In February 2007, I was in Los Angeles at the home of the late and wonderful friend Phyllis Diller to have her autograph some cases of the original 2004 “From the Farm” cookbook, which she had helped me publish with a chapter of her recollections, recipes and also penned a special foreword to the book.
I was waiting in the foyer of her 22-room Brentwood neighborhood home for her to return from a luncheon engagement, as her secretary explained to me when I arrived.
When Phyllis walked through her front door, she was joined by her lunch mate because the two rode back from the restaurant in the same chauffeur-driven sedan.
“Philip, I want you to meet someone,” Phyllis said motioning to her brunette friend with a kind smile.
“This is Joanne Carson, the real ex-Mrs. Johnny Carson. After I finish signing the books, we are going to play some gin rummy.”
I knew late-night icon Johnny Carson had been married four times, and also that his expensive divorces from ladies whose first names all began with a “J” (first, Jody, then Joanne, next Joanna…) had become legendary as fodder for many of his opening monologues during his days hosting NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”
The former Joanne Copeland was a Pan-Am stewardess Johnny had met and married in 1963, the same time he was taking over hosting duties for Jack Paar on “The Tonight Show” while the show was still based in New York City. Joanne and Johnny stayed married for a decade and divorced in 1972 with a hefty settlement in her favor that included $100,000 per year alimony for the rest of her life.
At the time of meeting Joanne at Phyllis’ home, I was more focused on her time as Mrs. Carson, especially after the phrasing of the introduction by Phyllis.
Now 17 years later, I regret that during that afternoon together, I had not talked to Joanne about her best friend, writer Truman Capote, who died at age 59, and without much means, living in the guest room of Joanne’s Los Angeles home. She was quite the conversationalist, as I recall, and certainly not shy nor guarded.
Suddenly, the name of the now-deceased “Joanne Carson” is back in the media.
Cable network FX premiered a second season of the series “Feud,” by creator Ryan Murphy, which during its debut season seven years ago focused on the film rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis during the making of their 1962 film thriller “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”
On Jan. 31, the first episode of “Feud: Capote Vs. the The Swans” aired and continues for eight episodes through the season finale on March 13.
Joanne Carson, who died at age 83 in 2015, is played in the series by actress Molly Ringwald, and portrayed as one of the central characters in the circle of “swans” (the tag Capote used for his wealthy socialite female friends) in Capote’s “seen and be seen” universe.
Joanne is first represented in episode two, set in 1978, when Capote is forced to spend his favorite holiday Thanksgiving at Joanne’s Los Angeles home. Other guests seated around Joanne’s Thanksgiving table include Phyllis Diller played by actress Mary Beth Pape.
That episode focuses on Capote’s melancholy since he was disinvited to the usual posh gatherings in Palm Beach, Florida at the estates of his wealthy socialite Manhattan friends. His removal from invite lists came after he has published an excerpt in Esquire magazine of a tell-all society book he was planning using barely fictionalized names connected to true scandals and dinner party whispers of the noted names of his female elite friends.
Tom Hollander is superbly cast as tiny-voiced Truman in the series, and the rest of the all-star cast includes Naomi Watts as Babe Paley and the late Treat Williams as hubby Bill Paley, the president of CBS; Diane Lane as Slim Keith; Chloë Sevigny as C.Z. Guest; Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill (sister of Jackie Kennedy); Demi Moore as Ann Woodward; and Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham is played by Marin Ireland.
The real Joanne Carson said she first met Truman when she and husband Johnny Carson were seated next to him at a New York dinner party in 1963 hosted by the author’s publisher Bennett Cerf.
Phyllis Diller told me she was always more close to Carson’s predecessor Jack Paar, rather than aloof Johnny, and she said it was Joanne who recommended to Johnny that Truman would make an interesting guest for his talk show. And indeed, it was gossipy Truman’s frequent appearances on “The Tonight Show” that made him a household name.
After Capote’s death, Joanne Carson was bequeathed the writer’s estate and personal effects, including half of his ashes following his cremation. (The other urn of ashes went to Truman’s longtime partner and business agent Jack Dunphy.)
Decades later, and just a few months before my 2007 meeting with Joanne at Phyllis’ home, Joanne held an auction at Bonhams in New York in November 2006 featuring Capote’s personal effects, selling off everything from his Mastercard credit card (it sold for $2,750) to matchbooks, suits and notebooks.
She expertly timed the auction for the release of rival films on the big screen about Capote’s life: Bennett Miller’s “Capote,” which won an Oscar for actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and “Infamous” by Douglas McGrath.
Joanne, who had no children, later married again for a short time and then divorced Richard Rever.
Following Joanne’s death, Julien’s Auction House in Los Angeles liquidated her possessions at a 2016 sale, including the Japanese carved wooden box with Joanne’s half of Capote’s ashes. The box and his ashes sold for $45,000.
Previously, Joanne reported to the Washington Post that the box containing Capote’s ashes had been stolen (along with $200,000 in jewelry) during a Halloween party she hosted at her home in 1988. The ashes were later found and returned. A decade later, when Joanne brought the ashes to be displayed at an after-party she was hosting following a new play about Capote’s life, once again the box was nearly stolen, but the thief was apprehended before fleeing.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org.
