1 00:00:11,970 --> 00:00:13,970 No matter who you are, you have just your life. 2 00:00:14,055 --> 00:00:17,095 But in books, you have a zillion lives. You have a zillion things, so… 3 00:00:17,183 --> 00:00:20,273 To me, it's-- it's just a way of being immensely rich. 4 00:00:20,353 --> 00:00:22,273 This may be the reason I never cared about money. 5 00:00:22,355 --> 00:00:25,275 Because as soon as you can read, you are incredibly rich. 6 00:00:25,358 --> 00:00:28,948 You know? I mean, so rich that if you read all the time, you wouldn't have time 7 00:00:29,029 --> 00:00:32,159 to think about money, which is minute, as opposed to reading, which is gigantic. 8 00:00:35,660 --> 00:00:39,080 [woman] Do you think that there's a suffocating political correctness? 9 00:00:39,164 --> 00:00:40,874 [Fran] She wants to know if I think 10 00:00:40,957 --> 00:00:43,247 that there's a suffocating political correctness. 11 00:00:43,334 --> 00:00:45,964 And my answer to you is I'm breathing fine. 12 00:00:46,046 --> 00:00:47,296 -Um… -[audience laughs] 13 00:00:47,380 --> 00:00:48,340 [laughs] 14 00:00:48,423 --> 00:00:52,803 ♪ You can't judge sugar By lookin' at the cane ♪ 15 00:00:52,886 --> 00:00:56,466 ♪ You can't judge a woman By lookin' at her man ♪ 16 00:00:57,140 --> 00:01:00,940 ♪ You can't judge a sister By lookin' at her brother ♪ 17 00:01:01,519 --> 00:01:05,149 ♪ You can't judge a book By lookin' at the cover ♪ 18 00:01:05,231 --> 00:01:07,361 ♪ Oh, can't you see? ♪ 19 00:01:08,068 --> 00:01:11,738 ♪ Oh, you misjudge me ♪ 20 00:01:13,448 --> 00:01:17,368 ♪ Well, I look like a farmer But I'm a lover ♪ 21 00:01:18,495 --> 00:01:21,915 ♪ Can't judge a book By lookin' at the cover ♪ 22 00:01:25,585 --> 00:01:26,795 Where should I sit? 23 00:01:26,878 --> 00:01:30,088 We're gonna go table by table now. You're gonna choose a table. 24 00:01:30,173 --> 00:01:32,013 See which one is best for you to sit. 25 00:01:32,926 --> 00:01:35,346 -Move it around here. How's that? -It's fine. 26 00:01:36,721 --> 00:01:38,431 -The food is horrible, though. -[scoffs] 27 00:01:38,515 --> 00:01:39,465 [both laugh] 28 00:01:40,141 --> 00:01:41,601 ♪ Come on in closer, baby ♪ 29 00:01:43,144 --> 00:01:44,654 ♪ Hear what else I gotta say ♪ 30 00:01:45,772 --> 00:01:48,862 Reading is a taste. This is my belief about reading. 31 00:01:48,942 --> 00:01:50,192 It's simply a taste. 32 00:01:50,276 --> 00:01:53,316 You know, it's like… if you, uh… 33 00:01:53,404 --> 00:01:55,914 grow up in an environment where books are available, 34 00:01:55,990 --> 00:01:58,990 because they're in your house, or someone takes you to the library, 35 00:01:59,077 --> 00:02:01,247 or there's a library at your school, or whatever, 36 00:02:01,329 --> 00:02:05,879 some people might love to read, just take to it, and some people might not. 37 00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:08,499 You know, it is-- I really believe it's just a taste. 38 00:02:08,586 --> 00:02:10,956 You know, I… The second I learned how to read, 39 00:02:11,047 --> 00:02:13,007 it was, like, unbelievable to me. 40 00:02:13,508 --> 00:02:14,878 Like, the world became… 41 00:02:15,552 --> 00:02:18,562 And I was pretty happy before that. I had quite a happy childhood. 42 00:02:18,638 --> 00:02:24,348 But reading was like… My-- my world became a billion times bigger, you know? 43 00:02:24,435 --> 00:02:28,305 That used to be the point of reading, in a way, you know. Now it's not. 44 00:02:28,398 --> 00:02:30,898 Now people are always saying, you know, um… 45 00:02:31,401 --> 00:02:34,571 "I-- You know… There's no books about people like me. 46 00:02:34,654 --> 00:02:36,574 -I don't see myself in the book." -[Martin laughs] 47 00:02:36,656 --> 00:02:37,906 I always think, like… 48 00:02:37,991 --> 00:02:41,081 "Did you see yourself in this book?" And I always think, "No." 49 00:02:41,161 --> 00:02:45,421 I mean, a book isn't supposed to be a mirror. It's supposed to be a door! 50 00:02:45,498 --> 00:02:46,498 [Martin] Uh-huh. 51 00:02:46,583 --> 00:02:50,213 I feel. It never occurred to me I would see myself in a book, frankly. 52 00:02:50,295 --> 00:02:52,255 I never even thought about it. Um… 53 00:02:53,548 --> 00:02:56,508 Uh… I mean, even as a child, it never occurred to me. 54 00:02:56,593 --> 00:02:58,893 So the second I learned to read, I just loved to read. 55 00:02:59,512 --> 00:03:00,892 There used to be some… 56 00:03:00,972 --> 00:03:03,772 um, some imaginary figure called the "common reader." 57 00:03:05,268 --> 00:03:08,268 -I don't know what happened. -It's been replaced by the common writer. 58 00:03:08,354 --> 00:03:09,864 [laughs] 59 00:03:09,939 --> 00:03:11,359 [chuckles] Don't you think? 60 00:03:11,858 --> 00:03:14,818 But, I mean, I think people used to be more open to books. 61 00:03:14,903 --> 00:03:17,743 Do you think that's-- that's true? I mean, in a real way. 62 00:03:19,741 --> 00:03:22,291 Yeah, I think they didn't mind, 63 00:03:22,827 --> 00:03:26,207 and maybe they looked for a kind of alternate… 64 00:03:27,165 --> 00:03:30,125 world or universe or set of imagination. 65 00:03:30,210 --> 00:03:35,260 But you… you have said this before, and I guess it's truer than I thought. 66 00:03:35,798 --> 00:03:38,678 Uh, many readers really are looking… [laughs] 67 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,100 I see you, raise you… for some replica of their lives. 68 00:03:42,180 --> 00:03:43,180 Yes, themselves. 69 00:03:43,264 --> 00:03:45,814 I think the reader is, in a se-- 70 00:03:45,892 --> 00:03:50,442 -I am the reader of the books I write-- -You are, but the other readers aren't. 71 00:03:50,521 --> 00:03:53,441 -That's what I try to impress upon you. -[laughter] 72 00:03:53,524 --> 00:03:55,614 Your other readers aren't you. 73 00:03:56,277 --> 00:03:57,397 Yes, they are. 74 00:03:58,029 --> 00:04:00,159 -[laughs] No-- -You say "we." You told me that once. 75 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,330 -[scattered applause] -"Fran, when you write, you say 'you.'" 76 00:04:04,911 --> 00:04:07,211 I gave you something I wrote. You said, "One suggestion. 