Breakfast with the Uncultured: Me and J.F.K Jr. and George and Matt Berman

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Background
Quite a bit ago a regurgitated story about how Princess Diane and J.F.K. Jr. had a secret meeting years ago made the rounds again. They were meeting in hopes that she would do a cover shoot for his magazine, George. (Matt Berman, whose book this post is about, recently posted a sketch that JFK Jr. presented to Diana at their meeting) It didn't happen but of course a meeting of two iconic people would make the news, even years later. Skimming the articles and reading comments about John and George and the 90s gave me a wave a nostalgia (as do most things these days), but also made me want to learn more about John.

I started with his wikipedia then onto other short articles, but they were filled with the same stories and thoughts except on who they considered the love of his life (the three main women of course being his longtime friend turned girlfriend, Christina Haag, actress Daryl Hannah, and Calvin Klein publicist Carolyn Bessette). There was one interesting fact I found: there is no audio recording of (his eventual wife) Bessette's voice. The public didn't know what she sounded like, which is so odd to me since they were so hounded by paparazzi, but I guess that was pre TMZ and camera phones. When filming Gone Girl, director David Fincher encouraged Rosamund Pike to base Amy Dunne on Bessette, but even with their resources they couldn't find any recordings. This ended up either being false or they didn't do their research well as a (brief) paparazzi video was later shown on this past Friday's TLC Special, so there is probably more.

Then came the youtube interviews and even the SpikeTV doc, I Am JFK Jr.. This will sound a bit much, but I just wasn't satisfied. What I realized is that although I enjoyed reading/hearing about his life growing up (very cool that he and Christiane Amanpour were roommates throughout college) and the drama that was his love life, it was George that I was interested in. George was a political magazine with a pop culture twist founded by JFK Jr. and Michael Berman. With contributors including Norman Mailer,

I still remember when the first cover was unveiled. Cindy Crawford dressed as a sexy George Washington (that's something her and I have in common, though I was Lincoln). I don't remember that time too well, since I was only about 10, but I do remember it being a big deal and I wanted to sneak a copy into our grocery store cart even though I wouldn't have any idea who or what was in the magazine. It just looked...cool.

A few people who were close to John and Carolyn have written memoirs, including the aforementioned Chistina Haag, but it was Matt Berman's book, JFK Jr., George, & Me: A Memoir, about his time as the art director at George that piqued my interest. And as luck would have it, Amazon was offering me a free audible trial so I figure, why not?

[proposed book covers by Ben Wiseman]

The Book
At just over 4 hours in length, it's a breezy listen, especially given the pop culture topic that is narrated by George Newbern. Yes, that George Newbern who was Brian McKenzie in the Father of the Bride remake, helped Chris and the kids in Adventures in Babysitting and as Yeti, I mean Danny, in Friends. You may also remember the iconic Hallmark Keepsake commercials he did with his Father of the Bride costar, Kimberly Williams. Suffice to say, if I were to ever meet Matt Bermen, I now expect him to sound like George Newbern.

Matt gives a little history about himself in the first few chapters: an attack by raccoons when he was a child that left lifelong scars, his great uncle, Harold Seroy, who created movie posters (this write up on Mubi is a nice read) and his early life in New York City.

The majority of the book covers Matt's time at George magazine, going into detail about the process that went into every issue with anecdotes and offhand comments, such as when he was presenting possible logos and an Arena magazine with Daryl Hannah on the cover was just inches from John that he subtly flipped over.

He writes about a number of cover shoots, not holding back on who was the most stressful: Demi Moore (whose shoot was inspired by her collection of marionettes), Barbra Streisand (hers being mentioned in a couple of chapters, from meeting at her house in Malibu to her sending John a gift that made him laugh), and his favorites: Jenny McCarthy and Kate Moss being up for anything, Drew Barrymore being so easy going and just as fun as you'd think, and the charming Elizabeth Hurley.

The Magazine
But the inside of the magazine was just as interesting as the covers. John wanted to keep the content bipartisan and the list of some of its contributors shows that: Norman Mailer, Chris Matthews, Anne Coulter, Al Franken, Al D'Amato, and even Kellyanne Conway.

It also fell victim to at least three of Stephen Glass's fabricated articles, most notably in a profile of Vernon Jordan with Glass trashing then-President Bill Clinton's adviser, Vernon Jordan with fake sources and quotes. (sidenote: if you haven't, check out the film, Shattered Glass)

If you're interested in obtaining past issues, definitely check out eBay, I was able to get two issues at a reasonable price, it's a great reminder of what was happening 20+ years ago and now that I'm older, I'm actually able to appreciate its content.

Below are just some of its fun covers: