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Gaetano "Gay" Talese (; born February 7, 1932) is an American writer. As a journalist for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' magazine during the 1960s, Talese helped to define contemporary
literary journalism Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...
and is considered, along with
Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
,
Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...
and
Hunter S. Thompson Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of '' Hell's Angels'' (1967), a book for which he s ...
, one of the pioneers of
New Journalism New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non- ...
. Talese's most famous articles are about
Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
and
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
.


Early life

Born in
Ocean City, New Jersey Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the principal city of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Cape May County and is part of the Philadelphia- Wilmington- Camden, P ...
, the son of Italian immigrant parents, Talese graduated from
Ocean City High School Ocean City High School (OCHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Ocean City, in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Ocean C ...
in 1949.


Writer origins


High school

Talese's entry into writing was entirely happenstance, and the
unintended consequence In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was popularised in the twentieth century by Ameri ...
of the then high school sophomore's attempt to gain more playing time for the baseball team. The assistant coach had the duty of telephoning in the chronicle of each game to the local newspaper and when he complained he was too busy to do it properly, the head coach gave Talese the duty. As Talese recalls in his 1996 memoir ''Origins of a Nonfiction Writer'': After only seven sports articles, Talese was given his own column for the weekly ''
Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wor ...
''. By the time Talese left for college during September 1949, he had written some 311 stories and columns for the ''Sentinel-Ledger''. Talese credits his mother as the role model he followed in developing the interviewing techniques that would serve him well later in life, interviewing such varied subjects as mafia members and middle-class Americans on their sexual habits. He relates in ''A Writer's Life:''


College

Tales
graduated from the University of Alabama
in 1953. His selection of a major was, as he described it, a moot choice. "I chose journalism as my college major because that is what I knew," he recalls, "but I really became a student of history." At university, he became a brother of
Phi Sigma Kappa Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...
fraternity. It was here that Talese would begin to employ literary devices more well known for fiction, such as establishing the "scene" with minute details, and beginning articles ''
in medias res A narrative work beginning ''in medias res'' (, "into the middle of things") opens in the midst of the plot (cf. ''ab ovo'', ''ab initio''). Often, exposition is bypassed and filled in gradually, through dialogue, flashbacks or description of pa ...
'' (Latin for "into the midst of things"). During his junior year, Talese became the sports editor for the campus newspaper, ''Crimson-White'', and started a column he dubbed "Sports Gay-zing", for which he wrote on November 7, 1951: This was before Lillian Ross did the same in ''Picture'' (1952) or
Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
used the technique in ''The Muses Are Heard'' (1956). More importantly, Talese included among his subjects both the "losers" and the unnoticed. He was more interested in those who did not attain the glory of winning and less in hero-worshipping the winners.


Professional career


Newspaper reporter

After graduation in June 1953, Talese relocated to New York City, yet could only find work as a
copyboy A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the ''Herald Sun'' who began work there ...
. The job was, however, at the esteemed ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and Talese arrived for his mundane position nevertheless in handstitched Italian suits. Talese was eventually able to get an article published in the ''Times'', albeit unsigned (without credit). In "Times Square Anniversary" (November 2, 1953), Talese interviewed the man, Herbert Kesner, Broadcast Editor, who was responsible for managing the headlines that flash across the famous marquee above
Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
. Talese followed this with an article in the February 21, 1954 edition, concerning the chairs used on the
boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...
of Atlantic City (something with which he was familiar as his home town of Ocean City is the next hamlet south of the gambling
mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
). Yet, his budding journalism career would have to be put on hold – Talese was drafted into the United States Army in 1954. Talese had been required (as were all male students at the time owing to the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
) to join the
Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
(ROTC) and had relocated to New York awaiting his eventual commission as a
second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
. Talese was sent to
Fort Knox Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...
, Kentucky, to train in the Tank Corps. Finding his mechanical skills lacking, Talese was transferred to the Office of Public Information where he once again worked for a local newspaper, '' Inside the Turret'', and soon had his own column, "Fort Knox Confidential". When Talese completed his military obligation during 1956, he was rehired by the New York Times as a sports reporter. Talese later opined, "Sports is about people who lose and lose and lose. They lose games; then they lose their jobs. It can be very intriguing." Of the various fields,
boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
had the most appeal for Talese, largely because it was about individuals engaged in contests and those individuals in the mid to late 1950s were becoming predominately non-white at the
prizefight Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
level. He wrote 38 articles about
Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in his ...
alone. For this, Talese was rewarded with a promotion to the Times' Albany Bureau to cover state politics. It was a short-lived assignment, however, as Talese's exacting habits and meticulous style soon irritated his new editors so much that they recalled him to the city, assigning him to write minor obituaries. Talese puts it, "I was banished to the obituary desk as punishment – to break me. There were major obituaries and minor obituaries. I was sent to write minor obituaries not even seven paragraphs long." After a year working for the ''Times'' obituary section, he began to write articles for the Sunday ''Times'', which was then managed as a separate organization from the daily ''Times'' by editor Lester Markel.