77 00:04:07,288 --> 00:04:11,418 You say 'you' here, but you shouldn't say 'you.' 78 00:04:11,501 --> 00:04:13,131 You should say 'we.'" 79 00:04:13,711 --> 00:04:14,711 And I said, "Why?" 80 00:04:14,796 --> 00:04:16,916 -You said, "That invites the reader in." -Mm-hm. 81 00:04:17,006 --> 00:04:19,426 I said, "But I don't wanna invite the reader in." 82 00:04:19,509 --> 00:04:20,679 [both laugh] 83 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,350 I said… I said, "I mean 'you.'" 84 00:04:24,973 --> 00:04:27,063 -[laughs] -I said, "I'm not a hostess!" 85 00:04:27,141 --> 00:04:28,641 [audience laughing] 86 00:04:31,729 --> 00:04:33,979 I said, "I'm not a hostess. I'm a prosecutor." 87 00:04:34,065 --> 00:04:35,815 [both laughing] 88 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:38,650 And you are a hostess. You want to invite them in. 89 00:04:38,736 --> 00:04:40,196 -Yes. -Yes. 90 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:42,700 -Because you think they-- -I try very hard. "Come on!" 91 00:04:42,782 --> 00:04:45,032 -You know? "Come on!" -[cheering and applause] 92 00:04:55,253 --> 00:04:58,343 [Fran] Recently, I bought a shorthand dictionary. 93 00:04:59,716 --> 00:05:02,176 If I see a certain kind of book, I buy it, if I can. 94 00:05:02,260 --> 00:05:05,680 And dictionaries… I have dozens, dozens of dictionaries. 95 00:05:05,763 --> 00:05:08,183 Um… So, I never saw a dictionary of shorthand. 96 00:05:08,766 --> 00:05:12,396 So I bought it not because I know shorthand, but because I don't have one. 97 00:05:12,478 --> 00:05:15,568 Sometimes you're in here, and this is also true at the Strand, 98 00:05:15,648 --> 00:05:18,818 where they buy old books, and they're unpacking them, and you're… 99 00:05:18,901 --> 00:05:21,571 I have been in both stores, this store and the Strand, 100 00:05:21,654 --> 00:05:24,414 where when I bring the book to ask how much it is, the person goes, 101 00:05:24,490 --> 00:05:27,700 "Where'd you find this? You're not…" "I was crawling under that table." 102 00:05:27,785 --> 00:05:30,155 "You're not supposed to go back there." 103 00:05:30,246 --> 00:05:33,786 But when I found the shorthand dictionary and I brought it to the front, 104 00:05:33,875 --> 00:05:36,955 the woman said, "I thought you would buy this." 105 00:05:37,628 --> 00:05:41,258 It's very different to be in a bookstore than it is to order a book. 106 00:05:41,883 --> 00:05:44,683 You know? I don't have a computer, but if I want a book, 107 00:05:44,761 --> 00:05:46,681 I ask a friend, "Can you order this on Amazon?" 108 00:05:46,763 --> 00:05:47,973 But I have to know the book, 109 00:05:48,056 --> 00:05:50,136 -which is not the same thing. -[Martin] That's right. 110 00:05:50,224 --> 00:05:53,234 Going around a bookstore, you think, "What's this? What's that?" 111 00:05:53,311 --> 00:05:54,771 You know, you find things. 112 00:05:55,355 --> 00:05:57,355 I remember there were those secondhand bookstores… 113 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:58,820 -[Martin] Right. -…on 4th Avenue. 114 00:05:58,900 --> 00:05:59,860 On 4th Avenue in 1925 115 00:05:59,942 --> 00:06:02,822 And they lasted probably as long as those guys lasted, 116 00:06:02,904 --> 00:06:04,454 because they never sold you a book, 117 00:06:04,530 --> 00:06:06,120 -they wouldn't sell you a book. -I know. 118 00:06:06,199 --> 00:06:07,619 -No. -You know, those dusty guys, 119 00:06:07,700 --> 00:06:09,160 -reading their dusty books. -Right. 120 00:06:09,243 --> 00:06:12,003 -You'd walk in, they'd look up, annoyed. -[laughs] 121 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,370 You know? You would, like… [coughs] 122 00:06:14,457 --> 00:06:17,497 You'd take… [blows] a book. "How much is this?" 123 00:06:18,544 --> 00:06:19,674 [Martin chuckles] 124 00:06:19,754 --> 00:06:23,304 [Fran] Now there's just the Strand on Fourth Avenue. There's nothing else left. 125 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:24,800 [horn blares] 126 00:06:24,884 --> 00:06:28,644 This building, it's a holdout from the point of view of… A building holdout. 127 00:06:29,472 --> 00:06:32,392 I know that they offered the owners of this building, 128 00:06:32,475 --> 00:06:35,185 who are the owners of the bookstore, a huge amount of money. 129 00:06:35,269 --> 00:06:37,059 Millions and millions of dollars. 130 00:06:37,146 --> 00:06:39,516 You do not make millions of dollars selling books, 131 00:06:39,607 --> 00:06:42,067 not even if you started selling them in 1925. 132 00:06:42,151 --> 00:06:43,651 And they refused to sell. 133 00:06:44,779 --> 00:06:47,619 Owning a bookstore was never the road to riches. 134 00:06:47,698 --> 00:06:51,488 So people owned a bookstore because they loved books, you know? 135 00:06:51,577 --> 00:06:54,657 And so every bookstore had a particular sensibility. 136 00:06:54,747 --> 00:06:56,707 There were bookstores where you had to, like, know. 137 00:06:56,791 --> 00:06:59,001 Not because they were, uh, illegal, 138 00:06:59,085 --> 00:07:02,045 but because they were, like, on the fifth floor of the building. 139 00:07:02,130 --> 00:07:04,380 Someone would say, "You know, on the fifth floor 140 00:07:04,465 --> 00:07:06,175 uh, in that building on 12th Street, 141 00:07:06,259 --> 00:07:08,179 there's, like, a communist bookstore." 142 00:07:08,678 --> 00:07:13,518 Okay? Now, I mean, this was never, obviously, a very lucrative business, 143 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:15,439 and I was never a communist, 144 00:07:15,518 --> 00:07:18,308 but I thought, "Really? I want to go and look at these books." 145 00:07:18,396 --> 00:07:20,766 I bought some, because I didn't have any communist books. 146 00:07:20,857 --> 00:07:23,607 I thought, "You know, I have no communist books in my house." 