CULTURE
“BEFORE THE EVENING BEGAN, I ALWAYS TOOK A STIFF DRINK AND A BETA BLOCKER”
Former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter on the ups and outs of todays society, his famed Oscar party days, Harvey Weinstein - and his new online venue
The meeting was supposed to take place in London. A last-minute scheduling conflict arose. Graydon Carter apologized by e-mail. He was mortified. He suggested instead to meet in Provence where he has rented a house for a year for himself and his family, while his new New York apartment is being renovated. “We are settled about 25 minutes from Nice airport. There are so many more lovely places for us to have a good chat. As ever, Graydon.”
Soon after we met in the village of Valbonne: 1 pm, lunch time. The Café des Arcades has opened its sun umbrellas. His signature hairstyle, the George-Washington-Swoosh, reveals his approach from afar. Graydon Carter, Canadian born, 70 – the Grand Seigneur of American classy journalism. For 25 years he was editor-in-chief of the world’s most influential society magazine Vanity Fair. Now he is devoting his time to Air Mail, a digital newsletter.
Graydon, dressed in his leisurely attire, orders a glass of rosé for both of us. During our two hour lunch we discussed topics that ranged from the new world of snack news, caviar and ketamine, his legendary Oscar party days, as well as the demise of Weinstein and death of Epstein.
JANUARY 7, 2020
INTERVIEW
by DAGMAR VON TAUBE
PHOTOGRAPHY
COURTESY of ANNA CARTER and AIR MAIL
Graydon Carter at Hotel du Cap Eden Roc
Dagmar von Taube: Mr. Carter, you were with Vanity Fair for 25 years. Under your leadership, it became the magazine to read, famous for its in-depth reports and the portrayal of the upper class. Now you are editing a little 'web-thing’ based out of your living room. How come?
Graydon Carter: My last working day at Vanity Fair was on December 13, 2017. Two days later my wife, youngest daughter and I were on a flight headed first to London and then on to Provence. I had retired after editing Vanity Fair for 25 years. As much as I loved the job, I was ready for a change. I was surprised at the response to the news. My farewell even made the front page of The New York Times. I received the nicest letters, maybe 2000 of them in all, and so I spent the first two months answering them. When I finished that, I thought, I’d better not lie around all day, which would be easy for me, by the way.
Like your idol, Hollywood producer Robert Evans, who just died at 89. He used to do everything from his bed, is that true?
I was terribly saddened by the news of Bob Evans’ death. We’d been friends for 30 years and I will miss him. Bob liked working from his bed – and I mean that both professionally and personally. I’m not like that. I like a desk. But, I can also be extremely lazy. Ask my wife! I love to fritter away the early part of the day. I wake up with the sun. Get coffee, read the papers then shower and shave. I might nod off for another quarter of an hour and read for a half hour. Then I get to work. And now we sit here for lunch – the highlight, before a brief afternoon nap and more work. By the way, the Tataki is highly recommendable here.
Amazing! Here we are in the South of France, Graydon Carter is ordering some Japanese food and raving about: sleep!
Writing gives me just the right amount of fear and anxiety to get me out of bed in the morning. I like and need that – as well as working with people who I admire and with whom I can share both the stress and the minor triumphs of the day. I want to stay busy. I just don’t want to work 60 hours a week anymore. That’s part of how I came up with the idea of creating a digital weekly for the worldly traveler. I wanted to create something that could be put together almost anywhere. And having a six-hour jump on New York in terms of time, means I can get almost all my work done before they’ve woken up.
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