David Denby, EMINENT JEWS: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
New York Times bestselling author, veteran film critic, and New Yorker staff writer David Denby chats with Zibby about EMINENT JEWS, which profiles Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. The conversation spans from Denby’s early years under the mentorship of Pauline Kael to his decades-long career at The New Yorker, before diving into the cultural impact and complex legacies of the book’s four iconic Jewish figures. Along the way, they discuss the evolution of Jewish identity in American media, the legacy of Bernstein as portrayed in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Mel Brooks’ fearless comedy, and what it means to reclaim the word "Jew."
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive |
| 0:24.0 | look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't |
| 0:29.3 | have to. |
| 0:30.3 | Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. |
| 0:36.2 | For more information, go to Zibbymedia.com |
| 0:38.7 | and follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens. |
| 0:44.5 | David Denby is the author of Eminent Jews Bernstein Brooks, Frieden, Mailer. |
| 0:50.2 | David Denby is the New York Times best-selling author also of great books. His other books include |
| 0:56.3 | American Sucker and Lit Up. He was a film critic for New York Magazine and The New Yorker, where he is now a staff writer. |
| 1:03.7 | His essays have appeared in the New Republic and The Atlantic. He lives in New York City with his wife, novelist Susan Rieger. |
| 1:10.6 | Welcome, David. Thank you so much for coming on to talk about Eminent Jews, Bernstein. Bernstein or Bernstein? I always get it wrong. Bernstein, yeah. Bernstein, right? Yeah. Bernstein, Brooks, Frieden, and Mailer. I mean, I watched the movie and everything. I should know this about Leonard Burns. I mean, the one with Bradley Cooper. I mean, that's not the only reason why I should know it. But anyway, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. I think my bestrow is pretty good, by the way. A lot of people didn't like it because, oh, it didn't have, you know, more about his Broadway career or more about his Jewishness. |
| 1:45.4 | But when you make a biopic, I learn this through many years of film criticism. |
| 1:50.0 | You have to have a plot. |
| 1:51.9 | And if you're as gifted as Leonard Bernstein and you were good at five or six things, |
| 1:55.4 | you're just going to go swinging from one thing to another. |
| 1:58.2 | There are many documentaries about him that do that. |
| 2:01.4 | And what Brad Cooper decided was, we'll tell a family story. |
| 2:05.6 | That's what we'll do. |
| 2:06.4 | And I thought it was very moving. |
| 2:07.7 | And other parts of his life were sort of stuck in the sides. |
| 2:12.1 | You saw him conducting a lot. |
| 2:13.9 | That's true. |
... |
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