order.

She was in Wolf of Wall Street

How much do you think Fran got paid for the L&O gig? Is it $10K or $100K? How does she pay her rent or mortgage?

She's so brilliant that rich people just send her money.

I hope so. I wish she would start a weekly or even daily podcast.

Fran Lebowitz, a daily podcast? Absolutley not happening. She's not big on commitment or technology.

Fran dated Toni Morrison? Was Toni known to be gay? So weird.

I also wish Fran would do a podcast or a Youtube show or something, but unfortunately she doesn't use any of the current technology. She doesn't even have a cell phone.

R19, I've seen her wearing penny loafers.

Fran gets a lot of work on the lecture circuit, she's always speaking somewhere. I don't know how much that pays, but it has to be a nice chunk of change.

[quote]Nowadays, she's the only patron saint of cigarettes. Lee Radziwill passed and Whoopi gave them up.

Excuse me?

I know she's not interested in technology but what if someone set up a makeshift podcast station into her apartment and let her rip? She let the reporter who interview her call Fran a cab so she's not averse to enjoying technology, only to knowing how to use it.

After scanning the web it appears as though she has no scheduled dates anywhere. There hasn't been a listed speaking engagement since the fall of 2018. She could be writing...

r63 that's a great idea! "Fran, you don't have to touch anything, we'll take care of all the tech. All you have to do is just show up and start talking."

I saw her earlier this year at the NY Historical Society.

What a shame that HBO show never happened. Wasn’t it supposed to be her and Frank Rich doing a Real Time type weekly show? What could have been...

Yes, that HBO show was announced a few years ago, and then nothing.

[quote]since I answered phones as a teenager at the Factory when I was growing up

Please start your own thread about this and tell us everything!

This whole clip is flawless.

Her recent shows have sucked--one was filled with family pics that were even worse than the one's my father would take.

She makes a substantial amount of money (25k +) for a 90 minute “Evening with fran Lebowitz “. Not bad for a writer with a lifetime of writers block.

“People used to talk about ideas, now they just want to talk about modern furniture.”

"...once you go outside your natural audience, there are tons of people that don’t like you. "

Lol go R73 quote

Fran Lesbowitz is awesome.

Best:

"America is a great idea, so that’s why it’s a great country. China is not a great idea: capitalism and a dictator. It’s like the two worst possible things you could imagine together. It’s a very bad idea. And it’s also not a modern idea; dictators are an old-fashioned idea. Capitalism, pretty old-fashioned, too. But it’s important who the president is. And even when America is not working that well, it still works better than other places. For instance, I, unfortunately, take the subway a lot. It’s not my preference, but it is my lot in life. You sit or stand in the subway, and you look around—I do, because I don’t have a phone so I’m not playing a game—and you see people. You see a young girl wearing a headscarf, and standing next to her is a Hasid. And if you asked them, “Do you like that Jew?” She would say, “No, I hate him.” “Do you like that girl in the head scarf?” “No, I hate her.” But here’s the great thing about New York: They leave each other alone. So in New York we have zillions of different kinds of people, many of them hate each other, but violence based on that hatred is really uncommon here. This idea that people have to love and understand each other is absurd. It’s not human nature. But this idea that people cannot kill each other? It actually works here. More than it works in any other place. We have something here that you don’t hear about anymore; we have tolerance. Tolerance is really a better thing than understanding. Because it doesn’t agitate against human nature. Like love does. Or acceptance or understanding. Not only don’t they not understand people different from them, they hardly understand themselves. It’s placing too great a burden on the average intelligence. So forcing people into a situation where they’re supposed to adore each other is probably bad. But letting people get on and off the 6 train without stabbing each other, that’s good." -- Fran

Love Fran -

Back in the glorious '90s Vanity Fair magazine days (when it was great publication), VF included a feature article on the astute, lovely Fran, during which she'd lamented about the loss of the truly talented and Gorgeous Hollywood Leading Man. When she was asked about her thoughts on the then upcoming gorgeous George Clooney, she said he was the closest actor to the real thing (GHLM). However, when she was asked about her thoughts on the then younger, more gorgeous Brad Pitt; Fran's response:

After taking a drag from her cigarette, Fran's response: "Brad Pitt? He looks like a 'Trick'."

Barnacle Brad the Pool Boy...

Fran's a regular at a Village Italian restaurant - I see her there frequently.

R79. Don't be mean. Spill the name of the restaurant so the tall lesbian can bring Fran some joy in her golden years.

Toni Morrison is gay?

Fran should date Alice Walton. Alice kind of pings and I think they'd be perfect together.

Fran and the former Mrs. CK -

Fran likes tall intelligent glamor girls.

It’s a seriously moronic thing that she refuses to learn modern technology. Even a word processor or cel phone. Can you imagine being stood up, then hearing that the reason came down to that she didn’t have a phone?

r85 I'm sure she has a land line. She also says that she doesn't need a cellphone because everyone around has a cellphone and will let her use one if need be.