147 00:07:23,693 --> 00:07:24,783 Then I would read them. 148 00:07:25,653 --> 00:07:27,243 This is one reason communism didn't work. 149 00:07:27,321 --> 00:07:28,611 -No good writers. -[laughs] 150 00:07:28,698 --> 00:07:31,158 ♪ Brush up your Shakespeare ♪ 151 00:07:32,034 --> 00:07:34,044 ♪ Start quoting him now ♪ 152 00:07:35,204 --> 00:07:37,834 ♪ Brush up your Shakespeare ♪ 153 00:07:37,915 --> 00:07:40,585 ♪ And the women you will wow ♪ 154 00:07:41,294 --> 00:07:43,634 ♪ Just declaim a few lines from Othell-a ♪ 155 00:07:44,255 --> 00:07:46,795 ♪ And they think You're a heck of a fella ♪ 156 00:07:47,383 --> 00:07:50,473 ♪ If your blonde won't respond When you flatter 'er ♪ 157 00:07:50,553 --> 00:07:53,313 ♪ Tell her what Tony told Cleopat-erer ♪ 158 00:07:53,389 --> 00:07:56,269 ♪ And if still to be shocked She pretends, well ♪ 159 00:07:56,767 --> 00:07:59,807 ♪ Just remind her that All's Well That Ends Well ♪ 160 00:08:00,438 --> 00:08:02,818 ♪ Brush up your Shakespeare ♪ 161 00:08:03,316 --> 00:08:05,936 ♪ And they'll all kowtow ♪ 162 00:08:13,326 --> 00:08:15,576 I mean, people must still have books. You can't… 163 00:08:15,661 --> 00:08:18,371 One thing about books, you cannot give them away anymore. 164 00:08:19,582 --> 00:08:21,922 It used to be, I would go through my books every year, 165 00:08:22,001 --> 00:08:24,091 -the ones that I didn't want… -Right, yeah. 166 00:08:24,170 --> 00:08:28,760 Anyone would take them. Any school, any, you know, like, library in a school. 167 00:08:28,841 --> 00:08:32,301 Now, no one will take them, because they take up room. 168 00:08:32,386 --> 00:08:36,806 I am absolutely, a hundred percent, 169 00:08:36,891 --> 00:08:38,891 -incapable of throwing a book away. -I was gonna ask. 170 00:08:38,976 --> 00:08:40,806 -I can't. -I cannot throw a book away. To me… 171 00:08:40,895 --> 00:08:43,395 -it's like throwing a human being away. -Yeah. 172 00:08:43,481 --> 00:08:45,691 Okay? So, I mean… There are many more human beings 173 00:08:45,775 --> 00:08:48,235 -that I'd rather throw away, by the way. -No, we-- [laughs] 174 00:08:48,319 --> 00:08:51,239 To me, a book is really the closest thing to a human being. 175 00:08:51,322 --> 00:08:53,872 -Yeah. -And so, I cannot throw them away. 176 00:08:53,950 --> 00:08:56,240 I've sometimes seen, like… 177 00:08:56,327 --> 00:08:57,827 -a book in the trash… -No, it's awful. 178 00:08:57,912 --> 00:08:59,832 And it, like-- it's horrible. 179 00:08:59,914 --> 00:09:02,634 Even if it's a critic who's written terrible things about you, 180 00:09:02,708 --> 00:09:04,958 -I can't give it away. -Even if it's a piece of junk 181 00:09:05,044 --> 00:09:06,964 -that should never have been a book. -[laughs] 182 00:09:07,046 --> 00:09:10,126 Which I also get, you know, and those, like, pile up. 183 00:09:10,216 --> 00:09:13,886 And so anyone who comes over, they always look, and I always say… 184 00:09:13,970 --> 00:09:16,060 -There's certain piles of books… "Hey!" -You can take. 185 00:09:16,138 --> 00:09:18,178 -"Take 'em." Yeah. -"Anything you want. Please." 186 00:09:18,266 --> 00:09:21,186 "This looks interesting." I'm thinking, "It's not, but take it." 187 00:09:21,269 --> 00:09:24,229 Do you read a lot of new writers? Do you read a lot of young writers? 188 00:09:24,313 --> 00:09:25,823 -Do you read a lot? -I do. I read a lot. 189 00:09:25,898 --> 00:09:28,188 -Yeah. -Yes. I-- It's mostly what I do, is read. 190 00:09:28,276 --> 00:09:29,896 Basically, I'm a bookworm. 191 00:09:29,986 --> 00:09:33,066 How do you get onto the books that you read, knowing there's-- 192 00:09:33,155 --> 00:09:36,485 even if you just focused on the good ones, there's more than you can possibly read? 193 00:09:36,576 --> 00:09:39,036 I've always had, although it becomes harder and harder, 194 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,750 many friends older than me who say, "What? You haven't read this?" 195 00:09:43,249 --> 00:09:44,749 Then they tell me, and I read it. 196 00:09:44,834 --> 00:09:48,714 Also, I used to browse around bookstores, but there are fewer and fewer of them. 197 00:09:48,796 --> 00:09:51,966 Um… But it's just something I think about all the time, 198 00:09:52,049 --> 00:09:53,179 If someone recommends a book 199 00:09:53,259 --> 00:09:56,049 and I think that would be a good recommendation, I buy the book. 200 00:09:56,137 --> 00:09:57,887 If someone recommends books to me 201 00:09:57,972 --> 00:10:00,852 and they're-- I don't like them, or I really don't like them, 202 00:10:00,933 --> 00:10:02,943 I hold it against the person who recommended them. 203 00:10:03,019 --> 00:10:04,899 -[Martin chuckles] -Like, I… 204 00:10:04,979 --> 00:10:08,149 like, yelled at someone once, called them and yelled at them, 205 00:10:08,232 --> 00:10:12,322 for giving a quote to a book that I bought because this guy gave a quote to it. 206 00:10:12,403 --> 00:10:14,413 I was in a bookstore. I never heard of this book. 207 00:10:14,488 --> 00:10:16,948 I see a quote from this guy who's a fantastic writer. 208 00:10:17,033 --> 00:10:18,283 I bought the book. 209 00:10:18,367 --> 00:10:21,247 I read the book. It was a horrible book. 210 00:10:21,329 --> 00:10:25,999 I called the guy. I said, "What is wrong with you? I just read that." 211 00:10:26,083 --> 00:10:28,923 -He goes, "Well, I know the guy." He-- -Mm-hm. 212 00:10:29,003 --> 00:10:33,133 I said, "The next time you do this, before you do this, you call me. 213 00:10:33,215 --> 00:10:37,175 You go, 'Fran, you'll be seeing my quote on a book, but it's not a good book.'" 214 00:10:37,261 --> 00:10:42,851 There are books, especially, you know, extremely highly recommended books 215 00:10:42,933 --> 00:10:45,603 that everyone says, "No, the guy's a genius, you have to--" 216 00:10:45,686 --> 00:10:48,266 And then I'll get the book. I'll bow to this pressure. 217 00:10:48,356 --> 00:10:51,436 People say, "What did you think? Wasn't it great? Did you read it?" 218 00:10:51,525 --> 00:10:54,105 Then I realize. I say, "Well, you know, I read part of it." 219 00:10:54,195 --> 00:10:55,565 "What? You hated it?" 220 00:10:55,655 --> 00:10:58,615 I said, "No. Worse. I forgot I was reading it." 221 00:10:58,699 --> 00:11:00,029 -Oof. -"I forgot I was reading it." 222 00:11:00,117 --> 00:11:01,487 To me, that's the worst thing. 