November 12, 2022

Field of Schemes

From the sidelines, Stuart Heritage reports on bribes, spies, David Beckham, and foul play in the calamitous buildup to this year’s World Cup, in Qatar …

Easy Riders

From Hollywood, Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson reveal how Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, and a cheap biker movie changed the film industry forever …

Inspector Gadget

From the AIR MAIL test lab, a milk frother that spits out the perfect hot cocoa, and more from our tech-and-gear expert, Jonathan Margolis …

Charge of the Light-bulb Brigade

From the executive floor, William D. Cohan illuminates Jack Welch’s greatest moment at General Electric: the largest M&A deal of all time …

Baby Driver

From Italy, our car columnist, Jamie Kitman, clambers inside the Microlino, an incredibly popular, remarkably stylish, and very small electric car …

Bellboy Confidential

From New York City, Marlowe Granados reads between the lines of Ludwig Bemelmans’s memoir, Hotel Splendide, to uncover the Madeline author’s chaotic apprenticeship at the Ritz …

The Seasoned Traveler

Luca Guadagnino, the celebrated director of Call Me by Your Name, unpacks his travel routine and explains why he can’t watch movies on airplanes anymore …

But, Wait, There’s More!

Our dear Douglas McGrath, remembered … Timothée Chalamet’s older, funnier sister … Francis Sultana, the “Baroque ’n’ roll” interior designer … a rare interview with Riccardo Muti … T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” turns 100 … floating to Luxor in luxury … Lord Lucan is back …

Issue No. 174

The View from Here Just how corrupt is the Qatar World Cup?

By Stuart Heritage

Read On

4

The Bike Picture How a long-haired band of outsiders with a 16-mm. camera, $300,000, and “a hell of an idea” re-invented American movies with Easy Rider

By Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson

Read On

The Power and the Glory In 1985, G.E. purchased RCA for $6.3 billion in cash, then the largest M&A deal of all time. That G.E. was actually buying back a business it had started 65 years earlier was largely forgotten

By William D. Cohan

Read On

The Constant Gardener

Spring is in the air, and AIR SUPPLY’s latest collection is ripe for the picking. Hone your green thumb with these botanical offerings, including floral accents, Japanese pruners, and clogs that can be worn in—and beyond—the backyard

Shop

Photo: Jarry Tripelon/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images (garden)

My Favorite Things Since debuting her now ubiquitous ballet flats, in 2004, Tory Burch has created a multi-billion-dollar empire. Here, the American designer and entrepreneur reveals the items she swears by—and the gift she never tires of receiving

By Tory Burch

Shop

Photo: Jen Livingston (Burch)

Stirring Developments A hot-chocolate machine you didn’t know you needed; a secret-agent-worthy pair of wireless headphones; the recipe for better flavors; and more

By Jonathan Margolis

Read On

The Secret Life of Hotels Before doing the Madeline children’s books and the murals for New York’s Carlyle-hotel bar, Ludwig Bemelmans worked at the Ritz—and kept notes

By Marlowe Granados

Read On

Eat Alimentari Flâneur We’re going to let you in on a secret: you don’t need to go to the grocery store this Thanksgiving. Daniel Emilio Soares, a fourth-generation…

Read Bloomingdale’s 150th Anniversary At this moment, we estimate you have a dozen tabs open in your browser, one of which is this week’s issue…

Adorn By Alice As the war in Ukraine rages on, an artist named Alex (last name withheld for privacy reasons) is continuing to forge ahead and practice…

Wear Paula Rowan Gloves get a bad rap. All too often, they are sensible and hard-wearing, but terribly unexciting. Paula Rowan simply won’t stand…

Watch “Anastasia” Sometimes, the long, twisted story of how Vladimir Putin crushes all opposition can be explained with a single anecdote…

Set East London Cloth x Cressida Jamieson The analog art of embroidery has been going through a bit of a renaissance. In London, Cressida Jamieson…

Eat Alimentari Flâneur We’re going to let you in on a secret: you don’t need to go to the grocery store this Thanksgiving. Daniel Emilio Soares, a fourth-generation…

Read Bloomingdale’s 150th Anniversary At this moment, we estimate you have a dozen tabs open in your browser, one of which is this week’s issue…