Fran should date me. I'm a tall librarian. Yes, please tell me the name of the restaurant although I think I can guess which one it is. It's the one named after its street?

I think Fran and Liza Minnelli are the last of the unapologetic smokers. They love to smoke, they're never quitting, and they just don't give a fuck what anyone thinks.

r88 Kate Beckinsale belongs on that list.

I'd like to throw my own hat into the ring for consideration. Here's my audition. The night Trump was elected, 11/9/16 I smoked a cigarette with John Boehner. I was walking along Central Park South with my parents around 8-9 pm. We walked past Boehner having just stepped outside of a hotel bar and he was getting a cigarette out of his pack. I said mom, dad, that's John Boehner, and in another universe that man is being elected president tonight. I was like well this moment deserves a cigarette. My dad said, "well why don't you go talk to him?" So lit my cigarette and walked back to talk to him for a few minutes.

When I think back on that cigarette with John Boehner all I want to do is go back and say "Hey Boehner, walk four blocks that way and you'll find the very fine bar that Giuliani exempted from the smoking ban because it's the bar he goes to to smoke inside." Giuliani's bar wasn't on my radar then.

R87. You better be a glamor librarian.

It was Bloomberg who did the smoking ban in bars. He acted like he invented smoking bans in bars and expected to be lauded for it, even though California had banned smoking in bars years before.

Well, good thing Bloomberg banned cigarettes in bars -- now people can safely bring their children

Where was this health conscious Mayor Bloomberg when hospitals were closing all over Manhattan?

Thanks for the clarification. I swore it was Giuliani.

Fran talks about the hospital closings in one of her Youtube rants, and said they were real estate deals for Bloomberg's friends.

r95 I was quoting that. :))

We KNOW already.

Wrong, R87. And Fran deserves her privacy, so I ain't telling.

Can r14 please discuss his time at Warhol’s factory?!

[quote]Well, good thing Bloomberg banned cigarettes in bars -- now people can safely bring their children

I don't smoke, but god I could compromise on bringing smoking back to bars if it meant people would stop bringing their fucking KIDS there. It's a BAR, you idiots, leave your kids with a sitter!

Charlie Rose: Have you ever had a serious conversation with a doctor about this (smoking)

Fran: Let me assure you, if you're my age and you smoke, you have no other conversation with your doctor.

Do people remember Café Lebowitz (named after Fran). I walked by it all the time, but never had a chance to eat there.

I would have loved to eat at The Fran.

The restaurant, of course.

What was the effect of AIDS on the culture? Which, in my opinion, was: What is culture without gay people? This is America, what is the culture? Not just New York. AIDS completely changed American culture. People always say “pop culture.” As if we have some high culture to distinguish it from. The effect of AIDS was like a war in a minute country. Like, in World War I, a whole generation of Englishmen died all at once. And with AIDS, a whole generation of gay men died practically all at once, within a couple of years. And especially the ones that I knew. The first people who died of AIDS were artists. They were also the most interesting people. I know I’ve said this before, but the audience for the arts—whether it was for writing or films …

CLEMENTE: Or ballet.

LEBOWITZ: Or ballet. The knowing audience also died and no longer exists in a real way. So all the judgment left at the same time that all this creativity left. And it allowed people who would be fifth-rate artists to come to the front of the line. It decimated not just artists but knowledge. Knowledge of a culture. There’s a huge gap in what people know, and there’s no context for it anymore.

CLEMENTE: What aspect of New York do you think has really fundamentally changed?

LEBOWITZ: Money. And it’s not just New York; it’s the whole world. I know this sounds insane, but I just hate it. I hate money. It is boring and it is arithmetic. The two things I hate the most.

^^SO true.

she's brilliant

Fran's quotes at r104 perfectly explains why we have Andy Cohen and Ryan Seacrest today.

FL really had a romance with Toni Morrison? Toni Morrison is gay or bi? What?!?

Didn't Tracy Chapman also date Morrison?

Fran is really sexy.

Fran has said in interviews that she is lazy. When she first came to NYC, she drove a cab and she said she only drove enough to buy cigarettes and pay the rent and once she reached that, she would lay off the rest of the month.

She actually had quite a money making career in the 70s, early 80s. She wrote for Warhol's Interview magazine and has a few compilations of her work turned into books. So I think she took all her royalties and just socked it in a bank account and only lived off coffee and cigarettes in a tiny studio in Hells Kitchen for years. She has money.

She also did the tv show where she played the judge.

