Enter Helen (51 page)

386
  
“She made me feel so great”: Ibid.

386
  
“‘What is, what was, Helen really like?'”: Liz Smith, eulogy for Helen
Gurley Brown, posted under “Liz Smith Remembers Helen Gurley Brown,” wowowow.com/culture/liz-smith-remembers-helen-gurley-brown/, October 24, 2012.

386
  
“She may have thought she had it all”: Liz Smith, interview with the author, May 2013.

387
  
“I'm afraid we continue in life to be who we
were
”: Helen Gurley Brown,
I'm Wild Again: Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), p. 63.

387
  
wearing her favorite perfume, a Pucci dress, and a purse containing a twenty-dollar bill: Per Lou Honderich.

387
  
The relative who oversees the cemetery: Ibid.

387
  
The day of Helen's burial, it snowed in Arkansas: Ibid.

388
  
When Lou asked Helen for the names of David's closest relatives: Ibid.

388
  
“As far as I know, Helen Gurley Brown didn't read a lot of what we call Holy Scripture”: Rev. Roger Joslin, burial sermon, May 3, 2013.

388
  
“and the language is every bit as erotic”: Ibid.

388
  
“Your lips are like a crimson thread”: Song of Solomon 4:3.

389
  
“skinny is sacred”: Helen Gurley Brown,
I'm Wild Again
, p. 157.

389
  
“Helen's fierce honesty”; “I'll let the ‘Song of Solomon' give voice to former lovers”: Rev. Roger Joslin, burial sermon, May 3, 2013.

389
  
“You have ravished my heart”: Song of Solomon 4:9.

389
  
“MARRIED TO HELEN GURLEY BROWN”: Gravestone of David Brown, Sisco Cemetery, Osage, Arkansas.

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader's search tools.

Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

Aarons, Slim, 148, 296, 298

abolitionist era, 366

abortion:

     
advice in women's magazines, 123

     
and birth control, 87, 88

     
legislation about, 300, 333

     
and Redstockings, 300, 301

     
Roe v. Wade,
312, 355

     
as social taboo, 36, 87–88, 301–2

     
and women's liberation, 284, 300–302, 309, 312, 335, 363

     
and women's right to choose, 363

Abzug, Bella, 313, 317, 324, 327, 343, 355

Abzug, Martin, 317

ACT UP, 377

Adams, Cindy, 17, 73

Adams, Junius, 242

Adcraft Club of Detroit, 235

Adler, Buddy, 58

AIDS,
Cosmo
article on, 376–78

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), 20

Alexander, Shana, 316

Alford, George, 320–21

Alford, Mary Gurley,
see
Gurley, Mary Eloine

Alger, Horatio, 54

All About Eve
(film), 27, 274

Allen, Steve, 239

Allen, Woody, 242, 366

Aly
(Slater), 209–10

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 303

American Weekly
,
The
, 48, 67

Amory, Cleveland,
371

Anderson, Dick, 180

Anuszkiewicz, Richard, 222

Aronson, Harvey, 262

Associated Press, 138

Astaire, Fred, 176

AT&T, 210

Atherton, Robert C., 129, 138–39, 150, 158, 164

Atkinson, Ti-Grace, 306, 311

At Random
(TV), 46

Auden, W. H., 77

Auger, Claudine, 218

August Is a Wicked Month
(O'Brien), 218

Bacall, Lauren, 121, 226

Baker, Diane, 44

Balsam, Martin, 67

Bancroft, Anne, 47

Bantam Books, 47

Bara, Theda, 57

Barbizon Hotel for Women, New York, 220

Barnard College, 275–77

Barnes, Debra, 286

Barr, Candy, 29

Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBDO), 155–56

Baxter, Anne, 274

Beatles, 108

Beatty, Warren, 147, 148, 163, 255, 341

Bedazzled
(film), 258

Behr, Peter, 275–77

Belding, Don, 25, 134

Benchley, Peter, 360

Bennack, Frank A. Jr., 382, 385–86, 388

Bergman, Ingrid, 14

Berlin, Richard Emmett, 207–8, 214, 299

Bernard Geis Associates,
45

     
and fireman's pole, 18

     
and Helen, 46, 235

     
and promotions, 17–18, 43, 44, 51, 103–4, 116, 262

     
and Susann, 103–4, 234

     
see also
Geis, Bernard “Berney”

