THE RIGHT MCCARTHY:

LILLIAN, MARY, AND ME (Dick Cavett, 2002-12-09, The New Yorker)

My notes for the program that night read, "Miss McCarthy asked if you'd let her say a few words about a young writer she feels is underrated." During the interview, in an attempt to be clever, I asked McCarthy to name some overrated writers, thinking that she would take that as her cue. Instead, she answered the question, mentioning John Steinbeck, Pearl Buck, and, finally, Lillian Hellman, "who I think is tremendously overrated, a bad writer, and a dishonest writer, but she really belongs to the past."

"What's dishonest about her?" I asked.

"Everything," McCarthy replied, smiling. "I said once in some interview that every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.' " There was an "ooh" and a laugh from the audience, but otherwise the moment passed innocuously. After the taping, the network's lawyer—paid to anticipate litigation—did not utter even his occasional "Dick, we may have a problem." Instead, he said, "Nice show."

During breakfast the next morning, my assistant called. "Have you seen the papers?" she said. "Hellman is suing Mary McCarthy, PBS, and you for
two and a quarter million."

Given all that we now know about Lillian Hellman and the web of lies she wove around herself, there's a curiously neutral, or even defensive, tone to this piece. It reminds you of when Anthony Lake went on Meet the Press and found himself incapable of acknowledging Alger Hiss was a Soviet spy or when all the Hollywood nitwits protested the honorary award that went to the great Elia Kazan. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 9, 2002 9:27 AM