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Gill and Laughlin on Video, Joking and Talking About "The New Yawper" and More

Filed under: Looked Into Tagged: books, Brendan Gill, design, James Laughlin, poetry, video

I get so many good newsletters and subscriptions—Manhattan User’s Guide, Today’s Inspiration, Very Short List, the Nextbook Daily Digest, The New-York Ghost, the Little Friends of Printmaking bulletin, &c., &c.—that I can’t look at all of them every day. But today I happened to open a new one, which I don’t remember signing up for but am enjoying anyway, called Get Trio, and found this rare treat (boldface mine):

If you went to the Jack Spade website, you’d expect to find snappy bags and leather accessories for men. And indeed you’ll find those. But click on ‘Happenings’ and you’ll find some things you simply could never have predicted to find.
The most remarkable of these is the reminiscences on video from James Laughlin (1914-1997), poet, as well as publisher of New Directions. Among its many distinctions, New Directions was the first American publisher of Nabokov. Seated with Laughlin is his old friend Brendan Gill of the New Yorker (his birth and death years happen to match Laughlin’s), and the two reminisce about the authors they worked with and befriended.
It’s just two old fellows talking, but in our YouTube world of cats playing the piano, we find the talk absolutely spellbinding. Watch it here.

Man, it’s good. Just go. And buy The Way It Wasn’t, which the Spade site is presenting along with the video. It’s designed by the gifted Rodrigo Corral, is full of fascinating photos and beautiful typography, and it’ll make your whole life (not to mention Laughlin’s) feel like a poem.

1 comments

Comments

Dear Emily,

As the producer/director of the Gill/Laughlin documentary( still in progress), I am delighted by the warmth of your praise.

In any event, my most finished film will be on PBS/American Masters- Clint Eastwood presents- TONY BENNETT: THE MUSIC NEVER ENDS - Airdate - Sept 12 PBS nationwide.

Thanks,
Bruce Ricker

Bruce RickerAugust 26, 2007

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Who she?

I'm Emily Gordon, reachable at emily@emdashes.com.

I'm an editor at PRINT magazine in New York City. I've worked at The Nation, Newsday, PEN America, and Legal Affairs. I've written for the NY Times Book Review, Salon, The Washington Post, The Village Voice... continued

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A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

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They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

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Written and edited by Emily Gordon (plus various guest contributors), designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

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