223 00:11:01,577 --> 00:11:03,947 -[chuckles] -"I forgot I was reading it" is much worse 224 00:11:04,038 --> 00:11:05,748 to me than, "I closed it in a fury." 225 00:11:05,831 --> 00:11:08,081 No, I didn't close it in a fury. I put it aside. 226 00:11:08,167 --> 00:11:10,917 The phone rang, or it was time to eat, whatever, 227 00:11:11,003 --> 00:11:14,133 and, in that period, I forgot I was reading it. 228 00:11:16,008 --> 00:11:18,838 -This is the genealogy department? -[Martin] This is genealogy, yeah. 229 00:11:18,928 --> 00:11:21,718 [Fran] When did your family come here? Because there's several books. 230 00:11:21,806 --> 00:11:23,466 Italians to America. 231 00:11:23,557 --> 00:11:27,267 -[Martin] 1910. 1909. -Now I've lost track of where they were. 232 00:11:27,353 --> 00:11:28,733 They had numerous… 233 00:11:28,813 --> 00:11:31,523 -There's Norwegians here. Who cares? -Yeah. Bah. Who cares? 234 00:11:32,108 --> 00:11:35,068 -People who are younger than 40, for sure… -Yeah. 235 00:11:35,152 --> 00:11:37,282 -They have-- they have no stuff. -I see. 236 00:11:37,363 --> 00:11:40,573 -They have no stuff. No books, no records. -They have it on this machine. 237 00:11:40,658 --> 00:11:42,078 -Yeah. -Everything's on the machine. 238 00:11:42,868 --> 00:11:45,828 Nope. Where did I just see this? 239 00:11:48,749 --> 00:11:51,129 -[both] Mayflower Families. -12 volumes. 240 00:11:51,919 --> 00:11:54,959 -I always envisioned it as a small boat. -It was very small. 241 00:11:55,047 --> 00:11:57,927 -With a couple of WASPs on it, you know. -Yeah, yeah! [laughs] 242 00:11:58,008 --> 00:12:00,508 But this must be why my family didn't hop on. 243 00:12:00,594 --> 00:12:02,724 -Because they thought, "Too crowded!" -[laughs] 244 00:12:02,805 --> 00:12:05,925 "Let's wait a few hundred years 245 00:12:06,016 --> 00:12:08,476 and go steerage to Ellis Island so we go right to New York." 246 00:12:09,979 --> 00:12:11,229 Here. I don't know how I… 247 00:12:11,313 --> 00:12:12,863 -[Martin] Here. -You found the Italians? 248 00:12:12,940 --> 00:12:15,400 [Martin] Yeah. Italians to America. 249 00:12:16,026 --> 00:12:18,606 -Where are you? -1893, 1895. 250 00:12:19,572 --> 00:12:22,622 -[Fran] Do you know what years they came? -1910, I'd say. 251 00:12:23,325 --> 00:12:27,035 [Fran] 1903, 1904, '04. '05. 252 00:12:27,830 --> 00:12:28,790 '05. 253 00:12:29,665 --> 00:12:32,375 -I'm afraid you got here too recently. -[laughs] 254 00:12:32,460 --> 00:12:34,750 They haven't written it down yet. 255 00:12:38,841 --> 00:12:40,891 [clicking] 256 00:12:42,803 --> 00:12:45,773 Done. I love table games, sir. 257 00:12:48,642 --> 00:12:53,772 May I ask, I thought you were looking for illnesses and contagious diseases here. 258 00:12:55,733 --> 00:12:59,573 Unfortunately, ma'am, it has been scientifically proven 259 00:12:59,653 --> 00:13:02,663 that lack of intelligence is genetically inherited, 260 00:13:02,740 --> 00:13:04,830 hence contagious, in a way. 261 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:10,000 We are trying to prevent below-average people from mixing with our citizens. 262 00:13:12,082 --> 00:13:13,382 What a modern vision. 263 00:13:14,001 --> 00:13:15,211 [murmur of conversation] 264 00:13:15,294 --> 00:13:17,464 -[Fran] You know that movie, Golden Door? -Oh, yeah. 265 00:13:17,546 --> 00:13:19,586 -[Fran] I thought it was really good. -Me too. 266 00:13:19,673 --> 00:13:22,553 [Fran] There were numerous things about immigrants that I didn't know. 267 00:13:22,635 --> 00:13:25,425 I didn't know how rigorous, um… 268 00:13:25,513 --> 00:13:27,853 -was the kind of entrance at Ellis Island. -Oh, yeah. 269 00:13:27,932 --> 00:13:31,102 You know? Although I did know that my great-grandfather, 270 00:13:31,185 --> 00:13:34,765 uh, when he got here from Russia, um… 271 00:13:34,855 --> 00:13:39,235 -was held because he had conjunctivitis. -Oh. 272 00:13:39,318 --> 00:13:41,068 -Okay? Which is, uh… -Yeah, yeah. 273 00:13:41,153 --> 00:13:43,453 Which he obviously caught on the delightful boat. 274 00:13:43,531 --> 00:13:45,031 -Not the Mayflower. -Yes. [laughs] 275 00:13:45,115 --> 00:13:49,495 There was no… It's cured with antibiotics, but there were no antibiotics then. 276 00:13:49,578 --> 00:13:51,328 -Yeah. -So basically, they said to him, 277 00:13:51,413 --> 00:13:55,043 "You have to stay quarantined." They knew it was contagious. Um… 278 00:13:55,125 --> 00:13:58,665 "And if it goes away in this many days, fine. And if not, you're going back." 279 00:13:58,754 --> 00:13:59,884 -Oh! -Yeah. 280 00:14:00,548 --> 00:14:03,878 Luckily, he was okay, and they let him in. 281 00:14:03,968 --> 00:14:05,258 And people got turned back, 282 00:14:05,344 --> 00:14:06,894 -and their whole lives changed. -Right. 283 00:14:06,971 --> 00:14:08,971 -For stuff like pink eye. -Yeah. 284 00:14:09,557 --> 00:14:11,267 [officers speaking Italian] Look down. 285 00:14:11,350 --> 00:14:13,350 Look up. 286 00:14:13,435 --> 00:14:15,305 Down. Up. 287 00:14:15,813 --> 00:14:19,233 [Fran] There's various waves of immigrants that went through the Lower East Side. 288 00:14:19,316 --> 00:14:23,026 It wasn't just the Jews. It was, as you know, the Italians and many others. 289 00:14:23,696 --> 00:14:27,236 But now in the Lower East Side, there's something called the Tenement Museum. 290 00:14:27,324 --> 00:14:29,704 The Tenement Museum! What's in there? 291 00:14:29,785 --> 00:14:31,655 You know… like, a tuberculosis epidemic? 292 00:14:31,745 --> 00:14:34,365 -[Martin laughs] -You know? What do you put in there? 293 00:14:34,456 --> 00:14:36,416 You know what I mean? The Tenement Museum. 294 00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:38,590 Are people longing for this? I don't think so. 295 00:14:38,669 --> 00:14:41,089 Well, yeah. You used to have the bathtub in the kitchen. 