Susan Braudy

Susan Braudy is a Pulitzer nominated author, journalist, and former Vice President of East Coast Production at Warner Brothers. She was one of the first editors of the student/faculty magazine The New Journal at Yale and is currently a member of the magazine's advisory board. She is best known as the author of two non-fiction books, Between Marriage and Divorce: A Woman's Diary (1975) and Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left (2003).

Early life and education

Susan Braudy was born in Philadelphia and now lives in Manhattan, New York[1][2] She received a Cum Laude degree from Bryn Mawr College in the early 1960s,[3] then attended University of Pennsylvania and Yale University[4] (where she studied philosophy).

Braudy's father worked for the Philadelphia Housing Authority and actively supported local artists. He was Vice President of the American Jewish Committee. His Master's thesis at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania became the book Technological Unemployment, an early look at how advances in technology were replacing human labor. He also wanted to be a writer and Braudy believes this may be the reason she became a writer. Braudy's mother taught history at Germantown High School and became a reading supervisor. Braudy now lives with Joe Weintraub.[5]

Career

Braudy has written for the New York Times, Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly, The Huffington Post, Vanity Fair, Ms. Magazine, New York Magazine and The New Journal.[4] She has also taught writing at Brooklyn College.[4]

She was a judge for the 2006 Lukas Prize, an award from the Columbia University Journalism School given annually to recognize excellence in book-length investigative journalism.[6]

In 1981, Braudy was appointed as the Vice President of East Coast Production at Warner Brothers.[7][8] She also worked as Vice President of Michael Douglas's Stonebridge Production Company for three years from 1986-1989.[9] She was hired by Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Bruckheimer, Martin Scorsese, and Oliver Stone to write screenplays.[10]

Her research for a piece on paperback auctions, published in The New York Times,[11] was used by the Federal Trade Commission to institute and win an anti-trust suit against the high-bidder in a multimillion-dollar paperback rights auction.[12]

Her two blogs are Manhattan Voyeur[2] and Writers Celebrate Writing[13]

She counts as her mentors Gloria Steinem, who encouraged her to express her female voice; Daniel Yergin, who taught her the value of infinite research; Michael Douglas, who taught her that glamor isn't glamorous; Michael Wolff, who taught her the music of the New York hustle; Marshall Brickman, who taught her about heartbreak on the fast track; Woody Allen, who taught her his artistic credo, "Turn pain into cash"; and Leo Braudy, who gave her Joan Didion's personal essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem

In popular culture

Braudy had been commissioned by Playboy magazine to write a piece on the feminism movement. Her final article was viewed as controversial by male Playboy editors. The debate continued up to Hugh Hefner; who wrote in a memo (secretly distributed by female Playboy employees) that he felt the article needed to focus more on the "highly irrational, emotional, kookie trend" of feminism due to "these chicks [being] the natural enemy of Playboy." He argued that radical feminists were rejecting the Playboy way of life.[14]

Braudy was reportedly brought to tears by the negative reaction, from the team, to her piece and eventually refused to sell her work to Playboy for publication. She later wrote an article for Glamour magazine in which she disclosed the contents of Hefner's memo and criticized his approach to women.[15]

After writing an article for The New York Times[16] about Woody Allen and his writing partner Marshall Brickman she was used as the muse for Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep's characters in Manhattan.[17] Her jokes about the surreal twist were quoted on the New York Post gossip column "Page Six," as well as in People Magazine.

After she wrote two articles on Seinfeld for The New York Times,[18] Seinfeld writer Larry David named a screaming woman character "Susan Braudy" on his hit HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm.[19]

Books

Braudy wrote Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left based on the story of Kathy Boudin, who was convicted for her part in the Brink's robbery (1981). Braudy was inspired to write the book because Kathy Boudin had been a classmate at Bryn Mawr.[20] The book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by Alfred Knopf.

Family Circle got a "largely positive reception" despite being criticized by friends of Kathy Boudin.[3] It was later the subject of a 2014 Guardian article by journalist Michael Wolff criticizing The New York Times and others for republishing findings on the break-in of FBI headquarters in Media, Pennsylvania that damaged J. Edgar Hoover's reputation beyond repair. The break-in's perpetrators had been revealed 11 years prior by Braudy in her nonfiction book.[21]

This Crazy Thing Called Love was the basis for two television episodes on "A Crime To Remember" and "Power, Privilege & Justice."[22]

Books by Susan Braudy

Books with Prefaces by Susan Braudy

Articles and interviews

References

  1. ↑ "Susan Braudy". Knopf Double Day Publishing Group. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 Braudy, Susan. "About the Voyeur: Who is Susan Braudy?". Susan Braudy: Manhattan Voyeur. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 O'Rourke, William (July–August 2004). "Review of Susan Braudy, Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left". American Book Review. 25 (5).
  4. 1 2 3 Jean-Paul Sartre Essays In Aesthetics Open Road Media, January 12th, 2012
  5. ↑ Wadler, Joyce (26 June 2008). "The Tyranny of the Heirloom". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Lukas Prizes: Past Winners and Jurors". Columbia Journalism School. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (8 January 1982). "The evening hours". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Lady in Charge". The Southeast Missourian. 26 January 1981. p. 5. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  9. ↑ TCM Archive Materials, "Susan Braudy", No date, Accessed 10 March 2015
  10. ↑ "Susan Braudy" "Who's Who In America", No date, Accessed 10 March 2015
  11. ↑ Susan Braudy, "Paperback Auction: What Price a 'Hot' Book?; Star Properties" The New York Times, 21 May 1978
  12. ↑ Robert J. Cole, "U.S. Sues CBS to Undo Purchase of Fawcett Publications" The New York Times, 02 June 1978
  13. ↑ Braudy, Susan. "A welcome message". Writers Celebrate Writers. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Watts
  15. ↑ Pitzulo, Carrie (May 2008). "Battle in Every Man's Bed: Playboy and the Fiery Feminists". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 17 (2): 272–275. doi:10.1353/sex.0.0004. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Susan Braudy, "He's Woody Allen's Not-So-Silent Partner", The New York Times, August 21st, 1977
  17. ↑ Sheila Weller, Girls Like Us, April 8th 2008
  18. ↑ Susan Braudy, "Where Have You Gone, Jerry, When We Need You?" The New York Times, February 17th 2002
  19. ↑ "Episode Summary - The Corpse Sniffing Dog", TV.com
  20. ↑ Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left
  21. ↑ Michael Wolff, "How an old story was reborn in the Edward Snowden era" The Guardian January 21st 2014
  22. ↑ "Susan Braudy" IMDB, Accessed 10 March 2015

External links

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