Adorn By Alice As the war in Ukraine rages on, an artist named Alex (last name withheld for privacy reasons) is continuing to forge ahead and practice…

Wear Paula Rowan Gloves get a bad rap. All too often, they are sensible and hard-wearing, but terribly unexciting. Paula Rowan simply won’t stand…

Watch “Anastasia” Sometimes, the long, twisted story of how Vladimir Putin crushes all opposition can be explained with a single anecdote…

Set East London Cloth x Cressida Jamieson The analog art of embroidery has been going through a bit of a renaissance. In London, Cressida Jamieson…

You Belong in the Kitchen! Fall’s best new cookbooks make food prep a pleasure—and they also make excellent gifts

By Christine Muhlke

Read On

Douglas McGrath After an early job at S.N.L., the high-spirited playwright and filmmaker went on to write the book for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and co-write the screenplay for Bullets over Broadway

By David Kamp

Read On

Bubble Boom A Swiss car-maker’s take on a midcentury Italian classic has the world of electric cars buzzing

By Jamie Kitman

Read On

Luca Guadagnino Introducing our new Seasoned Traveler feature, a questionnaire devoted entirely to travel routines. First up: the Italian director behind A Bigger Splash, Call Me by Your Name, and the new film Bones and All

Read On

New Clues in the Notorious Lord Lucan Murders? And other strange news about these curious days …

Read On

“Don’t dwell on your past failures. There are plenty of current and future failures to dwell on.”

Historic and Euphoric By infusing architecturally significant homes with contemporary art, Francis Sultana has become the go-to designer for serious collectors

By Fiona McCarthy

Read On

Hollywood’s Lost Stories Come to Light Sam Wasson discusses a new oral history of movies, told by the people who made them

Read On

Peak Egypt For a once-in-a-lifetime experience, there’s really only one way to travel up the Nile—on a 19th-century sailing vessel

By Marcia DeSanctis

Read On

A Class Act The producing artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater pays tribute to his friend James McMullan, a brilliant artist who has designed its posters for nearly four decades

By André Bishop

Read On

The San Francisco artist Joan Brown loved to get dolled up and go ballroom dancing. Having survived childhood with an alcoholic father and a suicidal mother, a near-death competitive swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco, and all but her fourth marriage, she was, as she put it, “an eternal optimist.” Her work careened between figures swollen with paint as thick as frosting and flat, colorful still lifes with decorative elements. Brown was in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) by the time she was 22. Tragically, she would die in Puttaparthi, India, just 30 years later, accidentally killed by a collapsed turret as she was installing an obelisk made to honor her guru, Sathya Sai Baba. READ ON

Joan Brown’s Grey Cat with Madrone and Birch Trees (1968) is on view as part of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s retrospective of her work. Read On

“Client wants a quick P.O.V. on how this might affect the Q4 holiday campaign.”

Broken Images T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” is the rare modernist masterpiece that still feels modern

By Adam Kirsch

Read On

The Man Who Knows Don Giovanni On the eve of a new production in Turin, master maestro Riccardo Muti unlocks the hero’s secrets

By Matthew Gurewitsch

Read On

Crime Pays He’s written 37 books and sold more than 80 million copies—yet The New York Times still won’t give Michael Connelly’s well-crafted and timely whodunits a proper review

By Robert Crafton

Read On

“Movies … snacks … what took us so long?”

Pauline Chalamet Although the star of The Sex Lives of College Girls grew up in a family of actors, writers, and directors, she resisted a life in the arts for years

By Clara Molot

Read On

Joanne Kaufman On

Playing Under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru

by Hugh Bonneville

Read On

Adam Lashinsky On

Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism

by Rick Wartzman

Read On

Dreams in Progress A new book celebrates Hollywood’s greatest behind-the-scenes photographer

By Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger

Photographs by Bob Willoughby

13

Louis Armstrong during the filming of *High Society,* 1956.

Jean Seberg on location for *Bonjour Tristesse,* 1957.

Jean Seberg in costume on the set of *Saint Joan,* 1956.

*Top,* Elvis and Sophia Loren at Paramount Studios, 1958; *above,* Frank Sinatra during the filming of *The Man with the Golden Arm,* 1955.

Peter O’Toole at the Beverly Hills Hotel, 1962.

Judy Garland on the set of *A Star Is Born,* 1954.