Magazine reporter

Talese's first piece for the magazine ''Esquire'' – a series of scenes in the city – appeared in a special New York issue during July 1960. When the ''Times'' newspaper unions had a work stoppage during December 1962, Talese had plenty of time to watch rehearsals for a production by Broadway director
Joshua Logan Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical '' South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals. Early years Logan ...
for an ''Esquire'' profile. As Carol Polsgrove indicates in her history of ''Esquire'' during the 1960s, it was the kind of reporting he liked to do best: "just being there, observing, waiting for the climactic moment when the mask would drop and true character would reveal itself." In 1964, Talese published '' The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge'', a reporter-style, non-fiction depiction of the construction of the
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and th ...
in New York City. In 1965, he left ''The New York Times'' to write full-time for editor
Harold Hayes Harold Thomas Pace Hayes (April 18, 1926 – April 5, 1989), editor of '' Esquire'' magazine from 1963 to 1973, was a main architect of the New Journalism movement. Biography Born April 18, 1926, in Elkin, North Carolina, Harold Hayes earned an u ...
at ''Esquire''. His 1966 ''Esquire'' article on
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
, " Frank Sinatra Has a Cold", is one of the most influential American magazine articles of all time, and a pioneering example of
New Journalism New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non- ...
and
creative nonfiction Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...
. With what some have called a brilliant structure and pacing, the article focused not just on Sinatra himself, but also on Talese's pursuit of his subject. Talese's celebrated ''Esquire'' essay about
Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
, "The Silent Season of a Hero" – in part a meditation on the transient nature of fame – was also published during 1966. For his part, Talese regarded his 1966 profile of obituarist Alden Whitman, "Mr. Bad News", as his finest. A number of Talese's ''Esquire'' essays were collected into the 1970 book '' Fame and Obscurity''; in its introduction, Talese paid tribute to two writers he admired by citing "an aspiration on my part to somehow bring to reportage the tone that
Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: ''The Young Lions'' ( ...
and John O'Hara had brought to the short story." In 1971, Talese published ''
Honor Thy Father ''Honor Thy Father'' is a 1971 book by Gay Talese, about the travails of the Bonanno crime family in the 1960s, especially Salvatore Bonanno and his father Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno. Background In 1965, Gay Talese left his job as a repor ...
'', a book about the travails of the
Bonanno crime family The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the A ...
in the 1960s, especially
Salvatore Bonanno Salvatore Vincent "Bill" Bonanno (November 5, 1932 – January 1, 2008) was an American mobster who served as consigliere of the Bonanno crime family, and son of crime boss Joseph Bonanno. Later in life, he became a writer and produced films f ...
and his father
Joseph Bonanno Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. Bonanno was born i ...
. The book was based on seven years of research and interviews. ''Honor Thy Father'' was made into a TV movie in 1973. Talese signed a $1.2 million contract with Doubleday in 1972 to write two books, with the first, '' Thy Neighbor's Wife'', due in 1973. Paperback rights to ''Thy Neighbor's Wife'' were sold to
Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...
for $750,000 in 1973. He missed Doubleday's initial deadline and spent 8 years researching the book, including managing
massage parlors A massage parlor (American English) or massage parlour (Canadian/British English) is a place where massage services are provided for a fee. In the 19th century, the term began to be used in English as a euphemism for a brothel. Context In 189 ...
in New York and running a
sex shop A sex shop is a retailer that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, pornography, and other related products. An early precursor of the modern sex shop was a chain of stores set up in th ...
. In 1979
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
paid Talese a record $2.5 million for the film rights. The book was eventually published in 1981 but no film was produced. During 2008,
The Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rang ...
selected Talese's 1970 account of the
Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
murders, "Charlie Manson's Home on the Range", for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime. In 2011, Talese won the
Norman Mailer Prize The Norman Mailer Prize or Mailer Prize is an American literary award established in 2009 by The Norman Mailer Center and The Norman Mailer Writers Colony to celebrate writers and their works. Norman Mailer was a 20th-century American author. Prizes ...
for Distinguished Journalism.


