photo credit: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
When Joyce Wadler was the New York Times’ Boldface columnist, there was something special in the way she delivered gossip. So wide-eyed, so enthusiastic. So it’s no wonder that her piece on Robert Hughes, stumping for his new memoir THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW, has the same gee-willikers feel of her earlier columns. When talking to Hughes’ current wife about his previous exploits, Wadler comments “Still, when one has not yet met the wife, it seems best to be diplomatic” especially about getting an STD by proxy from Jimi Hendrix.
Never mind that we learn far more about their physical interactions:
“Would you say I was wild and woolly?” Mr. Hughes asks.
“I would say you were the same way you are now, but without the injuries,” Ms. Downes says. “From someone who has such confidence, it is incredible how insecure you are of your own talents.”
“How sweet of you,” Mr. Hughes says, with not a touch of irony.
There’s more, way more, where that came from…