Worried, Felker had shown the article to Tom Wolfe, his star writer. Goldsmith told The East Hampton Star in 2001. “Between my prose and Arbus’ photos, half the readers wanted to cancel their subscriptions, and the other half thought it was the best thing ever,” Ms. An accompanying nude photo by Diane Arbus reinforced the general impression. “La Dolce Viva” depicted its voluble subject as befuddled, destitute, dissolute, and promiscuous. Having done Felker a good turn, she nearly scuttled his new publication with her 1968 profile of Viva, the Andy Warhol superstar. Goldsmith as one of the founding editors.

Goldsmith lent Felker $6,500 to acquire the name of its Sunday supplement, New York, which he transformed into New York magazine, with Ms. When the newspaper went out of business in 1966, Ms. Pei, Marcel Breuer, George Balanchine, and Pablo Picasso.Īfter being introduced to Clay Felker by Harold Hayes, the editor of Esquire, she began writing for The New York Herald Tribune, where Felker was an editor. Later, at Town & Country, she started a series called “The Creative Environment,” for which she interviewed important figures in the arts, including I.M. The magazine did not have an entertainment section, so she set about creating one, contributing interview-profiles of Clark Gable, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, and other stars. Goldsmith, who also lived in East Hampton, N.Y., leaves two sons, John and Andrew a daughter, Alice Elgart and six grandchildren.Īfter college, she worked for Art News as a critic before becoming an editor at Woman’s Home Companion. The marriage ended in divorce, as did her second marriage, to filmmaker Frank Perry, who died in 1995. After graduating from New Rochelle High School, she enrolled in Wellesley College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and art history in 1953.

Other Powers by Barbara Goldsmith