R111. Interview paid Fran (and others) literally $15 a column when it started and only got up to about $250 per column because Andy was so cheap. Her books. Speaking (plus help from Graydon Carter and DVF and a few others). I'm the poster way up above (r14) who answered phones at the Factory back in high school. Got to know Fran fairly well. One of my favorites. Although Brigid Berlin was my favorite and we still talk once a week or so. Someone asked for Factory stories above. I have a ton but, like Andy's Diaries, you would be surprised how mundane most of them are.

[quote]Interview paid Fran (and others) literally $15 a column

$15 in 1975 would be like $70 today. That's a month's worth of cigarettes.

Has Fran commented on Hudson Yards yet?

Lol @ r101

Fran Is lucky she’s a lesbian. If she was a straight woman she would never get financial help from rich friends without sex being involved and then the ensuing scandals, blacklisting and drama.

Last year she had quite a few speaking gigs. She was in San Diego and LA and I saw an ad for an appearance in my hotel in Florida.

I wish Fran would have a weekly show or podcast or something. She has an opinion about everything and she would be a natural at it.

R117 I'm torn, I think a Fran Leibowitz podcast would be a ton of fun but I could see her having a "wrong " opinion or stumbling into some stupid PC minefield. Then there would be hordes of twitter nitwits calling for her to be banned forever.

R117 Fran needs an interviewer. She couldn't do it alone without some sort of live audience.

Who??

Sandra Bernhard and Fran Lebowitz could do the podcast as a lesbian duo.

I like Sandy but I think she’d quickly wear out her welcome with Fran. Fran was on Bruce Bozzi’s Sirius show that he records at the Palm restaurant. She talked about the bars in the 70s and seemed like she got around quite a bit in her 20s and was popular with the ladies. She’s seemed kind of asexual since then.

Has anyone ever wrote to her? I wonder if she’s old school enough to answer snail mail.

This thread reignited the Fran flame within me and I picked up a few anecdotes about her wealth. In one interview she said that at 3:00 am she wouldn't care how much cigarettes cost. They could be a million dollars and she would by them, she said. This leads me to believe she's got at least a couple million.

In relation to her Checker she said the mechanic called to tell her she needed a fuse and it would have to be custom made because there are no more available. She said "I'm an eccentric millionaire, custom make the fuse"

I remember Fran's quote about how addictive smoking is. She said something to the effect that she could be starving to death, but the only thing that would make her leave her apartment at 3:00 in the morning in a snowstorm would be to go out and buy cigarettes.

As a former smoker, I did that a number of times.

R14, please start a thread about The Factory. Please. Pretty please.

I’ll bet her lungs are black.

Actually maybe I should write her.

Interesting suggestion.

R125. I would start a Factory thread but there must already be some. Also, you bitches would just end up crucifying me. It was interesting and cool at that age but a lot of days were just damned boring.

Count me as another who would love to hear it.

R128, did you know Andre Leon Talley? What was it like getting those precious notes from him in silver or purple ink?

R130. Yes I new Andre. He was as insufferable back then as he is now. Name dropping. The affectations. Ugh. I ended up going to Brown (where he had gotten a Masters... French Lit or something pretentious). That summer before freshman year he kept trying to tell me how to approach it, how to "get the most out of it" etc. At that age, it was just odd and unwanted. I have kept up w Brigid Berlin and some of the unknown or lesser known Factory flies.

She wears a ring on her wedding finger at R122. Although I'm not sure those traditional ring positions mean anything these days.

R119, I nominate Julie Klausner to interview Fran.

Or Anna Deavere Smith

I’m glad she’s still around.

[quote]I’m glad she’s still around

She won’t be for long with that nasty smoking habit.

Do all smokers who don’t have accidents or other medical issues die fro smoking related problems?

My mom got COPD years after she quit smoking. Decades later. I hope I have my Dad’s genes related to that.

R137 I’m sure not all, but in my own experience it’s the majority. My mother had COPD, quit and 5 years after quitting got lung cancer. Small Cell lung cancer, the type that only appears in smokers. My father quit in 1994 when his father (a smoker) died from heart failure but he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2015. My aunt had PAD (clogged arteries) and needed an operation for it but they wouldn’t put her under anaesthesia due to COPD so she lost the ability to walk which made the COPD worse and her demise was far worse than my parents who had lung cancer. My uncle currently has emphysema and is housebound at 56 but he smoked 2 packs a day since he was 12.

I hope Fran beats the odds. Yes, she made the decision to continue smoking in this day and age but I feel like losing Fran will be the end of an era. They really don’t make them like her anymore.

Thanks for the clip R122. I need more Fran. I'd forgotten how much I love her.

Fran was just on Jimmy Fallon's show and announced that she's going to have a show on Netflix, produced and directed by Martin Scorsese.

That's Fran stepping up or Marty stepping down. As a lateral move, it could be fascinating. Wish their collaboration well.

My assumption has always been that Fran gets paid to have dinner with you, and she dines out a LOT. I'd love to know what she charges....$1000 a meal?