296 00:14:41,171 --> 00:14:42,091 -Yeah, come on. -Right. 297 00:14:42,172 --> 00:14:44,682 I mean, to me, this is like… 298 00:14:45,593 --> 00:14:48,143 I don't know. It seems absurd, frankly. 299 00:14:48,220 --> 00:14:50,970 I'm not trying to dissuade people from going to the Tenement Museum. 300 00:14:51,056 --> 00:14:55,186 Isn't it good that young people who don't know about the tenements go and see this? 301 00:14:55,269 --> 00:14:56,729 -It'd be better-- -The way immigrants, 302 00:14:56,812 --> 00:14:58,612 my grandparents grew up, my parents. 303 00:14:58,689 --> 00:15:03,069 There's so many good novels and books about these eras… 304 00:15:03,152 --> 00:15:04,572 -Yeah. -…written by these people, 305 00:15:04,653 --> 00:15:09,583 where you would get a much richer picture of it, even though there's no pictures. 306 00:15:09,658 --> 00:15:12,328 I suppose the Tenement Museum is good because they look at it. 307 00:15:12,912 --> 00:15:15,252 -[Martin] Yeah. -So, looking at something is obviously… 308 00:15:15,331 --> 00:15:18,421 people feel, easier, you know, than reading something. 309 00:15:18,918 --> 00:15:21,708 But, you know, a Tenement Museum's not a tenement. 310 00:15:26,884 --> 00:15:28,804 [man] Is there anyone you won't read? 311 00:15:29,553 --> 00:15:31,393 [Fran] I mean, Henry Roth was discovered 312 00:15:31,472 --> 00:15:34,022 to have, like, you know, had sex with his sister, 313 00:15:34,099 --> 00:15:35,809 and it was horrible. 314 00:15:36,518 --> 00:15:38,398 But no, it wouldn't keep me from reading him. 315 00:15:38,479 --> 00:15:41,019 Of course, you can't read someone in the same way. 316 00:15:41,523 --> 00:15:43,073 But also Henry Roth, by the way, 317 00:15:43,150 --> 00:15:46,820 was not some, you know, serene writer of pastoral poetry before that. 318 00:15:46,904 --> 00:15:49,534 -[Martin laughs] -You know, I know when I read a writer, 319 00:15:49,615 --> 00:15:53,405 you know, that… uh, even, you know, writers of fiction, 320 00:15:53,494 --> 00:15:56,464 that it doesn't come out of nowhere, the things people think. 321 00:15:56,538 --> 00:15:59,828 So it wasn't like, "Henry Roth, I thought he was such a sweet guy." 322 00:15:59,917 --> 00:16:03,417 I didn't think that before. But I think he's a great writer. 323 00:16:03,504 --> 00:16:06,014 Um, no, I would not stop reading him. Um… 324 00:16:06,090 --> 00:16:10,260 If he was alive, you know, I wouldn't maybe talk to him. 325 00:16:10,844 --> 00:16:13,014 But… um, he's dead, 326 00:16:14,139 --> 00:16:15,929 and you should still read him. 327 00:16:17,267 --> 00:16:20,437 I mean, like, you know, James Levine. 328 00:16:20,521 --> 00:16:23,651 A great artist. A great, great artist. A great artist. 329 00:16:23,732 --> 00:16:26,652 I'm not saying I don't believe these accusations. 330 00:16:26,735 --> 00:16:28,275 So say they're a hundred percent true… 331 00:16:28,779 --> 00:16:31,409 Okay, so… Because he's someone who had a job, 332 00:16:32,032 --> 00:16:34,702 you know, I mean, conducting the… you know, Metropolitan Opera. 333 00:16:34,785 --> 00:16:37,615 Yes, they have to fire him. I understand that. 334 00:16:38,122 --> 00:16:42,292 But they don't have to take his recordings out of the… Why? 335 00:16:42,835 --> 00:16:44,585 That's something I don't understand. 336 00:16:44,670 --> 00:16:48,090 Was the idea that, "Well, he will get some money from this?" or, you know… 337 00:16:48,173 --> 00:16:50,803 I mean, they're still great. He's a great artist. 338 00:16:51,301 --> 00:16:55,221 You know, um… firing people from their jobs where they… 339 00:16:55,305 --> 00:16:57,975 That is something that should be done if people do horrible things. 340 00:16:58,058 --> 00:17:01,308 You know, especially the things he was accused of doing. Um… 341 00:17:01,395 --> 00:17:07,065 But not reading people's books or listening to their music or… 342 00:17:07,151 --> 00:17:10,571 It seems… pointless, really, to me. 343 00:17:11,989 --> 00:17:13,699 -Sure. -You know, now, people say, 344 00:17:13,782 --> 00:17:17,332 "Oh, now, you can't listen to these recordings without thinking of that." 345 00:17:17,411 --> 00:17:20,541 -I think, "Well, you can't, but I can." -Yeah. [chuckles] 346 00:17:24,251 --> 00:17:26,841 [Fran] When I was very young, like seven or eight years old, 347 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:29,010 my mother bought me this. 348 00:17:29,089 --> 00:17:31,589 This book, which is called Six Little Cooks, 349 00:17:32,092 --> 00:17:35,552 I couldn't believe that this was something I was gonna own. 350 00:17:36,138 --> 00:17:38,598 I mean, I'm still completely startled by it. 351 00:17:38,682 --> 00:17:42,142 Because, as you can see, it's very pretty. It's very beautiful. 352 00:17:42,227 --> 00:17:45,857 But also, you know, it was published, I think, in 1900. 353 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,740 I couldn't believe that I owned something that looked so important. 354 00:17:51,403 --> 00:17:54,203 You know, it's the same way that it looked important to me 355 00:17:54,281 --> 00:17:57,531 because it looked like something that would be in a museum or a library. 356 00:17:58,494 --> 00:17:59,504 So I love this book, 357 00:17:59,578 --> 00:18:04,458 and if anything happened to this book, I would be completely heartbroken. 358 00:18:05,209 --> 00:18:08,999 This is a book in excellent condition that was owned by a seven-year-old. 359 00:18:09,088 --> 00:18:12,088 That's how careful I have always been of books. 360 00:18:12,174 --> 00:18:15,764 I mean, I remember once, when I was probably around the same age, 361 00:18:15,844 --> 00:18:18,684 I was reading a Nancy Drew book, and I dropped it 362 00:18:18,764 --> 00:18:20,854 and I picked it up, and I kissed it. 363 00:18:21,517 --> 00:18:23,477 And my mother said, "What are you doing?" 364 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,810 And I said, "You have to… If you drop a book, you have to kiss it." 365 00:18:27,314 --> 00:18:29,024 She said, "Who told you that?" 366 00:18:29,525 --> 00:18:31,895 "That's something they told us in synagogue. 