Diane Wilkes's Reviews > Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

This is a generous four star rating--my true one is 3 and a half.

When I was in my youth, I was torn between becoming an actress or a teacher when I grew up. But I told people I wanted to be an actress--I guess that seemed more exciting, at least to others. But unlike what I now realize most aspiring actors (both genders) desire is the performance and accolades part, that wasn't what I craved--I loved reading plays and interpreting the characters. I felt like I could get inside the roles and bring the wonderful words to life. (Even today I read many more plays than I actually see.)

My reading and acting life were somewhat advanced, and I remember loving and acting the role of Martha in my aunt's second bedroom (she had the book; I didn't) many, many times, usually when I should have been doing my 8th or 9th grade homework. I would go through the entire play by myself, speaking Martha's words out loud.

I found myself back there as I read this book, which was highly rated by the New York Times. Gefter lovingly goes into many of the scenes, and as he does, I was kind of amazed at how viscerally I remembered them. I have seen the movie once (maybe twice) over the years, but not in at least a decade, and of course, that's not the same as reading the whole thing repeatedly. I can barely remember the film, except noting its slight differences in the movie, particularly when they leave the house (they never leave it in the play; it's its own kind of prison, like the marriage, like society held for women in those days, but also for the capitalist hierarchy of values that would not recognize George's scholastic insights as much as Nick's qualities of being good looking and a more macho type).

There's a good deal about the making of the money, the relationships between Mike Nichols, the first time movie director and Ernest Lehman, who was the producer and the "beta male" to Nichols, studio owner Jack Warner, and Richard Burton, no shrinking violet himself.

Speaking of violet, lots of attention is paid to Elizabeth Taylor, and her role as an older harridan, quite the opposite of her more glamorous self and the majority of her acting parts. One thing is how openly Elizabeth asked for/demanded jewelry gifts from all of her directors and producers, and how she got others to buttress those requests. I had recently watched a documentary on Elizabeth Taylor and found much to admire, but I have to say, I found that childish grasping aspect of asking for jewelry of her repellent and gross. I was also appalled by Taylor and Burton's lack of professional behavior--they arrived days after the initial beginning of filming, would show up at 10 a.m. and, if not in the mood, took afternoons off without notice. I understand that filming can be grueling, but if you want a nine to five job, don't go into acting.

These mean-spirited revelations about all the individuals involved in the making of the movie were unsavory and, for me, too much a part of the book. I prefer the historical and sociological context and. of course, the literary examination. I did find myself disagreeing with one particular interpretation--Gefter asserts that when Martha alternately insults and seeks physical affection from George in the earliest scenes, she is hurt when he rebuffs her and therefore sets the scene for her future outrageous behavior. In my opinion, she seeks affection from the same inner place from which she sneers at him--she is interested in showing and feeling her power, and looking for an excuse to behave badly later that night. It's insane to expect someone to embrace you when you're being vile to them, but she's operating from such a place of powerlessness and frustrated energy that she has lost the ability to be reasonable. Gefter ultimately thinks that at their core, George and Martha love each other, but to me, it's such an unhealthy, twisted version of love that it might as well not be called love at all.

As you can see, I'd love to engage all about the play and the characters' motivations and mentalities. I really don't care what kind of car Nichols buys himself for his birthday or what kind of car Elizabeth buys Richard for his. I do like learning that both Nichols and Burton are Scorpios and would love to look at their charts, as the triangulation between Taylor, Nichols, and Burton vs. Lehman, Warner and Nichols is all much more interesting to me.

The book has me yearning to see the movie one more time--and I wish I still owned the play, which I bought as an adult and acted out a few more times :)