Bernbom, Lene, 242, 290, 337

Best of Everything
,
The
(film), 44

Best of Everything
,
The
(Jaffe), 43, 77, 82, 219

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
(film), 318

Biltmore Hotel, New York, 314

Bitter End, Greenwich Village, 20

Bloomberg, Michael, 385

“Blowin' in the Wind” (song), 76

Bodden, Kim St. Clair, 388

Boeck, Renata, 147–48, 368

Bogart, Humphrey, 226

Bond, James (fict.), 74, 108, 218, 340

Bouvier, Jacqueline, 97

Boyd, Stephen, 58

Breakfast at Tiffany's
(film), 16, 21, 67

Brides
, 243

Bridge on the River Kwai
,
The
(film), 13

Brockway, George, 93

Broderick, Matthew, 385

Brown, Bruce, 76, 317

     
death of, 381

     
and Helen, 13, 29, 63, 71

Brown, David, 5–6,
37
, 367

     
advice and support from, 15, 24, 26, 31, 33, 36, 51, 58, 129, 136, 142–43, 145, 201, 208, 246, 330, 350

     
character study of, 11–12

     
and
Cosmopolitan, see Cosmopolitan

     
dating, 11–12, 13–15

     
death and gravestone of, 382, 383, 387–88, 389,
390

     
early career of, 26–29

     
early years of, 10–11

     
as editor, 27–28, 74, 127–28, 129

     
European tour of, 236–37

     
and
Femme
, 122–25

     
and film industry, 28–29, 47, 54, 55–59, 73, 74, 131, 235, 318–20, 359–60, 388

     
first meeting of Helen and, 9–10

     
as ghostwriter, 26

     
and Helen, as a team, 51, 73, 118, 122, 131, 206, 207, 317–18, 381–82

     
and Helen's career, 128, 135–36, 156

     
interviews and media stories about, 17, 25, 73, 317

     
Let Me Entertain You
, 11, 28, 56, 142, 317, 318, 359

     
mentors of, 28

     
and
Ms.,
364

     
and New York, 104

     
previous wives of, 6, 29, 63, 76

     
proposals for TV shows, 118–20, 198

     
and
Sex and the Single Girl
, 17, 24, 31–32, 33, 38, 44, 50–51, 58, 59, 73, 128

     
wedding of Helen and, 29, 31, 36,
37

     
Zanuck/Brown Company, 348–49, 359–60

Brown, Edward, 10

Brown, Helen Gurley,
37
,
80
,
116
,
162
,
174
,
187
,
190
,
193
,
197
,
244
,
321
,
371

     
ad agency jobs of, 17, 30–31, 40–42, 44, 51, 64, 72, 96, 132, 247

     
and aging, 373, 378–84, 386

     
ambition of, 196, 231

     
audience of (her girls), 163, 164–65, 166, 203–5, 246, 288

     
on book tours, 46, 71–72, 228

     
childhood of, 166–77, 368–69, 382

     
and children, 361, 381–82, 385

     
contracts of, 135, 136, 372

     
and
Cosmopolitan
,
see Cosmopolitan

     
and David,
see
Brown, David

     
death of, 384–89,
390

     
early years of,
see
Gurley, Helen

     
fan mail to, 67–68, 71, 72–73, 87, 122, 164

     
and generation gap, 257, 277–78, 287, 293–94, 352, 354, 366, 378

     
Having It All
, 166, 206, 367, 372–73

     
homes of, 29–30, 78

     
I'm Wild Again
, 185, 194, 381, 387

     
influence of, 32, 60, 64–65, 117, 206, 213, 330–32, 363–64, 373, 385, 389

     
influences on, 104, 105–6, 214, 355, 364

     
insecurities of, 136, 142–43, 145, 160, 196, 214, 320–23, 348, 355, 381

     
interviews with, 17, 22–24, 47, 48–49, 68, 115–16, 117–18, 135, 144, 150, 161–62, 230–32, 288, 317, 330, 352, 367–73

