Smarter and Funnier? Really?
Posted on June 27th, 2012 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
From Charles McGrath’s NYT remembrance of Nora Ephron, emphasis added:
Nora Ephron, an essayist and humorist in the Dorothy Parker mold (only smarter and funnier, some said) who became one of her era’s most successful screenwriters and filmmakers, making romantic comedy hits like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally,” died Tuesday night in Manhattan.
I challenge Mr. McGrath to name anyone, other than himself—since that’s obviously who he’s referring to*—who would seriously argue that Nora Ephron, as talented as she was, was smarter and funnier than Dorothy Parker. I mean, has he seen Bewitched?
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* On rereading, I think this may be unfair to McGrath. That parenthetical feels like the kind of thing an editor with a strong personal opinion might insert after McGrath has gone to sleep…
One Response
6/27/2012 5:40 pm
Hope you are going to the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival this week, where two of your frequent blog subjects-Larry Summers and Elliot Gerson are listed in the program as “Top People.” Not to be missed: Gerson’s interview of Summers. I find it odd that Summers has still not updated his bio to reflect that the John Bates Clark medal is given yearly. Do you think he is so busy consulting that he hasn’t kept up with academic economics?