367 00:18:31,985 --> 00:18:34,235 That if you dropped the… prayer book, 368 00:18:34,321 --> 00:18:36,161 whatever it's called, you have to kiss it." 369 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,330 My mother said, "Yes. Not every book." 370 00:18:42,746 --> 00:18:46,576 One of the first things that you wrote was a column for Interview magazine, 371 00:18:46,667 --> 00:18:48,627 and then after doing that for a time… 372 00:18:48,710 --> 00:18:51,170 What was… I Cover the Waterfront was the name of the… 373 00:18:51,255 --> 00:18:54,965 No, my first column I had for Interview was called The Best of the Worst, 374 00:18:55,050 --> 00:18:56,680 and it was a movie review column. 375 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:59,560 Uh, but I only reviewed… well, not even B movies, 376 00:18:59,638 --> 00:19:03,268 and-- mostly made by a company called American International Pictures, 377 00:19:03,350 --> 00:19:06,770 which specialized, AIP, in this certain sort of movie, which I was in love with. 378 00:19:06,854 --> 00:19:09,404 And they screened them in New York for distributors. 379 00:19:09,481 --> 00:19:12,781 I would watch these screenings. I did this column for a couple of years. 380 00:19:12,860 --> 00:19:14,900 And then I started doing I Cover the Waterfront, 381 00:19:14,987 --> 00:19:17,697 which, um… was more catholic. 382 00:19:17,781 --> 00:19:19,911 I wrote about everything, not just movies. 383 00:19:20,409 --> 00:19:23,039 -[Martin] But I told you I had that book. -[Fran] Which book? 384 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:25,540 All the stuff that you wrote in Interview for the '70s. 385 00:19:25,622 --> 00:19:27,832 -My movie reviews are in there. -That's right. Yeah, yeah. 386 00:19:27,916 --> 00:19:31,166 -Yeah. The Best of the Worst. -Yes, that's right. That's right. 387 00:19:31,253 --> 00:19:33,513 -All those AIP movies then, remember? -Oh, yes. 388 00:19:33,589 --> 00:19:35,509 And they never showed them in New York. 389 00:19:35,591 --> 00:19:37,891 -They maybe showed them on 42nd Street. -42nd Street. 390 00:19:37,968 --> 00:19:39,178 They screened them in New York 391 00:19:39,261 --> 00:19:41,221 -for the people who owned drive-ins. -[laughs] 392 00:19:41,305 --> 00:19:44,515 So, you know… because that was mostly where they played then. 393 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:46,850 So they would have screenings, like at 1600 Broadway. 394 00:19:46,935 --> 00:19:49,555 -Remember that screening room? -Oh, yes. Wonderful screening room. 395 00:19:49,646 --> 00:19:53,276 -So dirty. -And I got myself onto this AIP list. 396 00:19:53,358 --> 00:19:55,318 -Oh! -So I could watch these movies. 397 00:19:55,402 --> 00:19:57,532 And I just started mostly writing about them. 398 00:19:57,613 --> 00:19:58,743 [laughs] 399 00:19:58,822 --> 00:20:01,032 Because they were more fun to write about. 400 00:20:01,116 --> 00:20:03,696 Because I wasn't really interested in being a critic. 401 00:20:03,785 --> 00:20:07,035 I was interested in finding something funny to write about. 402 00:20:07,122 --> 00:20:08,002 Oh, these things were. 403 00:20:08,081 --> 00:20:09,331 -They were unbelievable. -Yeah. 404 00:20:09,416 --> 00:20:11,496 -But you made one of these movies. -I made one. 405 00:20:11,585 --> 00:20:13,415 -Boxcar Bertha. -Which I reviewed. 406 00:20:13,503 --> 00:20:14,803 -Did you see? -No, I didn't. 407 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,930 I-- I definitely remember, because when I found out recently 408 00:20:18,008 --> 00:20:19,338 -that you made Boxcar Bertha… -Yes. 409 00:20:19,426 --> 00:20:21,676 I said, "I'm sure I reviewed that. I remember it." 410 00:20:21,762 --> 00:20:23,602 But I never knew that you made it. 411 00:20:24,181 --> 00:20:26,561 -[Fran] Yes? -[man] Can you speak about your experience 412 00:20:26,642 --> 00:20:29,022 writing for Interview magazine and Andy Warhol? 413 00:20:29,770 --> 00:20:34,020 I mean, I don't really know what to say about this. It was really a long time ago. 414 00:20:34,608 --> 00:20:38,198 I was very young when I started working for Interview. I was, like, 20 years old. 415 00:20:38,695 --> 00:20:42,565 And I wrote for Interview for, like, 11 years, I think. 416 00:20:42,658 --> 00:20:44,738 Quite a long time, you know. 417 00:20:44,826 --> 00:20:47,786 And I never got along with Andy. 418 00:20:47,871 --> 00:20:50,041 Um… Andy never got along with me. 419 00:20:50,707 --> 00:20:51,707 Um… 420 00:20:51,792 --> 00:20:53,752 He's done much better since he died. 421 00:20:53,835 --> 00:20:55,835 [laughter] 422 00:20:58,048 --> 00:21:02,008 How do I know this? Because I sold all my Warhols two weeks before he died. 423 00:21:02,094 --> 00:21:04,104 [laughter] 424 00:21:05,347 --> 00:21:08,557 I sold them to pay the maintenance on my apartment. 425 00:21:10,102 --> 00:21:12,942 So I don't only make bad real estate decisions. 426 00:21:13,647 --> 00:21:15,107 [chuckles] 427 00:21:15,190 --> 00:21:17,940 And frankly, I believe that's why Andy died. 428 00:21:20,153 --> 00:21:21,913 You know? I think he thought, 429 00:21:22,572 --> 00:21:23,572 "Well!" 430 00:21:24,074 --> 00:21:26,374 The second he died, of course, the prices went up. 431 00:21:31,957 --> 00:21:36,627 [Fran] To me, there is nothing more emblematic of the change in New York 432 00:21:36,712 --> 00:21:41,342 than the fact that what used to be the all-night, 24-hour-a-day, 433 00:21:41,425 --> 00:21:44,965 forever-open, big newsstand at Columbus Circle… 434 00:21:45,053 --> 00:21:46,763 -[Martin] It's gone. -…is now a bike rental. 435 00:21:50,767 --> 00:21:53,307 The look of New York has completely changed. 436 00:21:53,395 --> 00:21:56,895 You know, in other words, New York used to be awash in newsprint. 437 00:21:57,441 --> 00:21:59,191 -[Martin] Yeah. Yeah. -It was in the gutters. 