     
The Late Show
, 381

     
legacy of, 380

     
letters written by, 25–26, 65, 169, 200–201, 323

     
and Lou, 59–66, 382–84;
see also
Pittman, Norma Lou

     
and men, 196–97, 386

     
and Miss America, 287

     
and money, 72, 323, 330, 382, 384, 386

     
Outrageous Opinions,
235, 242

     
overexposure of, 118

     
proposed musical about, 1–3, 195;
see also
Tornabene, Lyn

     
public image of,
116
, 361–62, 371–72, 380, 381, 386–87

     
and publicity, 38, 39–42, 48–51, 68–69, 72, 115–18, 135

     
rise to fame, 23, 54, 67, 131, 161

     
as self-created, 161, 200, 274, 330

     
as storyteller, 143, 168–69, 206, 368–69

     
style/techniques of, 156, 157, 159–60, 201, 274, 299

     
syndicated newspaper column (“Woman Alone”) by, 59, 72–73, 79, 101–2, 103, 106, 201, 235

     
TV talk show of, 235, 242

     
uniqueness of, 161–62

     
voice of, 21–22, 115

     
weight obsession of, 237, 384

     
and women's liberation, 287, 307, 308, 310–12, 316, 317, 332, 333, 359, 362, 363–66, 370

     
work ethic of, 54, 68–69, 117, 240, 259, 322–23, 355, 368, 380

see also Sex and the Office
;
Sex and the Single Girl

Brown, Jim, 265

Brown, Lillian, 10

Brown Institute for Media Innovation, 384

Brownmiller, Susan, 302, 304–7, 332

     
In Our Time
, 301

Bryan, Cleo Gurley, 3, 367, 382

     
death of, 367

     
early years of,
see
Gurley, Cleo

     
and Leigh's death, 194

     
marriage to Leigh, 192

Bryan, Leigh, 170, 171, 182–84, 192, 194

Brydges, Earl W., 333

Bulldog Beer, 198

Burke, Billie, 153

Burton, Eve, 382, 388

Burton, Richard, 57, 58, 152

Caine, Michael,
264

Campbell, Mary, 134, 281

Capote, Truman, 103

Caravaggio, 340

Carbine, Patricia, 211–12, 316, 324, 326–29, 356, 362, 364

Career Girl, Watch Your Step!
(Wylie), 98, 102–3

Carter, John Mack, 304–6, 312, 362

Cassini, Oleg, 106

Cather, Willa, 27

Catholic Digest
, 40

Cavalier
, 25

Ceballos, Jacqui, 306, 308, 314–15

Cerf, Bennett, 239

Charleston Gazette
, 53

Chavez, Cesar, 264

Checker, Chubby, 76

Chisholm, Shirley, 313, 324

Christie, Julie, 215

Civil Rights Act (1964), 111–12

civil rights movement, 34, 98, 111–12

Clairol, 217

Clark, Wayne, 6, 10, 29

Clay, Cassius, 161

Cleopatra
(film), 47, 56–58, 73, 74, 131

Clinton, Hillary, 386

Coburn, James, 340, 342

Coca-Cola, 210

Cochran, Jacqueline, 26

Cocoon
(film), 388

Colbert, Claudette, 57, 176

Coles, Joanna, 376

Collier's
, 27

Condé Nast, 134

Connery, Sean, 218

Connors, William, 258

Cooke, Charles, 198–99

Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt, 314, 352

Cosmopolitan
:

     
ad revenues of, 231

     
advertising luncheons at “21” Club, 226–28

     
audience for, 163, 164, 166, 201, 202–3, 204–5, 209–10, 212, 214, 219–20, 221, 225, 228, 229, 249–50, 271, 293, 353

     
August issue (Helen's second), 216, 218

     
changing style of, 375–78

     
cover price of, 215

     
covers, 146–48, 162, 207–8, 209, 218, 224, 225–26, 229, 246, 258, 261, 336, 342, 367, 375

     
creative reporting encouraged in, 248–49, 270, 271–74

     
David as editor of, 5, 27, 28, 127–28, 129

     
David's advice and help to Helen on, 129–31, 142–43, 145, 156, 201, 207, 208, 247

     
decline of, 27–28, 158, 163, 231, 352–53

     
editorial budget of, 214

     
editorial content of, 148–50, 207, 208, 214–15, 218, 221, 225, 247– 48, 269, 291–92, 294, 376–78

     
estrogen therapy article in, 148–50, 207, 208

     
and
Femme
, 125, 129

     
Helen as editor-in-chief of, 131, 134, 135–43, 161–65, 200–201, 209, 218, 280–82, 307, 323, 360, 372, 376, 379

     
Helen's editorial column (“Step Into My Parlour”), 200–201, 204–5, 206–7, 221, 222, 237, 341, 348

     
Helen's editorial work in, 141–42, 145, 157–58, 216–18, 246, 296

     
Helen's final years in, 376–82