*Top,* Anne Bancroft in costume as Mrs. Robinson during the filming of *The Graduate*, 1967; *above,* Chet Baker, 1953.

Mia Farrow during the making of *Rosemary’s Baby,* 1967.

Audrey Hepburn, a favorite subject of Bob Willoughby’s, 1953.

James Garner and Hepburn in a mock wedding on the set of *The Children’s Hour,* 1961.

Natalie Wood during the making of *The Great Race,* 1964.

Read On

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Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Pip Johnson Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

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Monika Camara Batista

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Rachel LeSage

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Emine Gozde Sevim

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Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff Sade Singleton

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OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

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AIR SUPPLY

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E-Commerce Associates

Coco Paul-Henriot Roxy Solis

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley

The View from Here Just how corrupt is the Qatar World Cup?

The Bike Picture How a long-haired band of outsiders with a 16-mm. camera, $300,000, and “a hell of an idea” re-invented American movies with Easy Rider

The Power and the Glory In 1985, G.E. purchased RCA for $6.3 billion in cash, then the largest M&A deal of all time. That G.E. was actually buying back a business it had started 65 years earlier was largely forgotten

Spring is in the air, and AIR SUPPLY’s latest collection is ripe for the picking. Hone your green thumb with these botanical offerings, including floral accents, Japanese pruners, and clogs that can be worn in—and beyond—the backyard

My Favorite Things Since debuting her now ubiquitous ballet flats, in 2004, Tory Burch has created a multi-billion-dollar empire. Here, the American designer and entrepreneur reveals the items she swears by—and the gift she never tires of receiving

Stirring Developments A hot-chocolate machine you didn’t know you needed; a secret-agent-worthy pair of wireless headphones; the recipe for better flavors; and more

The Secret Life of Hotels Before doing the Madeline children’s books and the murals for New York’s Carlyle-hotel bar, Ludwig Bemelmans worked at the Ritz—and kept notes

You Belong in the Kitchen! Fall’s best new cookbooks make food prep a pleasure—and they also make excellent gifts

Douglas McGrath After an early job at S.N.L., the high-spirited playwright and filmmaker went on to write the book for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and co-write the screenplay for Bullets over Broadway

Bubble Boom A Swiss car-maker’s take on a midcentury Italian classic has the world of electric cars buzzing

Luca Guadagnino Introducing our new Seasoned Traveler feature, a questionnaire devoted entirely to travel routines. First up: the Italian director behind A Bigger Splash, Call Me by Your Name, and the new film Bones and All

New Clues in the Notorious Lord Lucan Murders? And other strange news about these curious days …

Historic and Euphoric By infusing architecturally significant homes with contemporary art, Francis Sultana has become the go-to designer for serious collectors

Hollywood’s Lost Stories Come to Light Sam Wasson discusses a new oral history of movies, told by the people who made them

Peak Egypt For a once-in-a-lifetime experience, there’s really only one way to travel up the Nile—on a 19th-century sailing vessel

Houston

New York City

Paris

Miami

Online

A Class Act The producing artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater pays tribute to his friend James McMullan, a brilliant artist who has designed its posters for nearly four decades

Broken Images T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” is the rare modernist masterpiece that still feels modern

The Man Who Knows Don Giovanni On the eve of a new production in Turin, master maestro Riccardo Muti unlocks the hero’s secrets

Crime Pays He’s written 37 books and sold more than 80 million copies—yet The New York Times still won’t give Michael Connelly’s well-crafted and timely whodunits a proper review

Pauline Chalamet Although the star of The Sex Lives of College Girls grew up in a family of actors, writers, and directors, she resisted a life in the arts for years

Dreams in Progress A new book celebrates Hollywood’s greatest behind-the-scenes photographer

Is Edited By

Deputy Editors

Design Director

Chief Technology Officer

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Senior Editor

Editor at Large

Photo Director

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Production Editor

Associate Editors

Art Director

International Editor

London Editor

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Communications Director

Head of Audience Development

Social Media Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Photo Editor

Designer

Technology

Interns

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Shop General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Advertising Director

European Sales Director

Integrated Marketing Producer

Financial & Business Operations

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

Merchant

Editor

E-Commerce Manager

E-Commerce Associates

In Memoriam