438 00:21:59,276 --> 00:22:01,396 -In the trash cans. -Remember the place in Times Square, 439 00:22:01,486 --> 00:22:03,356 it had all the, uh… newspapers? 440 00:22:03,447 --> 00:22:06,367 I mean the whole city was awash in newsprint because people threw them away. 441 00:22:06,450 --> 00:22:07,700 There were a billion newspapers. 442 00:22:07,784 --> 00:22:09,374 -Every day, people threw them away. -Yeah. 443 00:22:09,453 --> 00:22:12,913 They were in the gutters. All the trash baskets were filled up with newspapers. 444 00:22:12,998 --> 00:22:14,578 All the subway seats had newspapers. 445 00:22:14,666 --> 00:22:16,246 -They were on the floor. -You're right. 446 00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:19,625 And you very rarely see people reading newspapers on the subway anymore. 447 00:22:19,713 --> 00:22:20,633 -That used to be… -Wow. 448 00:22:20,714 --> 00:22:22,014 -That was everything. -Everything. 449 00:22:22,090 --> 00:22:25,390 And you do see people reading actual books on the subway. 450 00:22:25,469 --> 00:22:29,219 Not a million people, but you see some people doing it, 451 00:22:29,306 --> 00:22:30,966 and these people are mostly young. 452 00:22:31,058 --> 00:22:33,638 They are mostly, I would say, people in their twenties. 453 00:22:33,727 --> 00:22:37,147 And I asked my editor, who has children that age, 454 00:22:37,230 --> 00:22:41,150 "Do your kids read, like, books on a Kindle, or whatever you call it?" 455 00:22:41,234 --> 00:22:44,494 -Yeah. -And he goes, "No. My kids read books." 456 00:22:44,571 --> 00:22:48,531 He said, "The people who read mostly…" There's something other than a Kindle. 457 00:22:48,617 --> 00:22:50,237 -Whatever it's called. Um… -Right. 458 00:22:50,327 --> 00:22:52,367 He said those people are mostly in their 40s. 459 00:22:52,454 --> 00:22:53,664 -Mm-hm. -And 50s. 460 00:22:53,747 --> 00:22:56,627 So, I mean, I can't always tell, you know… 461 00:22:56,708 --> 00:22:58,668 I always try to see what books people are reading. 462 00:22:58,752 --> 00:23:00,842 -Yeah. -This is extremely important to me. 463 00:23:00,921 --> 00:23:03,761 Um… What are you reading? Um… 464 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:08,350 But any book… Even when I look at the book and I think, "Who would read that book?" 465 00:23:08,428 --> 00:23:10,888 -Well, good. It's a book. -[laughs] 466 00:23:10,972 --> 00:23:12,222 Go ahead, read it. 467 00:23:12,933 --> 00:23:14,023 [horn blares] 468 00:23:26,905 --> 00:23:28,985 Hi. Do you people buy books here? 469 00:23:29,741 --> 00:23:31,581 At this kiosk? No. No. 470 00:23:31,660 --> 00:23:35,120 No. I'm sure not. Do you think it's fair to bring a book into Times Square? 471 00:23:35,622 --> 00:23:37,422 It's not fair to the books. 472 00:23:37,499 --> 00:23:38,579 Oh, yeah. Yeah. 473 00:23:39,376 --> 00:23:41,206 They don't really have a say in it, I guess. 474 00:23:41,294 --> 00:23:42,384 It's injurious. 475 00:23:43,213 --> 00:23:46,593 If you don't sell any books here, which I'm sure you don't, why are you here? 476 00:23:46,716 --> 00:23:48,176 You sell the T-shirts? 477 00:23:48,260 --> 00:23:49,550 We sell a lot of bags. 478 00:23:49,636 --> 00:23:50,636 We do sell books. 479 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:51,560 Yeah. 480 00:23:52,347 --> 00:23:55,307 This is a great book. I buy it for kids all the time. 481 00:23:55,392 --> 00:23:56,602 It's a really good book. 482 00:23:59,062 --> 00:24:02,362 [David Letterman] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Fran Lebowitz! 483 00:24:02,441 --> 00:24:04,441 [cheering and applause] 484 00:24:05,861 --> 00:24:07,491 Metropolitan Life and Social Studies. 485 00:24:07,571 --> 00:24:09,241 -Which came first? -Metropolitan Life. 486 00:24:09,322 --> 00:24:10,452 -Then Social Studies. -Then… 487 00:24:10,532 --> 00:24:13,832 A wildly entertaining collection of humorous essays. 488 00:24:13,910 --> 00:24:15,540 -That's right. Both of them. -Both of them. 489 00:24:15,620 --> 00:24:19,250 And they have been republished in one form or another how many times? 490 00:24:19,833 --> 00:24:20,883 Oh. In different formats, 491 00:24:20,959 --> 00:24:22,839 -probably four or five times each. -Four or five? 492 00:24:22,919 --> 00:24:24,129 Now you have a kids' book. 493 00:24:24,212 --> 00:24:25,922 -This is a first for you, isn't it? -Correct. 494 00:24:26,006 --> 00:24:28,336 Are you ever gonna write anything new? 495 00:24:28,425 --> 00:24:29,795 -This is new. -The panda book? 496 00:24:29,885 --> 00:24:31,135 -Yes. -Yes, but it's for kids. 497 00:24:31,219 --> 00:24:34,509 -Yes, well, I'm writing a novel. -You were writing a novel six years ago. 498 00:24:34,598 --> 00:24:36,388 -When we talked to you six years-- -No, no. 499 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:38,515 -I was supposed to be writing a novel… -Uh-huh. 500 00:24:38,602 --> 00:24:41,562 -…but I took ten years off to sulk. -[laughter] 501 00:24:42,189 --> 00:24:44,149 -Ten years off to sulk? -Yes. 502 00:24:45,066 --> 00:24:48,646 And did you get everything accomplished along those lines you wanted to? 503 00:24:48,737 --> 00:24:50,107 Well, I'm almost finished sulking. 504 00:24:50,197 --> 00:24:52,907 -Do you suffer-- do you suffer from-- -Yes. 505 00:24:52,991 --> 00:24:54,281 -Okay. -[laughter] 506 00:24:54,367 --> 00:24:56,367 [cheering and applause] 507 00:24:58,747 --> 00:25:00,037 [man] The New York Public Library 508 00:25:00,123 --> 00:25:02,423 has a refrigerator magnet with a quote from you. 509 00:25:03,001 --> 00:25:04,591 -Half a quote. -Half a quote. 510 00:25:05,212 --> 00:25:08,172 The half a quote is, uh… "Think before you speak. 511 00:25:08,256 --> 00:25:10,296 Read before you think." What's the rest? 512 00:25:10,383 --> 00:25:13,393 [Fran] The rest of the quote, as I recall, because it's really old… 513 00:25:13,470 --> 00:25:17,930 This is something I wrote for Newsweek in, like, 1978. 514 00:25:18,558 --> 00:25:22,978 Okay, so Newsweek in 1978, by the way, was a very important publication. 