1986
Mailer's PEN presidency peaks and nearly breaks in January, when the 48th International PEN Congress he organized in New York is convulsed by his invitation of Secretary of State George Shultz and by a women writers' protest, led by Betty Friedan, over the scarcity of women on its panels; Mailer is elected American PEN president by acclamation on 12 January. In the spring the Actors Studio stages his Marilyn Monroe play Strawhead, with his daughter Kate as Monroe. In the fall he adapts and directs the film of Tough Guys Don't Dance in Provincetown for Cannon Films, on a seven-week, $5 million shoot.
January — the 48th International PEN Congress
The defining event of Mailer’s PEN presidency was the 48th International PEN Congress, held in New York 11–16 January 1986 on the theme he chose, “The Writer’s Imagination and the Imagination of the State” (his welcome letter, 86.3, opened the program). On 12 January he was elected president of American PEN by acclamation (86.5), and delivered the opening address (86.20) before some 700 writers from 40 countries.
Two controversies overwhelmed the week. First, Mailer’s invitation of Secretary of State George P. Shultz as a welcoming speaker — made, critics said, without board approval — drew a protest letter signed by 65 writers (E.L. Doctorow’s “Shultz and PEN” stated the complaint), with Shultz heckled and the “Shultz issue” dominating the sessions (86.2, 86.5–86.8, 86.13); a number of writers, including Gay Talese, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Kurt Vonnegut, defended Mailer (86.5). Second, a women writers’ caucus led by Betty Friedan protested the scarcity of women on the panels; the Congress “ended with a protest,” and Mailer, both praised and attacked for his organizing, called for a vote on removing himself — “the votes were solidly in his favor” (86.10, 86.11). His off-the-cuff remark that “there are countries in the world where there are no good women writers” — meant, he said, of autocracies like Saudi Arabia — was seized on as sexism, notably by Elaine Showalter in the London Review of Books (86.21a). The week generated dozens of round-ups (86.14–86.30), the fullest being Richard Stern’s “Penned In” (86.30) and Rhoda Koenig’s “At Play in the Fields of the Word” (86.19). Nadine Gordimer‘s companion statement was published with Mailer’s address (86.20).
Spring — Strawhead at the Actors Studio
The Actors Studio gave the fullest staging of Mailer’s Marilyn Monroe play Strawhead, adapted with Richard Hannum from Of Women and Their Elegance (80.15), with his daughter Kate Mailer as Monroe — the cover of Vanity Fair’s April issue, “Mailer’s New Marilyn: It’s His Daughter!” (86.22, 86.25). The play, also given brief runs in Boston and Provincetown, was never published.
Fall — directing the Tough Guys Don’t Dance film
In the fall Mailer adapted and directed the film of Tough Guys Don’t Dance in Provincetown for Cannon Films — a roughly $5 million production on a seven-week schedule, wrapping on 13 December (86.36, 86.39). Ryan O’Neal played Tim Madden and Debra Sandlund played Patty Lareine; Mailer’s own Commercial Street house stood in for Madden’s (86.37). A long run of on-set interviews (86.29, 86.32, 86.35–86.40a) caught him comparing the two crafts — “It took me two months to write the novel. The screenplay took six months” (86.38) — and savoring the work: O’Neal, who praised Mailer’s boxing, said, “He blackened my eyes” (86.39a). The Cannon arrangement also had Mailer slated to appear, with Kate, in Jean-Luc Godard’s King Lear (86.29).
Other notices
Mailer’s year-end interviews ranged beyond the film: a January Elle interview on PEN and the McCarran-Walter Act (86.1), “Throwing Punches: Mailer on Mailer” in Esquire (86.28, conducted by Buzz Farbar’s daughter Jennifer), and an excerpt of his 1969 National Book Award speech for The Armies of the Night (86.34). Martin Amis’s composite portrait “Mailer: The Avenger and the Bitch” appeared in The Moronic Inferno (86.42).
Related pages
- 1985 | 1987
- PEN American Center | “The Writer’s Imagination and the Imagination of the State” | Strawhead | Tough Guys Don’t Dance (film)
- Letter to the Guests of Honor and the PEN Delegates (86.3) | Of Women and Their Elegance (80.15) | Throwing Punches: Mailer on Mailer (86.28)