Controversies

In April 2016, Talese spoke at a panel at a
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
journalism conference. During the panel Talese was asked what nonfiction women writers he found inspiring, to which he responded, "I didn't know any women writers that I loved." In response, a
Twitter hashtag Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
was created under #womengaytaleseshouldread. In June 2016, the credibility of Talese's book ''The Voyeur's Motel'', whose subject was Gerald Foos, was questioned when it came to light Foos had made false statements to Talese which Talese did not verify. When news of the credibility broke, Talese stated, "I'm not going to promote this book. How dare I promote it when its credibility is down the toilet?" In subsequent interviews and on an appearance on ''
Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...
'', Talese recanted this disavowal, stating that his story was still accurate despite the discrepancies found by the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. In a November 2017 interview with '' Vanity Fair'' at the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
's Literary Lions Gala, Talese made comments about the sexual assault accusations against Kevin Spacey that had surfaced over the previous weeks. Talese stated, "I would like to ask
pacey Pacey is an English surname and given name variant of ''Passy'', a French locational origin surname, itself derived from the Gallo-Roman Praenomen ''Paccius''. The surname Pacey migrated to England during the 12th Century and eventually evolved al ...
how it feels to lose a lifetime of success and hard work all because of 10 minutes of indiscretion 10 years or more ago. I feel so sad, and I hate that actor that ruined this guy's career. So, OK, it happened 10 years ago... Jesus, suck it up once in a while! You know something, all of us in this room at one time or another did something we're ashamed of. The
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
has done something he's ashamed of. The Dalai Lama should confess... put that in your magazine!"
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
reported the "backlash on social media was almost immediate." Jenavieve Hatch of the ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' called the remarks "disrespectful to survivors of sexual trauma." ''
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
s Tom Sykes wrote "chastising an alleged child sexual harassment victim is a terrible look." ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' called his statements a "bizarre, rabid defense of the actor."


Personal life

In 1959, Talese married writer
Nan Talese Nan Talese (née Ahearn; born December 19, 1933) is a retired American editor, and a veteran of the New York publishing industry. Talese was the senior vice president of Doubleday. From 1990 to 2020, Talese was the publisher and editorial direct ...
(née Ahearn), a New York editor who manages the Nan A. Talese/Doubleday imprint. Their marriage is being documented in a non-fiction book he has been working on since 2007. They have two daughters, Pamela Talese, a painter, and Catherine Talese, a photographer and photo editor.


In popular culture

Talese appeared as a character in several strips of the comic ''
Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States The president ...
'', giving an interview to radio host Mark Slackmeyer to promote his book '' Thy Neighbor's Wife''.


Partial bibliography

Books * ''New York: A Serendipiter's Journey'' (1961) * '' The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge'' (1964) * ''The Overreachers'' (1965; compilation of past reportage) * '' The Kingdom and the Power'' (1969) * '' Fame and Obscurity'' (1970; compilation of past reportage) * ''
Honor Thy Father ''Honor Thy Father'' is a 1971 book by Gay Talese, about the travails of the Bonanno crime family in the 1960s, especially Salvatore Bonanno and his father Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno. Background In 1965, Gay Talese left his job as a repor ...
'' (1971) * '' Thy Neighbor's Wife'' (1981) * ''
Unto the Sons ''Unto the Sons'' is a 1992 book by Gay Talese. The book traces the origins of Talese's own family, beginning with his great-grandfather in Maida, Italy, his grandfather who immigrated to Pennsylvania and Talese's father, who immigrated to the Un ...
'' (1992; memoir) * ''Writing Creative Nonfiction: The Literature of Reality'' (1995) (textbook; with Barbara Lounsberry) * ''The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits and Encounters'' (2003; contains material from ''New York: A Serendipiter's Journey'', ''The Overreachers'' and ''Fame and Obscurity'') * '' A Writer's Life'' (2006; memoir) * ''The Silent Season of a Hero: The Sports Writing of Gay Talese'' (2010; compilation of past reportage) * '' The Voyeur's Motel'' (2016)


References


External links

* *
"Gay Talese"
''Big Think'' * * *

''Vanity Fair'', April 14, 2009
"Gay Talese: 'Sinatra Has a Cold'"
NPR, September 9, 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Talese, Gay 1932 births 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American memoirists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers American essayists American male non-fiction writers American writers of Italian descent Living people Organized crime memoirists People from Ocean City, New Jersey People of Calabrian descent The New York Times writers University of Alabama alumni Writers from Manhattan