515 00:25:23,063 --> 00:25:26,483 And they had a feature on the back page called My Turn, 516 00:25:27,108 --> 00:25:31,028 which they would invite a different person to write, you know. 517 00:25:31,112 --> 00:25:34,162 So after my first book came out in 1978, I was invited to do this. 518 00:25:34,241 --> 00:25:39,121 My parents could not believe it. This was like, "They asked you?" 519 00:25:39,204 --> 00:25:40,914 [laughter] 520 00:25:40,997 --> 00:25:44,627 My parents got Newsweek, because many Jews did not get Time 521 00:25:45,835 --> 00:25:49,455 because Time was owned by Henry Luce. 522 00:25:49,548 --> 00:25:51,508 -I see. -A noted anti-Semite. 523 00:25:51,591 --> 00:25:55,431 They got Life, because for some reason this escaped them. 524 00:25:55,512 --> 00:25:57,012 -[laughter] -But they got Newsweek. 525 00:25:57,097 --> 00:26:00,057 So Newsweek had this feature, and I said, "I'm gonna do it." 526 00:26:00,141 --> 00:26:01,601 "What do you mean? You?" 527 00:26:02,352 --> 00:26:04,982 It's like this was inconceivable to them. Um… 528 00:26:05,522 --> 00:26:07,232 So I wrote this thing about teenagers, 529 00:26:07,315 --> 00:26:10,815 and it was, like, different, like, directions for teenagers, you know? 530 00:26:10,902 --> 00:26:13,822 Um, you know, different things that they should do. 531 00:26:14,281 --> 00:26:19,081 Uh… and I think the original quote was, um… uh… 532 00:26:20,287 --> 00:26:22,457 "Think before you speak. Read before you think. 533 00:26:22,539 --> 00:26:26,209 This will give you something to think about that you didn't make up yourself. 534 00:26:26,293 --> 00:26:29,923 A wise move at any age, but most especially at 17, 535 00:26:30,005 --> 00:26:33,625 when you are in the greatest danger of coming to annoying conclusions." 536 00:26:50,191 --> 00:26:52,821 [Fran] Well, this place that we're in, The Players Club, 537 00:26:52,902 --> 00:26:56,662 was purchased by Edwin Booth, who was an actor, 538 00:26:56,740 --> 00:26:59,490 and, at some point, started the Players Club. 539 00:26:59,576 --> 00:27:02,366 And when he died, he left the building to the Players Club. 540 00:27:02,454 --> 00:27:03,544 [Martin] Mm-hm. 541 00:27:03,622 --> 00:27:05,672 But his brother… 542 00:27:06,791 --> 00:27:08,541 um, was John Wilkes Booth. 543 00:27:09,169 --> 00:27:11,629 So his brother killed Abraham Lincoln. 544 00:27:12,547 --> 00:27:15,967 And there is a letter upstairs… 545 00:27:16,051 --> 00:27:18,721 I mean, not the actual letter, but a copy of the letter 546 00:27:18,803 --> 00:27:21,723 that he wrote, uh… to a newspaper. 547 00:27:21,806 --> 00:27:24,306 It's addressed to "My fellow citizens" or something, 548 00:27:24,392 --> 00:27:26,902 -like, apologizing for the brother. -[Martin] Mm-hm. 549 00:27:26,978 --> 00:27:29,768 [Fran] And I was reading this letter, and I was thinking to myself, 550 00:27:29,856 --> 00:27:32,776 "I know a lot of people who complain about their siblings." 551 00:27:32,859 --> 00:27:36,029 In fact, almost everyone who has siblings complains about them. 552 00:27:36,112 --> 00:27:38,662 But I thought, when I read that letter, you know… 553 00:27:39,407 --> 00:27:41,617 "No matter what kind of sibling you have…" 554 00:27:42,118 --> 00:27:46,618 Like, you can say to yourself, "Yes, my brother never pays me back," 555 00:27:46,706 --> 00:27:49,416 or, "My sister gossips," or, you know… 556 00:27:49,501 --> 00:27:52,301 But you could always say to yourself, 557 00:27:52,379 --> 00:27:54,879 "At least my brother didn't kill Abraham Lincoln." 558 00:28:00,053 --> 00:28:02,103 I'm sure that Edwin Booth, 559 00:28:02,180 --> 00:28:04,680 in his life, also listened to his friends complain about siblings, 560 00:28:04,766 --> 00:28:06,306 until his brother killed Lincoln. 561 00:28:06,393 --> 00:28:07,813 Then, I'm sure, after that, 562 00:28:07,894 --> 00:28:10,864 if people would start to say, "My brother, he borrowed--" 563 00:28:10,939 --> 00:28:13,779 people would say, "Shush. His brother killed Abraham Lincoln." 564 00:28:13,858 --> 00:28:15,608 -[laughter] -Like, "Let's not bring this up." 565 00:28:15,694 --> 00:28:20,574 Like, so, um… there are always people who have worse problems than you do. 566 00:28:20,657 --> 00:28:21,487 [Martin chuckles] 567 00:28:22,617 --> 00:28:23,907 -[man] Right. -[Fran] We're done? 568 00:28:23,993 --> 00:28:26,453 -Right, I see. -[Martin] Right, so… -Oh… Go ahead. 569 00:28:26,538 --> 00:28:28,578 -Keep rolling, rolling, rolling… -[man] Yeah. 570 00:28:30,333 --> 00:28:31,843 [Martin] There you go. Keep goin'. 571 00:28:32,419 --> 00:28:33,459 Off to her left. 572 00:28:34,462 --> 00:28:37,012 Yeah. That's another bridge. 573 00:28:37,090 --> 00:28:38,470 [laughter echoing] 574 00:28:39,259 --> 00:28:40,389 Okay. Made it. 575 00:28:41,219 --> 00:28:44,929 And what about whatshisname who was gonna put a highway through Manhattan? 576 00:28:45,014 --> 00:28:46,814 -[Fran] Robert Moses. Who built this. -Moses. 577 00:28:46,891 --> 00:28:49,191 -[Fran] This was Robert Moses' idea. -This whole thing? 578 00:28:49,269 --> 00:28:51,649 [Fran] Yes. Robert Moses should have stuck to models. 579 00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:53,190 -[laughter] -[Fran] You know? 580 00:28:53,273 --> 00:28:56,613 Unbeknownst to Robert Moses, he was best as a miniaturist. 581 00:28:56,693 --> 00:28:58,153 -[Martin] Yeah. -[laughter] 582 00:28:58,236 --> 00:29:00,486 [Fran] I went to the World's Fair, but I didn't see this. 583 00:29:00,572 --> 00:29:03,032 -[Martin] Oh. -[Fran] The World's Fair was so full 584 00:29:03,116 --> 00:29:06,486 of unbelievable attractions, that who would have time for this? 585 00:29:06,578 --> 00:29:08,288 -Um, or even know about it? -[laughter] 586 00:29:08,371 --> 00:29:10,791 But, I mean, I can't believe this is still here. 587 00:29:12,709 --> 00:29:13,789 I mean, this is fantastic. 588 00:29:13,877 --> 00:29:15,457 [orchestra strikes up] 589 00:29:16,379 --> 00:29:18,049 [Martin] Okay. Yeah. 590 00:29:19,424 --> 00:29:21,434 [orchestra playing]