This week, the first issue of Talk will be launched, with fireworks from the Statue of Liberty, no less. The rumor that Hillary Clinton would be the first cover girl turns out to be true, but she shares the honor with George W. Bush and Gwyneth Paltrow in a leather bikini. (Brown denies Paltrow, a Miramax star, is on the cover at Weinstein’s request: “Absolutely not.”) And after John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s death, gossip had it that Brown frantically made over some pages. She did, but she came up with something remarkable: a 1971 photograph by Peter Beard, taken inside the cockpit of a small plane, with 10-year-old John turning to the camera, while his stepbrother, Alexander Onassis, pilots next to him. (Two years later, Alexander died when his plane crashed.)
You only need to look at Talk to know that Brown is doing her highbrow-lowbrow dance with an abandon she never could at The New Yorker or even Vanity Fair. The magazine’s oversize format, barrage of type and pictures and thin paper with rich rotogravure color look both stylish and cheesy. The content is equally dissonant. The magazine has some real scoops, such as Hillary Clinton talking about her marriage (“There has been enormous pain and enormous anger, but I’ve been with him half my life, and he’s a very, very good man”), and an account by the guide who survived the massacre of tourists in Uganda. Yet it’s an odd cocktail–many intriguing, writerly pieces, from a Tom Stoppard memoir to a slice of life in a trailer park; a horoscope page; wonderful celebrity photos (Hugh Grant, Harrison Ford) but no dish. There’s a fold-out on “The Best Talkers in America,” with pictures and no quotes. Silent talking heads.
But, hey, it’s just the first issue. The ad pages are healthy (126 pages) and advertisers, all upscale, had to commit to the first four issues. (One of publisher Ron Galotti’s enticements to ad buyers: possible product placement in Miramax movies.) Tina is sure to keep tinkering. And for a while at least, everyone will still talk about Talk.
